Silay Regional Trial Court Judge Felipe Banzon has dismissed for lack of merit the petition for Certiorari filed by former Mayor Carlo Gamban and ex-Vice Mayor Francis Joseph Jalandoni against members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental and Vice Governor Isidro Zayco.

The petition was in connection with the disapproval of an appropriation ordinance passed by the Silay City Council.

In his four-page decision, Bazon said the requirement for the number of votes needed to pass the appropriation ordinance, which was declared invalid by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental, was not met.

Respondents said that, of the 13 members of the Silay City Council, only six gave their assent to the passage of Appropriation Ordinance No. 5 Series of 2006, while three negated and two others abstained. They said the required votes needed should be seven.

Petitioners claimed that the Negros Occidental SP had acted without, or in excess of its jurisdiction, with grave abuse of authority of discretion when it disapproved the ordinance, on the sole ground that the enactment did not obtain the required majority vote for its passage.

Court records show that Gamban and Jalandoni relied on the opinion of former Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes that SP acted beyond its review power, which is only limited to ensure that the appropriation ordinance complies with the provisions on budgetary requirements and general limitations set forth in sections 324 and 325 of the Local Government Code, or known as RA 7160.

Banzon said “Respondents, in their official duty to review the acts of its component cities, acted accordingly when it disapproved Appropriation Ordinance No. 5 Series of 2006 due to lack of the requisite vote in order to validly pass it.”

While petitioners anchored their petition on the separate opnions of the DILG which defined the extent of the review power of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, Banzon said this Court as a judicial body tasked to interpret the law is not bound by the opinion of the government agency.

He added that the review power of the SP should not be limited to certain provisions of the law which will defeat its very intent, but, the entirety of the law should instead, be considered.*GPB

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