Labella: Duterte asks city mayors to step up

CEBU, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has directed all city mayors in the country to step up in the fight against corruption, criminality, and illegal drugs.

The order was made during a meeting in Manila with the members of the League of Cities of the Philippines Tuesday night.

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, who is also chairman of the LCP, said the President met with the city mayors since several of them were not able to attend the State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday.

“He just reiterated the things he said during the State of the Nation Address. He was very particular about the fight against illegal drugs, criminality, corruption in the bureaucracy and ease of doing business,” the mayor said.

Labella said Duterte also reiterated the need for the mayors to implement the clearing of the roads and the need to postpone the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections from May 2020 to October 2022.

The mayor said the directives of the president will be one of the things that the LCP will discuss two months from now.

“I am the presiding officer of the League of Cities and we’re going to have our strategic planning in Davao City in September. I preside the board and there are 46 members of the board,” he said.

Labella said the league will also tackle the re-imposition of death penalty for plunders and illegal drug traffickers and the possible amendments of the Local Government Code.

As chairman of the LCP, he said he may step down as presiding officer to introduce measures that he wants to propose. Among the things that he wanted to act on is the quasi-judicial function of the Sangguniang Bayan and Sangguniang Panlungsod.

“It’s not enough that the Sanggunian conducts and independent administrative adjudication. It is also important that it is perceived to be truly independent, free from political posturings,” Labella said.

The perception is that allies of the members of the Sanggunian will be exonerated while the oppositions are punished. He wanted to have modification on the quasi-judicial function of the Sanggunian and eventually remove it.

LCP can pass resolutions which will be referred to concerned agencies. — FPL (FREEMAN)