MBSL SOCA 2011

http://whatsupdagupan.blogspot.com 1

STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS Dagupan City

Hon. Mayor Benjamin S. Lim 14 February 2011

Vice Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, distinguished guests, fellow Dagupeños:

Today I come not to speak about the state of the City of Dagupan in every detail. Rather, I am here to speak to you about the changes we have seen, the challenges we still face, what we have done, and what we are about to do, and what they all mean for the people of this great city.

My fellow Dagupeños, when we took office barely seven months ago, we were called to an uncommon caliber of leadership in a crucial period of consequence. We found that we inherited problems we did nothing to invite. This is not to say, however, that we are here to point fingers on who’s to blame. But had we ignored them, they could have hindered our city’s growth and progress.

As I mentioned during the inaugural: “pledge for us to work together, pledge for us to work harder, to be selfless and to sacrifice, to put God and City above all else, and I assure you the best is yet to come.”

During the campaign last year, I sat down with my fellow candidates and talked to them about what to call our political line-up. It was suggested by one of our members to call ourselves “Team Dagupan”. It was ordinary. It was not the catchiest of names, but everyone unanimously agreed on it. Somehow it felt right. You may be wondering, what is the significance?

We could just as easily have called ourselves “Team BSL”, or even named our group after one of our members, but we did not. But there was a reason why we called ourselves “Team Dagupan”. From the start, we sought public office not for personal glory, but rather, we subscribed to the belief that being of service to our city was something bigger than ourselves.

And what greater honor is there but to be of service to the very city where we were born and raised.

We should start to realize that no matter who we are, no matter where we are from, we are part of something greater, something more powerful than political or party affiliations, something far greater than our personal ambitions.

We are here to serve; and that means we are here to serve with humility.

To serve with true compassion; and that means a genuine concern for the people.

We serve neither for the cameras nor publicity, but we serve expecting nothing in return.

Ang sikreto ng isang magaling na lider ay simple lamang: huwag niyong unahin ang inyong sarili.

I initially planned on delivering this speech on the 31st of January, hoping that by that time, our annual budget shall have already been passed. Regretfully, as I deliver this speech to you today, in my estimation, the Sanggunian is nowhere near enacting our budget through an ordinance.


Now, it is no secret that some of us here today have had our differences. Debates have been contentious, and at times, even boisterous. The annual budget for 2011 is the one issue since I took office, which has generated the most interest, and spurred the most arguments.

This is fine, for debates on city issues, is a cornerstone of any healthy democracy.

President Obama perhaps said it best when he said: “now, by itself, this simple recognition (of our differences) won’t usher in a new era of cooperation. What comes of this moment is up to us. What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together today, but whether we can work better tomorrow.”

My fellow Dagupeños, allow me to put the budget in perspective: when we talk about the annual budget for the city, we are not only talking about the budget of the City Mayor’s Office.

We are talking about the budgets of the City Health Office, the Public Order and Safety Office, the City Engineering’s Office, the City Tourism Office, the City Social Welfare and Development Office, among others.

It also includes the infrastructure budget of the Barangays, the Sangguniang Kabataan, the Special Education Fund of the city, and to some degree the Dagupan City Police, the Fire Department, the Prosecutors’ Office, the Municipal Trial Courts, and other government agencies.

And yes, it also includes the budget of the Vice Mayor and the Sangguniang Panlungsod.

The budget is the fuel that propels our city forward, and that’s putting it in the simplest terms.

Our budget funds the most basic and essential public services of our city.

It is the means by which we feed the city’s malnourished children. It pays the salaries of our traffic enforcers. It is the means by which we collect our garbage and maintain the equipment used for it. It is the means by which our volunteer workers get their honorariums and bonuses. The maintenance and building of public infrastructures comes from the city’s budget. Government wages are derived from the budget, including their wage increase for this year. The gasoline and labor expense for the dredging of our rivers will come from the budget. It is the means by which we procure medicines for our senior citizens. Gasoline subsidies for our police vehicles come from this budget.

As Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore said: “we have to keep growing by generating resources to upgrade our city, improve lives, enable job security, and upgrade the standard of living.” Just like Singapore and any other city, there are more expenses to be paid, more repairs to be done, more utilities and structures to be built - all with the objective of creating a more livable city for our people.

Whether we like it or not, the needs of a city grows with each passing year, and Dagupan is no different.

That is why our budget proposal for 2011 is 14% more than last year’s budget.

Necessarily, the next question is whether or not the city has the capability to generate enough revenue to justify the budget.

And the answer is yes.

Since I took office, we have been very zealous in collecting taxes.

Let’s take a moment to talk about taxes.


If I were to ask every single one of you here today, if you like paying your taxes, I am sure 99% of you will say no. That’s just a fact. Nobody likes to pay their taxes. I don’t either. But we live in a country of laws, not of men; and the law requires all of us to pay our fair share of taxes.

President Franklin Roosevelt once said: “taxes are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.” In our society, under the constitution, the power to tax solely rests with our legislature.

Ang ating kongreso at senado lamang ang may kapangyarihan na magsampa ng buwis. Dito sa Dagupan, ang lehislatibo natin ay ang Sangguniang Panlungsod, at sila ang may kapangyarihan na magsampa ng mga buwis na panlokal.

Tayong mga Dagupeño, dapat maintindihan natin na dalawang klaseng buwis ang ating binabayaran. Meron tayong binabayarang buwis sa mga ahensyang pang nasional, tulad ng BIR, at meron din tayong ibinabayad na buwis sa Siudad ng Dagupan.

Since the power to tax is exclusively a legislative function, in our city, it is the Sangguniang Panlungsod that has the power to impose local taxes. My job as your City Mayor, is to make sure that the tax ordinances passed by our Sanggunian are implemented correctly and fairly.

Ang pagkolekta ng panlokal na buwis ay trabaho at responsibilidad ng isang alkalde. At kung hindi ko po ito gagawin, ako po ay lalabag sa ating konstitusyon at sa aking sinumpaang tungkulin. Kaya ito po ay dapat ninyong maintindihan: hindi po natin itinaas ang ating mga buwis. Kinokolekta lang po natin kung ano ang nakasaad sa ating mga ordinansa at batas. Sa madaling salita, ginagawa lang po natin ang ating trabaho.

I know, that even after this brief explanation, you probably still won’t feel good about paying your taxes. Don’t worry; I have a hard time convincing myself too. But let me ask you this question: “Have you been paying the correct amount of taxes?”

I am sure some of you here diligently and honestly pay your taxes. But I am equally sure that more of you here have been under-declaring your taxes. We are not here to point accusatory fingers, but let me cite an example by comparing three educational institutions in our city.

All three of these schools are of the same size, and more or less, have similar student populations. In 2010, one of the schools declared gross sales of 275 million, and paid about 2 million in business taxes. The second school declared gross sales of 46 million and paid approximately 342,000 pesos in business taxes; while the third school declared gross sales of 1.5 million, and paid 50,000 pesos in business taxes.

This is the message that I wish to emphasize: if you want your city to progress, if you want your city to modernize, if you want a more orderly city, if you want a healthier city, we must all pay our taxes, and we must pay the correct amount.

Now, as your Mayor, I could have taken the road with less political risk.

I could have instructed our revenue generation team to just sit on their jobs.

I could have just looked at our city’s collection, and be satisfied with the Commission on Audit classifying our beloved city as a second-class city.

But we are a city of first class citizens. It does not befit us to be classified as a second-class city.

We have to dream big to achieve great things. We wanted to test and challenge ourselves. That is why our budget proposal for this year is 568 million. And we will prove to you that it can be done; that our budget proposal of 568 million is not only realistic, but it is in fact very


conservative. Actually, during my discussion with the fiscal managers and experts of our city I instructed them to target and create a 600 million budget for this year.

My specific instruction to Mrs. Carmen Olpindo, Mr. Allan Dale Zarate, and Mrs. Deborah Castillo was to be more aggressive in their legal assessments and tax collection efforts. And so far, they have delivered. If you are not convinced, look no further than the city’s OSBC, or One Stop Shop. Their revenue collection for the month of January alone is 40% higher, not 36% as initially reported, compared to the same month last year. Again, there are no new local tax laws. We are simply enforcing the existing tax ordinances passed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod.

I hope my explanation today will put a stop to all the lies, rumors, and nonsense regarding the city’s tax collection.

So in sum, what is the budget issue all about? To my mind, the only issue about the budget is whether it will be passed or not.

I have earlier discussed the benefits of an approved budget; so what would be the disadvantages if it were not passed?

For one, the city will not be able to use the Internal Revenue Allotment, or IRA, increase for this year. The IRA is the local government’s share of revenues from the national government, which generally increases every year. For Dagupan, the increase of the IRA for 2011 is somewhere in the vicinity of 20 million. Because no ordinance has been passed to enact the annual budget, we will have 20 million less to spend on needed infrastructure and services.

Secondly, the city will not be able to create new positions. For example, this year, we hope to implement our registered nurses program for every barangay. This means that each barangay will have at least one registered nurse whose task is to provide emergency medical treatment especially to young children and senior citizens. A reenacted budget will not allow us to do this. We will not be able to implement this program should the Sanggunian refuse to pass this year’s budget.

Thirdly, the city will not be able to build new projects, create new programs and other activities that will benefit a great number of Dagupeños.

Clearly, an approved budget proposal is more advantageous than a reenacted budget. And if we can agree that an approved budget is far more beneficial to Dagupeños, then this budget row is really nothing more than a political issue.

Our friends from the media visited me last week. One of them asked me point blank if I thought the budget issue was indeed political. I said, of course it was political. Then I said, if it is a political fight they want to wage, I am more than game. I even went as far as to say that we can even hold snap elections next month. I am well aware that that is not allowed under the law. What I wanted to underscore was not the holding of snap elections, but the danger of letting politics prevail in the way we manage our city, and should that become the norm, it will surely hurt our city. Politics has no place in a city that is trying its best to move forward.

But if that will be the case, then we might as well settle this political issue as soon as possible so we can move on to what our city really needs: effective, coordinated, and focused governance. What is at stake right now is not the outcome of the next elections. After all, we just had an election. Remember, we were elected by a majority of our people to perform a vital function. With their votes, the people of this city determined for us that the responsibility of governance should be a shared responsibility between parties. Support is needed not just from


both sides of the political fence, but all sides, because the challenges we face are bigger than our affiliations and biases, and definitely bigger than egos and politics. It is not enough, however, that you just listen to this concept. It is not even enough that you understand it. Most importantly, you should be able to realize it, manifest it, and live it.

My responsibility as chief executive of this city, as your duly elected mayor, is to do all I can, even up to this very moment, to make sure the budget is passed. I believe we have done our part in the executive, now a vast number of Dagupeños are asking that the Sanggunian do theirs. Our city, your beloved city, is in danger of having a disadvantageous and crippling reenacted budget in exactly 28 days, should the members of the Sanggunian fail or refuse to pass it. While I want to say for certain that conscience and sense of responsibility will prevail, for now, I can only hope and pray that they actually do, for this is one of those times that I wish to be proven wrong.

To the members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod: make no mistake that the people are closely watching, heed their call, be efficient in doing your jobs, and give the people no reason to regret the trust and confidence they have put in you.

When everything is said and done about this budget, there are hard lessons that the members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod should learn:

1. Be more conscientious of your responsibilities; 2. Be more mindful of the deadlines set by law; 3. Always put the people we serve ahead of yourselves; 4. You have the right to think and act independently; and 5. A little respect and courtesy goes a long way

For if we put the people ahead in every action we take, we cannot go wrong.

Yes, our city faces many menacing problems, hardships, and this budget issue. But there are many visible factors that give encouragement for a bright future. The fact that we are maintaining from 80 to 85 percent of our normal activities and incomes; that our major financial and industrial institutions have shown positive signs of weathering the global economic crises; that price levels of major commodities and services have remained stable; that a number of industries are showing signs of demand; that the world at large is readjusting itself to the situation – all reflect grounds for confidence.

We should remember that adversities – both man-made and natural – have been met many times before by our city and our people, that they are but temporary. We are, in an extraordinary degree, self-sustaining, and we shall overcome and prevail over our problems because of the Dagupeños proven and tested resiliency.

Earlier, I talked about the city’s fiscal policy for this year. I also mentioned that we have significantly increased our tax collection despite imposing no new tax regulations.

Many of you perhaps do not know that Dagupan City is one of the cities in the Philippines that has the smallest land area. We are actually near the bottom, ranking fourth from the last, in terms of land area. Fortunately, population growth rate in the province has significantly decreased since 1995. About fifteen years ago, it was about 2.4 percent. In the last three years, it has gone down to a little over 1 percent. This is good news, because we do not want our cities to get too crowded. Dagupan is already a city of about 160,000 inhabitants in 27,000 households. Overpopulation means that we will be spreading our resources too thin.


Dagupan, however, remains to be the center of commerce in the province, and to a certain extent in the region, and because of this, the daytime population easily doubles. The immediate effect of this daytime population is increased traffic volume. The challenge to maintain smooth traffic flow in our city is a challenge that gets more difficult with each passing day. More pedestrians and vehicles are navigating our streets, but our streets in return are not getting wider nor longer.

Our POSO Chief, Robert Erfe-Mejia, has made headway utilizing the volume reduction scheme by implementing the numbers and day coding system. They have also been active in standardizing vehicle equipment among the tricycles and the use of safety equipment. We, however, share the same belief that we cannot just approach traffic management from an “enforcement” perspective, but we must also address it from a “volume” standpoint. What does this mean?

I recently learned from Mayor Pablo Ortega of San Fernando City, La Union, that instead of increasing the number of tricycle franchises, in the last few years, they have gone the opposite way - they actually adopted a reduction scheme. This year the City of San Fernando will only issue 1,200 tricycle franchises. Dagupan and San Fernando are relatively the same size, but the number of tricycle operators plying our routes is more than twice as much. Because of their reduction scheme, tricycle drivers in their city have a more stable take home pay, while traffic volume is significantly reduced, and their traffic enforcers are not overworked.

Robert and I agreed that if we can unburden the POSO from their traffic enforcement duties, even by just 30 to 40 percent, they will have more time to devote to emergency response, crowd control, and they can even function as an auxiliary peace-keeping force in our city. That is why I believe it is about time, that the Sangguniang Panlungsod reviews the legislation regarding the issuance of tricycle franchises, as well as the procedures on how to obtain or renew one’s franchise. Instead of encouraging our people to invest in operating tricycles, we should inspire them to look for alternative sources of livelihood.

Everyday I come across people who are looking for employment. Our national unemployment rate has been increasing slightly in the last three years, from 7.3% in 2008, 7.4% in 2009, and 7.5% in 2010. Many of our kabaleyans come to many of us, prepared with their biodatas and resumes. Even in our compound in Malued, I see applicants line up everyday hoping to land a decent paying job. It certainly is a difficult situation because job opportunities are very far and few between. It is our philosophy, that it is the private sector that creates jobs, and not the government. The role of government is to pursue policies that help the private sector create jobs. While we cannot hope to employ every single Dagupeño, we must do our best to employ as many as we can. We can do this by ensuring that our city continues to be business friendly.

Thus, we welcome all companies to do business here, provided they comply with our laws. It is welcome news that SM has expressed interest in putting up a mall in Dagupan. Should their mall project push through, hundreds of our citizens stand to gain employment. Not to mention the taxes that the city stands to collect. More significantly, real property in Tambac and the other eastern barangays will appreciate. Several large Business Process Outsourcing, or BPO’s, have also expressed their interest in operating here in Dagupan. The primary consideration here is how to bring in more developments and investments to the city, which in turn would create more jobs.

To bring in investment, this administration is determined to encourage the creation and strengthening of capital – capital of all kinds: physical capital – everything from our rivers, fishponds, business establishments – all that is needed to produce and deliver quality goods and quality services; intellectual capital – the source of ideas that spark tomorrow’s products; and, of


course, our human capital – the talented work force that we’ll need to compete in the global market.

Speaking of human capital, Dagupan has been long known to be the center of education in Northern Luzon. But in the last few years, we discovered that the major universities operating in our city have suffered a decline in their enrollment. The primary reason for this decline is that students are looking elsewhere to study, most notably in Baguio. This is a concern that we must address together, because a substantial percentage of our city’s economy is derived from the student population who are enrolled in our universities.

It is also our policy to invest heavily in education and human resources development.

But when we talk about education and human resources development, we are not simply talking about teachers, classrooms, and students. We must also look at education from a physical and mental standpoint. Why do we say this? We discovered based on a survey conducted by the Social Welfare and Development Office that there are more than two thousand malnourished children in our city. Malnourished children are almost automatically at a great disadvantage because without the proper nutrition, brain function and their learning abilities are impaired.

That is why this administration undertook a massive feeding program to address this problem. We know that one-day feeding programs do not work. In fact, they shouldn’t even be called programs. Research shows that to significantly reverse a child’s malnourishment, we need to feed each child at least 120 days with the right combination of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals.

Today is the 109thnd day of the first phase of this feeding program, and I am happy to report that through this initiative, and the close monitoring being done by the City Nutrition Office and Mr. Beep Beep Tan, nearly 600 children have shown a remarkable improvement in their weight.

We are attending to the weight and nourishment of our children, subsequently, we must also address their pre-school education.

The Early Childhood Care and Development Law which was enacted in 2000, recognizes the importance of early childhood and its special needs, affirms parents as primary caregivers and the child's first teachers, and establishes parent effectiveness, seminars and nutrition counseling for pregnant mothers. To emphasize our commitment to the early education of our youth, I have asked Mrs. Revy Guadiz and Ms. Tessie Crisologo, both specialists in pre-school education, to give us an assessment of our day care centers, and what steps must be taken to improve them.

It is also our vision to put up a Children’s Hospital in the city that will cater specifically to pregnant mothers and newborns. This will complement our commitment in providing quality education and health care to the youth. This hospital will seek to serve those who are less fortunate, and cannot afford the medical treatment in the more expensive private hospitals. To keep the cost of treatment and hospitalization low, operational expenses of the Children’s Hospital will be subsidized partially by the city government. Both Councilor Jess Canto and Dr. Leo Carbonell of the City Health Office agreed with me that the Children’s Hospital is a vision worth pursuing due to the high number of cases in Dagupan requiring pre-natal and post-natal care both have encountered as medical practitioners in our city.

To a large degree, the physical capital of the city is where we must focus on.


In terms of our rivers, we initiated a massive fish pen clearing operation and a moratorium in the issuance of Aquaculture Lease Agreements, or ALA’s, in hopes of letting our river system recover from further environmental degradation, and to give way to the operations that will be conducted by the dredging machines of the province.

Mrs. Emma Molina of the City Agriculture’s Office has identified four critical areas which must be dredged immediately:

1. Salapingao-Dupo to Centro; 2. Patogcawen in Dawel; 3. Tanap; and 4. Pugaro

These areas have been declared critical because there are parts in these areas where the water level are less than 1 meter in depth. We hope to recover about 3 to 4 meters in terms of water depth once the dredging operations are completed. It will take about a year to dredge the 3 main branches of our river system, operating at normal conditions, and both machines working at the same time.

I am happy to report, that as of today, 90% of our rivers are now clear of illegal structures and fish pens, and we will not stop until we have reached our 100% objective.

Our local fishermen have also started to reap the benefits from the removal of these unwanted structures in our rivers. Based on several interviews conducted by the City Agriculture Office, many more fish are now able to swim upstream and are being caught by our local fishermen. Thus, allowing them to increase their daily income from 200 to 300 pesos before to as much as 500 to 600 pesos nowadays.

Credit must be given to City Agriculturist Emma Molina and Mr. Butch Gutierrez, head of the clearing operations, because needless to say, their task was not easy to accomplish.

This is not to say that we are abandoning our bangus industry because we are cleaning up our rivers. Quite the contrary, we are sacrificing now to ensure that our bangus industry continues to flourish years, even decades, from now.

We have also began to explore the possibility of culturing high-value fish species such as talakitok, pompano, and lapu-lapu, because while their initial investment is about 30 to 40 percent higher, the return and profit margins are also much higher than bangus. The city is also studying the possibility of using new technology and modern fish cage designs to be used once the 1-year moratorium expires. These rope frame cages allow water to flow more freely than the traditional fish pens. As a result, there will be less siltation and the danger of future fishkills will be lessened.

Speaking of bangus, ten years ago, we conceived the very first Bangus Festival. The Bangus Festival was the marketing vehicle we wanted to use to propel our bangus to the world stage, and at the same time promote our city. Now, the Bangus Festival is synonymous with Dagupan City, just as Panagbenga is to Baguio, and Sinulog is to Cebu. It has garnered the reputation as “the” festival of our beloved city. It is the only official festival of our city. Even this early, let me make it absolutely clear: the Bangus Festival is the only official and sanctioned Festival of our beloved city. And this year we shall be celebrating our Bangus Festival once again.

The culminating event of the Bangus Festival has always been the Kalutan ed Dagupan. Many people do not know this, but for the business establishments along A.B. Fernandez Avenue, the day of the Kalutan is a day of opportunity. Because of the large volume of people who crowd


the streets to participate in the celebration, most of the business establishments along A.B. Fernandez Avenue on that day generate their highest sales for the year.

I am happy to announce, that in response to public demand, we are bringing back the Kalutan ed Dagupan back to the people, back to its original venue along A.B. Fernandez Avenue. And because we want to give our city a grander celebration, the Kalutan will now also extend to Perez Boulevard.

Let me take this opportunity to announce to you the overall executive co-chairmen for this year’s Bangus Festival, Mr. Alexander Siapno and Mr. Beep Beep Tan. I have also designated Councilor Red Erfe-Mejia to chair the Kalutan ed Dagupan event.

Now let me speak about education.

I believe it is also time to devote our attention to improving the existing public school buildings in the city, in particular at the West Central Elementary School, and the Dagupan City National High School. Having met with Dr. Alma Ruby Torio and other officials of the DepEd on several occasions, they conveyed to us that many of the public school buildings are inadequate or needed improvement. Some buildings are even susceptible to flooding.

We came to the conclusion that perhaps the best way to once and for all resolve this issue is to come up with a master plan that will completely redraw both West Central and City High. For this task, I asked Architect Maxi Tan, the president of City High’s alumni association, to sit down with their board, and draw a master plan of how they envision their alma mater to be for the next generation.

The common practice nowadays, if we are to look at the school buildings being built in other urban areas, is that they no longer build single or 2-storey buildings. They are putting up 4 and even 5-storey buildings to maximize the land on which they are built. This may cost more, but in the long run, the school will be able to accommodate more students. Many of our single story public school buildings were donated through the benevolence and generosity of many non-government organizations, none more so by the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce. We are thankful for their contribution over the years. But may I humbly suggest, that once the master plan for these two schools are finalized, any future donations or contributions should be based on the approved master plans.

Part of investing in the city’s physical capital is to maintain its upkeep.

The Waste Management Division headed by Mr. Teddy Villamil has the unenviable task of not only collecting the garbage from all the barangays, but to dispose of them properly and safely. Seven months ago when we took office, the Waste Management Division reported to me that many of the equipment that were purchased prior to our assumption of office were defective. Many of them were second-hand and substandard equipment, purchased right after the elections last year, that are no longer functional. The WMD also reported to me that garbage in several barangays was not being collected on a regular basis, and that there was basically no segregation being done and enforced at the household level.

Worse, the Bonuan Dumpsite continued to remain operational since I left office in 2007. In fact, when we did an ocular inspection of the dumpsite September of last year, we discovered that the garbage was no longer contained to the original dumpsite, it had spread to the adjacent lots and into the dumpsite’s driveway itself, making it very difficult for dump trucks to enter the site and unload garbage. I directed Teddy to immediately clear the pathway leading to the dumpsite, and now it is not only clean of garbage, but we also made it green by planting some trees to help reverse the degradation.


During my first term as mayor in 2001, we tried to resolve the garbage problem by closing the dumpsite and creating a sanitary landfill in Awai, San Jacinto. The law requires that all local government units have, or at the very least have access, to a sanitary landfill to dispose of their garbage. This project was wrongfully and erroneously made controversial, because several misguided and foolish individuals thought that they would be doing the city a favor if they politicized the issue. Perhaps, in their mind, by deliberately making the Awai project fail, they thought they were doing the people a favor, when in truth and in fact, they were doing our city a huge disfavor, for up to now, that dumpsite continues to be an eyesore and an environmental hazard especially to our kabaleyans in Bonuan.

The collection and disposal of garbage, we must keep in mind, is just one aspect of waste management. Waste management is not a task that must be left to the government to resolve alone. Everyone should take part in it, since waste and garbage starts from our homes.

We approached the problem by first looking at the household. We learned that a vast majority of our households do not practice segregation. In response to this, we launched the “Basura Ko, Sagot Ko” program in coordination with the DepEd, to educate our people on how to properly segregate garbage. We also urged our Punong Barangays to create their own waste management teams at the barangay level to strictly enforce the Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Program of our City.

But the biggest challenge we still have to resolve is the lack of functioning equipment to be used for garbage collection and management. I will no longer go into the details of the defective equipment purchased before we took office, but suffice to say, that should the Sangguniang Panlungsod fail to pass the budget for 2011, the operations of Teddy and his group will be substantially hampered for the rest of the year.

Just like waste management, law enforcement is also an area where we must all share a responsibility. PNP Dagupan, headed by Police Superintendent Bong Caramat, has been doing an admirable job going after the criminal elements of our city. The total crime volume in 2010 numbered 226, which is comparatively lower than the 271 crimes reported in 2009. Our crime solution efficiency in Dagupan City, based on official PNP reports, is at 94%.

This administration is fully committed to supporting the anti-criminal activities being done by our police force. If ever the city’s annual budget is passed, we will try to accommodate the request of the police for additional vehicles to replace their old dilapidated ones.

Bong also reported to me that one of their objectives for this year is to intensify their anti-illegal drug operations. My directive to him during our last meeting is to exhaust all resources available to PNP Dagupan, and my office, to achieve that objective. We do not have to go into the detail of the ill effects of drug use among our people. That is already well documented. This is a battle, however, that should not be left to the PNP to fight alone.

So this year, we will be creating a multi-sectoral commission that will be dedicated to the apprehension and prosecution of criminals involved in the illegal drug trade in our city. The commission will be composed of PNP Dagupan, the Department of Justice which includes the Prosecutor’s Office and the National Bureau of Investigation, PDEA, CIDG, various NGO’s, the Liga ng mga Barangay headed by Councilor Emong Vallejos, the Sangguniang Kabataan led by Councilor Chester Gonzales, the DepEd, and even the Dagupan Practical Shooting Association headed by President Jeffrey Sua and Incoming President Rob-Rob Erfe-Mejia, among others.

Together, we will go after the drug dealers and the drug pushers. And we will go after them hard.


Peace and order is always an integral component if we are to promote tourism in our city. By encouraging tourism in our city, we are also directly boosting the economy. The Bangus Festival is our biggest tourism event each year, but the celebration of the festival itself only lasts for approximately one month. The challenge therefore is how to attract more tourists when there are no scheduled big events in the city such as the Bangus Fest and the City Fiesta. I have also asked our Tourism office to document the city’s historical events, in hopes of preserving our city’s cultural heritage.

I was also informed that the very first Tourism Code of the city, co-authored by Councilors Red Erfe-Mejia and Brian Lim, has been submitted and is pending approval in the Sangguniang Panlungsod. The draft ordinance was passed several months ago and I urge the members of the Sanggunian to pass this ordinance as it will benefit many business establishments, most notably our hotels, resorts, and restaurants.

One of the ideas I have discussed with Mrs. Nora Siapno and Mrs. Rose Teng-Mejia is to create a river cruise that will showcase the city’s inland waterways, similar to what Mayor Dan Neri Lim of Tagbilaran City has done for their Loboc River. The idea of the river cruise actually tackles not the just the tourism issue, but also addresses the issue of livelihood, as the city will provide livelihood opportunities for boat builders, bangkeros, cooks, and many others. The river cruise will be launched in time for the Bangus Festival.

Allow me to speak briefly about infrastructure.

We did a comprehensive review of the city’s financial status when we took office in July of 2010. We wanted to implement many infrastructure projects to directly address the needs of our constituents, but our financial capacity at that time limited us because much of the annual budget for 2010 was already spent prior to our assumption of office. Still, we tried our best.

We were able to implement the septic tank for row houses project, in consonance with our City Septage Management Plan and Program, and as an output of the SuSEA project which aims to address the sanitation problems in the city as well as to prevent pollution and protect our water system.

Our friends at the Judicial Department also sought our help in maintaining the upkeep of our Regional Trial Courts, thus, we approved the concreting of the external grounds of the RTC. We also did the same to our police headquarters located in Babaliwan, Poblacion Oeste.

The rehabilitation of our controlled dumpsite as we earlier mentioned, was one of the priority projects we gave immediate attention to.

We also completed the day care center in Pugaro, and we will come up with a comprehensive rehabilitation program of all day care centers in the city to show our commitment to early childhood education.

When we were hit by typhoons last year, most of the gyms of our city were not spared. These gyms are all located in public schools and are being utilized by our students in their school and sports activities. We accommodated the requests of several barangay officials to rehabilitate their gyms, and I am happy to announce that we have repaired the gyms in Bolosan, Bonuan Gueset, Bonuan Binloc, Bolosan, Caranglaan, and Poblacion Oeste.

These are just some of the things we have done; to show you that the taxes you pay are going back to you in the form of infrastructures and services.

During the inaugural, I talked about political will. More specifically, I said we should have the “political will, to push for a reform agenda, regardless of the outcome of the elections in 2013;


the political will to withstand the brickbats of critics, and those who will deliberately undermine this administration, because our city must, and should always come first.”

My friends will be the first to tell you that I have never been known to tread carefully in facing the sensitive issues of our city.

The political consequences of the decisions we make have never been my priority, and that includes our aggressive tax collection and the one-year moratorium on fish pens.

But let me say this: my actions are only guided by what the law says, and what is best for our city.

And I think I am too old to change my ways.

We are trying our best to summon every ounce of political will to bring tangible progress to our city. In return, I humbly ask that you will politics out of your system and instead help us resolve our city’s problems.

To the elected officials who are not here today, a bit of fatherly advice: respect and courtesy are traits all leaders must have. If not respect for another person, at least respect for the office to which they were elected to. Whether you are absent because of resentment, pride, or perhaps because you feel threatened, let me be the first to tell you that the only threat we face are the problems of our city.

I fully understand that it is perfectly normal to have political ambitions of your own, but do not put them ahead of the ambitions of our city.

There is a place and time for everything.

But for now: itigil muna ang pamumulitika. Walay oras para ed pulitika, wala met su oras ya mantrabaho, manserbisyo, tan mikasakey.

James Clarke said it best: “a politician thinks of the next election, but a statesman thinks of the next generation.”

I sincerely believe our city wants leaders who are willing to be part of the solution.

Let us not underestimate the intelligence of our people, because if you will only listen to them, you will realize that they want leaders who are willing to compromise and work together.

They will not tolerate leaders who create divisiveness, sow confusion, or worse, spread false information.

These kinds of actions are immature; they can even be considered as conduct unbecoming of a public official.

As public servants, we must do our best to dignify the mandate given to us by the people.

It is not too late to change.

To those of you who are here today: I sincerely appreciate your presence. Knowing that many of you have busy schedules, yet, you took time to hear and learn more about the state of your city.

My simple plea to you is this: I need your help.

Our city has many issues that need to be addressed, to be resolved, and one day is probably not enough to discuss all of them with you.

But the idea I wish to convey to you this morning is that while governance is by no means an easy task, together, we can overcome these difficult challenges.


It can be done.

Given the right mix of creativity, motivation, speed, cooperation, voluntarism, and political will, there is no problem that we cannot solve, together.

We are gathered here today because we all have a responsibility to our city.

While your government needs you, your city needs you more.

Our city, is, and will always be, our shared responsibility. So, when we say that our city is our shared responsibility, I am not talking about the shared responsibility of your elected and city officials alone - I am talking about a shared responsibility by all.

We all come and go. But the idea of Dagupan is what endures. But right here, right now, we have this great opportunity to do something for Dagupan - to do our modest part today, so that our city can be more prepared for an uncertain future.

This should be our creed – to have one voice, to have one action, to have one goal, because our destiny remains to be our choice. So let us seize this moment, to carry and pass the dream forward, and to strengthen our city once more.

Maraming salamat po, at magandang umaga sa inyong lahat.

May God bless you all, and may God bless our city.

*****

Documents

MBSL SOCA 2011