No more "urging resolutions", please

Every now and then, we read about proposed resolutions that are included in the agenda of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Cebu City that are, to me, simply products more of indolence than of mediocrity. I say it with a heavy heart because I like to believe that our honorable councilors are blessed with profound talents. Why they do not make use of their gifts to do the job they were elected for continues to perplex me.

Among these measures are those that "urge" certain departments of the government to do something. Because they do not belong to any known subject of local legislation, I will just call them as "urging resolutions."

Let me give specifics. In the agenda of August 14, 2013, two councilors sponsored this genre of useless resolutions. One of them "strongly encourage(d) the private sector in Cebu City to support programs and projects of the government x x x" while the other "fully support(ed), lobb(ied) and advocate(ed) for the enactment of x x a certain bill presented in the lower house of Philippine legislature.

For its August 28, session, three such "urging" resolutions were included in the agenda. They were resolutions: (1) "strongly urging the public to be cautious in dealing with butane canisters"; (2) "urging the province x x x to have a genuine dialogue with x x the 93-1 homeowners associations; and (3) "urging the DOLE to disseminate the output of the Jobfit regional consultation x x x."

What appeared in the September 18 agenda of the city council were resolutions: (1) "urging the CENRO to collaborate with (a certain committee) to conduct information campaign x x"; (2) "strongly commending (a certain senator) for championing (a certain cause)"; (3) "urging the DOLE to monitor compliance of household employers x x x."

While the Senate and the House of Representatives compose our country's legislature, the sanggunian is a legislative organ of the city. We elect our councilors like we vote for senators and congressmen to make laws, regulatory or otherwise, that seek to establish policies and formulate methodologies to achieve such objectives. Yet, by known and acceptable legislative standards, these resolutions that I am talking about are of no productive value. Urging the public to support the government does not set forth a policy. It is not at all, any form of a local law.

In the same manner, urging the provincial governor to dialogue with certain interest sectors insults the intellect of the governor because it assumes that he does not know what to do, or worse, he is remiss in his responsibilities. Besides, if the city councilor plans to project himself as a hero of some kind to the occupants of the province owned lots, he should do his propaganda not at the expense of the provincial chief executive.

When a Cebu City council resolution asks a certain government office to conduct a certain campaign, it does not approximate any plausible statutory standard. In fact, it arrogates as a directive of a superior like the city council because it clearly takes to task a government agency, as a subordinate office, for failing to do what it is supposed to perform.

These "urging resolutions" do not legislate anything that promotes the interest of the city residents. Neither do they achieve substantive worth in making the city grow to heights it is otherwise capable of. Whoever was the councilor who invented this useless mechanism only showed his misunderstanding of his duty.

Our honorable members of the city council will only deserve their huge emoluments if they crack their minds in making "ordinances." If they cannot think of any substantive ordinance, they better keep silent in the sessions. Sponsoring "urging resolutions" is a corrupt way of earning fat salaries. Especially even more deceptive is the fact that these legislative items are reported in the newspapers, quite cleverly, as if they carry some substance.

Our local legislators should realize that we know why they indulge in this temerity of passing "urging resolutions". They do this because at the end of the year, they can show to us a good number of their council outputs. Numbers, man, numbers! Because we do not have the chance to read the contents of these resolutions, we miss to realize that these supposed measures are according to Shakespeare much ado about nothing.

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