Egay Uy THE City Building Office under its OIC, Architect Connie Alcantara, held an “Orientation Seminar on the National Building Code of the Philippines to the Barangay Officials” on Oct. 7, 2015. Discussed during the seminar were excerpts of the National Building Code, the requirements for line and grade, and the city ordinance which requires the issuance of barangay construction clearances for applications for building permits filed at the OBO. Mr. Monet Fernandez also presented the city’ initiative on resettlement.  It was learned that the city needs some 80 thousand housing units in the next eight years to address concerns facing the “piso-piso” program and the resettlement of informal settler families. In his address, Mayor Oscar Moreno encouraged the barangay officials in attendance to set aside political color and work together towards achieving the goal of providing decent housing units to the ISF’s in the city.  He spoke more as a manager than as a politician.
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Mayor Moreno differentiated the role of a congressman and an executive like a city mayor.  He said that at the beginning of his term, a congressman is figuratively given a brand new car regardless of whether he knows how to drive or not. A congressman, on one hand, may opt to drive the car himself, employ a driver or learn how to drive using the brand new car and in the process, possibly damage it.  At the end of his term, the congressman returns the car, regardless of its condition.  His successor then receives another brand new car, and the cycle goes on. On the other hand, the chief executive inherits the car of his predecessor, regardless of its condition.  If the car is well-maintained, the local chief executive can readily focus on other equally important things.  But if he inherits a badly maintained and abused car, then he has to painstakingly rebuild and restore order as a manager. He said the roles of a legislator and an executive differ in so many ways. A legislator is the “center of the universe” in his district while a local chief executive is not. The center of the universe in a chief executive’s world are the people to whom the basic services are delivered via the bureaucracy.  The local executive does not make things happen by himself alone but manages the bureaucracy which executes program delivered to the constituents. The manager in a local chief executive, on one hand, must know how and when to say “no” to his constituents, especially when people go to him looking for jobs or favors.  On the other hand, a legislator does not have to say no, and can issue even a thousand endorsements for employments or favors because he is not expected to employ people but merely refer them elsewhere. It is best for the people then to have a manager than a politician.  (Egay Uy is a lawyer, city hall consultant, and chair of the Task Force Hapsay Dalan.)