Iloilo City Council Drops Mandatory Pre-Sessions Rule

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor and JP Jaen

The majority bloc of the 12th Iloilo City Council voted on Wednesday, July 9, to scrap mandatory pre-sessions, citing the need to protect the council’s institutional integrity.

The move to remove the provision from the council’s Internal Rules and Procedures (IRP) sparked a brief exchange between Majority Floor Leader Rex Marcus Sarabia and Vice Mayor Julie Grace “Love-Love” Baronda.

Pre-sessions – informal meetings to discuss agenda items before regular sessions – have been in place since Baronda assumed the vice mayorship.

Sarabia said most councilors believe pre-sessions tend to be “misconstrued as a mandatory requirement.”

He clarified that pre-sessions are still allowed but will now be voluntary and based on the urgency of the agenda.

Baronda said she was not given enough time to review the IRP, as she only received the copy of the 11th City Council’s adopted rules late Monday afternoon.

She noted that this gave her just a day to go through the document before the July 9 session.

In defending the change, Sarabia said the amendment is not permanent and can still be revisited or revised.

He explained that requiring attendance at pre-sessions could result in IRP violations if councilors are unable to attend.

“We have to put in safeguards to assure the position of the members of the august body,” he said.

Sarabia also cited Baronda’s tendency to make internal discussions public, saying the change aims to keep proceedings civil and professional.

“This is politics. Everything might get over-dramatized,” he added.

 

NO POWER GRAB

Sarabia maintained that the move was not intended to diminish Baronda’s authority as presiding officer.

He said the revised IRP still adheres to basic principles of parliamentary procedure.

“There is no move to weaken the power of the vice mayor,” he said. “I understand the sentiments of the majority—they just want to secure their position.”

Baronda countered that the deletion “in a way” weakens her role, though she emphasized that pre-sessions are intended to ensure order during formal sessions.

“If there are any issues we need to resolve beforehand, we can address them in the pre-session,” she said.

Sarabia argued that pre-sessions have become unnecessary given the majority bloc’s numerical strength.

“Obviously, the majority bloc already has its own pre-session,” he said. “From a logical standpoint, anything the majority bloc decides is already a done deal. In democracy, the majority rules.”

Despite the bloc’s dominance, Sarabia said the council remains open to ideas from the opposition.

“We have to admit that they have ideas—concepts that would prove valuable to the welfare of the Ilonggo people,” he said.