118th Regular Session...........Palompon SB

Since my schedule is not fully loaded, I decided to visit the local SB session hall, and to my surprise I've learned a lot from the said visit. It is also a good time to know what our local legislators are doing. And of course you will know whom to vote again and assess the qualification of most of the municipal councilors who wants to be sent back to the said august body.

Upon my arrival I was immediately treated to the fast approval of different budgets of various baranggays of the town such as Central I, Santiago, Catigahan, Mazawalo who has the highest budget approved that day. Other baranggays are enjoined to follow the example of Baranggay Mazawalo on how they were able to get the approval of P1,602,193.00 pesos as their annual budget while others cannot even get half or one fourth of the said amount.

The only baranggay who suffered a snag in their attempt to get their budget approved was Baranggay San Pedro when the Federation of Sangguniang Kabataan headed by Hon. Hazel Cangmaong asked for a deferment of the said baranggay's budget due to the fact that the SK head of the said Baranggay have not remitted the annual dues to the SK Federation.

The session was even suspended to give way to the explanation of Brgy. Captain Roxas of San Pedro, on what happened to the said allocation wherein it was mandated by the Local Government Code that ten per cent of their budget should be allocated for the SK of all baranggay's concerned. After some questioning, mostly from Hon. Gilbert Manongsong, who even offered to give some advise and solution on how to solve the impasse, he was instructed to talk with the SK and SK Federation heads respectively on how they will go about the problem.

Hon. J. Villardo III questioned why the local finance committee of the said Baranggay have been endorsing budgets which are still questionable, thereby making the SB Committee on Appropriation and Finance to endorse also to the SB a budget that is not yet ready for approval.

After the session's suspension was lifted, Atty Jesus Villardo III proposed to make a resolution on each of the Memorandum of Agreement's (MOA's) executed by the Hon. Mayor Eulogio Tupa with different organizations or agencies to make it more binding and executory. Particular emphasis was made on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) made by Professors or Doctors of Education coming from the Visayan State University (VSU) in Baybay, Leyte headed by Dr. Eduardo Mangaoang and two others, all academic experts, on the PHESCHEM Corp. plant site located and encompassing Baranggay Cantandoy, San Miguel and Liberty of this town.

Atty. Villardo said that upon reading the EIA report, he was amenable that they have to adopt the recommendation made by the EIA team because of the urgency and necessity of stopping the degradation, destruction and the saving of what is left from the wanton and unthinkable wastage of our natural resources and watershed area which is supposed to guaranty ours' and our future generation's drinking water reservoir.

Another resolution that the SB wanted to adopt and approve is the recall of Sr. Insp. Federico Sanchez to the Palompon Police Station saying that the re-assignment of him was made within the Comelec ban (60 days) on transfers and re-assignments. They also wanted to include the citations and awards given to the said police officer as a reason for his retention.

Orendain's sanggunian rules of procedure