By Jerome S. Galunan, Jr.
Bacolod City Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr. claimed an ordinance authored by City Councilor Caesar Distrito, regulating the use of e-cigarettes, which recently passed its second reading before the Bacolod City Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP), is a copy of his 2014 E-Cigarette Ordinance.
“The 2014 E-Cigarette Ordinance was landmark local legislation as it was the first ordinance of its kind to be approved throughout the Philippines,” Gamboa explained.
The city councilor said the recent ordinance does not change the original piece of legislation, but merely puts forward amendments.
“[The] added portions are Sections 4, 5, 7, 17, 19, and 20,” Gamboa stressed. “The rest were all copied verbatim with a few changes.”
“Distrito’s proposed ordinance retains significant provisions, form, and spirit of the 2014 E-Cigarette Ordinance,” he added.
Gamboa also accused Distrito of copying his ordinance awarding benefits to local centenarians, or those who have reached the age of 100.
“If we let Distrito get away again with this act of dishonesty and stealing other people’s ideas, it gives him permission to conduct this immoral and dishonest act again and again,” he said. “He will continue to copy and claim credit for ideas that are not his by simply revising ordinances and calling it his own.”
“If you were a teacher and caught a student copying somebody’s work and claim it as his own, what would you do?” Gamboa asked.
In response, Distrito put out a press release where he called Gamboa a “cry baby” and described his accuser as “immature and childish.”
“You cannot claim ownership of your legislative work,” Distrito stated. “Ordinances can be copied or used at anytime.”
The city councilor suggested to Gamboa, “Find time to read our laws.”
He also claimed Gamboa copied an ordinance authored by City Councilor Em Ang, saying, “City Councilor Ang never complained to the media that her idea for the ordinance was copied,” referring to the Bike Lanes Ordinance.
However, Gamboa explained Ang’s ordinance only focused on bike lane installations for Burgos-Alangilan road and Alijis-Murcia road, while his referred the major streets in Bacolod City./WDJ