Coup d’etat at Davao City Council

Floor leader’s ouster in the offing?

Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang need not bask in glory for having made history as the first non-lawyer to be named as floor leader of the Davao City Council.
Two months after taking the post, several city councilors are already gearing up for his ouster to give him another place in history—as the shortest reigning floor leader.
In early February, Dayanghirang took the post from councilor Bonifacio Militar, who resigned amid talks he was going to be replaced. Dayanghirang was installed after getting 12 votes against veteran councilor and former floor leader Victorio Advincula’s 10 votes during a caucus by city councilors.
A source said councilors have now realized they may have picked the wrong man and are firing up the first salvo against Dayanghirang in a preliminary to the ouster.
The ouster move starts at the rules committee, said the source. The source said members of the committee on rules, privileges and laws and ordinances, which Dayanghirang chairs would be tendering their resignation. “Today, this week or next week,” said the source. The members of the committee are councilors Victorio Advincula, Diosdado Mahipus, Angela Librado-Trinidad and Rachel Zozobrado, who are all lawyers.
The source joked that the councilors are being ribbed by fellow lawyers in privat practice about being under the shadow of their non-lawyer chairmen. But he said the main reason for the resignation would be the councilors’ acceptance that Dayanghirang, aside from his lack of legal background, could not carry the load of the dual responsibility of being floor leader and chair of the rules committee.
A city councilor who begged anonymity said Advincula’s group has already lured into its fold three councilors who supported Dayanghirang in the caucus, enough to dislodge the floor leader’s shaky hold on the council majority.
We now found out that Dayanghirang was not the special pick of Vice Mayor Sara Duterte, when we had that voting to choose Militar’s replacement, said the councilor. Dayanghirang, according to other sources, had gained support of councilors by dropping the name of the vice mayor with a claim that she had her support.
But the councilor said Dayanghirang’s ouster could also be the result of the manner he was steering the council. From the start, Dayanghirang’s capability to take on the job as floor leader had been questioned by several councilors.
Councilor Nilo Abellera said Dayanghirang may not be up for the job being a non-lawyer, after Dayanghirang replaced Militar.
Abellera the chair of the rules committee should have ample legal background.
Already, several councilors last week questioned a committee report of the rules committee involving amendments to the tax ordinance reported out by Dayanghirang without conduct of committee hearings. The councilors said lack of committee or public hearings could raise legal problems, since the covering resolutions and ordinances involved tax measures.
The proposals reportedly were already covered by reports, resolutions and ordinances when Militar was the floor leader and chair of rules, but Dayanghirang did not adopt the documents and merely substituted his name as floor leader to the documents when he reported them out at plenary two weeks ago.
Another source said city legal officer Melchor Quitain had called up some councilors to inquire about the matter, apparently in a bid to get information when the ordinances are sent out to City Hall for approval of the Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.