Labella dares Tom: File petition for declaratory relief

LABELLA

CITY COUNCIL ROW

CEBU City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella welcomed the plan of Mayor Tomas Osmeña to file a complaint against him over the failure of Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) councilors in gaining the majority in the City Council.

But instead of a case of obstruction of justice, Labella said what the mayor should file is a petition for a declaratory relief.

“This petition will let the court decide on a legal issue. In this case, whether or not the determination of a majority in the council should include the vice mayor as presiding officer or not,” Labella said.

Committee chairmanships objection

During their inaugural session last week, Barug Team Rama councilors objected to the move of the BO-PK bloc to take over the committee chairmanships.

They cited rulings from the Supreme Court (SC) that the majority bloc should have 50 percent of the total number of council members, including the presiding officer, plus one.

BO-PK has nine allied councilors while Barug Team Rama has eight councilors. However, since Labella was included in the count, they became nine. This means both blocs are still equal, and no one has the majority yet.

Mayor Osmeña said Labella was supposed to be neutral and what he did was “very undemocratic.”

Osmeña also said that Labella twisted the law.

But Labella thought otherwise.

“I don’t think there was an obstruction of justice. We were just implementing the court decision,” Labella said yesterday.

Meeting with councilors

He said that despite the mayor’s threat, he will be calling a meeting with all city councilors to discuss and look for solutions regarding the current impasse at the City Council.

He said he is hopeful that both blocs in the council will come up with an agreement on the committee chairmanships so that the delivery of basic services will not be stalled and affected

For his part, minority floor leader James Anthony Cuenco said that while the mayor has all the right to file cases, it is not the proper remedy to the dilemma of the City Council.

“The better way to resolve the impasse is for us to sit and talk with both groups to come up with a compromise and we can go ahead with the business of the City Council,” he said.

Cuenco said he would be joining Labella in a meeting with BO-PK councilors and that he was already authorized by the other Barug Team Rama councilors about their propositions to the other camp./Reporter Jose Santino S. Bunachita with Correspondent Inna Gian Mejia