Rojas bats for cellphone regulation inside SP
Experience is the best teacher. Or so it seems for Fifth District Board Member Jett Rojas, proponent of a regulation on cellular phone use inside the Session Hall of the Iloilo Provincial Capitol building.
Now up for public hearing, the Committee on Rules, Privileges, Ethics and Accountability is tasked to oversee the planned regulation. First District Board Member Richard Garin is committee chair.
To recall, Board Member Rojas was admonished by the Court and fined P200 for failing to put his cellular phone on "silent mode" while inside the Courtroom. The episode apparently triggered said board member to come up with a similar regulation in his own turf.
A query was first made with the Sanggunian Panlalawigan (SP) secretariat on existing House Rules regarding the policy of cellular phone use while session is ongoing.
None was found, SP secretary Lorenzo Tubola reported back, both in terms of Ordinance or provisions in the Internal Rules of Procedure.
What exists at the moment, Board Member Rojas was told, are signs posted inside the Session Hall that informs visitors to turn off units. However, the SP body noted, the notice "was more violated than followed."
Incidentally, "violators" for the most part are board members themselves, Capitol insiders noted.
After the procedural Motion, Board Member Rojas got what he wanted and with no objections posed whatsoever.
To date though, it was not immediately clear when the cell-phone use hearing is slated.