I wonder how many mayors in the Philippines do their State of the Municipality Address (SOMA) religiously, conscientiously, and with the only motive of keeping their constituents informed of what they, the mayors, have done for them. I wonder what compels a mayor to do a SOMA. In the case of Mayor Miguel “Dors” Rivilla, he has done his third SOMA last July 27, 2009 in the Sangguniang Bayan Hall after he has completed his second year as mayor of the municipality of Paniqui. I am not going to talk about the impressive accomplishments of the young productive mayor and his administration during the past two years. Joy Gonzales has done a good job reporting them in our website. Rather, allow me to share with you what I think of SOMA’s, or even SONA’s of the president of the republic, and their importance to us, the constituents.

In his SOMA, Mayor Rivilla had the opportunity to lie or be honest about his two-year work for the municipality. He could exaggerate or magnify the significance or magnitude of his accomplishment. He could sugarcoat some projects that we might consider as “palpak” or offer some handy excuse for some work undone. He could even make promises that he knew he would or could never keep. But if we analyze the things the young Mayor has enumerated in his SOMA, we will find out that he has opted to be honest about his work for Paniqui. Everything he has done was for everyone to see. In so short a time, he has done so much more for the municipality than what most mayors in the country could have possibly done for their constituents for the same span of time. Mayor Rivilla had all the right to flaunt everything he has done for his constituents as most mayors are wont to do even if they do not have much to brag about. After all, his accomplishments are impressive, to say the least. But he opted to declare them matter-of-factly with the sole purpose of keeping his constituents informed that they might better assess his performance. Nothing more, nothing less.

Another good thing about SOMA’s is that they give the constituents a panoramic picture of what their mayor has done for them. At the same time, the SOMA’s allow them to spot the area where a mayor may have failed either by sheer negligence or lapse of judgment in terms of delivery of services. A class action may therefore be initiated to bring to the mayor’s attention that area that needs to be worked on so that the corresponding project or service may be implemented.

When a SOMA speaks well of the performance of a mayor, he deserves another opportunity to serve his constituents. For comments / reactions, please email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it