“All legislation is founded upon the principle of mutual concession.” — Henry Clay
In running a city, it is most important that programs and services committed and promised are realized upon assumption of office. Campaigning and winning an election is only the first part of the challenge of true leadership for a continuous change towards the well-being of the constituents being served. There are many cases in point in the Philippines as far as running the city is concerned that clearly manifest a stark contrast between elected legislative and executive members if party affiliations are different. Conversely, if elected officials carry the same programs and governance platforms a smooth and unhindered realization of promised programs are expected to be beneficial and impactful.
MIS-ALIGNED
If the chief executive and the local legislators are not aligned politically or ideologically this can create major challenges where good governance is put to bigger risk. This often arises when the mayor comes from a different political party and the members of the local sanggunian belong or are affiliated to a different party. The spirit of checks and balances is often abused and made as an excuse, and disagreements become the norm, whereby major responsibilities are put to a standstill such as budget approval and crafting of pertinent policies. Usually, the so-called opposition council members more often than not challenge executive decisions resulting in a political “sarsuela” that even extends to legal and administrative battles. Unhealthy.
These are unnecessary actions especially when the local government is on an inevitable rapid pace of development where the welfare of its constituents is the cornerstone. While checks and balances and the separation of powers are observed they must not curtail or disrupt the delivery of basic services especially the underprivileged constituents who need them most. It is highly unacceptable that in the name of “checks and balances” or “fiscalizing” basic services are hampered, delayed or worse, stalled.
IN HARMONY
Flipping the coin, when the chief executive and the local legislators breathe the same philosophy, whether they belong to the same party or not, we can always expect harmony and synergy. If this happens it leads to better, smoother and unhampered governance. Major endeavors such as budget allocation and approval and all other pertinent policies related to service delivery, project development driven by technology and digitalization and infrastructures all directed to the welfare of the people become a normal process. This harmony strengthens people’s trust and confidence in their leaders, leading to more support that leads to inclusivity. Inclusivity in the sense that people’s support is a major role in stakeholder-ship where the people themselves participate in nurturing and sustaining good governance.
This gives more meaning and substance to checks and balances where there is openness towards positivity or constructive criticism rather than political grandstanding by the opposition. The essence of an opposition is not to audit or fault-find to destroy but to thresh out concerns in order to address them fast-pacing to development providing well-being to the people as key ingredients of good governance. This is not to imply perfection without debates and arguments hanging along the lines of checks and balances, however, it is guaranteed that friction is significantly lessened, and personal skirting to serve one’s interest does not prevail.
In this sense, good governance under the chief executive’s leadership is swift and streamlined because there is a unified development agenda, unhampered policy implementation, and efficient fund allocations.
A WELL-VERSED LEGISLATIVE BODY
Just like their counterparts in Congress, the main responsibilities of city council members are the same as the congressmen and senators, except in scope and extent. While the latter are national in scope, the former are limited to a local government. But just the same, city council members deliberate and approve budgets, craft local laws or ordinances including regulatory ones pertaining to major concerns such as business operations and land use. Moreover, they are responsible for development planning and oversight functions.
A like-minded, cooperative and well-versed city council for that matter indeed plays a pivotal and crucial role in good governance. More importantly, together with the executive branch, they lead the navigation of the platform of governance as committed and promised during the campaign journey.
Good governance is all about the delivery of basic services – it will never happen without pure hearts. Who knows we might have found them. I did.*
