Ouster plot on Sta. Barbara liga prexy goes ‘pfffft’
‘Show of force’ and rhetoric versus simple argument of due process. And the winner is – due process.
Such summed up yesterday’s tensed vote on a Resolution that would have ousted an ex-officio member of the Santa Barbara Town Council.
The movant, Councilor Arnulfo Sumagpao called for legislative backing on a petition filed by members of the town’s Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) or Liga ng mga Barangay.
Subject of Sumagpao’s move was Liga President Wilfredo “Neneng” Subong, an ex-officio member of the council. Subong for weeks now has been besieged by black propaganda and “silent” oust-plot believed to have emanated from the Office of the Mayor.
Sumagpao’s point in wanting Subong out was simple – with clear majority of the Liga members signifying loss of confidence on Subong’s presidency, the town council should install a replacement. The chosen one, he added, should be Liga Vice President Marites Corsino.
Yet in a lengthy exchange that followed, Sumagpao was met with a simpler counter-point – the law provides and recognizes the Liga as an independent body governed by its own Constitution and By-Laws. Further still came the position of Vice Mayor Rodulfo Delgado – the legal minds of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said that the town council has no jurisdiction over the matter. Let the Liga resolve its own problem, he said adding that “we are not the proper forum… I will not go against the law.”
In the end came the nominal voting which ended up in a tie and Vice Mayor Delgado voting against the Resolution and for the continued service of Subong as ex-officio member of the town council.
With pros and cons heard, the voting heard justifications yet it was to be the sentiment of the youngest member of the council that appeared to have hit a chord.
For Cara Jeanne Sullano, Sangguniang Kabataaan (SK) president and representative of the youth in the council, it all boils down to due process. Such as she turned the tables on her senior colleagues, “what if a similar petition calling for your resignation will be submitted here, will you resign without due process?”
Councilor Rema Somo for her part justified her no vote to the oust-Subong move saying “I will not be instrumental in the usurpation of powers of anybody… there is no order from any government agency to vacate the position.”
More no-votes in councilors Juan Senupe Jr., Remy Gumban and the subject himself, Liga President Subong.
Senupe, a lawyer by profession, was blunt with his statement.
“I also sympathize with the barangay captains who have affixed their signatures but it is really about common sense which is not so common after all… the point is, the position is not vacant so why put an interim president? And there is no such thing as interim president but there is such a thing as due process,” Senupe said.
Gumban for his part was equally blunt and direct – “due process for Councilor Subong and yes, justice for Councilor Subong.”
The yes to oust-Subong councilors were well-loved former broadcast journalist Dennis Octaviano, Doctor Manuel Sumaylo, Ramon Martin Licup, Bonifacio Sonza and the movant Sumagpao.
From purported failure in leadership to sympathizing with the petitioners up to the comparison of Subong’s case to a malignant tumor, the yes-votes though failed to get the ultimate approval.