NO QUORUM. Antique Vice Governor Edgar Denosta (seated center) adjourned their session on Monday (Aug. 19, 2024) due to lack of quorum. Denosta said in an interview that he would request the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to help follow up on the replacements of the suspended ex-officio provincial board members. (PNA photo by Annabel Consuelo J. Petinglay)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board) of Antique will again seek the intervention of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), this time to fast-track the replacement of its three suspended ex-officio members to muster a quorum.
The provincial board failed to hold three regular sessions this month following the suspension of eight members, including Liga ng mga Barangay (LnB) president Julius Cezar Tajanlangit, Philippine Councilor’s League (PCL) president Plaridel Sanchez, and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) federation chair Kenneth Dave Gasalao, sitting as ex-officio members, starting Aug. 5.
The five other regular members were Egidio Elio, Victor Condez, Rony Molina, Alfie Jay Niquia, and Mayella Mae Plameras-Ladislao.
Vice Governor Edgar Denosta, the presiding officer, said he would again write a letter to DILG Antique provincial director John Ace Azarcon, requesting him to urge the LnB, PCL, and SK to convene to designate their vice presidents as replacements.
He added it seemed they were not in a hurry to designate the replacements.
“We will be asking the help of DILG to urge the leagues to already convene. Today, for the third time, we still did not have a quorum,” Denosta said in an interview.
Denosta consulted the five remaining board members, Dante Beriong, Noel Alamis, Karmila Rose Dimamay, Pio Jessielito Sumande Sr., and Emmanuel Palacios Jr., for his decision to seek the intervention of the DILG.
“We are hopeful that even just with the initial replacements of the ex-officio members, we could already hold our regular session considering that we have important ordinances and resolutions to be passed,” Denosta said.
Among the affected proposed local legislations are the installation of markers on statues, landmarks, and historic sites in the province for final reading and the granting of the real property tax exemption to the property owned by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines on its second reading.
In the meantime, Antique provincial board secretary J Gabin informed that Azarcon, in a separate letter received by his office, said there is a need to designate temporary replacements for suspended regular board members to prevent hiatus and paralyzation of local government operations.
“Resultant vacancies in the sangguniang panlalawigan/panglungsod/bayan/barangay shall be filled through designation of sanggunian members by the President through the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government or the officer-in-charge of the DILG,” said Azarcon, citing the Administrative Order 15 series of 2018 and the DILG Memorandum Circular 2019-21.
Azarcon said the temporary replacement would come from the nominees of the political parties to which the suspended board members are affiliated.
The Office of the Ombudsman suspended for six months the eight members of the provincial board while the hearing for their administrative cases for oppression, grave misconduct, grave abuse of authority, and gross neglect of duty are ongoing. (PNA)
