Capitol to establish Policy study group
A research unit that would be based at the Capitol’s executive branch would be another pro-active innovation in governance, beams Governor Edgar Chatto during a recent meeting with national government executives.
Chatto, who institutionalized research as an aid in governance also institutionalized the Special Projects Unit (SPU) at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan when he was still the province’s top legislative officer.
“We are institutionalizing a Capitol Research Group, which is a policy study body that will be working as a factual and research based unit to advance support to your offices,” Chatto told government executives in Bohol.
As a legislator, having been a board member, vice governor and congressman, Chatto has seen the need to put up a support group to allow the formalizing of legislative or technical support.
Many groups talk to the government officials about their needs and some of them do not have the capacity to draft resolutions, submit official proposals and put in proper data to support their intentions, and here enters the task of the research group, he explained.
He cited that in his experience, government agencies and offices sometimes propose amendments or repeal of certain laws and the usual process is for them to write to their representatives.
That does not always work well as the legislators need a comprehensive study group that would put up the substance of the desired legislative action, and a Capitol research body would do that for them, he elucidated some more.
“You, as field workers in the field know which needs to be corrected and your inputs to the research groups would be a big help,” he said.
“We are gathering the right people who have the training and the competence to do that and we are tapping the best minds who can do research,” said the governor.
As an initial step, Gov. Chatto has requested the SP for the transfer of at least five trusted legislative researchers to the Office of the governor, a capitol document showed.
While many see that transfer as a political action against some researchers who were allied with then Vice Governor Julius Caesar Herrera, a Capitol insider assured it is far from what is feared.
“There is a 95% over 5% chance that the move would be a political persecution,” Dioville Mar, one of the SP researchers who was asked transferred, said.
“We have known the governor and his desire to make government more effective,” he added (rac/PIA-Bohol)
