Gan threatens to sue colleagues

City Councilor Leon Gan yesterday threatened to sue his fellow councilors for allegedly passing unconstitutional ordinances.

This after City Councilor Teodulfo 'Bong' Lao Jr., in his special report, questioned Gan's basis for issuing statements on the supposed actions of the city council regarding the ordinances.

Lao said this is 'demeaning to the council who is just functioning properly'.

He challenged Gan to bring the matter to the court to prove his accusations are true.

"If there are indeed illegal ordinances passed by the city council, he should raise this matter before the court, so that the court would hear whether his accusations is correct or wrong," he said.

Gan said he accepts the challenge and will file raps against the council for the 'constitutionality of the ordinances'.

Gan maintained that the city council violated laws in declaring the state of calamity during the January 16 flood, approving the Supplemental Budget 1, 2, and 3 in 2016, approving the extension of business permits, passing the Parental Responsibility Code, among others.

"Even our city mayor, vetoed the declaration of state of calamity because he knows it was still too soon to declare it. What happened was, it was declared anyway but it has effects in the delivery of services and relief. Some areas still did not receive their aid because the budget was not really released," he said.

Also, no law supports the extension of the filing for business permit deadline, he said, while the Parental Code is only copied by a national law.

The supplemental budget also bounced in the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) since there was no actual cash backup when the supplemental budget proposal was approved, he said.

"Basta supplemental gani actual gyud dapat nga naay kwarta, dili pareha sa annual budget proposal nga iestimate pa nato pila ang kinahanglanon para sa expenses sa sunod tuig (When we pass the supplemental budget, there

has to be actual money, unlike our annual budget proposal where we only estimate the expenses we will spend for the next year),” he added.

Gan said he will file the case before a Regional Trial Court and will be faced by the entire council, including him.

“This is not a personal attack against a certain member of the city council, this is an attack directly to the ordinance,” he said.

Councilor Ian Nacaya meanwhile said the complaint is ‘pure politics’.

Gan is part of the minority council, which also included Councilor Nadya Emano-Elipe and Councilor Lordan Suan.