Plagata resigns as TTWG chair
One of the three city councilors holding a position as chairman of a commission had resigned in compliance with the Supreme Court decision that deemed appointed officials automatically resigned once they filed their certificates of candidacy (CoCs).
Mayor Jerry Treñas said Councilor Erwin Plagata, chair of the Traffic Technical Working Group (TTWG) recently resigned from his position. The city is still looking for Plagata’s replacement as TTWG chair.
Plagata along with Councilor Jose Espinosa III, chair of the Sports Commission; Councilor Julienne Baronda, Task Force Anti-Smoking chair and Boarding House Commission (BHC) chair Edward Yee are running for different elective positions this May elections.
The recent SC decision reversed its Dec. 1 ruling which said that appointed officials need not resign at all after filing their CoCs. They can also remain in office, win or lose until the end of President Arroyo’s term or earlier if they are dismissed by the President.
Treñas said Plagata resigned from his chairmanship even before the city received the High Court’s legal opinion clarifying on whether councilors holding the position as chairman of task forces and commissions are covered by the same decision.
The mayor said he is also waiting for the response of Espinosa, Baronda and Yee over the matter. They are considered as “volunteers” and they are not receiving additional pay from the city government for holding the positions.
The mayor nevertheless said they have sought clarification before the Supreme Court in order to get a better perspective of the decision which upheld the constitutionality of the three provisions in election laws that deemed appointive officials automatically resigned once they filed their certificates of candidacy.
