DAVAO CITY -- The Davao City Council on Tuesday stripped Councilor Nilo "Small" Abellera of all committee chairmanships and memberships for incurring absences due to health problems.
Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte said the city council needs to remove Abellera from all the committees, which he chairs or as member, in order for the committee to continue functioning.
Abellera is the chair of the Committee on Peace and Order, vice chair of Public Works, and member of most committees.
"We cannot leave the committee vacant because he is absent. There are a lot of things to do and needs to be done," the vice mayor said in an interview.
VM Duterte said he talked to Abellera to just file a resignation which did not happen. Thus, the city council was forced to remove him.
"Councilor (Bernard) Al-ag is constantly talking to him, however, he did not file any resignation. We've advised him to file a resignation, especially that his committee (Peace and Order) is very crucial, the whole city depends on it," Dutere said.
Recently, Abellera skipped city council sessions due to health reasons. He also failed to attend two senate hearings on the controversial P6.4 million illegal drugs smuggled into the country.
Abellera was tagged by Bureau of Customs (BoC) fixer Mark Taguba as one of the “Davao Group” allegedly offering bribe money or "tara". Since Abellera's name was dragged into the smuggling issue, he only attended the regular session once.
"We understand that he is sick and he needs to attend the senate hearing, but we cannot leave the job vacant. The council needs to work," Vice Mayor Duterte said.
But he clarified that Abellera is still a councilor of Davao City.
“When he returns to office then we can talk about his chairmanship, for now, someone needs to take over," he said.
Replacing Abellera is Councilor Mabel Sunga-Acosta as committee chair of Peace and Order, Vice Chair of Public Works and Highways, and member of the committees on International Affairs, Barangay Affairs, Finance, Ways and Means, Education, and Tourism. (Funny Pear Gajunera/PNA)
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