The City Council, during last Monday’s regular session, approved on first reading a proposed ordinance creating the city plant nursery and appropriating such amount as may be necessary for the establishment, maintenance and promotion of basic services and facilities.
Under the proposed ordinance, the Baguio City plant nursery shall include, but not be limited, to production and propagation of fruit bearing trees and medicinal plants; provide seedlings to the urban farmers at a minimal cost and sustain ecological balance.
The ordinance stated that the nursery shall be managed and supervised by a qualified agriculturist who must have a first grade civil service eligibility or its equivalent, a resident of the city, of good moral character, a holder of a college degree preferably in agriculture or in any related course from a recognized college or university; must have acquired the equivalent experience necessary for the job, who shall be appointed by the City Mayor subject to the existing civil service rules and regulations and shall be assisted by two nursery aides who shall assist the city agriculturist in the preparation of seedbeds, sowing of seeds, potting of seedlings, sorting and weeding, collection of seeds and preparation of soil media, gathering of scion, grafting and budding and such other activities as may be necessary in the implementation of the proposed measure.
The plant nursery officer shall receive a minimum monthly compensation corresponding to Salary Grade 10 and the two nursery aides shall receive such compensation and remuneration of a rate similar to that of a Clerk II subject to existing accounting and auditing rules and regulations.
The city government shall appropriate the necessary funds from the annual budget for the maintenance, administration and purchase of plant nursery materials and equipment, salaries and wages, power cost and contingency cost for the efficient operation of the said nursery.
The ordinance empowered the City Mayor to have the prerogative to choose the location for the city nursery from any available site within the city.
The ordinance claimed that the local government sees the imminent enactment of a legislative policy and the installation of appropriate agricultural measures in support to ecological concerns through the establishment and maintenance of said plant nurseries for the propagation of desired plant species in the city.
Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code provides that consistent with local autonomy and decentralization, the provision for the delivery of basic services and facilities shall be devolved from the national government to provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays so that each local government unit shall be responsible for a minimum set of services and facilities in accordance with established national policies, guidelines and standards.
Likewise, it provides that the local government units shall, in addition to their existing functions and responsibilities, provide basic services and facilities devolved to them, covering, but not limited to the establishment and maintenance of seed farms for palay gardens, seedling nurseries for fruit trees, coconuts, and other trees or crops, and demonstration farms. By Dexter A. See
