WHILE LAWMAKERS typically jostle for chairmanships of select committees in the legislature, city councilors belonging to the opposition bloc rebuffed offers to head or become a member in any committee of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP), a move heavily criticized by the public. During the inaugural session of the city council on Friday, City Councilors Oscar Glovasa, Philipp Besas, Lucille Lagunay, Nerio Zamora II and SK Federated President Shaene Karaan declared in plenary their refusal to accept committee assignments. The group, all identified with former mayor Dan Lim, said accepting committee work would become “a hindrance” to the role they want to assume as lawmakers – that of being “fiscalizers”. This move came as a surprise not only to fellow city lawmakers but to the public who expressed disbelief over the apparent political motive behind the opposition group’s decision.

City Vice Mayor Jose Antonio Veloso, in an interview with media after the session, said giving equal committee distribution to each councilor, whether coming from the administration, the minority, or the opposition, was agreed beforehand by majority of the lawmakers in trying to make the SP a “collegial body”. “We want to make each councilor productive and be an active participant in the legislative work, regardless of party affiliations,” said Veloso, who presides over the SP. According to Veloso, persuading each member to take on a particular committee is in itself an “act of offering peace” and trying to make “everybody happy”. City Councilor Alexander Lim articulated during the session in response to the opposition’s move that every legislator can take the role of a fiscalizer so long as the occasion requires it. “You don’t have to be in the opposition or the minority to become a fiscalizer. If I believe a measure is illegal or against public interest, then by all means I will oppose it. I cannot be an opposition just for the sake of opposing,” Lim stressed.

According to Lim, committees are just “smaller subdivisions of the SP” which allows the sharing of the many areas of legislative work into groupings of city councilors assigned on specific tasks which makes the legislative body function efficiently. Councilor Lim belongs to the Liberal Party (LP), considered the SP minority, that includes Vice Mayor Veloso and City Councilor Alberta Torralba. The administration bloc of newly installed City Mayor John Geesnell Yap include City Councilors Adam Jala, Joseph Bompat, Jeremias Pabe, Bebiano Inting and Liga ng Barangay President Faro Cabalit. This makes up the 5-2-5 SP configuration. Immediately after the SP session that was closely covered by media, radio programs teemed with comments disapproving the move of opposition lawmakers. Several commentaries called on opposition councilors Glovasa, Zamora, Besas, Lagunay and Karaan to resign from their posts if they refuse to take on responsibilities in the committees.

Some radio listeners criticized the five councilors for their partisan move despite calls from the new administration for a united city government. One comment scored that there is nothing left to do for the five opposition city councilors if they shun any committee membership since a huge part of their function as lawmaker is done on the committee level. “Unsa’y gusto nila, mag-sige na lang dawat ug sweldo, nga wala silay gi-trabaho?” one comment aired. During the session, Councilor Glovasa explained that their group would rather “act as fiscalizers” rather than focus on committee work. He made a comparison in the past administration where Councilor Inting did not handle a committee which allowed the latter to direct his attention in nitpicking the past administration. This was however refuted by Inting saying he was never offered any committee chairmanship during the past administration as all appointed committee heads were allied with the former mayor. Inting belonged to the opposition at that time. With the battle lines drawn, and if the SP inaugural session is an indication, more fireworks are expected in the coming sessions of the city council.