I had an extended discussion with few people three nights ago on a number of wide-ranging (meaning nagkalanrakas lang) issues. Well, more accurately, I was, for a better part of the evening, more of a listener than a talker. There was no specific agenda to guide us. After all, we were friends who simply decided to break bread to further our bond. Among the group was a kagawad from a barangay in the South District of Cebu City.
It was only when politics became the subject matter that some of them wanted my thoughts kay lagi kuno, kanhi politico man ko! They would not take any of the excuses I thought would be sufficient just to stay at the background, not even the fact that I had long ceased to dabble in politics. I did not realize, until then, that my stint as a city councilor would, in so far as my group was concerned, qualify me as a source of political information. So, finding my plea to keep silent futile, I obliged with whatever scanty knowledge I had on the topic.
I started with a declaration that in 2010, I did not vote for the eventual national and local winners. In Cebu City, I cast my ballot for Atty. Alvin Garcia. It was important for me to establish that point to avoid being misunderstood by my friends.
I will share, in this column, a part of what I said in our get together last Thursday evening. Despite the off-tangent characterization of this corner, it might be relevant to state again my position. In May 2010, I did not vote for His Honor, Cebu City Mayor Michael L. Rama, even he was my former student in the College of Law, although I elected fellow lawyers, Edgar Labella, my fraternity brother and Bebs Andales, a kumpadre, for councilors.
Having clarified my position, I told my group that I made a quick study on the work output of Cebu City Council in 2012. They confirmed having read, from my column, that the city sanggunian passed only 27 ordinances for the whole year and they too, felt it was a very dismal performance specially if compared with the Mandaue City council which passed five times as many ordinances.
Before I could proceed, the kagawad in our group gave his inputs. While he sounded like someone in the inner circle of campaigners of the group now opposed to the mayor, he tried his best (and somehow succeeded) to appear objectively. He mentioned that he had heard a rationale, not an excuse, proposed by the incumbent Cebu City councilors. Accordingly, our honorable local legislators justified that they came up with fewer legislative measures than their Mandaue City counterpart because “all ordinances necessary to run Cebu City†are in place already. The kagawad explained that our own SP members believe that Mandaue City needs more ordinances to govern their city. That should explain why they were more productive in 2012.
But, while it may now be said that Cebu City Council members agreed with our published observation that their production was below what their peers in Mandue City did their justification is difficult to inspire any sense of credibility as it is, in many aspects, absurd.
First, to me, the indication of their laziness does not deserve the kind of pay we give them. Justifying indolence is ridiculous in its worst form.
Second. It is dangerous to believe that everything is in place in Cebu City. That kind of reasoning seems to tell us that life in Cebu City has come to a stop or that it is stagnating. Our councilors appear to disregard that even in the number of new registered voters, the increase is so significant that there are many local laws to promote their interest that have not been crafted yet.
Third. If it is true that “everything is in placeâ€, then we do not anymore need city councilors. Their existence is passé. So, what is the use electing them when passing ordinances is no longer their call of duty? We might as well scrap the council because we do appropriate millions of pesos for officers who are no longer needed.
Really, the only way our councilors can parry the label of laziness is to come up with meaningful ordinances in the last remaining months of their term.