Tuesday, August 07, 2007 Speak out: Two to tango By Joseph M. Dabon Hermag Subd., Basak, Mandaue City
AS easy and simple as this formula may seem, the grace and beauty of the dance is all but grotesque if one pair of feet goes one way while the other goes the other, or none keeps to the rhythm and beat of the music. And that, precisely, is what is happening in Mandaue City right now.
A case in point is the financial well-being of the city. While the executive branch is hell-bent in proving that the city is financially sick, the legislative says otherwise. And they would remain at logger-heads if they cannot sit together for enlightenment from the city financial officer.
While it can be argued that cooperation is lacking from the concerned department in relation to the financial status of the city, bringing in another cat — because the financial cat is difficult to skin — is inexcusable considering that one trait of a good manager is to have at least two, the most three, out of a thousand, ways to skin the same cat.
Another issue is that involving the 2,000 or more contractual workers. While it is no secret that every government office is as bloated with manpower like a frog in heat, it is also equally known that no incumbent politician dare pare them down without risk of a political fall-out.
A pragmatic way of doing this is to argue on the side of fiscal management, coupled with a good performance evaluation. Problem is that both the executive and legislative are still quarreling over finances and there is virtually no credible performance standards to start with.
Council of elders
To project a semblance of collective decision-making, Mayor Cortes has convened a council of elders. Laudable in some respects, suspect in most. Decision paralysis is always a threat in management collectivism as well as having too many people who think in the same wavelength.
Lack of diversity creates a very weak species.
The wisdom of the ages may have stood the test of time — their time, not the present and more complex times such as we are in now.
With reservations, Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna said transparency is the essence of trust which, I’m sure, Mayor Cortes would agree wholeheartedly. Problem is that they differ in their definition of the word and would remain suspicious of the other unless they sit down and lay down the parameters of what is transparent and not.
Through the electronic highway, it is easy to reach anybody, anywhere, anytime. It is sad that our mayor and vice mayor, knowing each other since they both had runny noses, confined in the same creaking building we call City Hall, cannot breach that short gap between their offices and start talking sense to each other.
Well, you guys, don’t take too long. The people of Mandaue are watching and what we see right now inspires no confidence for the future of the city.
