The city council has approved Resolution 594 s. 2023 granting the Baguio City People’s Council a certificate of recognition as the interim people’s council of Baguio until such time that a new council is recognized by an ordinance providing for the establishment of a partnership with defined roles and involvement of the council in the various city government programs, projects, and activities, including its participation in the local special bodies and committees.
The resolution complies with Department of the Interior and Local Government Memorandum Circular 2021-012 and subsequent MC 54 requiring and enjoining the creation/institutionalization of a people’s council in every province, city, and municipality and its recognition by the concerned sanggunian.
People’s council refers to a body composed of representatives from sectoral federations of civil society organizations that are recognized or accredited by their respective local government units.
As required by DILG MC 54, the people’s council shall file a petition for recognition which the sanggunian shall act within 30 days by issuing a certificate of recognition in the form of a resolution stating the rights and privileges of the people’s council:
Ensure that all their member organizations are adequately represented in the council;
Actively participate in the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the projects, programs, and activities in their respective local governments;
If allowed by the sanggunian, propose legislation and participate and vote at the committee level of the local sanggunian;
The council’s representative in the Local Development Council shall assist in mobilizing people’s participation in every local development effort;
Guarantee the autonomy of the people’s council and its member organizations by not allowing it to be influenced or used for purposes of partisan politics or religious purposes; and
Ensure their strict adherence to the resolution providing for the council’s rights and privileges, provided that it does not limit their right to responsibility and participation in the local governance process.
Circular 54 also empowers the sanggunian to revoke the recognition granted to a people’s council but only upon action of a petitioner, and upon showing that the people’s council allowed itself or any of its member organizations, to engage primarily in, or to be used primarily for, partisan political activities or religious purposes.
The resolution is pursuant to the policy of the State under Article 2, Section 23 of the Constitution that encourages participation of non-governmental, community-based, or sectoral organizations that promote the welfare of the nation.
The resolution also recognizes the vital role of people’s organizations, non-government organizations, and the private sector in nation building, and the assertion of basic principles of the Local Government Code of 1991.
Through Resolution 593, s. 2023, the city council has authorized Mayor Benjamin Magalong to sign a memorandum of agreement with Adventist Development and Relief Agency Deutschland e.v., Adventist Development and Relief Agency Foundation, Inc., Jaime V. Ongpin Foundation Inc., and the Center for Development Programs in Cordillera Inc. for the implementation of the Resilience, Innovation, Sustainability and Empowerment- Benguet Project in Baguio.
The project aims to deepen, sharpen and escalate the role of CSOs in Baguio City, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay in the promotion of a climate resilient agenda.
The initiative is aligned with the objective to enhance the resilience of communities facing risks, empowering them to adapt, mitigate, and effectively manage the consequences of disaster and climate change. This enhancement hinges on the active engagement of CSOs in public decision-making processes and the cultivation of robust social accountability mechanisms.
In Resolutions 599, s. 2023, the city council commended Dr. Alexander Abad, an alumnus of Saint Louis University, for winning second place in the Queen Mary United Kingdom Best PhD Robotics Award held at Cambridge University, United Kingdom.
Abad, a member of the 2002 batch of Electronics Engineering graduates, participated last Sept. 14 in the prestigious Towards Autonomous Robotics Systems (Taros) Conference at Cambridge University and presented his research/thesis “Fine-grained Haptics: Sensing and actuating haptic primary colors (force, vibration, and temperature).”
The research, which is acknowledged as an extraordinary contribution to the field of robotics, is aimed at developing a revolutionary sensor with far-reaching applications in telemedicine and telerobotics. Such sensor holds the promise of transforming human interaction with robots and technology for new possibilities in the realm of healthcare and beyond.
Taros is the longest-running UK-hosted international conference on robotics and autonomous systems, which is aimed at presenting and discussing the latest results and methods in autonomous robotics research and applications. It offers a friendly environment for robotics researchers and industry to take stock and plan future progress.
The resolution acknowledges Abad’s exceptional performance at the Taros Conference which reflected not only his academic prowess but also the exceptional quality of education provided by his alma mater.
April 29, 2024
