2019

This is an Entry to the Government Best Practice Recognition Awards

Title

Sangguniang Bayan Informercial "Alam Mo Ba?"

Organization

Municipal Government of Narra

Best practice Focus Area(s)

Leadership, Customer and citizen focus, Process management and improvement

Summary

The Sangguniang Bayan Infomercial, “Alam Mo Ba?” is an activity done since 2014 as part of the Backstopping Committee of the Sangguniang Bayan Office. It is an innovation as it is the first in this Province to use short films or infomercials which creatively introduce enacted ordinances of the Sanggunian to elementary (Grade 5 to Grade 6 only), high school and tertiary level students. This is  an aim for policy literacy where Narranons at an early age will learn and be exposed to the existing ordinances implemented in their municipality.

Background and Problem

The Sangguniang Bayan Office was prompted to this idea in response to the unawareness of the Narranons, especially the younger generation, to the existing Ordinances being implemented in the municipality. The Legislative Backstopping Committee, a research arm of the Sanggunian, already made previous attempts to make the younger generation be aware of existing ordinances, and this is through campus visits and forums. But this was found to be ineffective as most of the students find it boring and uninteresting to just listen to the explanations of the Sangguniang Bayan Members about the existing ordinances. This is for this reason that the Sangguniang Bayan infomercial “Alam mo ba” was conceptualized with at least five episodes every season, averaging from 3-5 minutes each with a touch of comedy and cartoon. This attained the objectives of the Backstopping Program which is to inform and disseminate enacted ordinances to the public.

Solution and Impact

The Sangguniang Bayan Infomercial “Alam Mo Ba?”, started as an idea by the Legislative Backstopping Committee and was then approved by the Municipal Vice Mayor. The Backstopping Team then proceeded with evaluating at least five (5) existing ordinances that can be used for an infomercial. The consideration for each ordinance to be chosen is that it directly affects the general public, has health and safety concerns, has environmental protection components and is in relation to good governance. After the ordinances are selected, the production of short films proceed; this is the part where creativity is very much needed considering the limited equipment and budget. With the innovative and creative minds of the team, the production of short films or infomercials was sustained for five (5) years.

The next step is the coordination with all the public and private elementary, secondary, tertiary, and even vocational schools in the Municipality. Each School Head was oriented through the letter about the importance of this program and the need of the student to participate. After this, the Team proceeded in visiting 47 schools in this Municipality in a span of one (1) month, and having an audience with an average of 5,342 students, faculty and parents every year or a total of 26,711 participants in 5 years. A survey was also conducted after every presentation to measure the level of awareness and effectiveness of the activity. The survey also brought the suggested ordinances to be enacted by the Sanggunian which form part of the evaluation. The idea of this activity is not only to merely raise awareness to the people of Narra per se but to eventually raise the next generation of Narranons who are policy literate, thus even grade 5 to grade 6 students are included as participants.

Milestones

The Activity with an average of 90% effectiveness, reached 26,711 participants for 5 years from 47 schools both public and private. This means an average of 5,342 attendees every year who watch the infomercial and become aware of the existing ordinances. This Activity also raised ideas for proposed legislative measures. This activity was also already featured in ABS-CBN-Palawan. The next step for this activity this year is the evaluation of the awareness of existing ordinances of 15 years old and above Narranons who are expected to have been exposed in this activity in five (5) years.