Why not also launch an annual search for Baguio’s outstanding father?

Councilor Joel Alangsab told the city council last Monday that the city should adopt an awards program honoring fathers, side-by-side with the existing but not fully implemented search for Baguio’s outstanding mother.

His proposal came at the end of discussions to strengthen Ordinance 14, passed in 2007, which mandates the city to hold an annual search for the city’s model of motherhood. 

If any of the other councilors agreed with Alangsab’s view, no one said so.

What was clear was the body agreed to ask City Social Welfare and Development Officer Betty Fangasan to appear before them and recommend guidelines in the conduct of the  “Annual Search for the Most Outstanding Mother in the City of Baguio,” an ordinance introduced by then councilor Faustino Olowan. 

In an amendatory ordinance up for second reading, Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda, an advocate of women’s rights and gender sensitivity, called for the drafting of the guidelines by the city social welfare officer.

Tabanda said instead of the search being conducted in March to coincide with International Women’s Day as provided for in the original ordinance, it would be more fitting to have it in May, to coincide with Mother’s Day, which is observed on its second Sunday.

“Motherhood as a gift and as a responsibility entails extraordinary strength and heart especially in nurturing and maintaining a family where members, especially children, first learn how to be responsible and productive citizens of the land,” read the explanatory note of Ordinance 14, s. 2007.

“A fitting tribute is but proper in due recognition of the remarkable role of women as mothers or housewives, as family builders, being looked up to as the light and guide of every Filipino family,” the explanatory note added.

The city council in 2007 set aside P100,000 as initial funding requirement for prizes and other operational expenses, specifically 80 percent of the amount going to prizes and incentives and 20 percent for operational and capability-building program.

While airing his proposal for a counterpart search for the city’s outstanding father, Alangsab did not indicate whether he will file an enabling ordinance in keeping with his push for gender sensitivity.