For years the Phil. Councilors’ League (PCL) Iloilo chapter has missed so many windows of opportunity for leadership.
This is particularly true as the PCL ushers on the 27th anniversary of “Philippine Councilors’ Week” slated Sept. 1-7, 2020. However, the milestone is a non-event this year.
The COVID-19 pandemic should be lame excuse for leadership default by the current PCL Iloilo under president Ramon Sullano.
In media interviews following his election as PCL president on September last year, Sullano was reported to have declared pursuing programs for councilors to elevate their capabilities in local legislation.
He cited the observance of PCL Week as the culminating point in yearlong activities of PCL Iloilo. So far the local chapter has only “sponsored a basketball league” last December.
The dire strait of local legislative composition is best reflected in the nagging scandal that an ex-officio board member is mired in with regards to its office job hires.
Similarly, an Iloilo City councilor has been reported to have pushed for an ordinance “subject to the provisions” of an existing national law.
The missed opportunities on leadership at the PCL Iloilo are magnified when seen through the local league’s historic ascendancy.
In a “Plaque of Appreciation” then PCL Nat’l Chairman Guillermo Altuna and Nat’l Pres. Luis Bustamante cited then PCL Iloilo Pres. Pablo R. Nava III “for originating the idea of having an official councilors’ day nationwide to highlight their role in nation-building.”
The citation dated March 15, 1995 noted that PCL Pres. Pablo Nava’s efforts “paved the way for Presidential Proclamation No. 212 (of Pres. Fidel Ramos) dated July 23, 1993 declaring the first week of September as Phil. Councilors Week, certainly a landmark in PCL history.”
(Next related article: “PCL Iloilo in the 1990s – setting the bar on skills and capability building in local legislation.”)
