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Friday, July 01, 2005
Akbayan offered watchdog job at City Hall
In need of a “watchdog” on his administration, Mayor Tomas Osmeña has anointed party-list group Akbayan to select Cebu City Hall’s resident ombudsman.
He also vowed to deputize its members to pore over documents and sort out papers on City Hall transactions, to ensure everything is in order.
He made the decision after noting “several middle management lapses” made during his administration.
“I know it’s a radical approach, but I really need a watchdog with no linkages in City Hall,” said Osmeña.
“Akbayan is considered a militant group that is basically skeptical of government. I want to channel that skepticism into something positive,” the mayor said.
Break the tradition
Akbayan’s political agenda, according to its website, is “to break the tradition of shady dealings and horse-trading between and among politicians, towards more participatory and rational decision-making.”
Formed in 1998, Akbayan is considered a “Left pluralist” national political party.
It’s one of only three groups to earn enough votes to fill the maximum three seats per party in the 2004 elections. Bayan Muna and Apec were the other two.
Osmeña, though, said whomever the party-list group will endorse will not automatically become City Hall’s resident ombudsman. Osmeña said he will have to determine whether or not the person has hidden intentions.
The position was left vacant after retired policeman Romeo Cordova joined the University of Cebu, as dean of the college of criminology.
Lapses
Osmeña earlier identified lapses, such as the expiration of drug testing kits before City Hall could use them, as an example of a failure of management.
He likewise cited as an example what happened to City Councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa, who appeared to have used City Hall vehicles to clear debris from his private lot at the corner of P. del Rosario and Leon Kilat Sts.
It turned out that Suba Barangay Captain Joel Sable, on his own accord, talked directly with City Hall’s Department of Engineering and Public Works officials, who authorized the use of the trucks so Sable could get filling materials for a minor reclamation project in his barangay.
Barangays are allowed to use City Hall vehicles, as long as they assign their own drivers. (RHM)
(July 1, 2005 issue)
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