HONORABLE VICE MAYOR and Presiding Officer of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, DR
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"GOOD GOVERNANCE AND INCLUSIVE GROWTH, A CONTINUING LEGACY" The 2015 State of the City Address of Honorable Evelyn T. Uy, City Mayor of Dipolog 14 April 2015; 2:00 P.M.; Atrium, Top Plaza Hotel, Dipolog City HONORABLE VICE MAYOR and Presiding Officer of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, DR. HORACIO B. VELASCO; HONORABLE MEMBERS OF THE SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD; Our distinguished Representatives at the Lower House of Congress, HONORABLE ROSENDO "DODOY" LABADLABAD of the 2nd District, and HONORABLE ISAGANI S. AMATONG of the 3rd District of Zamboanga del Norte; HONORABLE ROBERTO Y. UY, Provincial Governor of Zamboanga del Norte; HONORABLE VICE GOVERNOR SENEN O. ANGELES and the DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS OF THE SANGGUNIANG PANLALAWIGAN; MEMBERS OF THE JUDICIARY; Our hardworking BARANGAY CAPTAINS and COUNCIL MEMBERS of the twenty-one barangays of Dipolog; Heads of the different national line agencies and offices; Officers and gentlemen of the uniformed service, Col. JESUS MANANQUIL, Commander of the 101st Army Infantry Brigade; Police Superintendent Rannie Hachuela, Chief of Police of Dipolog; OIC-PNP Provincial Director 1 Our active partners in development: the members of the Business Community led by the Dipolog Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Non-Government and Peoples' Organizations, Civil Society, the Religious Sector, members of the Media; My fellow workers in the City Government; Mga pinalangga kong Dipolognon, MAAYONG HAPON KANATONG TANAN! Last year, I stood before you and declared that the success of Dipolog is a result of our people's journey to good governance. As we gather here this afternoon for my 8th annual report to the people, I would like to start exactly where we left off a year ago. Sa miaging tuig, gihimo ko ang usa ka panaad isip Mayor ug inahan sa dakbayan nga ako mahimong usa uban kaninyo ug magkuyog ta sa kalambuan. From that day, we have had so many successes in a lot of fronts. Today, I can sum up the condition and the state of our city as stronger and bolder. Development has definitely arrived in Dipolog. 2 Our city is no longer the sleepy, backward town of 20 years ago. Our city is now facing the same challenges typical of a growing, developing urban center: High and rapid population growth, heavily increasing population density, space congestion and rising resource consumption, among other concerns. Add to it the limitation on resources -- financial and others -- which strains the capability of the local government to properly and expeditiously address said concerns. We are a relatively small city of 134,000 people but we have seen remarkable growth as our population has nearly doubled in just 25 years. And our city's population density is the highest in the Zamboanga Peninsula region at nearly a thousand people per square kilometer. This fact can largely be attributed to the rapid economic growth that our city has seen in the last decade. From seven urban barangays and 14 rural barangays ten years ago, the landscape has dramatically changed. Dipolog now has 14 urban barangays and only seven remained rural. 3 Of course, accompanying development are the multifarious concerns that we have to face. But believe me when I say that life in Dipolog is still getting more exciting by the day. In fact, people have never been this excited about Dipolog -- Businesses and banks are opening left and right; the volume of new business investments is on a steady increase; the first commercial passenger marine vessel, the MV Lady of Good Voyage of Medallion Transport, is on its third week plying the direct Cebu- Dipolog route using our very own Dipolog Sea Port in Galas; the Dipolog Airport's new terminal building will be operational very soon; as well as the Corazon Aquino Hospital; plus many other public investments on infrastructure and facilities. So you may ask, how are we able to manage to be this vibrant despite our limited local resources? I say, in our belief that INNOVATION is key to addressing resource problems. Local governments are now challenged with an increasing demand from its constituency to address growing societal problems and at the same time people are now expecting greater transparency, efficiency and a more effective delivery of public goods and services from civil servants. 4 I would like to give special emphasis on the resource partnership that our City has forged with the national government. For the first time in decades, Dipolog has gotten the important attention in terms of the volume of projects poured, the amount of which runs in the hundreds of millions of pesos. We can't thank enough His Excellency Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III for all of these. President Aquino made sure that the people of Dipolog and Zamboanga del Norte will benefit from the country's inclusive economic growth. This year, we will be seeing the completion and progress of various big-ticket infrastructure projects in our city. * The Corazon C. Aquino Hospital with a total project of cost of 250-Million Pesos will be inaugurated later this year after we have completed the acquisition of hospital equipment and fixtures. * We have recently completed the 8-Million-Peso Phase I of improvements at the Cogon Eco-Tourism Park using funding from the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority or TIEZA. 5 * The rehabilitation of Dipolog Communal Irrigation System worth over 58-Million Pesos. The funding from this project came from the Agrarian Reform Communities Project II, the Performance-Based Incentive Award from the Department of Finance and local counterpart from the city government. * The Department of Tourism has likewise spent 100 Million Pesos to start the extension of the Dipolog Boulevard. * Ongoing implementation now is the rehabilitation and extension of the breakwater at the Dipolog Sea Port in Galas. A total of 45-Million Pesos was allocated by the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) for this project. * Likewise, DPWH Region 9 is implementing a number of other infrastructure projects to include widening of various roads in the city; completion of the River Control worth over 200-Million Pesos; as well as the concreting of the Cogon- Diwan Road leading to Sungkilaw Falls. These tourism- support infrastructure, which also include the Linabo Road, are worth more than 300-Million Pesos. 6 Magpasalamat kita sa atong pinalanggang Presidente Noynoy Aquino gumikan sa dakong tabang nga iyang nahatag sa pagpalambo sa Dipolog. Dipolog's story is getting better by the day. Now, we are starting to see the results. This afternoon, we look back at what we have accomplished and achieved last year. (DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION) Our experience in Dipolog is that innovation calls not only for improvement but the greater work of TRANSFORMATION. The Dipolog that we are seeing and experiencing now is a product of a number of innovative practices, ideas and programs. Last October, our city was bestowed with the prestigious Gawad Galing Pook for the Dipolog Urban Renewal Program. Our city's urban development and renewal was cited for being one of the ten most outstanding and model local governance programs in the country as it embodied multi-dimensional objectives not only for environmental protection, but socio-economic and cultural development, as well. 7 We all know the story of how Dipolog was able to transform the lives of 500 families who were former informal settlers at the coastline of the city. Many fisherfolks and a greater number of migrants from other places have built shanties over the coast creating a slum out of a very important natural resource of our place. We used to call it as Dipolog's longest toilet. It was unsightly but more over it was definitely a degrading and unsafe living condition for the families in that slum. A strong political will and the sincerity to uplift the lives of the people made the difference. People had to be relocated from the coastal slum which is both a disaster to the environment as it is also a disaster for the people who were perennially affected by storm surges during typhoons. Fast-forward to present time, from slum, the coastal area has been transformed and is now named as the Dipolog Boulevard, the hub of community events for leisure, sports and wellness, entertainment, cultural heritage promotion, among other diverse uses. 8 Our Boulevard has become the city's magnet to attract businesses to develop and locate in the area and the city's business district. At present, 15 businesses have opened shop at the two-commercial buildings -- most of these businesses are owned by young local startup entrepreneurs. Aside from contributing an additional 5-Million Peso annual income for the city coffers in the form of space rentals at the commercial building, the boulevard has provided a sustainable source of income for local micro-entrepreneurs such as balut and barbeque vendors, fruit traders and other small food stall operators. In early February of this year, I was able to present our success story in Singapore before a panel of urban infrastructure international experts and they were awed by the transformation that we were able to achieve. Likewise, only last week, the Philippine Political Science Association had their professional conference here in Dipolog and a number of them were one in saying that what we have is a perfect example of how local governments can innovate and forge collaborations to realize inclusive growth and felt development by the people. 9 The innovative transformation story should not end here. Let's look at the 500 families whose lives were dramatically changed after they were relocated from the coastal slum. They now live in a better and functional community complete with public utilities, education and health facilities, livelihood and income opportunities.