Balon Dagupan soon to be an “emerging smart city”
1st STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS
TEN months after she took over the helm of Dagupan City, Mayor Belen Fernandez reported in her first State of the City Address how she handled the financial crisis she inherited from the past administration and outlined her plans to transform Dagupan into an “emerging smart city.”
In her State of the City Address (SOCA) held at the CSI Stadia on Thursday, Fernandez highlighted the “turn-around of the financial crisis” as her major accomplishment in her first year in office. She cited the dramatic increase in revenue collection totalling P282.2 million at the close of 2013 or an increase of 163 percent compared to the previous year.
Aside from the increases in business taxes, delivery trucks taxes, fishery rental and business registrations, Dagupan posted a 300 percent increase in income from markets because of “personally instituted reforms,” she said.
“I have proven that a low performing unit or office, if properly supervised, can also increase its revenues,” Fernandez said before a crowd of about 5,000 composed barangay officials, city hall officials and employees, representatives from the civic and business sectors.
“Thus, it was possible by last year’s end to reward our Team Balon Dagupan with a bonus over and above the 13th month pay. This, according to our City Auditor, is the first of its kind in Region I, a cause for celebration indeed!” she added.
FUTURE
In 2014, Fernandez said delivery of social services sand economic services will be the administration’s primary concerns. This will include programs on health, education, culture, sports, livelihood, and programs for the youth, mothers and senior citizens.
The rehabilitation of schools, multi-purpose gyms and roads thru the Road Users Fund, will also be prioritized, she said.
As Dagupan is a flood prone city, disaster preparedness measures that include free-swimming lessons to 6,000 children, constructing a three-storey evacuation center in barangay Salapingao and the dredging of the city’s rivers are among the priorities of the city government.
Fernandez personally thanked the national government because thru Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas for assigning dredging machines for a year to the city for its used in the city’s silted rivers.
The city also intends to put up a Product Center near the city hall that will showcase not just the famous bangus but also products coming from the city’s 31 barangays.
“Rest assured that we will accomplish all these even if I work for 20 hours a day. I just want to give the best for Dagupenos,” Fernandez said.
The SOCA was held in a special session of the Sangguniang Panlungsod where eight members were present. Vice Mayor Marc Brian Lim was absent. (Tita Roces and PIA1-Pangasinan/VHS)
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