MAYOR Alipio Fernandez Jr. vowed to make Dagupan City a more child-friendly city beginning next year.

He said he and Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez as well as the other city officials will prioritize projects that will primarily address the welfare of children.

In a talk to newsmen on Wednesday, the mayor said he and other city officials will first look into the possibility of strengthening the existing day care centers and establish new ones if necessary.

Presently, the city government, including some big business establishments and civic organizations, are providing for the maintenance of day care centers in several barangays.

The day care centers are supported to amply provide for the care of the pre-schoolers of working mothers.

The CSI Group of Companies, owned by Vice Mayor Fernandez is the city’s biggest partner in maintaining and operating day care centers.

On Friday, the city’s top two officials played Santa Claus to more than 2,000 children gathered from all day care centers in a special gift-giving program held at the CSI Jimmy Fernandez Center and Stadia in barangay Lucao.

Mayor Fernandez said the city government also needs to build parks, especially in the barangays, for the recreation of the children.

“We have to address the needs of children in order to ensure the growth of our community,” he said.

At the same time, the mayor said the city will revive the training center of the Helping Hand Foundation which was abolished by the past city administration.

“We have to revive the training center as we need to train our youth, especially the out-of-school on various trades so that they can get jobs somewhere else or be entrepreneurs themselves,” he said.—LM

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments