Here are some of the new proposals I am currently working on for the City Council:
1. Public markets reform program to transform these into clean, tourist attractions;
2. Creation of the Davao City Green Army to marshall the whole citizenry to protect the environment;
3. Local health care system; and
4. Food safety Code
Please send your ideas and comments on these subjects.
The City Legal Office has given its thumbs up July 20 to the proposed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the city government and the Philippine Overseas Workers Administration (POEA) to intensify the anti-illegal recruitment campaign in the city.
The legal opinion said the MOA is "free from any legal infirmity."
I can now sponsor the measure in our next session on August 7. There would be no session on July 31.
If approved, the city would become the first LGU outside Metro Manila to forge the same pact with the POEA. Davao City is tagged as one of the leading recruitment areas in the country and also considered as a key human trafficking centers in southern Philippines.
POEA Mindanao Center chief Francis Domingo has been working hard to make the city safe for aspiring overseas workers.
Three years ago, I also sponsored an Ordinance requiring non-Davao City-based recruitment agencies to register with the city government. This way, we are able to track their activities and their recruits. Yet, illegal recruitment remains rampant.
Sometime five years ago, I also sponsored a Resolution urging the POEA to assign one of its Deputy Administrators to be based in Davao City. I remember Presidential Assistant for Mindanao and now head of the Peace Process, Secretary Jesus Dureza, endorsing the measure. Perhaps, the POEA needs to revisit this proposal and promote Domingo as full time Deputy Administrator.
In addition to the two Resolutions which I sponsored on the floor, I voted yes to the following measures:
1. Approval of Supplemental Budget No. 1 as item under 1st reading (Councilor Militar);
2. Request to the DOTC to suspend the implementation of a new vehicle insurance system (Councilor Braga);
3. Request to TESDA to provide training programs to persons with disabilities (PWD) (Councilor Monteverde);
4. Budgets of 23 barangays (Councilor Manding)
5. Request for the extension of the voter registration for members of the SK (Councilor Dayap)
One interesting, nay controversial, item in today's 1st reading is the proposal of Councilor Angela Librado-Trinidad, chair of the Committee on Women, Children & Family Relations, "Prohibiting the holding of beauty contests in Davao City."
Regulate yes, but "prohibit?"
Hmm. I don't think I'm ready to support this measure.
I have four items for today.
Up for 1st reading are:
Request for reconsideration from Smart re payment of local taxes which became the basis for the rejection of building permits for their proposed cell sites; and
Legislative authorization for the use of a city-owned lot for the site of the Barangay Business Center at Catalunan Pequeno.
Under suspended rules today, I intend to present two Resolutions:
To support the campaign to promote banana chips as snack food for children instead of "junk food;" and
To extend the City Council's greetings to the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) on its 93rd founding anniversary.
The Housing Committee chair Councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling has re-filed the Shelter Code and is now docketed as Item No. 146 in our agenda for the July 24 session.
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte vetoed the ordinance which was approved during the closing weeks of the previous City Council. Cabling said the questionable provisions in the veto were mere technicalities and did not substantially question the key features of the Code.
In last Tuesday's session, a long debate ensued over the veto of the mayor. Cabling presented it either for acceptance or rejection by the legislative body. The City Council eventually voted for its "deferment." Meaning it would be taken up at a later date.
I was the lone dissenter. I voted against deferment. I believe the City Council could have acted immediately to accept the veto and then re-file the same measure with all the needed corrections.
Now, Cabling has re-filed the Code in its original form. But what about the veto?
Starting in our next City Council session, I will post my stand/votes on major issues/resolutions/ordinances during our deliberations.
This way, I and the people of Davao, particularly my constituents in the First District, would be able to track my positions and legislative stands on matters at the local legislative body.
I am doing this blog in the hope that others would follow to help promote local participatory governance, transparency and accountability.
Comments are most welcome.
