- Advertisement -

IT is now up to Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairperson Kiranjit Aldeguer to decide whether to retain her post or quit in favor of a teaching job at a public school.

But in yesterday morning’s meeting of the City Council’s labor and employment committee chaired by Councilor Mercedes Joyleen Balaba, Aldeguer made a last-ditch appeal to retain both her posts.

- Advertisement -

Aldeguer—who assumed the post after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) declared her predecessor, Ian King March Pimentel Miyake overage in May last year—asked the committee to issue a joint resolution addressed to the Office of the President, Department of Education (DepEd) and Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG), asking them to grant her exemption so she can retain both posts.

She asked that the committee initiate the resolution jointly with the City Council, the City Legal Office, the regional DepEd office and the city DILG office even as she insisted that the Local Government Code didn’t prohibit a barangay official from holding two posts at the same time.

“The DILG opinion had no final clarification (on the issue) so the purpose of the resolution is to seek final clarification on whether or not I can retain both posts,” she said.

But Balaba maintained that she and the committee stand by the city DILG office’s position that Aldeguer cannot retain both posts since it violates the Constitution.

City DILG Director Jane Docallos said Aldeguer is ‘placing the committee’ and by extension the City Council ‘on the spot’ with her request for a joint resolution. “

A City Council resolution cannot be over and above the Constitution. It is defiance (of the Constitution) that prohibits elected officials from holding two posts that are incompatible,” she said.

When Aldeguer asked if she can continue teaching in a private school, Docallos said she would have to seek permission from the DILG first. But Aldeguer has to decide fast before she faces a moto propio complaint filed against her at the DepEd office.

Councilor and SK Federation President John Michael Seno, a committee member, said  that while he sympathizes with her plight, he is more worried about Barangay Cugman’s youth residents who are already deprived of services and programs from their SK office. (Stephen Capillas for CIO)

Disclaimer

Mindanao Gold Star Daily holds the copyrights of all articles and photos in perpetuity. Any unauthorized reproduction in any platform, electronic and hardcopy, shall be liable for copyright infringement under the Intellectual Property Rights Law of the Philippines.

- Advertisement -