ISABELA CITY, Basilan -- Mayor Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman on Wednesday highlighted the enactment of four city ordinances as among the modest accomplishments of her administration during the first 100 days in office.
The four ordinances enacted during the first 100 days of Hataman’s administration are Ordinance No. 19-533, which created the Isabela City Culture and Arts Board; Ordinance No. 19-534 creating the City Information Office of Isabela City, Basilan; Ordinance No. 19-535 creating the City Legal Office of Isabela City, Basilan; and Ordinance No. 19-536, which guarantees freedom of information in the local government.
Hataman, who is on her first term of office, said the enactment of the four ordinances is essential in the fulfillment of her administration’s nine-point agenda focusing on sustainable development.
Hataman said the creation of culture and arts board is important in the promotion and preservation of the local culture.
She said the creation of the city legal and city information offices is in response to the local governments' commitment to provide quality services to the people by establishing functional offices that are not yet present in the current structure of government in this city.
She also said the Freedom of Information Ordinance, the first of its kind in Western Mindanao, institutionalizes the freedom of the constituents to access public records and information for their research and other related reasons.
Meanwhile, Hataman reported that the city's tourism office is coordinating with different stakeholders to lay down the foundations in revitalizing the local tourism industry.
Hataman said as an emerging tourism destination in the Southern Philippines, the city is preparing its tourism destinations and “above all, preparing the tourism workforce in making Isabela a more tourist-friendly city."
The city government has also launched its brand campaign, which is #HAPIsabela.
Hataman said more than the untapped golden bounty of this city, #HAPIsabela seeks to advance the "core beauty" of this city - its people, living together “as equals beyond tolerance but with deeply cultivate and share will for welfare and mutual understanding.”
“We want to make the happiness of the Isabeleños as an indicator of our governance and HAPIsabela, was coined from the root word HAP, a Yakan and Sama term, which means everything good and beautiful,” she said. (PNA)
