SP committees hold codes consultations

STILL buckling down to work at a time when campaigns should have been fashionable with onset of elections, two of the Sangguniang Panlungsod committees are still set for separate consultations on proposed City Fisheries and Gender Codes. The legislators work in tandem with the People's Council. The SP Committee on Labor, Agriculture and Fisheries chaired by Kagawad Arcadio Sarmiento is holding its consultation 2 February for the proposed Tagbilaran City Fisheries Code. On February 5, the proposed Tagbilaran City Gender and Development Code would be held by the Committee on Social Welfare, Men, Women and Family Relations, with Kagawad Lucio Balbin.

The proposed Tagbilaran City Fisheries Code aims to address holistically the developmental concerns of Tagbilaran City's fishing communities and neighboring areas, prescribing the rules and regulations related to the management of the city's rich marine and coastal resources. Councilor Sarmiento's committee works closely with PROCESS-Bohol, Inc., an NGO specializing in environmental management and community development.

On the other hand, the proposed City Gender and Development Code, authored by Vice Mayor Nuevas Montes, provides for the protection and support of the city's women, who together with children, belong to the more vulnerable groups in a rapidly urbanizing society like Tagbilaran. The consultation would be done with Councilor Balbin and the Technical Working Group especially formed by the First People's Council, chaired by Atty. Myrna Pagsuberon. Process' Emilia Roslinda chairs the First People's Council Sector on Health and Environment, while Atty. Pagsuberon chairs the Sector on Women, Children and Youth. During the separate SP Committee-level consultations, the substance, coverage and form of the proposed codes, including controversial terms, are expected to be openly discussed and consequently leveled-off by the multi-sectoral participants.

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