CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama again insisted that he does not need the council authority to sign the Memorandum of Agreement creating the Metro Cebu Development Coordination Board (MCDCB).
He denied giving instruction to his secretary, Belinda Navascues, to ask Councilor Edgardo Labella to sponsor a resolution giving him authority to sign the MOA.
Rama said he has signed it already without the council’s knowledge and authority because he believes that he signed it as a mayor who pledged commitment to cooperate in the programs and activities of the board.
Rama said the MOA does not bind the city in any way, especially, in the release of funds.
The forwarded MOA, which does not even bear his signature, is only for the council’s information, Rama said.
Rama said he was not aware that his secretary sent the communication to the council.
Navascues said that she was advised by City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete to endorse the matter to the council.
But in a separate interview Poblete said that he could not remember talking with Navascues about the MOA because when the communication was supposedly sent to the council they were already busy with the Mayor’s State of the City Address.
He however said that this is a non-issue and that the Mayor knows what he was doing when he signed the MOA even without the council’s authority.
The council noted the office of the mayor’s request. Labella also did not assure that he will sponsor the resolution. The council sees it as the mayor’s curative move after he signed the MOA without the council’s authority last April.
The parties to the MOA were the six cities, five municipalities and 20 line agencies and organizations operating within Metro Cebu.
Under the MOA, all signatories agreed to work with each other in addressing the issues on urban and land use planning and zoning, transport and traffic management, pollution control and solid waste disposal and management and flood control, drainage and sewerage system.
Other areas of cooperation include public safety and security, road improvement and infrastructure development, urban renewal and shelter, coastal resources and watershed management, health and sanitation and climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. (FREEMAN)