Hit the Ground Running

August 5, 2019 Sideglance

During the first days of his winning the mayoralty race in the City of Baguio Mayor Benjie Magalong assured everyone that he will hit the ground running the moment he assumes office.

This he has done and for those fortunate enough to witness his first two months in office as the head honcho of the city, he seems to be doing well.

Make no mistake his energy and aggressive participation in almost all programs and activities in the city aligned with his ten, now almost fifteen, core agenda for Baguio has become infectious to everyone, from the lowly public servant of the city government to individuals and groups volunteering their services to help and support his administration.

This is what is needed actually to further augment the effective management of the city. There are three to four major challenges that will have to be confronted by Mayor Magalong if he intends to leave a lasting legacy as a leader of the city.

The first one is of course the challenge posed by vehicular traffic. The second one is solid waste management. The third one is protecting the environment and the fourth one is the continuing rapid urban development in relation to peace and order, people migration, and local governance.

Since I am with the city government as an employee for the past 18 years and had witnessed how the city has been led by four previous mayors with their own style and brand of managing the city, I am surprised at the level of enthusiasm shown by a lot of people in the style of leadership being shown by Mayor Magalong.

Now since a lot of people, especially in the social media, seem eager enough to help the administration of Mayor Magalong, perhaps they can take their commitment one step further by coming up with suggestions, ideas or views, and even maybe recommendations on how to overcome and manage the four major challenges confronting the city I stated above.

More than that however and in order to facilitate the study, evaluation, and assessment of these well intended suggestions, views, ideas and recommendations may I suggest that these be put in black and white, meaning on paper, properly addressed to the city mayor and with the sender properly identified.

Let us not just use the social media to propound and ventilate this views, suggestions, ideas and recommendations on how to address the four major challenges mentioned above, but let it be officially documented so that Mayor Magalong, who by the way has a lot on his plate right now, would be able to study the matter and perhaps refer it to the appropriate office in the city government for action.

The city mayor is not alone in managing the city effectively, he has more than a thousand subordinates under his present administration comprising department heads, division heads, supervisory and administrative officers, assistants, clerks, enforcers, aides, etc., all supporting and helping him run Baguio.

This is just a suggestion of course. If we want to help Mayor Magalong succeed as a leader, then let us contribute what we know may solve the four major challenges that he is trying to solve right now.