CABANATUAN CITY—The Sangguniang Panglunsod (SP) or city council in this city said it was neither a rubber stamp of nor an obstructionist against the city government’s development programs and projects.
Vice Mayor Emmanuel Antonio Umali, SP presiding officer, stressed that the SP thoroughly discussed and deliberated various legislative agenda of the city government in a genuine process of checks and balances, unlike past SPs.
“I could say that the SP under my leadership is not a rubber stamp nor an obstructionist to the development agenda of the administration. Everything handed to us for deliberation is being studied carefully and not passed without due diligence and scrutiny,” he said.
Umali made the observation on the first 100 days of the SP under his leadership.
It marked the first time in two decades that somebody from Mayor Julius Cesar Vergara’s rival party is presiding over the council dominated by Vergara’s partymates.
In the past, the SP received criticisms for reportedly catering to the interests of the Vergara administration since the sitting vice mayor then was his partymate.
Umali won as vice mayor against Vergara’s running mate Susan Garcia, wife of former vice mayor Marius Garcia.
Because of the lack of checks and balances, the legislative agenda of the city government got passed without any difficulty because it had the majority faction in the SP, the current vice mayor asserted.
Umali, whose bloc represents the minority faction, said that when the programs being advanced by the Vergara administration redound to the common good, his group fully supports them without question.
He cited the request of the mayor for authorization to enter into a memorandum of agreement with the National Food Authority for the purchase of rice during calamities as an example of the agenda immediately acted upon by the SP.
He said the entire SP enjoys a healthy working relationship with the councilors maintaining open communications with each other.
“Everybody is free to speak out his mind. Nothing personal, just work. I would say it’s a very healthy working atmosphere,” he said.
Umali said the present SP is working on key legislative measures in the future such as the crafting of a comprehensive land use plan, environment code, tourism code and disaster code which were submitted in the past but were archived.
A former provincial board member, he earlier said he and Vergara can co-exist and work as a team amid fears politics could hamper the passage of vital ordinances and resolutions.
Umali is the brother-in-law of Gov. Czarina Umali and younger brother of her husband, former three-term governor and ex-two-term third district congressman Aurelio Umali.
The Umalis and the Vergaras used to be allies but they parted ways over the highly urbanized city bid by the latter.
In 2013, the vice mayor ran for mayor against Vergara but lost. Last May, Aurelio ran anew for congressman in the third district but lost to Vergara’s wife, Rosanna.
The former governor has filed an election protest before the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal.