The 7 epaiFes are asking for it
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
AFTE the suspension of epaLiFe Councilors Red Erfe-Mejia, Alfie Fernandez and Irene Lim-Acosta 4 weeks ago, the remaining four: Councilors Dada Reyna-Macalanda, Celia Lim, Alvin Coquia and Marilou Fernandez, can very well be suspended by either the Office of the President or the Ombudsman for dereliction of duty as elected officials.
The 4 epaLiFes already walked out of the past three consecutive sessions refusing to perform their duties as fiscalizers being in the minority.
Going by their own crafted rules, they maintain that without the three suspended, the passage of the annual budget was illegal because voting should require 2/3 votes of 9 councilors (or 7 votes) not by simple majority (or 5 votes). In other words, they had wanted to stop the passage of the 2025 budget and its supplemental budget again, even after the suspension of the 3 of their group.
Their juvenile ‘barkada’ mentality continues to rear its ugly head.
By walking out throughout the remaining weeks, believe they can still do more damage and continue to prevent the passage of any ordinance of new ordinances by walking out and still receiving their salaries. Their objective: To prevent Mayor Belen from earning DILG’S Seal of Good Governance. They did it last year, they want to do it again even at the expense of their constituents.
When will they ever learn their lessons after being rejected by the DILG, DBM, the RTC and now the Office of the President with their baseless legal arguments and conclusions in every situation?
Can they actually claim the sessions are illegal because of their walk-out??? Their claim has no jurisprudence even in the affairs of high school student councils anywhere in the world.
But here’s the rub. They respond to roll calls first then stage their walk-out so they can continue to get paid for their salaries for attending the regular sessions while working against the interests of Dagupeños.
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IMPACT OF IMPEACHMENT. Expect a grand political chaotic explosion in weeks ahead by and among those who filed the complaints the impeachment complaints filed vs. VP Sara.
While they shared one common objective – to remove VP Sara permanently from their sight – they do not share the same political agenda. So, soon as the complaints are not approved by the House of Representatives for trial by the Senate, expect pointing fingers among themselves on who are to blame who promised what, who failed to substantiate the charges, etc.
Look at the list of complainants. It is a Hodge-podge group composed of former elective and appointive officials, members of the academe and the Catholic Church, anti-Duterte forces, civil society leaders, Makabayan and Akbayan groups, all of whom know everything there is to know about the Marcos government.
1. Gary Alejano, former lawmaker who represented party-list group Magdalo in the House
from 2013 to 2019, and seeking a congressional comeback in 2025
2. Rowena Amon
3. Filomena Cinco, who served as barangay chairperson in Manila
4. Sylvia Estrada Claudio, doctor of medicine, and professor emerita of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, representing civil society organization Every Woman
5. Sister Mary Grace de Guzman, SFI
6. Francis “Kiko” Dee, political science lecturer who is the grandson of late democracy icons Ninoy and Corazon Aquino.
7. Ging Deles, presidential peace adviser during the Gloria Arroyo and the Noynoy Aquino
administrations.
8. Sister Susan Santos Esmile, SFIC
9. Eugene Louie Gonzalez, second nominee of party-list group Magdalo for the 2025 polls
10. Yvonne Christina Jereza, third nominee of party-list group Magdalo for the 2025 polls
11. Teodoro Lopez
12. Alicia Murphy, urban poor advocate
13. Leah Navarro, singer and activist
14. Father Roberto Reyes, activist-priest popularly known as the “running priest”
15. Randy delos Santos, uncle of slain teenager Kian delos Santos, and field coordinator of
Project Paghilom, which helps families of other drug war victims
16. Father Flavie Villanueva, activist-priest who heads Project Paghilom
17. Saturnino Ocampo
18. Liza Maza
19. Teodoro Casiño
20. Ferdinand Gaite
21. Eufemia Cullamat
22. Antonio Tinio
23. Sarah Elago
24. Emerenciana De Jesus.
The endorsers are members of the QuadCom, loyalists of Speaker Martin Romualdez, PBBM and First Lady Lisa Marcos.
One group hates the communist system, another stares down at the corruption of congressmen, still another hates anything that supports Marcos-Romualdez.
And if by chance, the impeachment trial finds Sara Duterte guilty as charged, it will not go away easily the way it did with SC Justice Renato Corona. We’ll see chaos in the political horizon.
The difference is Mr. Corona did not enjoy political protection at any time since he was only an appointee of PGMA, never an elected politician. He moved on with just his family, only consoling him. In contrast, Sara is a politician, from the local and national level with a support base from across the country, one who garnered the highest vote of a vice president candidate.
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The scheduled podcast of Punching Duo had to be postponed because of technical difficulties. We’ll keep you posted. But the PUNCHLINE podcast with IFM Dagupan (Facebook streaming) continues every Monday 6.30am.
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