Council opens review of P148-million cargo vessel buy, calls school-safety summit after Zamboanga shooting

A day after gunfire at a Zamboanga City school, the 47th Regular Session turned to a question every Pagadian parent is asking: are our schools ready? In the same sitting the council opened its review of the Mayor’s P148-million request to buy a containerized cargo vessel, and handed the Government Service Insurance System a 5,504-square-meter lot for its permanent office.

• Sitting47th Regular Session
• DateAugust 19, 2026
• PresidingVice Mayor Monique Shaira Y. To
• Quorum9 at roll call
• Resolutions adopted13
• Referred to committee5

A P148-million ship, and a long look before buying

The largest sum on the table did not come up for a vote. Mayor Samuel S. Co’s endorsed request for authority to purchase a containerized cargo vessel for P148,000,000.00 reached the council with a certification from the Local Finance Committee that the amount is available for appropriation.

The council did not act on it. The request went jointly to the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Finance and Appropriations, where the numbers, the purpose and the terms will be examined before anything returns to the floor. Two weeks later, at the 48th Regular Session, the council noted a letter from the Office of the President approving the city’s request for authority to purchase one containerized sea cargo vessel. The council itself has still not voted on the purchase.

“Are our schools prepared?”

Councilor Ann Marjorie N. Revelo used the Privilege Hour to read out a list no one in the hall wanted to hear. She cited stabbings outside schools across the country, the June 22 shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, and, “just yesterday,” the August 18, 2026 shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University–Junior High School.

“We should not wait for a tragedy to happen within our own city before we begin asking questions. Prevention must come before reaction.”

— Councilor Ann Marjorie N. Revelo, Privilege Hour, 47th Regular Session

She was careful about the point she was making. These incidents should concern the city, she said, “not because we are saying that Pagadian is unsafe, but precisely because we want to make sure that Pagadian remains safe.” She asked for reports on school security protocols and on mental-health and psychosocial support, in aid of legislation and without touching confidential student records.

The council moved within minutes. Resolution No. 2026-0510 invited the Schools Division Superintendent, the city’s Chief of Police, the Federated School PTA president, PADPAO–Zamboanga del Sur, PNP SOSIA, and the managements of Southern Mindanao Colleges, Holy Child Academy and Saint Columban College to a legislative consultation on September 2. Resolution No. 2026-0511 asked Mayor Co, as chairman of the City School Board, to convene the board immediately.

GSIS gets its lot, after a week of questions

A week earlier the council had refused to rush. The lot in question, Lot 2, Block 4 at the President Corazon C. Aquino Regional Government Center in Barangay Balintawak, had been donated to the Department of Agrarian Reform in 2017, and members found the old deed carried no automatic revocation clause.

This time the paperwork was on the table: a letter-recommendation from the City Legal Officer, a certification that the lot is available, a Deed of Revocation and a new Deed of Donation. The chair and the floor leader told the body the lot is now legally available. Resolution No. 2026-0501 authorizes the Mayor to sign over the 5,504.07 square meters to GSIS as the site of its permanent office building.

Also on the floor

Tricycle repainting. A citizen’s complaint asked for an investigation into the alleged unlawful and wasteful use of public funds on the mandatory repainting of privately owned tricycles, and into the release of tricycle franchises. It was noted and filed, together with the Mayor’s reply on the suspended color-change rule, for discussion at the Executive-Legislative Agenda. No investigation was opened.

Going paperless. Councilor Maphilindo Q. Obaob argued that the city’s 2019 Paperless Sessions ordinance (City Ordinance No. 2019-420) needs equipment to work. Resolution No. 2026-0513 asks that the 2027 budget fund 17 laptops, 15 tablets, two high-speed scanners, a server and a large 4K display, among other items. He noted that the DILG’s Legislative Information System is offered to LGUs free of charge.

Eight groups accredited. Search-and-rescue volunteers, barangay health workers, the Pagadian Blind Massage Association and five cooperatives and charities were accredited as NGOs operating in the city.

What to watch next

The council called a special session for August 20 to act on donating a second government-center lot, this one to the Philippine Army. The Mayor’s request for a miscellaneous lease over public land for tourism development, a BFAR deal for a 62-foot tuna handline boat for marginal fisherfolk, a DOST agriculture-hub agreement and Barangay Santa Lucia’s P12,000,000.00 budget all went to committee.

The Sangguniang Panlungsod of Pagadian

File photos: video stills from the official session recordings of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Pagadian City (49th and 50th Regular Sessions, September 2026).

Every decision on the record

Source: Official minutes of the 47th Regular Session of the 15th City Council, Sangguniang Panlungsod of Pagadian City, August 19, 2026. Figures, names and measure numbers are taken from the minutes as written. Photo: file image from the official session recording of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Pagadian City.