The decrees, signed on 27 August, swap the Commerce and Agriculture and Fisheries departments between the two councillors. Although the change has been official for almost a month, it is still not reflected on the municipal website and has not been made public.
The mayor of Manilva, Mario Jiménez, has changed the municipal portfolios of councillors Agustín Vargas González and Rogelio Pascual López, just a few weeks after the four councillors who until now belonged to Con Andalucía-IU became non-affiliated councillors.
The change is set out in two mayoral decrees, both dated 27 August 2026, which, to date, we find somewhat odd have not been accompanied by a public announcement from the Town Hall Press Office.
Decree 2026-1572 establishes that the Agriculture and Fisheries portfolio, which until then had been held by Rogelio Pascual, becomes the responsibility of Agustín Vargas.
Decree 2026-1573, for its part, sets out the opposite move in the Commerce department, which is no longer delegated to Agustín Vargas and passes to Rogelio Pascual.
A swap of portfolios
The decrees do not create new departments, but redistribute responsibilities between the two councillors.
In the case of Agriculture and Fisheries, the portfolio covers, among other functions, relations with farmers’ and livestock breeders’ associations, the maintenance of rural roads, the management and administration of AEPSA, the organisation of the Manilva Wine Competition and attention to the needs of the fishing sector, including relations with the Fishermen’s Guild, the Fisheries Development Group and the concession holder of the Marina.
As for Commerce, Rogelio Pascual takes on responsibilities relating to the town’s commercial sector, the promotion of local spending, promotional campaigns, new openings of shops and industries, and street markets.
Both portfolios are special delegations, including internal management, the power to make proposals to the mayor and/or the Local Government Board, and the handling of matters relating to each service.
In force since 27 August
Both decrees state that the new portfolios take effect from the date of the decree itself and for an indefinite period, without prejudice to their publication in the Boletín Oficial de la Provincia (the Official Provincial Gazette), the Municipal Notice Board and the Transparency Portal.
Both documents also state that the changes must be reported to the council meeting at the first session held.
The documents are electronically signed by the mayor, Mario Jiménez Rodríguez, and the acting secretary, Ildefonso Narváez.
The municipal website still shows their previous portfolios
The change is particularly striking because, at the time of publication of this article, the official website of Manilva Town Hall still shows the previous portfolios.
In the Agriculture and Fisheries section, the municipal website identifies Rogelio Pascual López as the councillor responsible for Sports, Festivities, and Agriculture and Fisheries.
Likewise, in the Commerce section, the Town Hall continues to identify Agustín Vargas as the Commerce councillor, and the latest news published in that section during 2026 continues to present him with that responsibility.
The Town Hall’s general page on the governing team also still lists Rogelio Pascual as head of Agriculture and Fisheries and Agustín Vargas as responsible for Commerce.
The change comes after the four councillors’ political shift
The redistribution of these two departments also comes at a particularly significant political moment for the four councillors who joined the Town Hall in the 2023 municipal elections under the Izquierda Unida banner.
As this newspaper has already reported, Agustín Vargas, Rogelio Pascual, Gema Zotano and Juan Carlos Morejón became non-affiliated councillors after the last ordinary council meeting, following a term marked by their break with Izquierda Unida, their participation in various governing agreements and their subsequent integration into the Con Andalucía-IU group.
The Town Hall had already undergone several changes to its structure of portfolios during the term. In April 2025, the municipal organisation placed Rogelio Pascual in charge of Sports, Festivities, and Agriculture and Fisheries, while Agustín Vargas took on Resident Foreigners, Tourism and Commerce.
Now, the two decrees signed by Mario Jiménez change that distribution again: Agustín Vargas takes on Agriculture and Fisheries and Rogelio Pascual becomes responsible for Commerce.
For the moment, the decrees set out only this change of responsibilities and do not indicate any change in the status of either man as councillor or in the rest of their municipal responsibilities.
