‘Emergency authority’ for mayor questioned

By Dolly Yasa

 

BACOLOD City – Opposition Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr. questioned a proposed ordinance granting “emergency authority” to Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia.

Gamboa described the proposal as “unsettling, disturbing, distressing and absurd” for the people of Bacolod.

The proposed ordinance “Granting Emergency Authority to the City Mayor in the Face of COVID-19 Pandemic” was filed Aug 25, 2020.

“Therefore said emergency authority should be the least of our priorities because all powers, authorities, solutions and recommendations are embedded in the Police Powers of the local government unit under the Local Government Code and in all guidelines, rules and directives issued by the National Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF),” he said.

Gamboa claimed that the proposed ordinance is double-edged, ambiguous, and equivocal, considering that it is giving “blanket authority” to the mayor and evidently short of “strict parameters” that “God forbid, would reduce all instrumentalities of the Bacolod local government including the Sangguniang Panlungsod at the mercy and whimsical decision of the Mayor.”

He explained that an emergency authority for the mayor is “over-stretching” the Constitution by pushing the mayor to decide for himself certain policies, advocacies and interpretations, all in the name of the COVID-19 pandemic, that could go beyond the limits (ultra vires) and as such he could decide for himself what constitute a violation or a crime.

The councilor fears that the SP will be excluded and deprived of its work as the legislative branch of the city government.

“Let the SP be part of the solution by creating policies and strategies.”

Gamboa said the SP should be pro-active, prospective and aggressive in crafting legislations to combat the pandemic.

“This is what we are supposed to do and this is what we should be doing. Legislations are important and helpful in securing our community and the city from COVID-19 local transmission. It seems that the SP has no stake in the solution except to grant the Emergency Authority and have nothing more to do with it,” he added.

Looking into the proposed ordinance, Gamboa agreed that Bacolod City is under an unprecedented emergency situation but, he also stressed, “not at the expense of ‘stretching’ too much our Constitution such as the ‘Bill of Rights,’ Article III Sec. 1. People should not be deprived of life, liberty and property.”

He also said that  the civil liberty of the individuals must be respected, otherwise, it is “incumbent upon the government to provide ‘ayuda’ or to support the daily subsistence of the people in terms of food, money etc., once we suppress said right.”

The Mayor’s Emergency Authority provided in Section 5 of the proposed ordinance, except for mass testing in one sub-section, are mostly about restrictions, limitations, curtailment and stoppage of movement which are not the “direct solution to stop transmission” according to World Health Organization (WHO), Gamboa said.