EMPOWER COUNCILORS, LOCAL GOVERNMENTSANGARA

In a recent signing of a Memorandum of Agreement, Senator Edgardo J. Angara supported the first ever Ten Outstanding Councilors Award to recognize and inspire the officials closest to the communities. These awards are given in coordination with the Philippine Jaycees Incorporated.

Councilors are the legislators that make the most impact to individual communities. By recognizing their work, we inspire and motivate them, as well as the Sangguaniang Bayan, to excel and perform beyond the ordinary. I challenge and inspire our councilors to become development oriented, Angara explained.

Angara lamented that the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA)s are seldom used to build revenue generating projects like fish ports, farm-to-market roads, market stalls or bus stations.

The IRA is enlarging the capacity and the abilities of each locality. But unfortunately, either for lack of plan or project, or just plain lack of vision, we cant trace where the IRA of every city or community go, Angara said. Angara also noted that the success of each community relies on the hands of the councilors of any city or municipality because they are the lawmakers closest to the grassroots communities.

Councilors are the ones who make the laws for each community and they have the greater impact on the locality each and every day, Angara said. Even though the leadership of the mayor makes difference, without the presence of a supportive council, I do not think any mayor can do so much, he continued.

This award will select ten councilors out of the 17,000 all over the country whom we can honor and set up as a model of local lawmakers, he continued.

Each outstanding councilor will be awarded 100,000 worth of projects. These will be taken from Angaras community development fund.

Angara said the primary criterion in selecting such top ten councilors is the quality of ordinance he or she may have sponsored.

Because, the councilor is after all a lawmaker, you must judge him on the quality of his work. His law must be good and an outstanding legislation that has social and economic impact on the community for it to become a model ordinance, Angara said.