DILG program and heartwarming LGU officials!

I am glad to report in this column a personal and private observation on the program of the Department of the Interior and Local Government called Local Legislation Award (LLA). A part of this LLA calls for local governments to come up with codes. It is rather innovative yet brilliantly challenging. Many of us, ordinary citizens, are unaware of this program though because we are, in a manner of speaking, outsiders. But this DILG program, beamed at the elected local government officials has virtually hit the proverbial mother lode of the development consciousness of vice mayors and councilors. Yes, mayors, too. In trying to meet the LLA bar of capacity, competence and dedication, these concerned officials are exploring hitherto uncharted areas of development in local legislation.

The local government units of Madrid, Surigao del Sur, thru Councilor Rolando Gutang, and Bais City, Negros Oriental thru Councilor Bruno Boufard, want their respective ordinances updated and codified. That, to them, is the best way to find out what local laws are still needed to move their localities forward. The Madrid LGU officials asked for some inputs on codification from me in a forum held in a local hotel while I had to travel to Bais City for the same purpose.

Our lively and intellectually satisfying encounters started with an understanding of codes. From the book of Sen. Arturo Tolentino, we got the definition of a code as “a collection of laws of the same kind, a body of legal provisions referring to a particular branch of law.” Codification, we pointed out, is the process of systematically organizing many legal enactments into one statute. In David Dudley Field’s words to codify is “to reduce the bulk, clear out the refuse, condense and arrange the residuum.” If the ordinances are codified, it will make it easier for the residents to know what kind of laws govern their conduct. To the councilors, the codes will facilitate their work in finding out what legislative measures are still needed to improve their LGU.

The biggest challenge to these Madrid town and Bais City LGUs appears to be climate change. The ordinances of these LGUs on environment are few and they were legislated far between each other. The officials are upbeat to find out what measures are needed to protect their constituencies from severe weather disturbances that bring untold disasters. Codification, culling from the best practices written in the ordinances of other local government units, is a big help to answer what new administrative offices need to be established to provide appropriate direction.

The participations of the officials of these localities in our group animated discussions were most heartwarming. Their yearning to know what ideas they can pound on their legislative anvils to promote the interests of their people showed that elected public officials are, generally, conscious of their mandates. The inputs they contributed must have breached the highest level of DILG success expectations when it conceptualized this LLA program.

If only the constituencies of these LGUs have actually witnessed the dynamism of their chosen officers in expressing their thoughts on the issues at hand, they would have extended their borders of hope. I am truly confident that when the various codes of Madrid, Surigao del Sur and Bais City, Negros Oriental, are finally written, their legal superstructure would have secured the future of these localities. end.