Let’s make barangay captains councilors?

In our special presentation on our talkshow Straight from the Sky, we bring you an interview that we did in Rome, just at the end of the famous Piazza Navona at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. This is the university where most of those people who want to be priests with the Opus Dei take their Theology classes. With us tonight is Fr. Luise Felipe Navarro, Dean of Canon Law and Mrs. Linda Corbi, International Coordinator of the Harambee Project of Opus Dei, a project that was started 10 years ago during the canonization of St. Josemaria Escriva. So watch this very interesting show on SkyCable’s Channel 15 at 8:00pm with replays on Wednesday and Saturday and replays also on MyTV Channel 28 on M-W-F.

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The Freeman headline last Saturday discussed an issue that should have been discussed 15 years ago… about that proposal to create a third district in Cebu City. The report says that if Cebu City South District Congressional candidate Aristotle “Totol” Batuhan would win the 2013 elections, he will revive the proposal to create a third district. Batuhan pointed out, “The basic concept is, more representatives the city has in Congress would mean more funding from the national government assuming that the pork barrel system will continue.”

Meanwhile, South District Rep. Tomas Osmeña opposed this move as unnecessary, saying “That means another eight councilors… a new building? New Session hall? Additional vehicles and staff and overhead? The creation of a new district would only mean another layer of bureaucracy. There’s not even enough parking spaces in City Hall. I believe in a smaller bureaucracy.”

If you ask me…both of them are right. It is a matter of implementation. But above all, it is a question of representation. Cebu City, which has a population of 700,000, should have more representatives in Congress. In fact we should not consider just a third district but also a fourth one. The problem here is that this issue was never debated here in Cebu when the Bando-Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) was in power in the last 20 years.

I recall that the problem that the BO-PK faced back then was… putting up a third district might give the BO-PK a stiff competition, something that was unacceptable to the rule of the Osmeñas under then Mayor Tomas, especially with another Osmeña (that’s John O) challenging his authority. But times are different now as the BO-PK today is no longer solid the way it was before. Councilorial candidates in Team Rama belong to the BO-PK.

So the big question that we constituents in Cebu City ought to ask is, are we properly represented in Congress or not? Frankly speaking I believe we need at least two more congressmen. But let me point out very clearly that whilst we are underrepresented, I share the view of Rep. Osmeña that there is a cost to having more districts in Cebu City… a cost that only adds to the bureaucracy. This is what I’ve been harping for in the last two decades as a journalist seeking charter changes because the 1987 Constitution doesn’t work for the ordinary people… but strengthens the political elite that has been in power since the EDSA Revolt. It is personified in the BO-PK.

If when we do get the opportunity to revise the 1987 Constitution, the first thing we should do is remove the pork barrel in any shape or form, direct or indirect. I see the pork barrel as the major motivation why our politicians would invest millions of their own money for a post that pays only P30,000 a month or worse… they would even kill for that political position. It is the reason why we have political dynasties who control most of our country.

Once the pork barrel is constitutionally removed… and politicians no longer have the motive to seek an elective post… we shall put in our new constitution term limits for those who are seeking positions in Congress. This will finally put an end to the issue of political dynasties. Then we should recreate the districts of Cebu City and Province so that when we elect the barangay captains, they will also become our councilors.

Now if this issue sounds strange to you, let me just tell you that I’ve been brainstorming on this for many years now and it is the right way to replace our current set-up of electing councilors to represent us in the Cebu City Council. Why not just let the barangay captains do this? Then our people will have to elect better barangay captains. Of course this means that we would have to restructure the entire Barangay System.

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We just came from the inauguration of The Bellevue Resort in Panglao, which is the 1st 5-Star hotel in the entire island of Bohol. It was a lavish grand opening with my good friend Johnny Litton emceeing the event. Above all, their Executive Chef, Chef Martin Przewobnik, who was Chef at the Alegre Beach Resort, already knows the Visayan palate so the food he serves his guest are authentic Cebuano in taste. Kudos to The Bellevue Resort in Panglao.

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