Aklan SP At Work

by ODON S. BANDIOLA

If the number of committee and public hearings being conducted are the gauges, then the current Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) of Aklan under the stewardship of Vice Governor Gabrielle V. Calizo can be considered the busiest in the history of the provincial legislative body of Aklan.

As required in any parliamentary body and emphasized in its house rules of procedures, no significant piece of local legislation included in the agenda of the SP body can be debated in the plenary without being heard at the committee level.

This was emphasized by Calizo, a former member of the House of Representatives of the lone district of Aklan, when she assumed office as the new presiding officer of the SP Aklan on June 30, 2007.

For the second semester of 2007, the constituted committees of the chamber conducted a total 104 committee hearings, 270 in 2008 and 83 hearings from January to April 2009. Committee hearings are normally held every Monday or Tuesday of the week, in time for the plenary debates during the Thursday regular session of the SP. Special sessions are held upon request of the Provincial Governor or by majority of the members of the SP to tackle very urgent matters which need immediate actions and which cannot wait for the scheduled regular sessions.

The Aklan SP has held 20 regular and three special sessions during the second semester of 2007, some 45 regular and two special sessions in 2008, and 15 regular and one special sessions from January to April 2009.
Likewise, this chamber under Calizo held public hearings which tackled significant issues affecting the lives of Aklanons.

Public hearings were held on October 8 and October 26, 2007 on the proposal of the League of Municipalities of Aklan to operate a Small Town Lottery in Aklan of the Philippine Charity Sweep-stakes Office. Public sentiment having been determined and established, the SP under Calizo thumbed down the proposal of the LMP Aklan.

It also conducted public hearings on October 10 and November 5, 2007 on the proposal of certain sectors to reroute some trips of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway (RORO) from the Caticlan Jetty Port, Caticlan, Malay to the Dumaguit Port in New Washington. The SP likewise turned down the proposal and recommended status quo as far as RORO routes in Aklan are concerned.

Public hearings and subsequent ocular inspec-tions were conducted at the mouth of the Sooc River to determine the extent of the causes of serious floodings in the capital town of Kalibo being posed by the sandbar formations and the development of fishponds right at the mouth of the said river. The series of hearings confirmed the serious impediments being posed by these sandbar formations and fishponds to the floodings in Kalibo.

As a result, the SP urged all concerned agencies to take immediate steps in the dredging of the river including the demolition of the sandbars and the illegal fishpond developments in the area. It likewise cleared the multi-awarded Kalibo Mangrove Reforestation Project as one of the perceived causes of the floodings in the capital town.

This provincial legislative body also conducted a series of public hearings preparatory to the enactment of the Tourism Code of Aklan and the Aklan Investment Incentives Code, the pet legislation of Vice Governor Calizo. /MP