Local Legislators' Toolkit - The Sangguniang Panlalawigan ng ...

D. EVALUATING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ORDINANCESWhat happened to the new tax ordinance the sanggunian enacted last year? Did it resultin increased revenues? Did the city government acquire the lot intended for resettlementfor which appropriations were made by the sanggunian? How many households arebenefiting from the new water supply program? How did the city department of socialwelfare and development spend the budget we approved last year? <strong>The</strong>se are the kindof questions asked when a legislative body is exercising its “legislative oversight” role.Legislative oversight refers to the legislature’s review and evaluation of selectedactivities of the executive branch. For the sanggunian, the conduct of oversight activitiesis a must. Not only because it enacts ordinances to create new programs or authorizefunds for programs, but it has a duty to ensure that existing programs are implementedand administered efficiently, effectively, and in a manner consistent with legislativeintent.Legislative oversight is an integral part of the legislative process often difficult toseparate from the ordinance making process. Oversight is the focus of the work ofspecial committees but can be part of the hearings and work of the standing committeesin the sanggunian. In either case, the important question is: How can the sanggunianexercise effective legislative oversight?This section describes some of the oversight techniques that are available to thesanggunian.Tool 1 -Tool 2 -Legislative Oversight TechniquesTemplate: Legislative Monitoring Tool275