Vice Mayor’s League in Cebu eyes training program to improve quality of legislation

Vice Mayors League of the Philippines (vmlp.org.ph)

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Improving the quality of legislation in Cebu will be one of the priorities of the Vice Mayors League of the Philippines (VMLP) in Cebu as they start their fresh term for 2019 to 2022.

Talisay City Vice Mayor Alan Bucao, president of the VMLP in Cebu, said they are looking to provide more training in terms of legislation to vice mayors, councilors, barangay officials and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials.

Bucao, in an interview with CDN Digital, said officials who handle legislative measures should be well-capacitated to perform their duties.

“One of our priority is to come up with a training program, not only for vice mayors, but also for councilors and barangay officials including the SK, to lift up the quality of legislation,” Bucao said.

He added that the VMLP will also look into benchmarking opportunities with other cities or provinces in order to observe and adopt the best legislative practices of other areas.

“We are also looking at organizing a legislative month where our 53-member organization can showcase the best practices in our respective towns. It is an opportunity for us to compare notes,” Bucao said.

Bucao also said they look into a more inclusive development among the town and city councils to ensure that development and capacity building trickle even to far-flung areas and not just among metro cities and municipalities.

On Tuesday, August 13, 2019, Bucao was elected as president of the VMPL during their general assembly in a hotel in Mandaue City.

Consolacion Vice Mayor Teresa Alegado was also elected as VMLP vice president. Naga City Vice Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong is VMLP secretary while Balamban’s Alfie Binghay and Daanbanatayan’s Gilbert Arrabis were elected as treasurer and auditor, respectively. Borbon Vice Mayor Roy Melgo was also elected as public relations officer of the organization.

VMLP Cebu Board of Directors include Carcar City’s Nicepuro Apura and Sibonga’s Mariano Laude (1st district); Dalaguete’s William Lagahid and Christopher Amit of Oslob (2nd district); Raisa Moreno of Aloguinsan and Barili’s Julito Flores (3rd district); Al Pestolante of Santa Remigio and Naomi Espinosa of Santa Fe (4th district); Thelma Jordan of Liloan and Earl Tidy Oyas of Catmon (5th district); Glenn Bercede of Mandaue and Ximgil Sitoy of Cordova (6th district); Lito Narciso Creus III of Malabuyoc and Alegria’s Gilbert Magallon (7th district); and Michael Rama and Celedonio Sitoy for the highly urbanized cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu.

The officers in VMLP ran unopposed during the election. /bmjo