Water, ‘I Am Iloilo City’s’ flashpoint

AND IT CAME to pass that in this tropical island city almost entirely surrounded by water where torrential rains and floods are the norm and typhoons are your regular visitors, water, specifically potable water, has become a flashpoint and a major issue this local elections.

Before we go to the bone of contention, let me park this for the uninitiated:

Presumption of regularity is a principle applied in evidentiary evaluation that transactions made in the normal course of business are assumed to have been conducted in the usual manner unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

In the context of a government official, say a policeman or a duly elected public official, in this case a mayor of a city, Presumption of Regularity simply means that any action or official pronouncements by these public officials in the course of doing their jobs are assumed to be regular unless proven otherwise by tangible evidence and not by biased speculations.

And what is the bone of contention or the flashpoint?

According to “I Am Iloilo City” mayor Joe Espinosa IIIm the city is in an escalating water shortage crisis caused by the El Niño phenomenon and he is asking the city council to declare a state of calamity to address this looming disaster.

Seems perfectly a normal course of action and what one would expect any local chief executive to do in the face of an impending calamity.

But it seems Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon and six councillors, namely Lady Julie Grace Baronda, Ely Estante, Leila Luntao, Irene Ong, Armand Parcon, and Jay Treñas all belonging to the opposite camp are vehemently opposed to this course of action and are doing everything they can just to derail the declaration of a state of calamity in “I Am Iloilo City”.

Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon and the six councilors have been boycotting or deliberately absent from sessions of the Sangguniang Panlungsod in the hope that there will be no quorum so no vote will take place for the declaration of a state of calamity.

Perhaps they got their inspiration from Ferjie Biron’s motley crew in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan who managed to block the passage of the 2019 budget of the Iloilo provincial government by boycotting budget deliberations and stalling voting, a “scorched earth” tactic aimed at gubernatorial frontrunner Cong. Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. Of course it backfired on Ferjie.

Fortunately for the natives of “I Am Iloilo City” the poorly thought of plan of Geronimo Buenaventura Treñas a.k.a. Jerry Treñas’ motley crew were no match against the legal eagles of Mayor Joe Espinosa III’s camp as their plan fell flat on their faces.

Excerpts from the April 27, 2019 issue of Panay News:

A deeply divided Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) placed this city under a state of calamity due to the El Niño phenomenon. The absence of six councilors and Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon as presiding officer failed to prevent eight other councilors yesterday from making such declaration.

The eight asserted they had a quorum to proceed with the special session that Mayor Jose Espinosa III requested and place the city under a state of calamity as recommended by the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC).

With the declaration, the city government could now use its calamity fund, something that the six other councilors and Ganzon – allies of mayoral candidate Cong. Jerry Treñas – admitted they did not want to happen.  They were suspicious that Espinosa would use the calamity fund for his campaign.

Treñas is running against Espinosa this May 13 midterm elections.

Before the calamity declaration yesterday, City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) head Donna Magno told the SP that the city was able to meet three out of five conditions outlined in the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council’s (NDRRMC) Memorandum No. 86-2018 which set the guidelines for such declaration to happen.

According to Magno, these were determined during the CDRRMC meeting on April 22. Her office was one of the council members.

“A declaration of a state of calamity would automatically allow the city government to use part of its calamity fund as quick response fund,” said Magno, especially to address water scarcity in the villages.

Any ill-conceived and poorly thought of plan, when stacked up against an intellectually superior plan of action, almost always it is bound to fail.

These are the eight councilors that crossed party lines for the natives of “I Am Iloilo City”: R Leone Gerochi who presided the special session, Lyndon Acap, Joshua Alim, Mandrie Malabor, Plaridel Nava, Eduardo Peñaredondo, Leizl Zulueta-Salazar, and Candice Magdalene Tupas.

“We were eight, we had a quorum. Also, during the deliberation no one challenged the quorum,” said Nava.

All eight of them voted to declare a state of calamity. The presiding officer, Gerochi, cast his vote.

And finally an April 25 post on Facebook by lawyer and candidate for “I Am Iloilo City” councilor Dan Cartagena:

My two cents worth of advice.
You may proceed with the regular business of the Sangguniang Panlungsod even if only the seven of you are in attendance. Provided, NO ONE WILL QUESTION THE QUORUM. A motion may be made on the floor after it is seconded, if the presiding officer hears no objection, consider it as passed and approved. If they (the other 7) want to question that, they can go to court. 
The issue of “quorum” only comes into the picture if someone in the council questions/objects to it. If no one questions it, there is no issue about the quorum.

So there. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)

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