Transparency in governance in last 5 months, Jonas vows

MANDAUE City Mayor Jonas Cortes yesterday reaffirmed his commitment to transparent governance, as he returns to office after the holidays for his remaining five months as chief local executive.

In his New Year’s message during City Hall’s first flag-raising ceremony this year, Cortes also urged fellow officials and employees to uphold transparency and excellence.

Cortes said the City is bound to deliver transparent and excellent public service under the Performance Governance System (PGS), a governance framework that uses scorecard to ensure effective delivery of various services to the city’s constituents.

“As public servants, we should be transparent in our transactions. I expect everyone to cooperate and be counted in the team,” he said.

House-bound

Cortes, who has served as mayor for almost nine years, will seek a congressional seat this year and has endorsed Rep. Gabriel Luis Quisumbing (Cebu, sixth district) to take his place.

Quisumbing will face Councilor Emmarie Ouano-Dizon in the May elections.

Cortes also reminded fellow officials and employees to also uphold the other PGS virtues of accountability, integrity, resourcefulness and teamwork.

He also urged Vice Mayor Glenn Bercede and the members of the City Council to enact ordinances to help the City hurdle the fourth and final stage of PGS, which is “institutionalization.”

Compliance

The City already passed the “initiation”, “compliance” and efficiency stages.

Under the PGS, the City adopted a new vision: to become a primary source of high-quality manufactured consumer goods by 2020.

Among the proposed steps to achieve the vision is a new investment ordinance to spur growth in the manufacturing industry.

The Institute for Solidarity in Asia will conduct the final evaluation of the City’s PGS implementation during the first quarter of the year.