By Leonardo Micua

 

WHAT we wrote in this corner a week past turned out to be true.  Insisting that the Appropriations Ordinance that enacted the P1.3 billion annual city budget was not validly passed, the majority in the Sangguniang Panlungsod went to Court to question the manner of its passage.

They filed two cases: one was before the Regional Trial Court where they questioned the validity of the passage of the AO. Their bone of contention? It was passed merely by a simple majority not by qualified majority. The other is a case of falsification of public documents filed before the Ombudsman.

On the first case, the burden of proof lies with them because the presence of the minority, whose members making its number the majority vote during the session, maintains that the AO was passed without any amendment or objection and cited records certified by the secretariat as well as the video footages of the session of the Sanggunian as direct evidence.

Councilor Redford Erfe-Mejia  of the majority, claimed the majority members were was shut off from the Zoom platform when the AO was put into a vote. That he has to prove.

These two cases, unfortunately, if not resolved soonest, will again hold hostage the programs of the administration of Mayor Fernandez till 2025 as the majority in the Sanggunian already served notice it is in no position to pass any supplemental budget till the cases they filed are resolved.

Surely, the city will again operate with a reenacted budget for a long time because the 2024 annual budget is now the collateral damage to the legal questions raised. Also, the Local Government Code requires, the SP cannot discuss any other matter except the annual budget for 2024.

The cases again put the city in a defensive position. And all these can be attributed to the hesitancy of Mayor Belen Fernandez to file cases against the very officials who threw a monkey wrench into all her programs and projects.

She kept telling the city that the past city administration committed many irregular activities but the City Legal Officer Aurora Valle didn’t file cases against those responsible to make them accountable.

Valle was also hesitant to file a case of declaratory relief with prohibitory injunction to question the series of amended house rules of the majority for Vice Mayor Bryan Kua. She plainly maintains the new amendments introduced are not legally binding as far as city hall is concerned yet she didn’t do anything to stop the majority.

Methinks, there is a need for Belen to recruit a new legal officer who is more proactive instead of just merely being reactive and passive. Valle so far has not proven her mettle that she can protect the interest of the city by filing cases against all those who bastardized the city and its people.

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BEFORE Christmas, my family in New Zealand which includes my son Chap, his wife Myra and their two daughters, Sophia and Isabelle called me and my wife to greet us  Merry Christmas.

My other son Dennis and his wife Maryjane in Canberra, Australia  also called at almost at the same time. 

My other son Eric unexpectedly came home this Christmas from Adelaide, Southern Australia to see us and his wife, Princess. But he and Princess are flying to Adelaide early January.

My wife and I appreciated the greetings from members of our families from various parts of the globe this Christmas . Their calls again energized us and inspired us to live longer and healthier so we can join them someday.  It was not possible to join them now because no one would look after our house. 

Although we are oceans apart, thanks to the Internet, it kept us in constant communication with each other.  When they called us by Messenger, the Micua family in New Zealand was at the Auckland City center to visit the famous Skytower, once acclaimed as the highest standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere. 

In Canberra, Dennis and MJ had visitors in their newly bought home—their close friend, Dr. Sanjana and her two children, who wanted to spend Christmas away from their home in Forster, New South Wales. 

Dr. Sanjana was a co-worker of Dr. MJ in a medical center in Forster. MJ and Dennis moved to Canberra when Dennis got employed by a big British consulting firm. Her kids were playmates and classmates of my late granddaughter Mary Therese. #

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