CEBU City Councilor Michelle Abella-Cellona has proposed the creation of a permanent monitoring body to ensure that approved city ordinances are properly implemented and do not lapse into inactivity.
Filed on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, the proposed Ordinance Implementation, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (O-Meal) Ordinance of 2026 seeks to establish an O-Meal unit under the Office of the City Administrator.
The proposed unit will function as a non-partisan technical body tasked with monitoring the execution of city ordinances across departments.
Among its core responsibilities will be maintaining a centralized digital registry of approved measures, developing implementation matrices that identify responsible offices and funding sources and evaluating whether laws are achieving their intended outcomes.
Cellona noted that the City currently lacks a centralized system to track compliance and assess the performance of enacted measures.
“Without structured monitoring, evaluation and learning systems, the City Government risks inefficiencies, underutilization of appropriations, duplication of programs, or failure to achieve intended public policy outcomes,” Cellona said in the proposed measure.
This, she said, has led to uneven implementation, fragmented reporting and lapses in institutional memory, particularly during changes in political leadership.
Under the proposal, all city departments will be required to submit quarterly compliance reports to the O-Meal unit. Each office must also designate an ordinance compliance officer to coordinate with the monitoring body.
“It is designed to ensure ordinances are ‘effectively implemented, continuously monitored, systematically evaluated and sustained beyond political and administrative transitions,” Cellona said.
To promote transparency, the measure mandates the creation of a public-facing dashboard that will allow residents to monitor the status of ordinance implementation. The platform is designed to provide updates on timelines, responsible departments and progress indicators.
The ordinance also introduces an accountability mechanism. Department heads who fail to submit required reports without valid justification may face administrative charges for neglect of duty.
In addition, no ordinance may be declared dormant or discontinued without written justification and formal review.
Beyond compliance monitoring, the O-Meal unit will be authorized to submit evidence-based recommendations to the City Council.
These findings may guide lawmakers in amending, expanding or repealing ordinances based on actual performance data, according to Cellona.
Funding for the unit will initially be drawn from available appropriations under the Office of the City Administrator, subject to inclusion in the City’s annual budget in succeeding years.
The proposed measure has been referred to the committee on laws, styling and ordinances for review. (EHP)