In Tagum, Davao del Norte the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) has already started cutting down palms lining the sides of the highways.
The reason given is that the palms’ fronds that fall on the road have caused several vehicular accidents in the last few months.
Strange. After several years of ensuring the growth of the palms that have become trademark identification of Tagum City’s beauty, the local government just forgot all those years of maintaining the palms and decided that it is time to do away with them.
Why not the local government of that northern city add to the responsibilities of city hall employees assigned in the Department of Public Services (DPS) or its equivalent if it has such unit?
Personnel from such Department shall be assigned to do maintenance of the palms including the regular trimmings of fronds that are getting to its maximum maturity.
“The decree prohibits street begging, exploitation of children for the purpose, and giving of alms. Violators of the law will be slapped with a P1,000 fine and four years of imprisonment.”
In the parlance of electric distribution companies, the responsibility of trimming tree branches that are likely to interfere in the flow of electricity to consumers is under the line maintenance unit. The trimming is of course undertaken through outsourced service providers.
But as to the case of maintaining the palms of Tagum City, the local government, as we suggested earlier, can add the job as key result area (KRA) to employees assigned in the appropriate department at City Hall.
In that manner the Tagum City officials will not be parties to the degradation of the environment as well as diminishing the beauty that the city has been proud of over the last many years.
Does it not make any sense gentlemen and ladies of the local Government of Tagum City?
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The Davao City Social Services and Development Office (CSSDO) is reported to have strongly coordinated with the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) Women and Children Protection Desk to reinvigorate its campaign against violators of the Anti-Mendicancy Law or Presidential Decree No. 1563.
The decree prohibits street begging, exploitation of children for the purpose, and giving of alms. Violators of the law will be slapped with a P1,000 fine and four years of imprisonment.
With the new campaign launched under the initiative of CSSDO chief Julie Dayaday, we feel it safe to assume that the violators of the law in Davao City could have increased substantially. Thus the renewed campaign which apparently will be given more teeth compared to the previous.
Our take on the apparent resurgence is that people not only of Davao City but all over the country, may not be aware that there is such law. After all, the decree mandating those prohibition was issued already half a century ago by the late President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr.
So it would not be surprising if those who were born during or even after the Martial Law era will have no idea, even an iota, on the existence of the law.
We believe though that the local authorities in Davao City will likely have better chances of getting compliance of the law if the local lawmaking body, the Sangguniang Panlungsod will pass an enabling city ordinance to effectively have the decree brought back to the city residents’ consciousness.
We are now challenging our city councilors to look into this apparent missed responsibility of legislating an enabling ordinance if the city is to attain better results of its anti-mendicancy campaign.
The city government should also provide opportunity for those who are really genuine mendicants to have sustainable livelihood. And as to those who are known exploiting the children or women for their illegal trade, the full force of the decree and the subsequent ordinance that supports its effective enforcement in Davao City, they must be prosecuted and once found guilty they have to be imprisoned as provided in the law.
They should not be given simple slaps on their butts and allowed to move to another areas in the Philippines or even in the regions. The alms givers should also be applied the penalty provided by the law to prove to them that the local government of Davao City is not into the business of peddling jokes.
