He’s only occupying the post for two months, but acting Cebu City Vice Mayor Nestor Archival Sr. said he wants to dramatically reduce power, water and street lighting bills to set an example of energy conservation as part of a seven-point action plan.
Archival took his oath before lawyer and notary public Romeo Reyes before presiding over the second to the last regular City Council session of the year.
The environment advocate, who is running for vice mayor in the elections next year, said he aims to reduce power and water bills in the Legislative Building by five percent.
This way, he said, he intends to set an example of complying with city ordinances that require installing a rainwater collector and practicing waste segregation.
In his opening speech, Archival also said he wants to reduce the city’s street lighting bill by half from P11 million to P5.5 million.
Later in the day, Archival and his colleagues in the Bando Osmena-Pundok Kauswagan bloc went to the office of Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella for a courtesy call.
The councilors presented their wish lists, including plans to revive measures earlier vetoed or disapproved by Mayor Michael Rama, who is serving a 60-day preventive suspension ordered by the Office of the President.
Councilor Alvin Dizon said he wants to reintroduce his ordinance for a one-year moratorium on demolitions in the city.
Councilor Eugenio Gabuya Jr. want to resubmit his ordinance to establish a one-stop sports hub in a 10-hectare area in the South Road Properties (SRP).
Councilor Mary Ann De Los Santos asked to be allowed to continue using two city-owned vehicles issued to her which Rama had recalled afer she left Team Rama to join the BO-PK.
She received a December 7 letter from the form City Administrator Lucelle Mercado reiterating the recall of a Toyota Hilux and Mitsubishi Strada assigned to her.
Labella didn’t promise anything. He said he would first study the requests even as he thanked the councilors for coming forward.
Archival was directed to assume his new post immediately by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in a Dec. 11 order that came a a day after the preventive suspension of Mayor Rama for a pending administrative case.
Archival, an electrical engineer, set a goal of five percent reduction in power and water use in the Legislative Building from an average of P490,000 to P460,000 per month for its electricity bill and an average of close to P19,000 to P17,000 for its monthly water bill.
He said if they can achieve these goals, Cebu City would have a template for other LGUs and private institutions to follow and to craft ordinances for energy-efficient buildings.
His other goals read like an early platform of government — traffic and police concerns; city jail concerns and decongestion; urban poor measures on demolitions and relocations; drug problems and job generation; and improvement of legislative functions.