City hall foists ‘gag’ order
AMID SP PROBE
HEAR nothing, say nothing.
This is the gist of the official ‘gag’ order on all heads of the executive departments, line divisions/offices and other personnel of the Dagupan City government issued last week.
The memorandum was issued by Mayor Benjamin Lim dated October 4, 2011, reminding all concerned on the “mandatory” channeling through him of invitations to appear in any session or committee/public hearing of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP).
In the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Punch, Lim reiterated his standing memorandum allowing officials and personnel to honor the invitation coming from the SP, provided the same are “properly channeled thru the undersigned and not directly issued to you, thus veritably constituting an affront to basic interdepartmental courtesy protocol.”
The first “gag” memo was issued by Lim in August last year as the SP was starting to review the budget for 2011.
The “gag” order was presumed to have been lifted with the subsequent attendance early this year of department heads in the series of budget hearings conducted by the SP.
The second memo was issued after the SP sent invitations to three officials of the executive department — City Tourism Officer Rosemarie Teng-Mejia, City Administrator Vlad Mata in his capacity as acting City Planning and Development Officer, and City Engineer Virginia Rosario — to shed light on the construction and ownership of the “Daongan Ed Dawel” project.
Mejia was also invited to appear in last week’s session of the SP but she replied that she was not available due to a prior engagement in Manila.
Mata, however, attended the regular session when the SP passed a resolution declaring a state of calamity for Dagupan, ostensibly to explain the mayor’s request of Lim for a partial declaration.
At that time, Mata was asked by Councilor Karlos Reyna to stay after the discussion on the state of calamity so he could apprise the council about the Daongan project.
Mata, however, declined the request saying he did not have with him the pertinent documents.
Lim later confirmed in a radio interview last week that the facility is owned by the city government and that no prior bidding was conducted for its construction citing the participation of a private contractor whom he declined to identify.
The memorandum reads that “if due to urgency or similar reasons, any such invitation has to be made verbally by any of the SP’s duly authorized officers or duly delegated personnel, thru any means, such as telephone… the same shall be channeled thru the undersigned or the City Administrator”.
He assured officials and personnel of the city government that the SP is not vested by any law with the power to issue a subpoena or summons and thus the failure to honor their invitation cannot be sanctioned with a declaration of contempt.
On the other hand, Lim said that the failure to observe or comply with his memo will be considered “an administrative lapse on the part of the concerned official or personnel and, therefore, liable to appropriate disciplinary action.”
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
