Members of the Philippine Councilors League aching for active participation in nation-building have vowed overwhelming support for the reform agenda espoused by the league’s Bicol regional chairman Jesciel Richard Salceda, councilor of Polangui town in Albay and a member of the Albay Provincial board.
Following Salceda’s recent successive meetings with PCL leaders in 18 key provinces of the country, support for his candidacy for PCL national chairmanship have surged.
The young local legislator is a graduate of Yale University and nephew of Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, currently chair of the House’s Ways and Means Committee.
In his agenda, the younger Salceda said league members are given the role as “modernizing agents of the society in pushing for constitutional change that fortifies the role of local governments and their legislative bodies in pursuing local economic development.”
Salceda said under his program, the PCL “will have representatives to sit as member of their respective Regional Development Councils” and will have participated in crafting amendments of the Philippine Constitution.
He said it is high time the league’s strength and role in nation-building, which had remained unexplored and unachieved, be explored and fully used to attain the country’s desired economic change.
The PCL Bicol chair has been going around the country to help campaign on leading government initiatives and political reforms such as term extensions of elective officials and constitutional change.
If elected as PCL national chairman, Salceda said he will promote local economic development and the fight against climate change and disaster risks through Local Disaster Risk Reduction-Climate Change Adaptation programs.
As a financially strong and stable organization, Salceda said the PCL shall have its own program’s budget included in the General Appropriations Act and the annual budget of the provincial, city, and municipal governments.
He said the fund shall be utilized to facilitate the participation of PCL members in all PCL activities, to strengthen the capabilities of its members, and implement joint programs and projects for their provinces.
In line with this proposal, Salceda said there must also be complete transparency in the PCL’s financial decisions.
“We should build the PCL as a fiscally sustainable institution that would be an instrument of communities, by prompting positive changes in the lives of ordinary people and as a reliable partner of the national government,” said Salceda.
