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[av_heading heading=’ Bacolod dads spar over e-cigarettes’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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Wednesday, May 3, 2017
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BACOLOD City – Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. criticized colleague Caesar Distrito for allegedly “copying” a city ordinance they both authored and claiming it as his own.
Whatever changes in City Ordinance (CO) No. 08-14-684 (E-Cigarettes Ordinance) that Distrito introduced were mere amendments and did not constitute a new measure, Gamboa stressed.
Distrito proposed the Revised E-Cigarettes Regulation Ordinance, which was up for third and final reading at the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
To claim the proposed ordinance as Distrito’s own is “pure and simple copying or stealing of other people’s work,” stressed Gamboa.
In a statement, Distrito said Gamboa has “such an immature and childish behavior.”
“No councilor has a vested right in an ordinance approved by the Sangguniang Panlungsod,” said Distrito.
He also insisted his proposed ordinance had “substantial differences” with the original ordinance. They include, among others:
* specific provisions on the prohibition of e-cigarette advertisements
* creation of a “trust fund” and how it shall be used
* amendments on penalties, clarifications on community service and exemption of minors from criminal prosecution
* creation of a task force and inclusion of health organization representatives in the technical working group
The city council approved CO No. 08-14-684 on Aug. 27, 2014.
“Dishonest, cheating and stealing of other people’s ideas and achievements and taking/grabbing credit [for] other people’s hard work” was how Gamboa described Distrito’s proposal to revise CO No. 08-14-684.
Distrito’s proposal was approved on second reading on April 19.
If Distrito is not stopped, “he will continue to do this to not only me but all members of this august body,” Gamboa said. “Where is honesty and decency in this act?”
Meanwhile Distrito said “all ordinances and proceedings of a deliberative body is a property of the government and not the author.”
Moreover, “under Section 175 of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, items 4 and 5 provide that works of the government can be used without authority from the government, and laws and ordinances and other legislative works are not covered by Copyright Law,” he said.
His proposed Revised E-Cigarettes Regulation Ordinance was a “revision” measure and not just “amendatory,” Distrito said.
It was Gamboa who wanted the new measure to be only amendatory, said Distrito.
An amendatory ordinance may apply when there is “only one or two sections [to be] amended,” while a revision ordinance is necessary for “substantial or numerous sections and topics to be amended,” he explained.
Distrito also pointed out that debates over proposed ordinances should be kept within the sanggunian and not taken to the press./PN
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