Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has his grip on all except a handful of commissions and special bodies, where he is designated chairman.
In a July 28 memorandum, Rama introduced the new composition of the entities following a review of a total of 62 special bodies.
In a partial list of 20 various boards, commissions and committees under his office, Rama is chairman in all except five.
He named proxies or representatives for most of them.
Councilor Augustus Pe was replaced as chairman of the Cebu City Mining Regulatory Board.
Rama chose businessman and known supporter Renato Mercado as the new chairman.
Mercado also sits as the mayor’s representative in the Cebu City Community Scouts Commission.
Councilor Pe Jr., a member of the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) dominant City Council, was given instead the chairmanship of the People’s Law Enforcement Board (Pleb) South as chairman.
“There was no prior notice of my replacement. The memo was just released,” Pe told Cebu Daily News.
Pe said he doesn’t mind the change, calling it “one headache (taken) away (from me).”
Rama was in Iloilo City for the Regional Development Council (RDC) meeting and was expected back in the city in the evening.
Cebu City has a total of 62 special bodies, boards, councils and commissions that are under the mayor’s office.
Most of these entities were created by city ordinances with the mayor or his designated representative as chairman and presiding officer.
In June, Rama ordered a review of all special bodies to determine their relevance and functions as part of efforts to streamline City Hall operations.
Belinda Navasquez, the mayor’s secretary and a member of the mayor’s review committee, said there were special bodies that were dormant while others duplicate the function of some city hall offices.
Navasquez said special bodies refer to boards created by city ordinances for policy making and assigned to work on a specific program.
Councils are created based on national laws while commissions, whose creation is also based on national laws, has functions later devolved to local government units (LGUs).
The July 28 memo has a copy of the new composition of the special bodies.
The mayor’s office also released a list of 20 of the 62 special bodies that already underwent review.
Cebu City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete also showed two memos designating him as the mayor’s representative in the Cebu City Market Authority and Cebu City Rivers Management Council.
Poblete said it is the mayor’s prerogative to head or appoint his representatives in these boards and commissions.
“If the law allows him to designate, then he can designate,” he said.
Councilor Pe said he received his memo about the changes last Friday.
He was mining board chairman during the last three years designated by former mayor Tomas Osmeña.
Cebu City Councilor Margot Osmeña was named co-chairperson of the Cebu City Commission for the Welfare and Protection of Children.
She said these designations cannot be touched since her position arises from her post as chairperson of the Cebu City Task Force on Street Children, which she held since the 1990s.
The ordinance designates the mayor as commission chairman.
“Mayor Rama cannot change that because that is specified in the ordinance. Unless, of course, the council amends the ordinance,” Osmeña said.
Osmeña said the same thing applies to her vice chairmanship of Cultural Historical Affairs Commission (Chac).
She said the ordinance creating Chac stated that the vice chairperson should be the head of the City Council tourism committee.
“But the Chac commissioners can be changed by the mayor because they come from the private sector and they are co-terminus,” she said.
In the Local Housing Board, Rama designated Lorna Saliendra from Department for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) as executive director to replace Niceforo Iroy.
The list for the housing board also lacked the names of two nongovernment organization (NGO) and two People’s Organization (PO) representatives.
Councilor Alvin Dizon, the board’s vice chairman, said Rama wanted the board PO representatives Marlyn Paracueles and Samsin Chiu and NGO reps Forge and C-pag replaced, which he strongly opposed.
“I defended the NGO and PO reps in a letter to Mike since they are active in our programs and they were duly elected by the different urban poor groups in Cebu City,” Dizon told Cebu Daily News.
As a compromise, Rama agreed that the NGO and PO reps be retained as long as they get accreditation from the city’s NGO accreditation board.
Dizon said Forge and C-pag are already accredited by the city government. With Correspondent Edison delos Angeles