Laoag City Council to livestream sessions for transparency

IN SESSION | The 12th Sangguniang Panlungsod of the capital city of Laoag in Ilocos Norte holds its inaugural session on July 5. The council is adopting a 2017 ordinance that makes its sessions more accessible to the public by livestreaming them online starting July 19. (Photo from the Facebook account of Vice Maor Carlos Fariñas)

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte, Philippines — The city council of this capital city of Ilocos Norte province is adopting a 2017 ordinance that allows the livestreaming of its proceedings to give the public the opportunity to participate and to enhance transparency and accountability in government.

Beginning on July 19, a Tuesday, all sessions of the 12th City Council would be streamed live on social media platforms so that residents would be apprised of government events and activities in the capital city, according to Vice Mayor Carlos Fariñas in a Facebook post.

Fariñas, the council’s presiding officer, said the 10th Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council) enacted an ordinance in 2017, which sought to institutionalize the livestreaming of the proceedings in the plenary to “provide accurate information in real time to the public.”

The measure was also adopted in line with the public’s right to information, according to the ordinance, a copy of which was posted on Facebook by Fariñas.

But the measure, approved during the administration of then Mayor Chevylle Fariñas (a relative of the incumbent vice mayor), has not been implemented when Michael Marcos Keon took over as mayor in 2019. The then vice mayor, Vicente Lazo, ran for mayor last May but was defeated by Keon, who is now serving his second term.

Vice Mayor Fariñas, the former chief of Barangay (village) 16 San Jacinto, is currently serving his first term.

Real-time feedback

Fariñas said the ordinance provided that residents would be given the opportunity to help in improving governance by allowing them a real time online access to how the council would deliberate on measures affecting the city and for them to provide immediate feedback to the councilors.

All council sessions, committee hearings and other proceedings will be livestreamed, according to the ordinance. The council’s regular session is held every Tuesday, starting at 2 p.m.

Exempted from the coverage of the ordinance are those hearings to be held in closed sessions for “security” reasons, among others.

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