GOOD GOVERNMENT should make it easier for citizens to help. Government should encourage volunteerism. Government should welcome civic participation. Government should build bridges between public and private sectors. Unfortunately, this Ordinance sends the opposite message. Instead of saying: “Come and help our people.” It effectively says: “Please comply with numerous requirements first before you can help our people.”
This is contrary to the spirit of volunteerism, civic engagement, and public-private cooperation that has long benefited communities throughout Pampanga.
The reality is simple. No local government, regardless of its resources, can address all community needs by itself. Private citizens, foundations, churches, corporations, civic clubs, schools, professional associations, and charitable organizations have long supplemented government efforts.
Rather than creating barriers to these efforts, government should strengthen partnerships with those willing to help. The private sector is not the enemy. The private sector is a partner.
How can private organizations, civic groups, churches, foundations, corporations, volunteer doctors, dentists, nurses, and humanitarian organizations immediately respond to the needs of Fernandinos during emergencies if they are required to undergo a lengthy process before assistance can be provided? In the aftermath of a major earthquake, typhoon, flood, fire, or other disaster, affected families cannot wait five days for food assistance. Children cannot wait five days for nutritional support. Evacuees cannot wait five days for medical attention. Communities requiring emergency relief need assistance immediately…
Public policy should empower Good Samaritans to act swiftly during emergencies not create uncertainty that may delay assistance to those who need it most. Instead of imposing an extensive regulatory ordinance, we respectfully recommend: 1. Simplify coordination procedures; 2. Require only essential health and safety safeguards; 3. Establish a simple notification system rather than a lengthy application process; 4. Create a fast-track coordination mechanism through the City Health Office; 5. Encourage rather than discourage volunteerism; 6. Promote partnerships between government and private organizations; 7. Strengthen monitoring of actual health and safety compliance rather than imposing excessive pre-activity documentation; and 8. Establish an automatic exemption and expedited response mechanism during declared emergencies and disasters…
The issue before us is not whether feeding programs, medical missions, and dental missions should be safe. We all agree they must be safe.
The issue is whether helping the poor should be made more difficult than necessary.
While we recognize the good intentions behind this Ordinance, good intentions alone do not guarantee good public policy. An ordinance that discourages volunteerism, creates unequal treatment between government and private organizations, duplicates existing national regulations, and potentially delays humanitarian response during emergencies may ultimately produce results opposite to those intended.
The true measure of public policy is not how much it regulates, but how effectively it serves the people. In this case, we respectfully submit that the people of San Fernando will be better served by a simplified, partnership-oriented approach rather than by additional regulatory restrictions.
This Ordinance, while well-intentioned, creates restrictions that may discourage charitable organizations from serving the people of the City of San Fernando. As a result, needy Fernandinos may lose opportunities to receive food assistance, medical care, dental services, and humanitarian support from organizations willing to help.
For these reasons, we respectfully urge the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Pampanga to withhold approval of Ordinance No. 2026-021 and instead encourage the City Government of San Fernando to revisit the measure, simplify the process, remove discriminatory provisions, and adopt a more collaborative approach that welcomes the participation of the private sector.
Let us not regulate compassion. Let us facilitate it. Let us not create barriers to helping. Let us create partnerships that allow more people to serve more Fernandinos.
(Excerpts from position paper of PBC on CSF Ordinance No. 2026-021: “An Ordinance Regulating and Institutionalizing the Conduct and Operation of Feeding Programs, Medical Missions, and Dental Missions…” presented during the SP committee hearing on June 29, 2026)
