If the meeting with regional and provincial officials of at least 60 national government agencies (NGAs) and GOCCs were any indication, Cebu’s landmark PB Ordinance No. 2023-02, which calls for more coordination and collaboration between the LGUs and the national government, is a welcome development.
Lawyer and Undersecretary Leonardo Roy Cervantes, chief of staff of the Office of the Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, also noticed the different agencies’ and government-owned and -controlled corporations’ (GOCCs) “thirst for collaboration” with the Provincial Government.
“There’s a thirst for collaboration,” Usec. Cervantes told Sugbo News. “I see the intentions of the governor, and I also see the yearning of our regional directors or heads of the national government agencies for some collaboration or coordination with the LGUs.”
Usec. Cervantes served as an independent observer who will report directly to Sec. Bersamin about the meeting which tackled the ordinance.
On April 5, Gov. Gwen Garcia signed into a provincial law the said ordinance which now requires NGAs and GOCCs to consult, coordinate, and gain the approval of the Capitol first before they can implement any program or project in the Province of Cebu.
However, there is nothing in the ordinance that is not already expressedly contained in RA 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991. It just reinforces the provisions contained in the LGC, specifically Sections 2C, 25B, 26, and 27 which mandates NGAs and GOCCs to coordinate, consult, and involve the Province in the planning and implementation of their programs and projects in Cebu.
“Iisa lang naman, there’s one one thing we want, yung progress, and how do we synchronize the efforts of the local government unit and the national government. And that’s what we are trying to solve,” Usec. Cervantes said in his speech.
The officials of the NGAs and GOCCs present were given a chance to speak one by one so that the meeting lasted for four hours. They all had a consensus in welcoming the ordinance, saying that it would actually make the implementation of their programs and projects easier because they would also be getting inputs from the Capitol.
The governor sees the need for the ordinance since the LGUs and the Capitol themselves would be at the receiving end of criticism and rebuke from the Cebuanos whenever a project by NGAs or GOCCs would be found to have been implemented poorly, causing inconvenience and suffering to the public.
“At least here in the Province of Cebu, you know very well that we can work very well together to achieve optimum results,” Gov. Garcia said.
“And those results, none of us will claim exclusively. Those are results of this collaboration. And if we are able to do that, it’s good for the province, it’s good for the country as well,” she added.
While the ordinance would be effective starting April 27, the governor said its penal clause would not be implemented unless a working implementing rules and regulations (IRR) would have been crafted.
A penalty of not more than P5,000 or imprisonment of not more than one year, or both according to the discretion of the court, will be meted to violators of the ordinance.
The governor said she will call separate meetings for smaller, more manageable groups in order to discuss the IRR and how best to proceed, especially that the NGAs and GOCCs have different ways of doing things. | Ioannes P. Arong
