BAGUIO CITY — The various department heads under the city government and Mayor-elect Benjamin Magalong with his staff sat down on Tuesday for a one-day briefing to assure a smooth transition of administration.
“Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Memorandum Circular 2019-39 mandates the local chief executive to prepare for an effective turnover of responsibility to assure continuity in governance,” Edith Dawaten, assistant human resource management officer (HRMO) of Baguio, said in her opening statements.
The 15 city departments, which include the HRMO, Planning office, Treasury, Budget, Accounting, Assessor, Engineering, Buildings and Architects office, Parks Management, General Services, Health, Social Welfare, Local Civil Registry, and Veterinary including the Legal, Administrator’s office and the Mayor’s office, prepared a briefing about the functions, programs and directions of each office.
Lawyer Leticia Clemente, city budget officer and president of the Association of City Executives (ACEx), said the briefing “will give the [incoming] mayor Magalong a bird’s eye view of what we do in the local government and will make certain that governance processes will continue efficiently from the outgoing to the new leadership.”
Clemente said the briefing is also an opportunity to know the career officers who implement the programs of the city government.
Before the start of the briefing, Clemente asked Magalong and his staff to “empty our caps so we can accommodate and put in more” ideas, which will be material in the smooth flow of things when the new administration officially starts work noontime of June 30.
She said the circular mandates the creation of a transition team that will make sure everything is set in place for the implementation of the development programs of the city government.
Outgoing Mayor Mauricio Domogan, who was present at the start of the briefing, said: “This is necessary to avoid groping in the dark just like what happened to us in 1992 when we sat as appointed mayor after having been elected a vice-mayor.”
Domogan won in the 1992 election as vice mayor. However, it did not take a day after taking oath for the said post when the Commission on Elections appointed him as acting mayor following the disqualification order against elected Mayor Ramon “Jun” Labo on questions of his citizenship.
Domogan said they started an initiative having a weekly executive-legislative breakfast meeting to informally discuss in front of the members of both branches issues and matters needing each sector’s attention.
He also shared some issues that continue to be faced by the city and the direction it is going, which is based on laid down plans and programs.
Domogan also talked about “green governance”, which the city has put in place in the last several years that he said should be implemented now.
In creating the transition team, Administrative Order 049-2019, issued on April 16, caused the preparation of an inventory of all properties and documents and records for the incoming administration to know and be guided on.** PNA
