Bucao poised to slash number of committees

CEBU, Philippines - If present Talisay City councilors are handling three committees each, expect a reduction of the number in the next Talisay City Council.

Vice Mayor-elect Alan Bucao said there are committees that are "related" to one another, and considers it necessary to just merge them.

"We've been contemplating reducing the number of the committees, considering that some of them are related to one another," said Bucao in an interview.

Bucao said some of the committees such as "Traffic" could be merged with the Peace and Order committee, the Barangay Affairs committee could also be lumped together with the Social Services, among others.

There are currently more than 20 committees in the Talisay City Council.

Asked if his party-mates might disapprove of his plan considering that fewer committees mean lesser income for the 10 administration councilors (eight elected councilors and two ex-officio members: presidents of Association of Barangay Councils president and Sangguniang Kabataan Federation) who will be dividing these among themselves, Bucao did not want to pre-empt their action, but rather clarified that there is no money in committees.

He said that in the past, there was a proposal to give P5,000 as honorarium to each of the committee chairman every month, but this was disapproved by the Provincial Board.

He however admitted that the city gives monetary allowances or "honorarium" to officials or members of the commissions during their regular meetings.

The group has to meet again to discuss the matter, he said.

Meanwhile, Bucao, who is the current council's presiding officer, said committee chairmanships will not be reinstated to their former chairmen within the last remaining four regular sessions of the current council. The committees will be given to the members of the new council already, he said. This means Bucao remains the chairman on council committee of the Whole. It was in March 16, days before the campaign period for the local candidates, when the councilors, except for outgoing Councilor Shirley Belleza, decided to strip themselves of their committees to prepare for the campaign.

Meanwhile, the new city council is set to hold its inaugural session on July 6.   (FREEMAN NEWS)