Thirteen to one

Thirteen to one. That kind of lopsided vote usually follows a declaration of war. Maybe a massive budget windfall. But in the Iloilo City Council, this near-unanimous decision was used for something much smaller but vastly more damaging. They silenced a single political opponent.

Let us drop the pretense. The Treñas-aligned majority claims they are simply following the law. They point to DILG Legal Opinion No. 95 to strip Vice Mayor Julie Grace Baronda of her legislative privileges. But this advisory is non-binding and permissive. They argue she is simply the presiding officer. A tie-breaker.

Weaponizing permissive guidance to castrate an independent mandate is far from strict legal compliance. It is a calculated political maneuver wearing a cheap legal suit. We challenge those thirteen councilors directly. Look your constituents in the eye. Swear this was about the sanctity of the legislative process instead of a convenient excuse to muzzle your only opposition.

While politicians play chess, the public bleeds. The immediate casualty of this gridlock is the Ilonggo public rather than Baronda’s pride. Twelve stalled ordinances authored by the Vice Mayor are currently gathering dust in committee drawers. We are talking about basic, common-sense governance. Unified emergency hotlines. Mandatory water breaks in schools and government offices to combat the brutal heat index. These are not partisan Trojan horses but vital lifelines. By disenfranchising the Vice Mayor, the council majority effectively silenced the thousands of voters who elected her. The city loses when partisan disputes dictate the delivery of basic services.

This is more than an isolated local spat. Look across the country. We are witnessing the creeping erosion of local checks and balances. Local supermajorities are consolidating power to systematically dismantle political independence. The Local Government Code of 1991 was drafted to decentralize power and foster democratic debate. It was never meant to create untouchable municipal fiefdoms. This sets a chilling precedent, especially given Baronda’s leadership role in the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines. Democratic debate at the local level is on life support if institutional rules can be interpreted so strictly that a vice mayor becomes nothing more than a glorified gavel-banger. A democracy cannot survive when the rules exist only to serve the ruling party.

We need a transparent and merit-based framework within the council’s Internal Rules of Procedure. Public-welfare measures must be debated based on substance rather than authorship.

If the supermajority truly believes this was a purely procedural move, the solution is simple. Prove this is not rooted in political spite. The majority bloc should step up, sponsor, and pass Baronda’s stalled, non-controversial ordinances themselves. Setting up a basic unified hotline might cost the city just PHP 500,000 to launch properly. Show us that a good idea still matters in City Hall regardless of whose name was originally on the folder.

But if those files stay buried, the message is clear. The rules are not there to protect the process. They exist to protect the powerful.