Magalong bullish on city’s dev’t plans

In receiving a fresh mandate as Baguio City chief executive, Mayor Benjamin Magalong is bullish about the city’s development projects designed to speed up the city’s economic recovery and address issues related to urban decay.

The mayor in his Ugnayang Panlungsod press briefing May 11 said there is not much change in his developmental goals in the next three years having made sure that the 16 core agenda set forth during his first term were strategic enough to be still relevant and responsive to the needs of the city.

“Our plans and solutions are very strategic to address our goals to accelerate economic recovery and prevent urban decay or continued destruction of the city’s natural resources.  We remain focused on our 16 core agenda because these are still the call of the times,” the mayor said. 

The 16 core agenda are: Speeding Up Government Actions; Revitalizing the Environment; Innovating Peace and Order Condition; Aggressive Traffic Management; Responsive Education Programs; Empowering the Youth; Expanding Health and Social Services; Responsible Tourism; Enlivened Culture, Arts, Crafts, and Heritage; Market Modernization; Efficient Disaster Management; Empowered and Accountable Barangay Governance; Strengthened Livelihood and Entrepreneurial Services; Poverty Reduction; Resolution of Indigenous People Land Issues; and Happiness.

The mayor said that for this year, a total of 31 projects are for implementation and almost 12 of them are catalytic projects having significant impact on the environment, economy, services, employment, social and health services which are the city’s new priorities.

He said special focus will be given on the creation of livable communities in areas that are occupied by informal settlers adopting a novel approach where the beneficiaries will be given the responsibility to plan out their own would-be communities. 

The mayor said some of the projects are designed as economic enterprises to create a revenue stream for the city government apart from tax revenues.

He said the city’s income has stagnated since 2015and is not enough to counter the effects of inflation and the increase in population.“We should not simply rely on taxes and we would not want to burden our people with additional taxes to enable the city to provide the services.  We have to have an income stream and the  only is through economic enterprise,” he said. – Aileen P. Refuerzo