Ordinance titles indicate priorities
If curiosity were indeed, the mother of information, in the case of the residents of Cebu City, their curiosity could be a source of utter disappointment. This is my conclusion from the few responses I received on the two previous articles I wrote on the matter of the performance of our honorable Cebu City councilors.
Some of those who gave me brief feedbacks were shocked at the comparison I made on the performance of the city councils of the neighboring cities of Cebu and Mandaue. They simply could not believe that Mandaue City Council with only 12 members was more productive than the Cebu City Sanggunian Panlungsod, composed of 18 members. They took note that all of them received a monthly pay of P54,088, each. For those who missed my last two columns, I mentioned that the legislative department of Mandaue City passed and approved 114 ordinances in the year 2012 while its Cebu City counterpart came up only with 27 ordinances of which about 15 were "new" or "original". To them, the disparity in the quantitative outputs indicated which council was more conscientious. Those who felt wronged uttered unprintable words.
Still few others tried to extract more varied facts from me. That was reasonable. Such interest indicated to me that we hoped our councilors would put on their agenda important issues. Rather than curse the apparent laziness of Cebu City councilors, those readers asked valid questions perhaps as a basis of their judgment. They would like to understand the preferences of city lawmakers. Among the questions directed to me referred to an SP member who would want to project himself as a champion of the urban poor.
Instead of answering specific queries, I hope to be objective and fair to our honorable members of the council. To achieve this end, I will proceed to write down, in the chronological order, the titles of the "new" or "original" ordinances in the hope that we could discern which pieces of local legislation are worth the huge emoluments we give them monthly. For reasons of their inconsequence, I do not include the appropriation measures in the following list. The names following the titles are the authors. These are:
"An Ordinance Prescribing A One (1) Year Moratorium On Compliance With The Sustainable Development Ordinance Of the City of Cebu. Hon. Nida Cabrera.
"An Ordinance Establishing The Cebu City College An Institution Of Higher Learning For The Poor But Deserving Constituents Of Cebu City. Hon. Abellanosa, Young, M. Osmena, A. Dizon and R. Cuenco.
"An Ordinance Creating The Office Of The Building Official (OBO). Hon. J Daluiz III and M. Osmeña.
"An Ordinance Granting Qualified Exemption To All Senior Citizens And Persons With Disability From The Payment of Parking Fees In Malls, Hospitals Or Any Other Establishments That Have pay parking Facilities Prescribing Penalties Therefor. Hon. Dizon, Japson, Abellanosa, Pe, R. Osmena and Andales.
"An Ordinance Declaring Last Friday Of May Of Every year AS Gabii Sa Kabilin Or Night Of Heritage. (italics mine). Hon. M. Osmena
"An Ordinance Prescribing The Rules And Regulations For The Use And Enjoyment Of Plaza Independencia. Hon. Cabrera.
"An Ordinance Promoting Positive And Non-Violent Discipline Of Children. Hon. Japson, Dizon, Po II.
"An Ordinance Protecting The South Road Properties And its Stakeholders From Unlawful And Unauthorized Transaction And Dealings. Hon. Wenceslao
"An Ordinance Establishing The Cebu City College Scholarship Program. Hon. Abellanosa, M. Osmena, Dizon, Cuenco.
"An Ordinance Requiring Any Person Who Manages And Operates Commercial Or Public Swimming Pool In The City Of Cebu To Have A Lifeguard At The Poolside And Providing Penalties for Violation. Hon. R. Osmena.
"An Ordinance Creating The Socialized Housing Trust Fund Of The City Of Cebu. Hon. Dizon.
"An Ordinance Regulating The Use Of Cebu South Coastal Road Project Tunnel. Hon. Cabarrubias
"An Ordinance Prohibiting Discrimination In The City Of Cebu On The Basis Of Disability, Age, Health Status, Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity, Ethnicity And Religion. Hon. Dizon, M. Osmena, Cabrer, Po II, Japson, Pe Jr.
"An Ordinance Granting Privileges To Senior Citizens In Cebu City. Hon. R. Osmena.
"An Ordinance Regulating The Use And Sale of Plastic Shopping Bags Every Saturday Of A Week. Hon. Cabrera, Labella.
There you are. I hope we have a fair appraisal of the priorities of Cebu City councilors by judging from their preferred enactments.
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