SP Oks ‘The Character First!’ ordinance

In order to exemplify and strengthen the moral values of public servants and officials as well as residents, the city government gives importance to the development of its employees in consonance with the official government policy on Moral Recovery Program and the Character First! advocacy.

Through an ordinance, the 20th City Council during its 18th regular session presided over by City Vice Mayor Jocelyn B. Rodriguez approved an ordinance institutionalizing the City of Character or moral transformation and values formation program in the city, also known as “The Character First! or Moral Formation Program (MFP) of the city.

Authored by Councilor Ian Mark Q. Nacaya, the ordinance aims to uphold the moral values of the city in attaining and sustaining performance, quality service and ultimate client satisfaction.

Under the ordinance, a Moral Formation Team (MFT) shall be created to be appointed by the city mayor to determine the needs of the city employees and its stakeholders which have an effect on their morale and level of spiritual and psychological fulfillment.

MFT shall be composed of the city mayor as chairperson, Human Resource Management and Development Officer (HRMDO) as co-chair, and the City Social Welfare and Development Officer, city director of Civil Service Commission, three representatives from religious-based organizations, representatives of the Inter Faith Movement in the city and the City Internal Audit Officer, as members.

A Moral Formation Officer shall also be designated by the city mayor who shall formulate plans and programs that will initiate the formation of integrity circles or any similar mechanism to lay the necessary foundation that would lead to appropriate, systematic and structural change within the city.

Under the ordinance, the city shall allocate one-percent of the annual Human Resource Development (HRD) training fund for the operational expenses of the Character First! exclusively intended for the employees of the city to be undertaken by the MFT.

The city shall likewise allocate regularly in the annual budget of the HRMDO as a special project the sum of not less than P3 million. During the regular session, Councilor Nacaya manifested that there should be a Character First desk officer to be placed in the HR office, even as he thanked the bishops and pastors of Cagayan de Oro for the proposal.

Vice Mayor Rodriguez lauded the ordinance, saying it is a very good program that will be implemented in the near future.