Arrogating power

By: Ricky Poca July 25,2016 - 10:06 PM

In a democratic setting, our elected officials govern with the consent of the people. That’s why we hold an election where candidates offer themselves to the public who evaluate if they are worthy of their trust and confidence.

That is why it is important that the elected officials should act like representatives of the people and not arrogate power unto themselves like kings and queens ignoring the people’s opinion.

There are two types of democracy: genuine democracy where the people directly participate in the process of governance and indirect or representative democracy where the people’s participation is limited to electing their representatives in government.

Of the two, it is the indirect or representative democracy that exists in our country.

During the campaign period, the candidate promises this and that program and once elected, the people expect him or her to deliver on his or her promises.

The elected official is here to serve public interest and not to serve his or her interests or the interests of his or her favored few because that would be anathema to what he promised to the people.

Democracy is taken from the Greek terms domos, meaning “people,” and kratus, meaning “to rule.” That is why democracy was defined by US president Abraham Lincoln as a government of the people, for the people and by the people.

It is people-centered and not person-centered. In Cebu City, the people elected a mayor and expected him to unite the people.

But unfortunately the city mayor has polarized the city residents with policies that promote the welfare of his political group to the detriment of the opposing group.

The mayor stopped the funding of barangay health workers and hired his own health workers. He has not renewed the contracts of thousands of job order personnel at City Hall and hired new personnel.

He stopped funding the barangays but continued to fund the barangays allied with him. Lately because his favorite policemen were removed from office by the PNP chief on suspicion that they were involved somehow in the illegal drug trade, he got so mad at the PNP that he refused to provide vehicles and stipends to the police.

Now he is asking the police, the barangay officials and the department heads to return the service pistols issued by the city for inventory.

And recently he issued a memorandum asking the barangays to return all the ambulances issued to them by the city.

Many barangays decided not to heed the mayor’s order because they believed that it would deprive them of the means to serve the people.

Lately as expected, the mayor chose to withdraw the city from the Mega Cebu project, prompting the City Council to authorize the vice mayor to represent Cebu City in order to coordinate with other local governments in addressing common shared problems like garbage collection, traffic congestion and flooding.

If one is to sum up what the mayor is doing, it is basically contrary to the interests of Cebu City residents.

While the mayor’s decision to transfer his office from the first floor to the eighth floor is his own, his order to recall vehicles and firearms for inventory is unfortunately contrary to the common good and had driven a wedge into the communities he is supposed to serve.

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy.

Read Next

Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.

TAGS: barangay health workers, democracy, election, Mega Cebu

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. To find out more, please click this link.