DILG sustains actions by five-man SP
THE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) regional office, in a series of legal opinions issued on January 12, 2025, sustained all the actions taken by the five-man minority councilors of the Dagupan Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) when they held the majority last year while three opposition councilors were on a 60-day preventive suspension.
The legal opinions — signed by DILG Regional Director Jonathan Lausen Jr. and issued through DILG Provincial Director Virgilio Sison and Dagupan City Local Government Operations Officer Royoleta Rosario — were in response to a Letter of Inquiry on matters that were raised in the SP when the three preventively suspended councilors returned to their posts.
On whether the vice mayor and five minority councilors can adopt a new set of internal rules of procedures when four councilors of the former majority walked out and refused to participate at the time their three colleagues were preventively suspended, the DILG regional officer said: “Accordingly, we are of the considered view that the IRP, may, thus be amended and/or repealed, citing a previous DILG opinion anchored on a decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Romulo versus Yniguez.”
On whether the SP is prohibited from adopting a new set of IRP beyond the 90-day period contemplated under Section 50 of the Local Government Code, DILG said: “…the Sanggunian is not precluded from adopting a new set of internal rules of procedure beyond the 90-day period specified under Section 50 of the Local Government Code.”
It added that while Section 50 mandates that the SP adopt or update its Rules of Procedures, the Supreme Court decision in Romulo vs. Yniguez provides that the internal rules of the council “may be amended at the discretion of the body”.
In response to the seven-man opposition’s assertion that a purported amendment by virtue pf their written manifestation inserted a provision that a 2/3 vote of all the members is required for the amendment of the IRP, DILG It also affirmed that a council resolution requires an author or authors to present written draft containing an assigned number.
On what form can an approved resolution be amended, the DILG opined that a resolution may only be amended by another resolution, and not by a mere motion of any of its members.
The DILG regional office also cited Legal Opinion 111, Series of 2024 of the department that cited Supreme Court’s ruling in Social Justice vs. Hon, Jose L. Atienza Jr., which held that statutes and ordinances are presumed valid until the courts expressly declare otherwise in clear and unequivocal terms. (Leonardo Micua)
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