It’s 2 sessions a week for Manila dads — VM

Unknown to many, Manila councilors hold two regular sessions per week.

Manila Vice Mayor Marvin John "Yul Servo" Nieto, in an interview on DAILY TRIBUNE's digital program Straight Talk, said the city, by far, could be the only or one of the very few local government units that hold more than one session in a week.

Servo said in the 14 months of the term of the 12th City Council, it has passed more than 100 city ordinances, of which Mayor Honey Lacuna approved more than 90.

"The Manila Council is working hard. In the same year, as far as I can remember, we filed 306 ordinances," he said.

He added that the current batch of 38 councilors, dominated by the local party Asenso Manilenyo, has been working as a team and has no difficulty passing city ordinances, most of which deal primarily with the welfare of the residents of Manila.

"Councilors work on every proposed ordinance, and they were not just a rubber stamp," Nieto said.

A two-term congressman of Manila's Third District, Nieto said that being vice mayor was not new to him since he is a former three-term councilor.

"The only difference now is I am the presiding officer of the Sangguniang Panlungsod ng Maynila," he added.

In a year, he said, the city council has filed 600 resolutions, and more than 500 were approved.

But as of now, a total of 1,200 resolutions have been approved.

One of the oldest city councils in the Philippines, the Sangguniang Panlungsod ng Maynila, celebrated its 122nd anniversary.

Nieto said the city council website was launched as part of its week-long celebration from 31 July to 4 August.

"This is to make executive orders, resolutions, or whatever Manileños want to know, accessible to the citizens," Nieto said, adding that more than 8,000 ordinances must be scanned and downloaded.

This year, he said, the city government is working on digitalizing all the city ordinances dating back to the first municipal council, the city council during the American period, and up to the present, which could be helpful to researchers.

Meanwhile, he lauded the Commission on Elections for implementing orderly protocols in the conduct of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections on 30 October.

"The Comelec is quite strict. I would like to congratulate the Comelec for implementing new systems that can guide the barangay chairpersons and encourage others to run. That is also one of the avenues for a better country because they are the first to take action in the community," he said.

With Gilmore Leaño