A ‘productive’ PB in 2018

Members of the Provincial Board (PB) passed 21 ordinances last year, surpassing the 13 ordinances it passed in 2017.

PB Member Celestino “Tining” Martinez III, the president of the Liga ng mga Barangay Cebu chapter and an ex-officio member, topped the list with five.

Four were supplemental budgets and one was the P4.69-billion annual appropriation ordinance for 2019.

Martinez is the chairman of the PB’s budget and appropriation committee.

Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale came in second with three approved ordinances.

PB Members Edsel Galeos, Thadeo Jovito Ouano, Miguel Antonio Magpale and Jose Mari Salvador also passed two ordinances each, while colleagues Christopher Baricuatro, Sun Shimura, Raul Bacaltos, Earl Tidy Oyas, Victoria Corominas-Toribio and Horacio Franco passed one ordinance each.

Of the 21 approved ordinances, 13 were original, seven were amendments and one was a revision.

Majority of the ordinances focused on improving the needs of various sectors, such as senior citizens, students, women, youth, the poor and those involved in tourism.

Some of the important ordinances highlighted last year were amendments to the Province’s Tourism Code, Women Development Code and Children’s Code, which Magpale initiated.

Ordinances like Baricuatro’s revision of the Cebu Tertiary Education Assistance Program, which allowed the Province to provide educational assistance to poor but deserving college students, and free services to indigents by provincial hospitals by Franco and Salvador were also approved.

Salvador’s ordinance that gave P2,000 monthly transportation allowance to officers and members of the Board of Trustees and another P2,000 quarterly allowance to presidents of the Cebu Provincial Federation of Cities and Municipalities Senior Citizens Association of the Philippines Inc. was also given the nod.

Important legislation geared towards environmental protection, peace and security, traffic management and anti-illegal drug advocacies were also approved last year.

Galeos’ ordinances to put up a comprehensive closed-circuit television system in the province and the creation of the Cebu Provincial Inter-Agency Council for Traffic Operations and Management were also approved last year.

Last year, Ouano authored an approved ordinance to manage low carbon development, while Oyas, PB committee on dangerous drugs chairman, passed an ordinance to create the Cebu Provincial Community-Based Treatment Program for drug surrenderers.

Also approved were ordinances geared towards providing incentives to business owners and attracting more investments.

Last year, the PB amended Ordinance 2014-08, or the Local Investment and Incentive Code of the Province of Cebu, which led to the renaming of the Cebu Province Investment and Incentives Center to the Cebu Provincial Investment and Promotions Office.