BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan wants open-minded citizens to actively participate in consultations that will be scheduled by the city government to solicit the valid and legitimate suggestions and recommendations of concerned sectors of the city relative to the crafting
The local chief executive cited that it is unfortunate that results of previous consultations relative to proposed policies on the comprehensive land use plan, zoning ordinance ,environment code among others end up in a stalemate because most of those participating in scheduled consultations have already convictions relative to such issues.
“It is high time that the silent majority come out in the open to voice out their respective positions on various issues affecting the overall development of the city. We do not object to the conduct of consultations but there should be a greater participation of open-mind citizens because there will be an avenue of meeting in the middle, especially relative to tickles issues surrounding priority programs and projects of the city
The city mayor ordered concerned departments of the local government to schedule a planning workshop involving the next set of city officials and representatives from concerned sectors of the city so that they will be able to craft the appropriate direction of the city in terms of dealing with the priority concerns, specifically solid waste disposal, traffic management, air, water and land pollution, peace and order, rapid urbanization among others.
Domogan welcomed the recommendation of three-term Councilor Peter Fianza to accommodate representatives from concerned sectors of the city so that appropriate inputs will be gathered and put together for the crafting of a short-medium and long-term development plan of the city which will be aligned with the country’s development plan through Presumptive President and incumbent Davao |city Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Councilor Fainza suggested that in order to be able to ensure that the city government will be able to get the best inputs from concerned sectors, the city government should first pre-accredit the interested groups wanting to join the city’s planning workshop and their respective position papers on various issues and concerns for consideration by the concerned departments of the local government.
Among the sensitive issues pending deliberations before the city council are the city’s environment code, the comprehensive land use plan, the city’s zoning ordinance and the codification of the city’s ordinances.
Domogan cited there is nothing wrong with the conduct of grassroots consultations in order to solicit the opinion of the public on various issues and concerns affecting the state of the city but participants should not insist on what they believe is the right thing to be done because there are numerous factors that affect the finalization of policies, thus, the need for them to be at least open-minded in order to be able to reach a consensus in the end.
He asserted that what is important is for concerned sectors will be able to contribute in findings ways and means to solve the city’s existing problems without legal impediments among other factors./By Dexter A. See
