Rama to visit Taiwan, appoints acting mayor

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama will be out of the country next week.

But unlike Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, who did not appoint her vice governor to take over her official functions while she is away, the mayor said he is appointing Vice Mayor Joy Augutus Young to be in-charge in running the affairs of the city while he is in Taiwan for a two-day vacation.

The mayor already got an approval to travel from the Department of Interior and Local Government. He will be in Taiwan to attend a family gathering on November 20-22 and expected to be back in Cebu City on November 23. Rama said he already informed the Office of the Vice Mayor about his travel abroad.

“He (Young) knows what to do. It will never happen here in City Hall,” Rama said, referring to what is currently happening at the Capitol between Governor Garcia and Vice Governor Sanchez, who refused to assume as acting governor while she is in California for the Governors Global Climate Change Summit 3.

Rama is confident that Young, who is one of the veteran politicians in the city, already knows how to handle the City Hall and as vice mayor, he knows what his responsibilities are if the chief executive is out.

The Local Government Code states that “The vice mayor or the highest ranking Sangguniang Panlungsod member, as the case may be, shall have the right to assume the powers, duties, and functions of the said office of the said local chief executive, subject to the limitations...”

The DILG already pointed out that the vice mayor could automatically assume as acting mayor even without a memorandum considering that the travel is already outside the country. — THE FREEMAN