Habitual absences betrayal of public trust

V-Gov. Concepcion Lim showed once more her “short fuse” Thursday after finding out that one board member was noticed for being a habitual absentee. The regular session was advanced a day earlier as its regular session day was a holiday. The board members used to hold their regular session every Friday. The feisty lady vice governor said the act of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan member was a betrayal of the trust and confidence of the people who elected him into office. Although a press release from the office of the vice governor was mum as to the identity of the erring legislator, the Post went out of its way to find out who the vice governor was referring to.

Records in the vice governor’s office identified one habitual absentee in the august halls of the SP as Board Member Brigido “Boy” Imboy who is one of four SP members in the third district. If indeed Imboy was the target of Lim’s tirades, it came as no surprise as the power couple of Loay Mayor Rosemarie Lim-Imboy and her board member-husband has no love lost with the SP presiding officer. What apparently triggered the rift between Lim and the Imboys was the reported defeat of the vice governor in Loay when she sought the second top elective post of the province. Even Lim’s team mate, then gubernatorial candidate Edgar Chatto, lost in Loay. He, however, won provinciwide. It was gathered that the root of their conflict was the accommodation of the Chatto-Lim ticket of lawyer Aster Apalisok-Piollo as one of the candidates for board member in the third district. Piollo also lost in her own re-election bid as board member.

The reason why Piollo was dragged into the Lim-Imboy row was that the former lady board member is the mother-in-law of Tiburcio Bullecer, Jr., a mortal enemy of Mayor Imboy in Loay. In fact, the first time Imboy sought the Loay mayoralty, she was facing a tough challenge against Bullecer who at that time was the incumbent vice mayor. Imboy went on to win the 2007 mayoralty and earned another berth for the Loay top elective post in 2010. There were reports that after Lim won as Bohol vice governor, she lost no time in confronting Mayor Imboy why she was clobbered in Loay. In a check with Mayor Imboy, it was learned that the reason the tandem of Chatto and Lim lost in Loay was the fact that they refused to release funding requirements for the team’s victory in the town. Mayor Imboy, at that time, also denied having junked Lim in Loay in favour of lawyer Tomas Abapo. The lady mayor said if the ticket of Julius Herrera and Abapo in Loay won, it was because the former’s chief of staff, Larry Ayuban, is from Loay.

LIM’S BEEF

Lim’s beef on the absentee board member was made more pronounced last Friday when the object of her ire was absent again. Asked of Board Member Imboy’s absence in Thursday’s session, Mayor Imboy said her husband was suffering from hypertension and that explained everything why he was nowhere to be found that day. The vice governor told her legislative audience Thursday that “we have now more than one million Boholanos, and board members as representatives in their districts, must bring into the session our people’s issues and concerns.” The vice governor, who seldom avails the privilege hour or the other matters portion of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan regular session made the emphatic appeal as she noticed numerous committee reports held in abeyance when a board member-committee chairman fails to attend session. Last week’s session was made Thursday, held in lieu of the Friday schedule as the date falls on the Carlos P. Garcia Day, a holiday throughout the whole province of Bohol.

“It also our duty and obligation to see to it that we are able to visit our districts that we represented and that we can attend or respond to their needs,” the vice governor added. The remarks of the vice governor was reportedly an off-shoot of a particular board member’s absences for the past consecutive sessions for no valid reasons at all. The name of the board member was, however, not mentioned during the vice governor’s reminder to the board members. Four consecutive absences, in the case of members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, constitute as Grounds for Disciplinary Actions, under R.A. 7160, (Local Government Code), Rule XIX, Article 124. Paragraph (b) of the same article, provides that an elective official maybe removed from office on the grounds enumerated in paragraph (a), by order of the proper court or the disciplining authority whichever first acquires jurisdiction to the exclusion of the other. ( With reports from VGO-EDCom)