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Monday, September 05, 2005
NGOs seek independence for City Hall ombudsman
NON-Government organizations (NGOs) are wary of the Cebu City Government’s offer for party-list group Akbayan to fill up the post of resident ombudsman and for it to serve as a watchdog of City Hall transactions.
But Akbayan will proceed with recommending names for Mayor Tomas Osmeña to choose from.
Akbayan Cebu secretary general Alvin Dizon said they consulted several NGOs when they heard of the offer. The NGOs, he said, had reservations.
“They can’t see if they (City Hall officials) want a stamp pad or not,” Dizon said of the NGOs’ questions about the resident ombudsman’s role.
Other NGOs, which are members of umbrella group Kaabag sa Sugbo, likewise recommended the creation of a council to stand by the person City Hall will choose.
The resident ombudsman will be accountable to the council and not to the mayor, for him or her to be truly independent in poring over City Hall transactions.
Akbayan submitted two weeks ago its counter-proposal to the draft executive order on the appointment of a resident ombudsman.
The group is still waiting for a reply from the executive department, but was initially told Osmeña was less concerned about the agreement, than the background of Akbayan’s nominee.
Dizon said they are still looking for additional names, because while they already had one person in mind, Akbayan intends to submit at least three.
He asked those interested to contact him so the party-list group can counter-check their credentials and nominate them.
The person, he added, need not be a lawyer.
Osmeña earlier offered Akbayan the task of identifying who should take over the post left vacant by Romeo Cordova, who is already working in a local university.
Dizon said they accepted the offer because Akbayan espouses good governance and the position is a venue to achieve that end.
He, however, said they wanted the position to be created not merely by an executive order, but by an ordinance, so the mandate is assured and the resident ombudsman’s appointment would no longer be coterminous with the mayor. RHM
(September 5, 2005 issue)
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