CITY EXECUTIVE officials are again on the firing line of an enraged city lawmaker after snubbing a series of committee hearings of the SangguniangPanlungsod (SP).  During the SP session on Friday, City Councilor Alexander “Aleckoy” Lim, Chairman of the SP Committee on Public Accountability and Investigation, threatened to petition the courts to cite for indirect contempt at least two department heads of the city government who were no-shows at four scheduled hearings called by the SP. The said committee hearings have been re-scheduled twice but the non-attendance of summoned department heads called off the legislative inquiries. Lim, apparently dismayed by the recurring absences of executive officials during SP inquiries, lashed on City Mayor John Geesnell L. Yap II for tolerating the actions of his department heads, saying their non-appearance “degraded, demeaned and diminished the importance of the legislative hearings.”

A veteran attorney, Lim cited a Supreme Court ruling which upheld the power of legislatures to summon executive officials. The SP committee hearings were supposed to tackle two issues: The complaint filed by a private contractor who accused members of the City Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of rigging and tampering the bids for 7 road projects and the rehabilitation of the damaged City Hall building; and a proposed ordinance which aims to grant members of the City Police force monthly allowances and cash stipend for their mandatory trainings. According to Lim, since the conduct of previous Sanggunian hearings, City Budget Officer Rosemarie Palma and City Engineer PianicitaCastolo have been refusing to honor summons which at one point, compelled the SP to issue subpoenas to several departments heads. Both Castolo and Palma, however, sent notices informing the SP that they were attending seminars during the scheduled dates of said hearings.

Councilor Lim likewise fumed over the “seemingly orchestrated” absences of fellow committee members who are closely allied to the city mayor “who want to render the panel inutile by a mere failure to reach a quorum.” Lim reminded city executives that under civil service laws and the Local Government Code, they can be held administratively and criminally liable if they do not cooperate with the SP's summons for legislative inquiries. Both city executives cited in their notices to the SP that they can only attend SP hearings or meetings with the permission of the city mayor.

BIDDINGS QUESTIONED

The Committee on Public Accountability and Investigations was supposed to commence inquiry regarding allegations of Engr. PetroniloSarigumba, one of the bidders for the road infrastructure projects, that the BAC did not follow regulations set under the Government Procurement Law. Sarigumba accused another contractor, who was eventually awarded the said infrastructure projects, of being the “favored bidder” backed by the city mayor himself. In a previous session of the SP, Councilor Lim denounced fellow city councilors working in alliance with City Mayor Yap, who came to the defense of the BAC and the city administration, stressing there was no irregularities in the conduct of the bidding. “Why rush to the defense of the city mayor and the BAC and make it appear that there is no need to investigate these officials? It is not their task to defend the BAC. If they have indeed committed violations to the procurement law, then they should be made accountable for it,” Lim stressed.