Mayor issues directive creating power group
By Jason B. Neola
AN executive order creating the Naga City Power Commission was issued by Mayor Nelson Legacion on May 5, this year, to carry out well-managed approaches that will address the formidable challenges bedevilling the city’s energy sector.
It is expected that the creation of the body will provide the city’s 9-year-old 2014-044 ordinance with serious consideration and thorough implementation. Executive Order 2023-012 will work to carry out the ordinance’s mandate to ensure that power is reliable and sustainable and that power rates are competitive and affordable to consumers.
The Commission shall serve as the multi-sectoral consultative policy and planning body that shall allow the city to come up with comprehensive and effective strategies for the provision of electric energy required to sustain the city’s economic growth and development.
It is composed of public utility firms, consumers group, Casureco II directors, barangay officials, and representative from the academe including chairpersons of Sangguniang Panlungsod committees and other public and private entities which treat matters and deal with issues on electric power in the city.
In the performance of its functions, the Commission may request the assistance of any other offices of the city government and seek out wider stakeholders’ participation.
Aside from the directive constituting the power commission, an executive order (EO 2023-011) was also issued to establish the Naga City Culture and Arts Council wherein the City Events, Protocol and Public Information Office (CEPPIO) is tasked to serve as council secretariat.
Donning the nature of a multi sectoral consultative policy and planning body, the culture and arts council is mandated to provide the city with comprehensive and effective strategies for the development and promotion of the culture and arts sector.
Allen Reondanga, chief of the City Events, Protocol and Public Information Office, was designated as the Naga City Culture and Arts officer.
The roles and responsibilities of the Naga City Culture and Arts Council are the following:
1. Prepare an annual plan on culture, arts and cultural heritage consonant with the Philippine Development Plan for Culture and the Arts, to be integrated in the local development plan and considered in the annual appropriation ordinances;
2. Formulate programs and recommendations to develop and sustain local cultural and artistic talents, cultural industries, traditional and contemporary arts and crafts, and their processes;
3. Coordinate with the appropriate affiliated cultural agencies of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts for the conservation and monitoring of national cultural properties found in Naga City;
4. Conduct cultural events, such as cultural festivals, competition, lectures, seminars and symposia;
5. Ensure the protection, preservation, conservation and promotion of the local cultural and historical heritage;
6. Declare and maintain Local Heritage Zones;
7. Establish a Local Registry of Cultural Property;
8. Acknowledge the importance of traditional folk artist as singular conduit between skills of the past and the future;
9. Revitalize a community’s artistic tradition thereby protection a valuable fact of Philippine culture;
10. Provide mechanisms for identification and assistance for qualified traditional folk artists to transfer their skills to the community;
11. Create opportunities for popularizing the works of folk artists;
12. Support the Philippine Creative Industries Development Council in all of its functions;
13. Report to the Philippine Creative Industries Development Council the development and status of the implementation of programs at the local level;
14. Regularly maintain a database of business support organizations and creative workers associations within the territorial jurisdiction of Naga City and transmit such data to the Philippine Creative Industries Development Council;
15. Formulate, plan, coordinate, implement, and assess policies, programs, activities, and projects that promote and develop the locality’s creative industries, in coordination with the Philippine Creative Industries Development Council; and
16. Identify and implement such other programs and activities for the promotion of local cultural heritage and arts.
Reuel Oliver, executive director of the Naga City Investment Board, who is also the head of the Investment and Tourism Promotions Office, was designated as the Naga City Tourism Officer.
In his executive order 2023-010, which was issued on the same day, the city mayor said that the tourism council, like the culture and arts council, will serve as the multi-sectoral consultative policy and planning body that shall provide the City of Naga with comprehensive and effective strategies for the development and promotion of the tourism industry in the city.
“In the performance of its functions, it shall be guided by the provisions of Republic Act No. 9593. Thus, among others, the Council shall ensure the preparation and implementation of a tourism development plan, the enforcement of standards and the collection of statistical data for tourism purposes. It shall, insofar as practicable, prepare local tourism development plans that integrate zoning, land use, infrastructure development, the national system of standards for tourism enterprises, heritage and environmental protection imperatives in a manner that encourages sustainable tourism development,” Legacion said.