CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – “Taxpayers fund government projects. Full credit belongs to them.”
Thus said Councilor Jimmy Lazatin, a vice mayoral aspirant, in sponsoring a resolution “giving teeth” to the order of the Department of the Interior and Local Government to local government officials to cease and desist from putting their names and images on government projects.
The practice has become so prevalent that it spawned the Filipino slang “epal” for “mapapel,” the term for attention seekers, or in the case of public officials, credit grabbers.
Signed by the late Sec. Jesse Robredo, DILG Memorandum Order 2010-101 embodies “banning names or initials and/or images or pictures of government officials in billboards and signages of government programs, projects and properties.”
Robredo’s order mandated that billboards on government projects should only carry the name and location of the project, contractor, the start and completion date and that it must contain only the name of the local government unit and its seal.
“Initially, I filed a resolution after our committee hearing on this order. But the city council decided that a local ordinance would be better and stronger in pursuing the DILG circular,” said Lazatin, chair of the committee on ethics and good governance.
Lazatin said it has become “standard practice” for many local leaders to put their names and pictures on billboards located in government project sites, as well as on properties, fire trucks, ambulances and vehicles, for their “personal gains and interests.”
“This is highly unethical. It is self-promotion at the public’s expense,” Lazatin said.
“This practice is proliferating, abused and misused, especially with the coming elections next year.
Even government vehicles should bear the ‘For Official Use Only’ sign pursuant to the President’s directive.
This order is from the President himself and should be followed by everyone in government regardless of affiliation. It’s time we revisit this and ensure the policy is strictly observed starting in San Fernando.”
“Alam natin na maraming tatamaan dito (We know that this will hit many) but we must enforce the law,” Lazatin said. “Hopefully, with our ordinance which will be passed soonest, we could put a stop to this practice.”
