Big Brother by ALEX F. PATIO: The substance and the process

====== At the rate things are going, we are on the right path to achieve whatever positive endeavors worth intended for the city and its people=======

People in social movements usually share a vision of the future that is beautiful and inspiring, if somewhat fuzzy. When it comes to agreeing upon specific steps to reach their shared goals, however, they frequently have nasty fallings-out that impede their progress. This is somewhat silly, I know, particularly when everyone in the movement is nearly always sincere and dedicated. Nevertheless, details do have a way of disturbing the tranquility of social movements and so they merit attention despite their triviality.
There are many explanations for the disputes that break out over specifics, but I would like to offer one that I find convincing, even if I did dream it up myself. This explanation focuses on the intense, but half hidden competition between substantive and political process goals. It’s the old chicken and egg debate all over again: Should substantive or process goals come first?
Like in public governance system, I am firmly convinced that process goals are equal in importance to substantive ones. The government of the City of San Fernando (P) is best defined and one example when substance and process go along with each other. The executive branch headed by Mayor Oscar S. Rodriguez provides the substance itself in steering the city in its rightful place as it should be, redeeming further the city from its stagnant and mediocre status into comparable world class community while the legislative branch takes care of the process in putting life to various programs for the executive branch to implement. Is it better to fight to improve a specific regulation, for example, or to improve access to the regulatory process? Or should we pursue both goals simultaneously? The easy answer to this latter question is yes, but in our experience, we have to be a master juggler to do both and most people cannot keep that many balls in the air at once. So which comes first? – both should be done and implemented together without edging out each other.
Process goals are generally neglected and deserve far more attention and support from constituents and public interest groups than they get. While on the surface, substantive issues offer more attractive targets and goals that process issues do. They are more specific, visible, and definable than process issues. Process issues, on the other hand, is the driving factor which gives life on the substance for it to work efficiently and definitely gives meaning to what has been planned serving the purpose thereof.
To provide a cleaner vision and perception, no matter how fruitful and imperative the substance of programs of governance and public policy, the former still needs the process within which it always necessitates the support it had to extract cooperatively. While there are set of goals the executive has in mind which are of course beneficial to the majority, the process to be undertaken is being passed on to the city council to find ways in a resolute manner the collating of inputs thereby coming up for the implementation by the executive on a win-win programs of governance.
No sort of reform is ever easy to secure, but the pursuit of substantive reforms offers the possibility to make it a reality when all figures in the house possessed the quality and qualifications in attaining even those impossible for those who dare not to try and explore before. In other words, both the executive and legislative branch of the city government tends to be narrowly focused and single purpose in character. They represent short-lived debate over issues but with a long-term determination to put in place something dramatic, broad-range social change with pervasive impact on the lives of the constituents and of every Fernandino. At the rate things are going, we are on the right path to achieve whatever positive endeavors worth intended for the city and its people.
Whoever are those at present in these positions of governance and even in the near future may just come and go. There must be no monopoly on this aspect of our political and social life towards other, but at least the present crop of people elected by the people themselves are doing the right moves through the mandates from the majority of our electorates being the ingrained advocacy for good, transparent and honest governance.
The substance in it being wielded by our city mayor can be felt by all sectors of our society contagiously far reaching even our local neighbors, with the process well taken care of by the city council on the affront doing unselfish performance and devotion as manifested by where the City of San Fernando (P) lies now in terms of economic, social, cultural and educational development that never before in history ever happened this kind of development at this magnitude.
In governance, the city has all the substantial ingredients and the transparent process with human sensitivity which always becomes a ready menu to cherish and embrace by every Fernandino.