Bullish on the Future of Naga

Bullish on the Future of Naga Due to Sound Financial Management By HON. JOHN BONGAT MAYOR, NAGA CITY

We have every reason to be bullish this 2015, the year of the Poor for the Catholic Church, and the year of the wooden goat in the lunar calendar. According to the Chinese, 2015 promises to be an abundant year for all of us.

True to our word at the start of my term, in 2010, that we will embark on a more aggressive investment promotion campaign to “grow” the local economy, we have been able to nurture local enterprises while forging new economic inroads. From 2010 till 2014, City Treasury records show that an average of 1,334 new firms, mostly local, had been set up in Naga each year. The Office of the Building Official reports construction of an annual average of 122 new commercial, industrial and institutional buildings during the same period. A conservative total of P6.2B in private investments poured into the local economy over the past five years, during my term as Mayor of Naga.

The country’s top property developers have given us their vote of confidence.

Naga, along with Metro Naga, broke into the “Next Wave Cities” rankings in 2013, emerging as one of the country’s top 10 BPO destinations, paving the way for the entry of the BPO industry in our beloved city. We now have four IT parks/centers, three of them coming over the past two years alone—all developed by local businessmen. These now house IBM which is continuing to expand its non-voice or back office operations, and call centers Concentrix and Stellar. While others are set to follow suit.

All this has made us the third Most Competitive City in the Philippines in 2014, sparking the creation of thousands of new jobs for our fellow Nagueños, and the #1 City in the country in terms of government efficiency. To provide more meaningful jobs especially for our semi-skilled workers, we are now in negotiations with a Japanese firm to anchor our first-ever PEZA-accredited industrial park. If the BPO industry in Naga is catering to mostly college graduates or skilled labor force, the export processing zone we are pushing to be developed in Naga will absorb young people, who albeit unskilled, will become employable. More jobs mean more income to families, higher purchasing power, higher revenues for local industries, and of course higher revenues for the city due to higher taxable gross receipts.

Critical to making these developments happen is nurturing an environment responsive to the needs of business, as well as having the financial wherewithal to respond to business needs. We have, therefore, focused on a financial housekeeping system that has resulted to a budget increasing at an average of more than 10% annually over the past 5 years. In 2010, we had a budget of PhP 517M. In 2015, this grew to PhP 835M. PhP 125M of the 2015 budget is dedicated to infrastructure.

More than 50% of the city’s budget comes from local sources, making the City of Naga # 9 least IRA-dependent city in the Philippines starting 2012. Revenues from business taxes have been growing by 14% annually, from PhP 102M in 2010 to PhP 170M in 2014. As of February 15, 2015, total assessment for business taxes amounted to PhP 183M. In terms of the 70% share of the city from BASIC real property taxes, annual growth in revenues has been averaging 15%-- from PhP 43M in 2010 to PhP 72M in 2014. The traditional sources of local revenues are complemented by our economic enterprises. Through better management practices, with a keen eye on financial performance, the revenues of the former public market, now re-branded as the Naga City People’s Mall (NCPM) grew 20% annually—from PhP 23M in 2010 to PhP 53M in 2014. By taking a clear stand on what the city wanted to do with its central bus terminal (now called the Bicol Central Station), we were able to increase revenues from approximately PhP 16M every year until 2013-- when we leased the facility to the private sector—to nearly PhP 36M in 2015—when the city government started managing its own terminal and rebranded the facility to “Bicol Central Station.”

To complement the exciting economic and business developments, and mindful of our tenet that “An Maogmang Lugar” ultimately can be measured by the quality of life of our people, the city government has embarked on a P600M capital investment program for 2015, not to mention the approximately Php 500M contributed by our third district Congresswoman Leni Robredo in the form of Naga River revetment and other flood mitigation infrastructure. This will be funded from the regular budget, as well as borrowings which are made possible due to the city’s stellar credit standing. During its December 22 meeting, the City Development Council which I chair greenlighted that spending program, endorsed it to the Sangguniang Panlungsod which approved the same. The package will allow the city government to clean up the Balatas dump, rehabilitate the area and provide a permanent solution to our solid waste disposal problem-- which will result in the more productive use of the surrounding areas that will necessarily accelerate its development. Side by side, we will also establish a new city cemetery that will meet Naga’s needs for the next two decades. These are two of the top urban basic services that my administration has committed itself to address-- so that the next administration can focus its energies on the other changing needs of the city.

Taken together, we are seeing a more robust and vibrant local economy that will bring about an inclusive economic growth not only for Naga, or Metro Naga, but for the entire region as well. Surely, these are the fruits of the city’s investment in good financial housekeeping that we have cultivated and grown to greater heights since the time of my predecessor, the late Mayor and DILG Secretary Jesse M. Robredo.

The role, therefore, of the city’s leadership is to hold fast and true to its fundamental obligation to bring about social justice, so that those who have less in life can and will benefit from these exciting, positive developments. This is the reason why on top of all these developments and plans for the future, my administration does not lose sight of its obligation to the less privileged in our community.

Indeed, we have every reason to be bullish, not only about Naga’s future, but in delivering on that basic governance commitment– transparency, accountability and inclusive decision-making in the over-all financial management of city resources.