Plagata assumes as OIC vice mayor
City Councilor Erwin Plagata takes over as the OIC vice mayor after Vice Mayor Jed Mabilog went to Poland for a week-long conference of the executive committee of the International Council for Local Government Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) for Local Governments Sustainability.
Plagata, being the first councilor, automatically assumes as the OIC vice mayor. He will preside in this Wednesday's regular session. Last week, Plagata initiated a move to probe the alleged irregularities in the procurement of P675,000 specialized firearms for the use of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team.
The issue on the defective firearms elicited different opinions from among the members of the majority block at the city council. They have set an executive session for them to take a look at the defective firearms delivered by the R. Espenelli Marketing.
R. Espenelli Marketing which is represented by Bert Herbolario has already returned the payment to the city government. It was not immediately known whether he also took back the firearms.
Mabilog is expected to arrive on the Dec. 15 since the conference at the cities of Warsaw and Poznan would be until December 12, 2008.
In the conference, Mabilog does not only represent Mayor Jerry Treñas, who is a member of the ICLEI's executive committee but the whole South Asia. The trip is at the expense of the organizer.
ICLEI is an international association of local governments and national and regional local government organizations that made a commitment to sustainable development.
There are more than 1,000 cities, towns and countries and their associations in 68 countries comprise ICLEI's membership.
ICLEI works with hundreds of local governments through international performance-based, results-oriented campaigns and programs. It provides technical consulting, training and information services to build capacity, share knowledge and support local government in the implementation of sustainable development at the local level.