Clark City, Pampanga—In an effort to prepare for their new roles, four Vice-Mayors and 27 municipal legislators from Apayao attended a three-day Newly Elected Officials (NEO) Orientation Course from March 1-3, 2023 at the Quest Plus Conference Center in Clark, Pampanga.
The activity is an initiative of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), in collaboration with the Cordillera Chapters of the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) and Vice Mayors League of the Philippines (VMLP).
The orientation course covered a range of topics, including Intergovernmental Relations and Local Executive-Legislative Relations, Local Legislative Awards and the Seal of Good Local Governance, Citizen Participation in Local Governance (CSO Accreditation and Participation in LSBs), Administrative Governance Facets, Sanggunian Quasi-Judicial Functions, and Parliamentary Procedures for Local Legislators, Development Legislation: The Sangguniang as the Driver for Development and the ABCs on effective Local Legislation with Supreme Court Rulings and DILG Legal Opinions.
Senator Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go, one of the inspirational speakers, urged local legislators and other functionaries to continue providing excellent and quality services in accordance with good governance principles.
Local officials hope that the orientation course will help equip them well to serve the needs of their community and make a positive impact in taking their new roles. As they take on their responsibilities, they look forward to building relationships with one another and working collaboratively to tackle issues facing their community.
“As one of the development co-creators, the activity served as an avenue for us to learn, reflect, and share valuable insights and learning discoveries with our fellow leaders, to forge ties with their partners in the local government sector, and to build a strong network among ourselves,”
said Calanasan Councilor Naville Dickpus Taccalan, one of the attendees.
Expressing his appreciation for the opportunity to learn from experienced officials and experts in the field, Taccalan said, “I feel much more confident and prepared to take on the challenges of being an elected official. The course gave me a solid foundation of knowledge and skills that I can build upon within my term in office."
“In everything we do as a local legislators, in the performance of our functions and in delivering the services that are expected of us, we should anchor it on the Local Government Code and we should always think for the welfare of the people,” Taccalan also stressed.
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