Sarmiento: Mayors
should become development, economic managers
Press Release
September 23, 2015
QUEZON CITY –
Newly-confirmed Secretary Mel Senen S. Sarmiento of the Department of
the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said city and municipal
mayors should become development and economic managers who shall steer
their respective localities towards inclusive growth and development.
“Dapat palitan na ang job
description ng mayor na maging isang development and economic
manager,” said Sarmiento during an exclusive interview with ANC
recently.
He said he will direct the
Local Government Academy (LGA) to come up with a training course for
new local officials focused on enhancing the skills of the mayor to
become facilitators of economic growth and development. LGA, an
attached agency of the DILG, is the Department’s training arm for
local government officials and functionaries.
He said invited resource
persons should be those who can inspire. “The best teacher to a mayor
is a fellow mayor, and the best teacher to a governor is a fellow
governor,” he stressed.
As a development-oriented
manager, the mayor, he said, should be able to come up with a
strategic plan with the involvement of all stakeholders which will be
the blueprint for the development of the local government unit (LGU)
for the succeeding years.
The strategic plan, he said,
has to reflect the aspirations and needs of the people, and is not a
mayor’s plan, which might be discontinued after the expiration of the
term of the mayor.
“Ang basic na tanong ng
mayor: what do we want our city to become in x number of years? So it
has to be a shared vision, a shared mission. Then work on that plan,
come up with metrics para ma measure naman natin if we are meeting our
development targets every three years or so,” he stressed.
He recounted the time when
he visited Paramatta City, a suburb and major business district in
Australia, in 2003 where the planning council is already anticipating
traffic problems and solutions after 50 years.
“Kaya din nating gawin yun.
Yan ang challenge sa bawat local government. May strategic plan na
tugma rin sa national thrust. Kasi hindi naman pupwede si presidente
abante nga, si governor will turn left, the mayor will turn right and
the baranggay captain says “Atras tayo”. So, in nation building, dapat
magkasama tayo, dapat magkasabay-sabay,” he said.