Governors' and mayors' responsibilities during disasters

Governors and mayors, and all congressmen, should not be travelling abroad, much less going on junkets, cruises, and even pilgrimages while their provinces, congressional districts, cities and municipalities are being besieged by typhoons, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and even pandemics. "Mahiya naman sila".

- Atty. Josephus B. Jimenez

I challenge all of them, especially those in Cebu, to read, know, understand, accept, and embrace as their advocacies to be disseminated, explained and endorsed, at least two landmark legislations: Republic Act 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code, and Republic Act 10121, otherwise known as the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010. All LGU officials and their respective department heads should put all the provisions of these two laws to heart.

The Local Government Code's declaration of policy states that as part of the state's principle on a genuine and meaningful local autonomy is the mandate to enable provinces, cities, and municipalities to attain their fullest development as self-reliant communities and make them more effective partners in the attainment of national plans. The law intends to provide a more responsive and accountable local government structure instituted through a system of decentralization whereby LGUs are given more powers, authority, responsibilities, and resources.