SANGGUNIANG BAYAN MEMBERS. In her welcome message, Engr Gail de la Rita, sssistant to the Xavier Ateneo VP for social development, highlights the essential roles of Sangguniang Bayan members (local legislators) in the municipal governments. Supplied photo. 

By Mary Ann Chiong

“History will judge you as a legislator, not as a Santa Claus,” Xavier University - Governance and Leadership Institute (GLI) director Dr Dixon Yasay told the 41 Sangguniang Bayan members who attended the Local Legislation Enhancement Course on February 16-17 at Xavier Ateneo.

Oftentimes, municipal legislators are not appreciated as lawmakers but as mere extensions of the executive department. People go to them to ask for favors and solicitations and rarely, if not, as legislators, to which Yasay reminded the SBs that it is not their job to give basketballs, paracetamols, and fertilizers because it is not their function.

During the two-day training, the SB members got a hold on how to strengthen their value as legislators by thoroughly learning their functions and how they could practice it when they go back to their municipalities.

One of the functions that solicited much discussion is the oversight. Though it is the executive branch who prepares the budget, the legislators are the ones who will authorize and approve it, and therefore should check if the deliverables were met.

There were seven major topics during the two-day training: effective local legislation, local budget and oversight, and agents of change, all by Dr Dixon Yasay; ordinance-making by Cagayan de Oro City councilor Ian Mark Nacaya; legislative agenda by Department of Local and Local Government (DILG) Bukidnon provincial director Bruce Colao; parliamentary procedure by DILG Iligan City director Foster Anayron, and legislative marketing by XU professor Robert dela Serna.

The training was attended by the SB members from the municipalities of Talacogon, Agusan del Sur; Kalilangan, Bukidnon; New Bataan, Compostela, Valley; Malalag, Davao del Sur; Plaridel, Misamis Occidental, and Carmen, South Cotabato.∎