City Council receives Award of Excellence

MAYOR Celso Lobregat hailed Vice Mayor Cesar Iturralde and the members of the City Council for garnering the Award of Excellence-2012 Local Legislative Award, making it the country’s most outstanding City Council for highly urbanized/independent component cities category.

“On a personal note, this is a defining moment for our administration,” Lobregat said when presented with the plaques and the accompanying incentives by Iturralde and the City Councilors during the flag raising ceremony Monday.

He said this is the only time in 76 years in the history of the local government that the City Council of Zamboanga was adjudged as most outstanding legislative body in the entire country.

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine Councilors’ League (PCL) conferred the award to the City Council during the 2013 End-Term PCL Assembly in Manila last Thursday “in recognition of its accomplishments in local legislation that ultimately contributed to the attainment of desirable socio-economic and environmental management outcomes.”

Lobregat affirmed that because of the City Council’s all out support to his administration, this city’s infrastructure record has reached 3,833 projects amounting to P5.4 billion for the period five years or from 2007-2012.

“To implement the projects you need appropriations and ordinances and they (city councilors) approved all the annual budgets and supplemental budgets needed to accomplish all these projects,” he said stressing that it is also because of the support of the City Council that the villages have evolved into growth centers in view of the record number of infrastructure projects such as roads, flood control, school buildings and other related projects, as well as barangay halls and health centers and support to some national agencies.

He hoped that the people, whoever they will elect as next mayor of this city, will give the mayor the full confidence and support by electing also the vice mayor and the majority City Council of the same mayor.

“To all the members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, mas facil ya keda el mi trabajo (my job became easy) because of your all out support,” he said.

Contrary to accusations by some quarters, Lobregat said the City Council is not a rubber stamp legislative body stressing that “no rubber stamp City Council will be given the Award of Excellence in the entire country” as what it did to the Zamboanga City Council.

Iturralde said the award is dedicated to the people of this city, stressing that without the people, the legislative body could not have achieved it. (Bong Garcia)