SEPARATE OATHTAKING

LINGAYEN—For the first time, the new members of the majority and minority groups of Sangguniang Panlalawigan have decided to take their oaths of office separately, an unprecedented arrangement  

The eight board members who constitute the majority took their oaths on June 24 before Regional Trial Court Judge Laarni Parayno of Lingayen. They were Orange Humilde (First District), Nestor Reyes (Second D.), Angel Baniqued Jr. (Third D.), Jeremy Agerico Rosario and Liberato Villegas (Fourth D.) Chinky Perez Ababa (Fifth D.) Noel Bince and Salvador Perez Jr. (Sixth D.)

All eight, who ran and won as candidates of the PDP Laban are staunch allies of Gov. Amado Espino III, who reportedly will take his oath alone at the Capitol before noon of June 30.   

Meanwhile, members of the minority: Donabel Fontelera (NP-First D.) Von Mark Mendoza (NPC-Second D.), Vici Ventanilla (NPC)-Third D.) and Nicholi Sison (Lakas-Fifth D.) will take their oaths also on June 30. All four are allied with Vice Governor and SP presiding officer Mark Lambino who ran and won under the Lakas Party.

Expected to join the majority are PCL (Philippine Councilors League) chapter president Shiela Perez-Galicia and Jerome Vic Espino, the current Sangguniang Kabataan Federation president and the new Liga ng Barangay federation president who will replace Mark Bryan Celeste, the newly elected mayor of Alaminos City.

The separate oath taking that drew a clear line between the two traditional blocs is seen as a sign that the minority will carry out its fiscalizing role in the new board which was rarely seen in the past.

Asked why they took their oaths without the four board members-elect in the minority, re-elected board member Rosario said the decision was a product of a consensus by the majority of the board members present in the last SP meeting presided by outgoing Vice Governor Jose Ferdinand Calimlim.

In that session, Calimlim, BMs Raul Sison (Second D.), Generoso Tulagan Jr. (Third D.) who and Clemente Arboleda Jr. delivered their emotional farewells to their colleagues.

The first session of the new provincial board is set on July 8 when the committees will be formed and their respective chairmen and members are named.

Espino and Lambino have not met to discuss the province’s legislative agenda in the next three years. (Leonardo Micua)     

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