The Naga City Government today, July 9, convened its Executive-Legislative Agenda (ELA) session to set the stage for major policy shifts under the leadership of Mayor Leni Robredo.
This year’s ELA, attended by city department heads and members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, will focus on specific reforms in the city’s governance practices — particularly on how resources are allocated and spent.
The discussions are aimed to adopt a performance-based budgeting system, a departure from traditional budgeting methods.
Mayor Robredo emphasized the need for a more rational and outcome-driven approach in the allocation of public funds. “In the old practice, we observed serious imbalances — there were items that required substantial funding but received minimal allocations, while other items were given more than they actually needed,” she said.
The ongoing ELA follows a pre-ELA workshop held months ago, where both the city’s executive and legislative branches agreed to discard outdated procedures in favor of more effective, needs-based policies.
One of the key outcomes of that earlier session was the identification of eight thematic areas, each with specific performance indicators that the new administration aims to achieve.
Mayor Robredo pointed out that many of these indicators cut across multiple departments. For example, efforts to improve child nutrition involve not just the City Population and Nutrition Office (CPNO), but also the City Health Office (CHO), the Education, Scholarship, and Sports Office (ESSO), and others.
“In our current structure, each office prepares its own budget for a shared concern like child care. The CPNO has its own, so does CHO, and ESSO. This results in overlapping allocations and leaves other critical needs — such as medicines — underfunded,” she explained.
The new direction, as discussed in today’s session, seeks to align offices with common indicators into unified planning groups. Instead of submitting separate funding requests, these groups will craft joint programs and submit consolidated budget proposals, ensuring that funds are directed where they are truly needed.
Mayor Robredo underscored that this shift is meant to maximize government efficiency, promote inter-office collaboration, and ultimately improve service delivery to Nagueños.
The outcome of today’s ELA will serve as the city’s roadmap for governance and development in the next three years. | via Jason B. Neola
