01 Oct 2009
Again, no city council session in Tacloban due to lack of quorum
by Lemuel Pagliawan

TACLOBAN CITY- The 99th regular session of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Tacloban yesterday (Wednesday) was suspended due to lack of quorum.

Leyte Samar Daily Express learned that for this month of September alone the city council did not have its regular session twice already, for the same reason that majority of the city councilors were absent.

Only six city councilors were present during yesterday’s regular session, namely: Councilors Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez, Nofredo Lagonoy, Ranulfo Abellanosa, Rufino Pacanan, Bianco Mate, and Raechelle Pineda and the presiding officer, Vice-Mayor Arvin Antoni.

In an interview, Antoni said he dismissed the session 45 minutes after they formally called it to order at around 2 p.m. Based on the internal rules, the presiding officer has the prerogative to dismiss the meeting if there is no quorum yet 30 minutes after it was formally opened.

Antoni said he flew all the way from Manila just to attend the 99th regular session and to preside the meeting. But since there was no quorum, he was left with no choice but to dismiss it early.

Councilor Jerry Yaokasin who was in his office but was not included in the attendance, said the 99th regular session should have pushed through because there were few important matters that the city council must discuss.

He cited the resolution that the city council might come up relative to a possible assistance for the typhoon and flood victims in Manila.

“I want to discuss in the city council what help we could extend especially to Marikina, the worst hit, which has been helping us in various ways for two years already. I want to discuss how the city government can reciprocate to the kindness of Marikina,” Yaokasin said.

He added that the ordinance regarding the automatic fare increase of the motorcab for Hire (MCH) was supposedly in its third and final reading already had the session pushed through.

“I might ask a special session this week so that all these important matters would be tackled by the city council,” Yaokasin said.

Antoni, for his part, said that a special session could be granted provided that a notice will be sent to the members of the city council 24 hours before the scheduled date and that this should be approved by the majority of the members of the august body.


Source:
http://leytesamardaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8731&Itemid=233