Smooth delivery of services after ELA

The Executive Legislative Agenda (ELA) held Sept. 23 to 25 in Boracay, which cost about P350,000 in expenses, is being considered by not a few as just another junket.

Nevertheless, initiators of the ELA believe it would pay excellent and fruitful dividends.

From the start, the plan to hold the ELA in the island of Boracay had been criticized by many in the corners of Dumaguete, saying it is too expensive, or why can’t we hold it here in the City and save money, or that there are other more pressing concerns that need immediate attention here at home such as the fight against the deadly dengue, etc.

Come to think of it. In school, various bachelor courses require exposure rips for the students to have more meaningful exchanges of ideas and deeper immersion in the larger community of their specialized field, considering the fact that there is no monopoly of ideas.

Likewise, the two branches of government — the executive and legislative — need to have an exchange of ideas and deeper insight on governance and public service in tune with the Divine will. This is to achieve a divinely ordained purpose and dream of making the City, characterized as the “City of Gentle People”, conducive to living, industriously enhanced without jeopardizing the preservation of nature and the pulling out of opportunities equally shared by the constituents.

Earlier, City Administrator William E. Ablong answered the question of the Lavisa expenditure to be incurred by the ELA saying that something like “it is more expensive if ignorance continues to dominate our being”. Well said: the lack of knowledge in governance would make one counterproductive. “Experience is the best teacher, but it’s also a tough and costly one.”

The ELA experience provides room for growth and improvement among the people in both branches of government. The holding of the ELA is so timely, pondering on the huge challenges the Dumaguete LGU is confronted with; considering that “experience is a short cut to learning.”

City Mayor Manuel “Chiquiting” Sagarbarria disclosed that the ELA experience would bring a change in local governance, saying that the people of Dumaguete could now expect great changes in the delivery of public service.

Deliberations in the legislative council would not be meant to delay the delivery of services but for purposes of check and balance.

“I am not God who could not commit errors, so I need good people around me to check our actuations and intentions,” Mayor Chiquiting said.

Suffice it to say that the ELA experience is not that expensive compared to trips made abroad but that it could surely intensifying tax collections in the City, and in effect, our dreams for a better Dumaguete might just come true.

And Dumaguete could at least be among the country’s Top Cities, the city we can be proud to call our own.