THE VIEW FROM RIZAL
President Bongbong Marcos Jr. bared last week the administration’s complete line-up of candidates for senator in the 2025 elections. While there were mixed reactions in social media on the line-up, most political pundits have expressed that most of the names on the list would most likely make it to the Magic 12 in May 2025.
The inclusion of one name in the President’s list elicited mixed feelings – particularly among our colleagues in the local government sector.
This is the name of Local Government Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos, Jr. whose inclusion in the list evoked both a feeling of “loss” and a hope for a “gain.” While there had already been talks earlier that the President was strongly inclined to include him in the administration ticket, there were some who had silently wished he would consider staying at the local government post.
Here’s why. On the one hand, there was the fear that, once Secretary Abalos was elected to the Senate, the local government sector would lose an effective champion and a bridge to the President.
On the other hand, hopes are high that the local government sector will have a new voice, a new champion in the Philippine Senate in the person of the DILG Secretary.
We consoled our colleagues who felt that we were losing a “voice” and a “champion” by pointing out that Secretary Abalos’ run for a senate seat may have been inevitable. Not only does he have the trust of the President, but he has also consistently topped recent performance surveys.
We recall that in the middle of this year, Secretary Abalos emerged as number one in a survey of the country’s best-performing cabinet members.
That was the “Boses ng Bayan” survey by the RP-Mission and Development Foundation (RPMDF). In that poll, Secretary Benhur emerged as number one in performance and trust among the President’s cabinet members, earning a rating of 91 in job performance and 93 in trust. The results of that survey of 1,000 respondents provided valuable insights into what concerns our countrymen most and how they define excellence in public service.
We pointed out that even before his assumption to the DILG top post, Secretary Benhur had already made a mark in the field of local governance.
As we said, he was the incumbent mayor of Mandaluyong when it was named the “Tiger City of the Philippines” in 2002 in recognition of the dramatic progress it achieved after becoming a chartered city just eight years prior. We recall that he was then just on his first term when Mandaluyong earned the said distinction.
While many of us may have wished that Secretary Benhur would stay on in his present post, we wish him the best as he cast his hat into the proverbial political ring.
We are confident that he will.
As he takes the next step forward in the coming days in his bid to serve our countrymen in the Senate, we wish him well. We will miss a hands-on leader who has been described as an exceptional multi-tasker. We echo the view of our colleagues in the local government sector that, in Secretary Benhur, we found a voice and champion.
Having worked closely with the leadership of local governments, they felt that Secretary Benhur fully appreciated the value that vibrant local communities bring. He will continue to espouse their cause as he steps into the legislative platform. He will make sure that the voice of local communities will be heard there amid the din of other pressing national concerns.
There are aspirations on the part of local communities that urgently need that voice at the Senate.
Among these aspirations is a fuller experience of the principle of “local autonomy.”
True, our country has taken major steps towards local autonomy with the passage of the Local Government Code of 1991. The policies of devolution and decentralization have significantly empowered local governments and have raised their abilities to provide for the most urgent, basic needs of their constituents.
We believe that the spirit of local autonomy can be given more life when local governments are vested with greater powers to define how the natural resources within their jurisdiction are tapped, by whom, and to what extent they can be exploited. These cover industries involved in mineral extraction and the quarrying of stones and construction materials. There are fears expressed by various quarters that these activities may have contributed to the recent massive flooding in many parts of our country.
For now, our judiciary has ruled that these industries are “ultra vires” or “beyond the scope of the powers of local governments.” We are sure there are strong reasons and valid legal bases for the position taken by the judiciary on this matter. We fully respect that position.
However, we continue to hope that someone in the legislature would find it a worthy cause to champion the aspiration for local governments to have a greater say on the fate of the natural resources within their jurisdiction. We are hopeful that this potential voice will be there among the aspirants in the 2025 elections.
(The author is the mayor of Antipolo City, former Rizal governor, DENR assistant secretary and LLDA general manager. Email: [email protected])