BO-PK dominates council committees

THE Bando Osmeña–Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) has completed its takeover of the majority bloc of the Cebu City Council.

Three weeks after the group attempted to take all standing and special committees in the city, they finally set the record straight, with the help of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

In a speech during the council’s regular session yesterday, Councilor Mary Ann delos Santos disclosed a DILG advisory from Undersecretary Austere Panadero which said that the presiding officer should not be included in the determination of a majority in the council.

The advisory was issued after the City Council referred their debate on who has the majority at the council to the DILG.

The BO-PK first moved to take over all council committees last July 4 after Barug Team Rama councilors vacated the committees which used to be dominated by them.

The move fell apart after Team Rama councilors insisted that Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, as the presiding officer, should be included in the count of a simple majority.

With the latest DILG advisory, the Cebu City Council’s 24 committees are now composed of BO-PK councilors except for the committee on barangay affairs headed by Philip Zafra, the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president and a Rama ally.

The committee on budget and finance, which used to be headed by Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, is now under Councilor Hanz Abella; while the committee on laws then headed by Councilor Raymond Garcia is now headed by Councilor Sisinio Andales.

Councilor Dave Tumulak is the president pro tempore, while Councilor Margarita Osmeña is majority floor leader with Andales as first assistant majority floor leader and Abella as second majority floor leader.

Opposition Councilor James Anthony Cuenco is minority floor leader with Garcia as assistant minority floor leader.