From Congress to City Councilor to Vice Mayor.
City Councilor Alberto Ungab from the city’s third district is the acting vice mayor for two months following the leave of Mayor Sara Duterte.
Ungab, a former third district representative, said he will be acting as vice mayor until Sept. 17, as Vice Mayor Sebastian Duterte temporarily takes his elder sister’s post.
As vice mayor, he will take the leadership at the City Council. He will preside over the regular sessions.
Ungab’s designation, according to a City Hall memorandum dated July 19, follows the “interest of public service and in view of the leave of absence of the City Mayor Sara Duterte.”
During the recent City Council’s regular session, some members of the Council complained that they weren’t aware of Ungab’s acting designation as they weren’t given the copy of the memorandum.
Majority Floor Leader Councilor J. Melchor Quitain said the selection of Ungab as the acting vice mayor follows the House rules.
“You will always have to go back to the rules. Everything is already on record because we have submitted it officially. Based on our rules, when urgent matters arise, the floor leader is the one who decides should it be passed by the body or not. Except for ordinances, when it should be the mayor or the vice mayor,” he said.
Quitain, however, did not give the reason why the other councilors were not able to get a copy.
“That is the job of the office of the Sanggunian Panlungsod secretary. Maybe it was misplaced but the most important thing is that the acting vice mayor receives it,” Quitain said.
