Committee Report

COMMITTEE LAWS, JUSTICE, HUMAN RIGHTS AND PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY

(Sponsored by: AVM Atty. Angie Paycana, SBM Aisa C. Gutierrez, SBM Alfredo
L. Abueg III, SBM Bongbong A. Sevilla, SBM Renante L. Tuatis, SBM Michael
Joseph I. Virata, SBM/ABC Roderick O. Paycana)
WHEREAS, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provides that a)
everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference; B) everyone shall have the
right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in
the form of art, or through any other media of his choice and c) to take part in the conduct of
public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives;
WHEREAS, Articles II, X, and XIII of the 1987 Constitution put emphasis to the promotion and
protection of the rights of the people and civil society organizations and platforms for “effective
and reasonable participation at all levels of social, political and economic decision-making;
WHEREAS, the Local Government Code of 1991 also supports and highlights the need to
provide spaces and appropriate policies for citizen engagement in governance at the local level;
WHEREAS, the Punong Barangays, a number of civil society and even government stakeholders
in the Municipality of General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite have raised that the spirit of these legal
frameworks, laws, and policies are not adequately reflected in actual practice, or if so, the
outputs and outcomes of meaningful citizen engagement are not adequately and appropriately
documented and/or measured since they were adequately consulted;
WHEREAS, to strengthen citizen participation in governmental processes and enactment of
local ordinances and to improve local governance and legislation there is a necessity that
Sangguniang Bayan’s regular session, special sessions, committee hearings and public hearings
be conducted at different barangays of the Municipality of General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite as
may be scheduled and designated by the Sangguniang Bayan;
WHEREAS, a Letter from the Office of the Mayor dated 08 March 2021 was received by the
Sangguniang Bayan wherein the Municipal Acting Mayor, considering the Report from the
Municipal Engineering Office dated 5 January 2021, notifies all occupants of the Legislative
Building to immediately vacate the whole building (Legislative Building) and for them to transfer
to ALS Building;
WHEREAS, since the needed internet connection, ventilation and physical set up of the ALS
Building are not yet in place, the transfer and the erstwhile day to day operations of the
Sangguniang Bayan would be impossible to conduct;
WHEREAS, the Sangguniang Bayan learned that only a half-portion of the Legislative Building
specifically the session hall has structural integrity issue and the proposal to relocate PESO and
UPAO and the Sangguniang Bayan to use the space that they will vacate was rejected by the
Mayor’s Office;
WHEREAS, the Sangguniang Bayan learned that, in the alternative, there is a need to reduce the
weight, if not totally vacated, of the session hall in order to mitigate the impact of any
earthquake or seismic activities cause by Mt. Taal eruption;
WHEREAS, the Sangguniang Bayan in partial deference to the recommendation of the Acting
Municipal Mayor as regards the immediate transfer of the whole Sangguniang Bayan and in
view of the urgency of this measure, the passage of this Resolution is timely and appropriate;
WHEREAS, in the event that any provision of this Resolution or the process of the passage
thereof are inconsistent with any sections or provisions of the Internal Rules of Procedure- the
latter provisions are deemed modified or amended accordingly;

NOW THEREFORE, the committee hearing recommend to adopt this committee report and to
calendar measures entitled “RESOLUTION TO CONDUCT THE SANGGUNIANG BAYAN’S
REGULAR SESSIONS AND HEARINGS AT THE DIFFERENT BARANGAY SESSION HALLS WITHIN
THE MUNICIPALITY OF GENERAL MARIANO ALVAREZ, CAVITE;