The City Council, during last Monday’s regular session, called on the urgent conduct of a multi-sectoral summit among stakeholders to propose their respective agenda as bases for local legislation and executive implementation for development programs for the faster recovery of the city government in the years to come as a result of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
In a resolution, city legislators stated that the proposed summit shall sponsored by the city government to allow concerned sectors to present their respective agenda that will contribute in charting the development thrust of the city focused on recovery.
The council admitted the COVID pandemic had severe adverse impact on peoples livelihood as shown in the rapid decline of employment levels, setbacks on major economic sectors, national and local governments budgets and leadership problems ranging from government responsiveness to health care to the economy to human rights and more problems for the nation.
The council stipulated that the output of the proposed two-day summit this January shall be the basis for the formulation of local legislations and executive actions on appropriate responses to help the city recover faster from the adverse effect of the prevailing health pandemic.
According to the body, pursuant to the welfare clause of the Philippine Constitution and the Local Government Code of the Philippines, the Sangguniang Panglungsod as the legislative body of the city, shall enact ordinances, approve resolutions and appropriate funds for the general welfare of the city and its inhabitants.
The council extended the invitation to all representatives of concerned sectors in the city to the aforesaid summit to ensure they will present their issues and concerns that need appropriate action from the city government to help speed up the resiliency and recovery programs of the city.
Previously, the city’s legislative body had been conducting similar gatherings in the past where most of the legislations were based that eventually resulted in the passage of the appropriate ordinances and resolutions that addressed such pressing problems.
The council expressed optimism that despite the prevalence of the ongoing health crisis, there will be sufficient representatives from the concerned sectors who will attend the proposed summit for them to advance the advocacies of their respective groups that must be acted upon by the city through legislations or executive actions.
The proposed summit could have been done early last year if not for the sudden implementation of the Luzonwide lockdown that prevented the conduct of mass gatherings to contain the spread of the deadly virus in the city.
By Dexter A. See
