Bencyrus Ellorin IN his Christmas and New Year messages, Mayor Oscar Moreno said that despite difficulties, city hall has been able to serve the Cagayanons well. “It has not been easy to give the basic services to the people of CDO… We have been able to bring about and to deliver the services to our people that have never been experienced before,” Mayor Moreno said in his messages. “Service, never been experienced before” is the operative message. It does not only state what the city government has been doing, it is in fact a challenge to at least sustain and serve better in the coming year. I am sure critics would be quick to point out the contradiction of serving the public well and enduring traffic and uncollected garbage. Hands down, traffic and garbage are two aspects that need improvement. In fact, the mayor in his talks with city hall employees, even on supposedly festive Christmas parties has admitted the traffic and garbage problem with clear directive to the local bureaucracy to do everything to address these problems. Traffic and garbage are not just governance problems. It is a social problem. As such, all stakeholders should have their hands on deck. Governance can only provide the leadership and systems to solve this problem, including the use of reasonable and commensurate coercive force to effect obedience from the public. The Roads and Traffic Administration, I understand, has beefed up its force of traffic enforcers. It has started clearing roads from obstruction, including those who road public roads as parking spaces. I can foresee seeing garbage enforcers in the communities soon. With the city council approving the P4.5-billion budget for 2017, no more excuses of lack of funds can be tenable. For the city hall bureaucracy of over 3,000, 2017 would be a year full of challenges and work, work, work. How the local bureaucracy responds to this challenge will measure the success of this administration. While, it would not be a walk in the park, 2017 would need stronger collaboration between the executive and the city council. Both need to provide unified leadership to attain the objectives of making public education accessible with more classrooms, two more public hospitals on top of an upgraded JR Borja Hospital and a drug rehabilitation center, etc.. With the new department of housing, expect the fast-tracking of the establishment of new and better` settlement Sendong survivors and informal settlers. At the onset of his second term last June 30, Mayor Moreno spelled out an ambitious target of building 35,000 houses for Sendong survivors and informal settlers in the next six years. With the Department of City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, we can expect  more resilient communities, and better and faster emergency services in the city. It will be an exciting year with the local government placing itself on the block, to be assessed later on if indeed the people’s experience with public service has been exceptional or not.   E-mail: bency.ellorin@gmail.com