By Farah G. Decano

 

DAGUPAN City’s advancement seems to be blocked by a Goliath of an opposition.  With seven members solidly identified with the opposition and only five with the administration, it would seem impossible for any proposed budget to be enacted, right?

Wrong. It is possible.

The enactment of an appropriations legislative measure in the Sanggunian requires only a simple majority.  This means that only a majority vote of the Sanggunian members present is required, there being a quorum. This was clarified by Undersecretary Marivel Sacendillo in DILG Opinion No. 37 Series of 2019.

A quorum under Article 53 of the Local Government Code is mustered in a Sanggunian session when a majority of all the elected and qualified members of the Sanggunian are present.  A majority has been defined in several cases by the Supreme Court as any number greater than one-half.  Please note that in ascertaining the existence of a quorum, the Vice-Mayor must be included in the count.  But in counting the majority vote, the latter official is excluded. This was enunciated in the case of JAVIER, ET. AL. VS. CADIAO, ET. AL., GR NO.185369, AUGUST 3, 2016 penned by Associate Supreme Court Justice Bienvenido L. Reyes.

In Dagupan City’s case, there are thirteen Sanggunian members consisting of eleven elected officials plus 2 ex-officio members thereby making the quorum seven members.  Hence, if only a quorum is present, then the vote required to pass the budget is only four.

The number of votes required to pass the proposed budget would be easy if only all of the minority councilors were always present and the majority councilors were lackadaisical in their attendance performance.

Yes, it’s a numbers game in the Sanggunian (ideally, it should not be).  One must know when to use these numbers in order to achieve a purpose.  As regards those in the minority who are aligned with the administration of Mayor Belen, they should be more conscientious with their presence in the Sanggunian.  They should watch out for scenarios when they have the numbers against the majority in order to pass the budget.

Here are some attendance possibilities when the minority can affect the passage of the appropriations ordinance:   (1) four administration members and three opposition councilors; (2) four administration  members and less than three opposition councilors; (3)  five minority members present and four opposition councilors; (4) five administration members and less than four opposition members;  (5) four administration members and four opposition councilors and (6) five administration members and five opposition members. In the latter two scenarios, the Vice Mayor gets to vote in order to achieve the simple majority required to enact the budget. We did not include the scenarios of possible abstentions because the present Sanggunian is highly polarized that positions of neutrality are unlikely.

With the presence of Councilor Michael Fernandez as part of the minority, I am very sure that the minority councilors already know the above.  Councilor Mike’s knowledge and expertise in parliamentary rules and strategies can rival the lawyers in the Sanggunian, past and present.

The fact that the annual budget is still not yet passed means that the attendance performance of the opposition councilors was maintained most of the time at no less than six members to guarantee that they would be able to block the moves of the minority.   This bespeaks of the unity of the opposition members. It is astounding!  Whosoever is taking care of them must know how to keep them intact.

I urge the opposition in the Sanggunian to remember that there are fundamental loyalties that must come first before any loyalty to your recognized leader.  Just review your oaths of office.

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