BY SAMMY JULIAN
THE Filipino public, more than ever, has been taking on new roles on how the government is, or should be managed. Thus, changes in the nature of civil society and the relationships between government and population have been pushing officials toward more extensive use of consultation.
One such person is Iloilo’s 2nd District Representative Arcadio H. Gorriceta. For the Ilonggo lawmaker, better educated and informed citizens are demanding more information from government, and thus, creating pressure for more open consultative mechanisms, with better information and more effective opportunities for participation and dialogue.
For Rep. Gorriceta, public consultation one of the key regulatory tools he is employing to improve transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of crafting legislation – the primary role of an elected representative to Congress.
This is so because it involves actively seeking the opinions of interested and affected groups. It is a two-way flow of information which may occur at any stage of the development of a legislation, from problem identification to evaluation of existing regulation.
Gorriceta gives such importance to consultation since he is increasingly concerned with the objective of gathering information to facilitate the drafting of higher quality laws.
To quote the Ilonggo solon: “A legislation should be developed in an open and transparent fashion for effective and timely inputs from interested parties, such as affected business, wider interest groups such as consumers or other levels of government.”
As such, Gorriceta pointed out during one of our conversations, consultation improves the quality of laws and also improves compliance and reduces enforcement costs for both government and citizens subject to rules.
Public consultation increases the information available to the government on which policy decisions can be based.
“Laws affect all the participants in civil society, and therefore, to better assess the impacts and minimize costs, all the parts involved should be able to participate somehow in the regulatory processes,”” stressed Gorriceta. “That is where public consultation has become one of the best tools to improve quality in regulation.”
In fact, just recently, the former Pavia mayor organized the 1st Consultative Meeting with Principals and District Supervisors of mother schools (both elementary and secondary level) in the 2nd District of Iloilo.
According the Iloilo solon, this is the start of the continuing series of consultative meetings which will happen every month.
No wonder people from the 2nd District are optimistic that great things will come now that Gorriceta sits as their representative in Congress.
For one, he has considerably increased the level of transparency to improve the crafting of bills for the benefit of his constituents. Also, because of his preference in consulting the people directly, Gorriceta has brought into the discussion the expertise, perspectives and ideas for alternative actions of those directly affected.
Action. Honesty. Good Governance.
These fit Gorriceta well./PN
