BAGUIO CITY – The chairman of the City Council Committee on Laws and Human Rights is advocating for the active participation of the different sectors in the city in the crafting of ordinances and resolutions to ensure that their concerns will be addressed for the formulation of local laws that are responsive to the needs of the people.
Councilor Faustino A. Olowan, committee chairman, said that there is a need for the various sectors of the city to air their suggestions and recommendations to proposed ordinances and resolutions that are being crafted so that the local legislative body will be guided on what actions to take on matters that are being brought to their attention.
He added that the local legislative body will also try to look into the inclusion of various sectoral representations in the council such as senior citizens, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender, urban poor, among others that deserve representations to advance their causes that are not actually being prioritized.
“We need to consider the light of the different sectors in the city in the crafting of proactive measures that are geared towards advancing their welfare. We want to strengthen these sectors so that they will be empowered to actively participate in the different affairs of the city in the future,” Councilor Olowan stressed.
The alderman stated that local officials draw their inspiration in crafting policies of the local government from the issues and concerns being brought to their attention by the affected sectors that is why the local legislative body wants more sectors to come out in the open and speak out their suggestions and recommendations on how to effectively and efficiently improve the city’s existing programs, projects and activities that will help move the city to greater heights in the coming years.
According to him, representatives of the different sectors in the city have bright ideas to share which must be taken into consideration by city officials in the formulation of programs, projects and plans that are geared towards advancing the overall state of growth and development of Baguio city in the coming years.
Under the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local ?government code of the Philippines, local governments are mandated to include sectoral representatives in their local legislative bodies to ensure that the plight of the marginalized sectors will be addressed when crafting policies that conform with the prevailing trend of the times.
Olowan noted that in the annual budget of the local government, salaries and wages of sectoral representatives are included in the annual appropriation of funds for the local legislative body but since the enactment of the Local government code, the same had never been filed up while the representations of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) and the Sangguniang Kabataan Federation (SKF) are the ones that are only being filled up by the barangay and youth sectors.
He urged the various sectors in the city to sustain being active in the affairs of the local government for them to be able to voice out their sentiments in different issues that are being brought to the fore.
By Dexter A. See
Banner photo by Armando M. Bolislis