City gov’t waits for DILG’s opinion on appointment of city legal officer

TACLOBAN CITY – The city government is still waiting for the opinion of the Department of the Interior on Local Government (DILG) if it is still needed for the appointment of the new city legal officer to be approved by members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod. City Administrator John Tecson Lim in an interview with the Leyte Samar Daily Express said although the appointment paper of lawyer Chloe Fiel was already signed by Mayor Alfred Romualdez last June 1 of this year, her appointment letter was not immediately forwarded to the city council. During their session last Wednesday, council members raised the legality of Fiel’s representation of the city government despite her not yet being confirmed by the council. At that time, the councilors were discussing on the creation of the city legal office as a full pledge department. “She had the authority to represent the city government because her appointment is valid and what she is doing is valid,” Lim said. He added that reason why they are asking for the opinion of the DILG is the Local Government Code of the Philippines is silent on the need for confirmation of a legal officer by the city council. “Her confirmation will not void her initial appointment.Meaning, once she is appointed there is the presumption that she will be confirmed which means from the time she was appointed until such time that her appointment is confirmed she already have the authority,” Lim explained. He added that they are confident that Fiel’s appointment will be approved by the city council once they forward it to them, but as of the moment they will still wait for the opinion of the DILG legal division. Defending on the residency status of Fiel who is from Ormoc, Lim said that it is better that an official appointed by Mayor Romualdez is not from Tacloban to avoid any personal biases. “Although she’s not from here, she is willing to help us and the mayor has full confidence on her that she can do her job well as the city legal officer,” Atty. Lim stressed. In the deliberation of the ordinance creating a city legal department, several correction were raised by the members of the city council, to include the inclusion of the term “coterminous” with local chief executive, reducing the amount of RATA (representation and transportation allowances) and the reducing the number of lawyers to be hired by the city government. Reacting to this decision of the city council, the city administration stressed that said number of lawyers to be hired by the city government (about 11 lawyers to include the city legal officer) is important as the city government needs lawyers who will represent them in court cases. “The city government has a lot of cases that needs to be represented by lawyers; ordinances that need to be checked; hearings that needs to be attended, and legal assistance that the Taclobanon and department offices needs.It is important to have a group of lawyers that can attend to them,” Lim said.