In his report at the second PCL board meeting here on Friday night, Alan D. Zulueta, PCL national chairman, said the fresh push to grant them contempt powers emanated from the Senate Committee on Local Governments headed by Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“That proposal was actually discussed in the Lower House but it did not progress. Some of the concern was on exempting the Congress [representatives] because they said they are higher in position than the different Sanggunians,” he said.

The lack of subpoena powers has allowed persons and private entities to snub or reject any request for their appearance in public hearings and regular formal sessions of the Sangguniang Bayan of the municipalities, Sangguniang Panlungsod of cities or the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of provinces.

The move to revive the proposal came about when the PCL submitted to Malacañang and Congress the different amendments it wants done to the Local Government Code of 1992, which included the push for higher internal revenue allotment.

“There are other proposals that might be added during the plenary and the formulation of the final sets of recommendations [on Saturday],” he said. There was also the plan to seek a review of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) that would allow councilors and staff to be admitted into the GSIS program.

So far, the PCL has put up new initiatives, such as the creation of a legal team that would assist its members in legal matters “like when they face charges in the Office of the Ombudsman.”

It also upgraded its hostel in Quezon City to accommodate more councilors when they apply for training and education. Zulueta said it added a second floor to the building to accommodate 24 councilors at a time “so that it would not be too expensive and draining to our resources the next time you avail yourselves of the trainings we have.”

He said the PCL has also conferred with the Commission on Higher Education to accredit the training and formal education of its members to their baccalaureate, masteral or doctoral degrees.

Zulueta said it has asked senators and other moneyed politicians to chip in to the funds of the PCL and disclosed that Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano has given P5 million and Sen. Bong Revilla has chipped in P2 million.

“We will continue to seek for more donors,” he said.