Friday, July 16, 2004 Sienes: Prompt Council sessions By Cris G. Sienes Different Strokes
'But whether the wallclock or Vice-Mayor Bonguyan had the correct time is of no moment. What has glaringly important was that time, whether 15 minutes or 25 minutes, was wasted. Even just five minutes wasted could spell a big difference, as what happened during the encounter between the Austrians and Napoleon Bonaparte's army.'
SOMEONE once wrote: "You cannot waste time, for time is always here, neither more or less, and always moving at a steady pace. When you do not use time to the best possible advantage to yourself, to society, to God, you are wasting yourself."
Time is really so important that it should be used wisely every precious minute of it. Time wasted is time lost, and time lost can never be recovered. It is lost forever.
One man who, as I mentioned here earlier, values time is new City Administrator Wendel Avisado. He reports to his office before 7 a.m. and immediately starts working or receiving visitors. I doubt, however, if many of our city councilors value time. Do you know why I'm saying this?
Last Tuesday, July 6, I attended the inaugural session of the 14th City Council. I arrived at the session hall one hour before the start of the session, which is supposed to officially start at 9 a.m.
There were some media people at the session hall by then. A lady reporter then came to borrow a newspaper that I had with me. After several minutes, she returned the newspaper.
The lady reporter, who obviously had the city council sessions among her regular beats, then said to me in Cebuano: "Mag alas nueve na apan wala pa ang mga konsehal. Alas nueve man unta magsugod ang ilang sesyon (It's almost nine o'clock but our city councilors are not yet around. Their session is supposed to start officially at nine)."
"Kung sa performance lang," she added, "pinakahawod gyud ang mga miyembro sa 12th Council. Pagka alas nueve na, anaa na silang tanan sa session hall (when it comes to performance, the members of the 12th Council were the best. At nine o'clock they were already inside the session hall)."
I glanced at the big wallclock on the wall of the session hall to my left. The time read: five minutes to nine (8:55). Just for fun I thought of observing the city councilors as the came in and noting down their time of arrival.
At 8:58, Councilor Emmanuel Galicia arrived. At least there's one very punctual councilor, I thought to myself. I felt particularly glad because Councilor Galicia was a co-founding member of the then ethics committee of the Regional Development Task Force (now the Regional Development Council) during the term of President Corazon Aquino.
Comebacking Councilor Pilar Braga, also a good friend and co-social development worker, came in at 9:05. She was followed by Councilor Bonnie Militar who came in at 9:07. Next came Councilors Pete Laviña and Paz Mata, who arrived at 9:13. Councilor Vic Advincula arrived at the session hall at 9:15. All the rest started arriving at the session hall at 9:20.
Vice Mayor Louie Bonguyan then announced that it was already 9:15, so they should start their session. Looking at the big wallclock again, the time read: 9:25. I didn't know whether Vice-Mayor Bonguyan or the wallclock had the correct time. Looking at my own timepiece, it had almost the same time as the wallclock.
But whether the wallclock or Vice-Mayor Bonguyan had the correct time is of no moment. What has glaringly important was that time, whether 15 minutes or 25 minutes, was wasted. Even just five minutes wasted could spell a big difference, as what happened during the encounter between the Austrians and Napoleon Bonaparte's army. All because the Austrians failed to use give very important minutes to their advantage, they lost the battle. As Napoleon himself said later, "I beat the Austrians because they never learned the value of five minutes."
It's really sad that many of our city councilors seem not to value time as shown during their first inaugural session. But perhaps it was only because it was their inaugural session. They will probably be more conscious of the importance of spending time wisely in their succeeding sessions. They owe it to us their constituents to do so.
Point to ponder: "Believe me when I tell you that thrift of time will repay you in afterlife, with a usury of profit beyond your most sanguine dreams; and that waste of it will make you dwindle alike in intellectual and moral statute, beyond your darkest reckoning." (W.E. Gladstone)
(July 16, 2004 issue) Write letter to the editor.Click here. Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here.
