Councilor Nestor Archival of Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) got a chance to sample the authority that comes with being the city’s No. 2 man after the Office of the President issued a preventive suspension against Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.
Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella moved up to acting mayor. Archival, as no. 1 city councilor, was elevated to the post he is seeking in next year’s election. He had barely warmed his seat when he announced a seven-point action plan to implement during his 60-day term.
He won’t be able to complete the sweeping reforms in the list, he admits.
But the targets he set are green initiatives City Hall has never been bold enough to commit to.
So this is the chance for environment trailbalzer Archival, an engineer by training and an ecology advocate by passion, to pull levers to make things happen.
The housekeeping reforms he listed actually stem from city ordinances that haven’t been practiced.
There’s an ordinance that requires building owners to install cisterns to store water. Another ordinance mandates segregation of garbage. And there are endless memos issued to conserve electric ity and be frugal in use of resources.
Archival’s “House Close to Nature” in Talamban is often visited by eco-advocates, students and curiousity seekers, locals and foreigners, who come to see a showcase of recycling, water conservation, trash-to-cash, natural cooling, and solar power with hybrid goats nearby, thriving on the vegetable and fruit discards brought daily from Carbon market.
Can he do even a fraction of these innovations in City Hall’s legislative building where he will roost for two months?
His action list involves houekeeping functions, but they are tied to hard targets. Archival said he will reduce City Hall’s water and power bills by five percent and streetlighting bills from P11 million to P5 million.
We have no doubt that Archival, whose enthusiasm for sustainable living has burned brightly for years without being diminished by the cyncism of politics, will give it his best shot.
What he needs is an open mind and the cooperation of city government officials and employees, and the public.
The man steering the City Council is a doer, not a paper shuffler.
The 60-day experiment will be a good test for Archival to unleash his ability to inspire action inside and outside the city legislature.