Nominees for 6 Dads Remain Unacted by Mayor

By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

DAGUPAN CITY – Despite receiving already the nominees for the six vacant positions at the lawmaking body of Urdaneta City, the mayor still failed to act on them as he waits for advice from the national government if he or the governor will sign the recommendation.

“So far wala dahil humihingi pa siya ng opinion na manggagaling sa central office ng Department of Interior and Local Government,” Urdaneta City Councilor Onofre “Bong” Gorospe told recently Punto Por Punto of Radyo Pangasinan (DWJE 88.1 FM).

Newly installed Mayor Blesildo "Doc Bles" Sumera faces legal repercussion of a Quo Warranto and Prohibition at the Regional Trial Court of the city if he acted on the recommendation despite the mandate of the 1998 Charter of Urdaneta City for him to sign the nominations. It says there:

CITY CHARTER VS GOV'T CODE

“In case the permanent vacancy is caused by a sanggunian member who does not belong to any political party, the CITY MAYOR (emphasis by the writer) shall, upon recommendation of the sangguniang panlungsod, appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy”.

The misplaced words “city mayor” done by Congress at that section was a synonym of “local chief executive” provided in paragraph C Section 45 of the 1991 Local Government Code (LGC).

The Local Government Code of 1991 however mandates the governor:
" In case or permanent vacancy is caused by a sanggunian member who does not belong to any political party, the LOCAL CHIEF EXECUTIVE (Pangasinan Governor for a component city) (emphasis by the writer) shall, upon recommendation of the sanggunian concerned, appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy (Section 45 paragraph C)”. 

VACUUM 

The vacuum of six lawmakers here were the result after former Mayor Julio “Rammy” Parayno III, Vice Mayor Jimmy Parayno, and Councilors Franco Paolo Del Prado Sr., Warren Andrada, Aurelio Agsalud, Franklin Villanueva, Jhan Hero Sumera and Alfonso Del Prado received on October 15, 2026 the order from the Ombudsman of their dismissal from the government service, perpetual disqualification from public office, and forfeiture of retirement benefits for Grave Misconduct (for the two Paraynos) and Gross Neglect of Duty (for the councilors). 

When asked by the host Renato “Atong” Remogat if the governor (of Pangasinan Ramon V. Guico III) will appoint instead the six nominees, Gorospe became ambivalent between the mandates of the governor and the mayor.

“Actually under the Local Government Code and under our City Charter puwede naman e approve iyong nomination namin sa remaining members of the sanggunian, puwede rin dahil hindi naman… ang nakalagay sa ating Charter namin is “the mayor of the City of Urdaneta who will give our endorsement”. Meron po doon sa Local Government Code. Which (prevails) Local Government Code or the City Charter of Urdaneta? Anyway, we have given our nomination or the replacement of the dismissed councilors bahala na ang aming mayor kung e approve iyong nomination namin,” Gorospe stressed.

Who indeed prevails on the brouhaha in the first class city?

WHO PREVAILS?

According to Section 1 Article X (Local Government) of the 1987 Philippine Constitution: “The Congress shall enact a local government code which shall provide… for the qualifications, election, APPOINTMENT (emphasis by the writer) and removal, term, salaries, powers and functions and duties of local officials,…”

There is also a 1996 jurisprudence of Fariñas v. Barba (G.R. No. 116763, April 19, 1996) that cited: “(T)he CITY MAYOR (emphasis by the writer) shall, upon recommendation of the sangguniang panlungsod, appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy” was a misnomer or illegal.

HIGHEST COURT

The Supreme Court explained:

 “But who is the "local chief executive" referred? And which is the "sanggunian concerned"? With respect to the first ("local chief executive"), petitioners look to Section 45(a) for the answer and say that it is the governor, with respect to vacancies in the Sangguniang Panlungsod of component cities and Sangguniang Bayan, or the mayor with respect to vacancies in the sangguniang Barangay.

Section 63. Preventive Suspension - (a) Preventive suspension may be imposed:

(1) By the President, if the respondent is an elective official of a province, a highly urbanized or an independent component city;

(2) By the governor, if the respondent is an elective official of a component city or municipality; or

(3) By the mayor, if the respondent is an elective official of the barangay. . .

To be sure the President of the Philippines cannot be referred to as "local chief executive" in Section 45(c) but it is apparent that the phrase is a misnomer and that the choice of this phrase was simply dictated by the need to avoid, for stylistic reasons, interminably repeating the officials on whom the power to appoint is conferred. Perhaps "authorities concerned" would have been a more accurate generic phrase to use”.