Team PNoy in Negros for
4 rallies tomorrow
RIFT IN LP, NPC PARTNERSHIP DENIED
BY CARLA GOMEZ & CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

The Team PNoy senatorial candidates are joining rallies in four cities of Negros Occidental tomorrow, Rep. Alfredo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) said yesterday.

But Benitez, Liberal Party Neg. Occ. chairman, said President Benigno Aquino III is not scheduled to come for the Negros sorties of the Team PNoy bets on this trip.

LP and the Nationalist People’s Coalition officials yesterday denied Manila reports of a rift in their Team PNoy partnership.

Valenzuela Rep. Rex Gatchalian, NPC spokesperson, said his party is not ending its partnership with the LP.

PACE holds boodle lunch,
vice guv not threatened
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Negros Occidental provincial government employees held a “boodle fight” lunch at the Capitol lobby in Bacolod City yesterday noon to press for the passage of the 2013 budget so they can be paid their fourth tranche salary increase and P20,000 bonus.

The majority in the Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan, who are aligned with Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez Jr., have refused to pass the proposed 2013 budget of Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. pending further review by the SP Committee on Finance, saying they want to ensure where the money will be spent.

The Legal Service office of the Department of Interior and Local Government has ruled that if the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental fails to pass an ordinance authorizing the annual budget, it shall continue to hold sessions until it is approved, and no other business may be taken up during such sessions.

This was the opinion of DILG Director III Jesus Doque IV, who cited Section 323 of the Local Government Code of 1991, in his letter to Gov. Alfredo Maranon Jr., who had asked if the Sanggunian can take up “other matters” even if the annual budget has yet to be approved, in view of Section 323 of the Local Government Code.

“Basic is the rule in statutory construction that where the language of the law is clear, it must be applied according to its express terms,” Doque said.