State of the City Address (Bais City)

Thank you for this honor of presenting to you our State of the City Report.

Let me take this opportunity to once again thank our constituents who have placed their trust and confidence in me and my party to lead the City of Bais to bring into fruition our dreams and aspirations for our beloved City.

It is humbling indeed that once again for the second term, the Baisanons have given us our resounding victory in the recent May 2016 elections, which has been the greatest confirmation that I can ever receive as your Local Chief Executive.

But whatever achievements we speak of would not have been realized without the support and cooperation, and hard work of the men and women of our local government unit, as well as the participation of our partners from the civil society groups and the private sector.

We are already seeing the fruits of our labor in putting in place the much-needed infrastructure support for both basic services intended for the Baisanons and capital investment opportunities offered by business and industry investors.

This 91 million peso newly inaugurated facility that we are in right now answers the call of a very basic need of the City in terms of emergency and disaster response, may Heaven forbid it, at the same time that this facility caters to the City’s need for an adequate and conducive venue where we can conduct community affairs activities and other such purposes. As expressly granted by our Sanggunian through a resolution, we can also allow the use of this Facility for Non-Government Activities, subject to the guidelines approved by that August Body, including the payment of fees, in accordance with established government regulations.

We are also happy about the progress we are making at constructing and establishing a New Public Market of the City, formerly the old satellite market, with a total project cost of 150 million pesos; while we have formalized the lease of the Mercado de Bais building to the Metro Retail Stores Group of Companies which will be converting it into a commercial mall.

I know that you are now thinking about the seeming chaos and discord in the transfer of the stallholders from the Mercado to the New Public Market, which have all been sensationalized in the social media by those people who, I don’t know why, are so averse to the coming of investors to the City, and would fight tooth and nail to prevent our City from developing.

Of course, we understand the sentiments of the vendors affected by the transfer; and we recognize their lament, as long as the issues raised are valid and legitimate. It is human nature to dislike change, to be out of the comfort zone. However, the city government has extended maximum tolerance already and enough is enough to those people who are only up to personal aggrandizement without thought of the general well-being of Bais City as a whole.

Rest assured that we are on top of the situation. We are, and will be filing the appropriate cases in court to charge those individuals who are blatantly and arrogantly violating the law, and flaunting around as if they are all above the law. And we will come out the stronger after all these.

We are now also finishing the construction of our Cultural Heritage, Pasalubong and Bagsakan Center for a total project cost of 12 million pesos. This project is partially funded by the 5 million pesos awarded to the City under the Performance Challenge Fund of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), when the City was bestowed the Seal of Good Local Governance in 2015.

Our having received the Seal of Good Local Governance goes to show that our Local Government Unit has excelled on financial administration, disaster preparedness, social protection, environmental management, business-friendliness and competitiveness, and on peace and order. This is a tall order, yet we are able to achieve our goals and aspirations for the development of our City. However much some people would like to put us down, the City’s progress is inevitable, especially with the formal manifestations of private business to invest in our city. These investors are very optimistic of our City’s potential especially in trade and commerce, business out-sourcing, renewable energy, and eco-tourism.

And these investors are appreciating our LGU’s institutional readiness in hosting such investments as we have already passed and enacted the necessary local ordinances, specifically the Bais City Local Investments Incentives Code of 2016 and Its Implementing Rules and Regulations (Bais City LIIC and IRR), and the Bais City Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Code.

Along this line, we are now updating our medium-term Comprehensive Development Plan and our long-term Comprehensive Land Use Plan to integrate water use, climate change adaptation and disaster risk management. And this would be down to the barangay level, as we see the importance of the role and responsibility of the barangay local government unit in frontline management and delivery of basic services, as well as bringing about progress and development.

Part of our major physical development plan is our Proposed Bais West Diversion Highway, from Cambuilao to Katacgahan, passing through Tambacan, Tamogong River, Lapaz and Hangyad. This would decongest the national highway at our Central Business District, at the same time open up the expansion of our City’s commercial center.

In calendar year-2016, these are our basic infrastructure projects:

– 5.2 million pesos for water supply in 20 barangays;
– 3.11 million pesos for street lighting in 12 barangays;
– Additional 800,000 pesos for the completion of evacuation centers in 3 barangays;
– 22.6 million pesos for local roads in 31 barangays;
– 4.5 million pesos for local bridges in 10 barangays;
– One million pesos for pathways and foot trails in 6 barangays;
– 13 million pesos for drainage system and canals in 14 barangays;
– 5 million pesos for Tamogong River dredging and re-channeling;
– 3 million pesos for Tavera and Sitio San Jose Waterways;
– 1.4 million pesos for slope protection and erosion control in 6 barangays;
– 1.1 million pesos for communal septic tanks and public toilets in 5 barangays; and
– 5.7 million pesos for public school building construction, rehabilitation and improvement.

We are also rehabilitating, reconstructing and sprucing up our tourism support infrastructure and amenities, especially our beautifully situated Bahia de Bais Hotel at Dewey Hilltop, which unfortunately fell to neglect in the previous years and taken its toll to wear and tear. Hopefully, soon Bahia will be operational once again together with our proposed Bahia Tourist Reception Lounge and Resto Bar at the Capiñahan Wharf.

We need these amenities to enhance our local tourism package especially our dolphin watching tour and marine eco-tourism which many of our locals have engaged in as livelihood and viable economic venture.

Last year, we registered close to 300,000 visitors which earned 15.6 million pesos revenue for private tour boats and 600,000 pesos for our LGU-operated Dolphin I and II pump boats. Surely these visitors also patronized local catering and other personal services as well as local stores and shops.

As we take note of our City’s other potential tourism sites like our very own Tagaytay White Sandbar just across Lag-it Beach and the many undiscovered caves and waterfalls in our upland areas, we should be reminded that our end in view is sustainable development. We should not jeopardize the future state of our environment in the pursuit of making a living at the present.

The infrastructure support that we are putting in place is also for us to better serve and engage our communities in the protection, care, and rehabilitation of that segment of our City’s population who have the least in life, in a concerted and holistic effort to capacitate and empower the latter. For I truly believe in the saying: “Give the child a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will live a lifetime”.

Therefore, our approaches to social welfare services involve community-organizing, and providing opportunities for improving the quality of life of the individual, the family, and the community; aside from the package of basic social service delivery.

These consisted of the following services we have undertaken in calendar year-2016:

– 2.3 million peso-Supplementary Feeding Program for 1,945 Day Care children;
– 500 peso-monthly Social Pension for 931 indigent senior citizens;
– 2,000 peso-burial assistance to 228 demised OSCA ID holders;
– Social and self-enhancement program for 2,000 senior citizens;
– 1.7 million pesos of assistance to 1,193 Individuals in Crisis Situation;
– 3,000 pesos and food packs each for assistance to 17 families affected by demolition in Barangay 1;
– 3,000 pesos each for assistance to 110 individuals affected by the dengue outbreak;
– Food packs extended as assistance to 3,215 families affected by El Niño;
– 10,000 peso-seed capital assistance to 320 women and family heads under the Micro-Enterprise Development Tract of the Bottoms-Up Budgeting (BUB) Program
– 62 children and women and 28 walk-in clients in especially difficult circumstances who were extended temporary shelter, food assistance, psychological intervention counseling, referral for legal and medical assistance;
– 10,000 peso-seed capital assistance each for 9 persons with disability; and
– PhilHealth coverage for 416 beneficiaries; and
– 3,075 family beneficiaries under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the national government.

To take care of the shelter needs of our poor and underprivileged constituents, we are putting up 166 additional housing units at our Lapaz Socialized Housing Site in cooperation with the National Housing Authority; and we would also be developing our 5-hectare Economic Housing Project in Barangay Consolacion.

As part of our public assistance, we have continued to undertake mobile civil registration in the far-flung barangays. This is done also to impart to these communities the importance and the requirements of having the Authenticated Civil Registry Documents in security paper; and indigent clients identified by the DSWD are given preferential attention free of charge.

Our system has also been enhanced through the so-called Batch Request System or the BREQS which enabled us to facilitate the authentication of 5,600 civil registry documents. This scheme is our partnership with the National Statistics Authority wherein the LGU can serve a client’s request for authenticated civil registry documents regardless of the place or location where such document was first entered or registered. In fact, even those who were party to vital events that occurred in other places can request their documents from our LGU.

Community affairs and assistance programs are also undertaken under our advocacies on Gender and Development (GAD), Magna Carta of Women, Adolescent Health and Youth Development, KATROPA, meaning Kalalakihan Tinod-anay sa Responsibilidad ug Obligasyon sa Pamilya, Technical Education and Skills Development with TESDA Certification, and our college and secondary level scholarship program which has accommodated 188 scholars in the current school year.

Our Public Employment Service was able to assist the job placement of more than 12,000 applicants, including 350 under our Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) and 50 overseas contract workers.

Regarding overseas employment, we should be reminded to be vigilant against illegal recruiters and human traffickers who are victimizing our local workforce. There have been a number of incidents already being assisted by the City’s Legal Team.

We are also putting premium on health as part and parcel of our people’s well-being. Last year, close to 6,500 LGU-sponsored PhilHealth Members have already undergone profiling. While our health services are undertaken under the following programs:

– Maternal and Child Care benefited by close to 11,000 mothers and children;
– Family Planning involving 23,000 married women;
– Dental Services which extended care to some 4,000 clients;
– General Medical Service extended to around 20,000 patients and other clients;
– Nutrition Program extended to all the 35 barangays;
– TB Program benefitted by 60 patients and more than 600 other clients;
– Leprosy Control Program with 2 patients;
– Sanitation and Environmental Services extended to more than 600 clients;
– Medical Laboratory Services extended to more than 14,500 clients; and
– Free Drugs and Medicines to more than 19,000 indigent patients. This included the 700 cases involved in the dengue outbreak which the City unfortunately experienced in September last year. We were very saddened by the untimely death of 14 individuals during that outbreak which prompted us to declare a State of Calamity for us to operate with our Quick Response Fund in responding to the medical needs of those inflicted and in managing the situation.

That unfortunate dengue outbreak last year has painfully brought to our attention the importance of community involvement and participation in the maintenance of cleanliness and sanitation of our barangays, our streets, our homes, and our surroundings. Our street sweepers and garbage collectors can only do that much; and government can only manage that much too.

It is really the primordial responsibility of each individual household to provide for and maintain a clean and healthy home, however poorly built the house might be. Because living in a poor household is not an excuse of not cleaning up your surroundings and seeing to it that the family is not exposed to disease-causing circumstances.

Hopefully, we would be able to revive our Waste Management Committees both at the city and barangay levels and activate waste management task forces in clustered sitios to boost the implementation of our Waste Management and Sanitation Program. I know we have experienced lapses in our garbage collection and sanitary landfill operations. And we are now doing the necessary measures to address these lapses to include the procurement of the much-needed garbage trucks and other equipment to be dedicated solely for waste management.

Our other environmental management efforts are focused on the following:

– Forestland Environmental Protection and Management Program involving the geo-tagging of our classified protection forest, establishment of 2 nurseries with 17 hectares under forestation in Barangays Cambaguio, Mansangaban, Mabunao, Sab-ahan and Panala-an;
– Forestland Productivity Development Program with 4 nurseries established and 50 hectares for cacao plantation;
– Reforestation and Urban Greening with 20,000 seedlings produced, 20 hectares planted to cacao and other tree species; and
– Tree Plantation Protection and Maintenance involving the deployment of 10 forest guards.

We have also beefed up our coastal management efforts as our City prides itself as having very rich and diverse marine ecosystem existing in our Bais Bay. And we have been successful in establishing an expansive 54.6 hectare-Marine Reserve and Fish Sanctuary which is now starting to show signs of replenishing our fishery resource; together with the implementation of the following programs and projects:

– Year-round Coastal Law Enforcement Operation;
– Aquasilvi Culture with one new demonstration farm in Barangay Looc;
– Bangus Hatchery with 39 broodstock producing 180,000 bangus fries;
– Coral Reef Conservation involving marine protected area bio-physical, habitat and fisheries monitoring and assessment as well as coral micro-fragmentation and transplantation;
– Sea Ranching with 4 sites maintained;
– Mangrove Plantation and Management involving 45 hectares of plantation site;
– Conduct of Fisherfolk, Boat and Gear Registration with close to 2,300 registered; and
– Regular Coastal Clean-Up.

We are also extending fishery livelihood assistance and capability-building to enable our fisher communities to engage in other means of livelihood especially during the amihan season. In line with this, we have the following:

– Conduct of 9 trainings on Food Development under the Entrepreneurial Development Program (Yaman Pinoy) involving 80 fisherfolk participants;
– Provision of Sanitized Solar Dryers for Boneless Danggit;
– Seaweeds Grow-Out Assistance in 4 sites;
– Distribution of Fishing Gear Materials involving 2 people’s associations;
– Tilapia Breeding and Hatchery with 106,000 fries produced and dispersed; and
– BFAR-funded distribution of 2 tons seaweed propagules, 8 pump boat engines, 6 fish corals, and 4 bottom set gill nets.

We are happy to note that our own coastal resources conservation initiatives are aligned with the Technical Assistance being provided by RARE-Philippines to selected LGUs along Tañon Strait under the Fish Forever Flex Project, thereby further enhancing our existing programs for our Bais Bay.

As we strive to take care of our natural resources and the physical well-being of our people, we are also cognizant of our important role as catalyst of local economic development. We understand that our local economy is driven by agriculture and agri-business. Even in actual land utilization, 80% of our total land area of 31,690 hectares are still devoted to agriculture and agro-based business and industry.

We are therefore prioritizing the implementation of Agricultural Development Interventions to assist our farmers and the agri-business sector through the following programs:

– Technical Assistance for Corn Production involving 790 corn farmers;
– Technical Assistance for Rice Production with 4 Demo Farm Sites and 265 farmers;
– Sloping Agricultural Land Technology Transfer to 119 farmers;
– Organic Fertilizer Production of 245 bags produced and distributed to 107 farmers;
– Bio-Intensive Gardening Program in 21 barangays;
– Operation and Maintenance of Rubber Tree Nursery with a production of more than 5,000 seedlings;
– Operation and Maintenance of Barangay-Based Nurseries which produced 16,800 fruit tree seedlings distributed to 68 farmers, and 30,000 vegetable seedlings distributed to 25 farmers;
– Technical Assistance and Distribution of Cacao Grafted Seedlings to 50 farmers;
– Maintenance and Operation of Tissue / Embryo Culture Laboratory producing 1,100 orchid seedlings and 2,900 banana seedlings;
– Technical Assistance to Livestock Raisers involving 150 participants in 3 associations;
– Poultry and Livestock Disease Prevention and Control thru vaccination, deworming and supplementation each for more than 8,000 heads, and more than 1,000 cases of treatment;
– Integrated Inland Fish Farming Introducing Aquaponic System with 2 demo sites;
– Maintenance of Biological Control Laboratory; and
– Technical Assistance on Farm Mechanization with 2 tractors assisting 48 farmers covering 64 hectares.

As we strive hard to extend the much-needed technical assistance to our farmer and fisher folk communities at enhancing their production levels, we also hope and pray that our City will always be spared from calamities and disasters brought about by natural hazards like typhoons which come along our path every year. Nevertheless, we are giving priority to our disaster preparedness and mitigation measures as well as our local initiatives to build a resilient and proactive community.

We are conducting regular evacuation drills in the schools and business establishments aside from the LGU offices; at the same time that we are ready in responding to emergency situations. Last year, the LGU made a total of 39 emergency responses in natural calamity, vehicular accident, fire occurrence, water-related incident and retrieval operations.

It was unfortunate that this year, we experienced a major fire occurrence which gutted down 4 houses in Barangay 2. That unfortunate incident was a wake-up call for the community to seriously take fire prevention measures to heart, and to appreciate the imposition of building rules and regulations like setbacks and right-of-way provisions as these regulations have our safety and welfare to mind.

We have been able to utilize the LGU’s previous years trust fund of 21.5 million pesos under the Calamity Fund to implement disaster prevention and mitigation projects such as the desiltation and rechanneling of our major river systems, construction of river revetments, erosion control and slope protection projects.

Our LGU is currently operating on a 590.7 million budget, a little higher by just 1.3 percent from last year’s 583.2 million. Hopefully, we would be able to see a sizable increase in our local revenue generation in view of the rise in private sector investments in our City.

The LGU operations are manned by personnel complement in 344 filled-up positions, 89.5% of which are with permanent appointments.

The programs, projects and other development initiatives that we have accomplished would not have been possible without the efficient administrative and institutional machinery of our LGU:

– The local expanded finance committee of planning, budgeting, accounting and treasury for sound financial management;
– The general services for the desirable state of our work places and public facilities, and sound supply and property management;
– Real Property Assessment which resulted to a Taxable Assessed Value Target of 969.64 million pesos for the year 2016 attributing 98% to Industrial Property Valuation;
– Economic Enterprise Management specifically our public market and slaughterhouse;
– Business Permit and Licensing for the easy One-Stop-Shop processing which resulted to 954 business permits issued;
– Civil Security Operations for the security of the 25 LGU properties and sites; and
– Legal Services for the continuing local legal education and assistance especially for Baisanons situated in areas that have less access to legal updates and information.

Again, let me reiterate my gratitude and appreciation to the Honorable Vice-Mayor and Members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod who have extended their unwavering support to the Executive Branch. And let me also commend the men and women of our Bais City LGU for a job well done.

This is the first year of my second term of office as your Chief Executive. In the four years of sincere governance, I can humbly say we have done well. I hope that in the next years to come, there will be more fruitful and meaningful projects that we can accomplish.

Let us work hand-in-hand and do our share to make good things happen in our Beloved Bais City. We do this, not just for ourselves now, but for the future generations to come. Let us remain true and dedicated public servants, steadfast in our quest for a more livable and beautiful Bais.

Let us go the extra mile, smile and encourage each other, no matter how tiring some days can be; knowing that as we forge our paths together, we make Bais stronger and better. No sacrifice is too great when we know that what we do today, will secure the future of our people.

We can make a difference; and let us make a difference! With each of us doing his or her part without counting the cost or remuneration, we can, in the twilight of our lives, say, we did not just do a good job in our Beloved Bais, but we all made an extraordinary job in our lifetime.

God bless Bais City. God bless us all.

Thank you.

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