1999
State
of the
City
Address

A wind of change carried this city administration into office a year ago. The wind is still blowing, but it is time to take stock of what the new leadership has accomplished thus far.

We, the party in power in Zamboanga City, solicited our mandate on a platform that we called the Contract of Change for a New Zamboanga. In the Contract of Change we committed ourselves to the pursuit of basic goals that would be the hallmarks and yardsticks of our performance in office. It is with the elements of this covenant in mind that I am making this report on my administration’s first year in office.

We promised to clean and beautify the city and return it to prominence and splendor. We also pledged to preserve the cultural and historical heritage and values of Zamboanga City and to restore its attractions. This was one of the tasks to which I immediately devoted the city government’s efforts after assuming the mayoralty. It is a chore that is close to my heart, for the beautiful and idyllic Zamboanga of old is, for me, a living memory. Today, I am proud to present to my fellow Zamboangueños a Zamboanga City in transformation and in bloom. The markets are cleaner and less congested than before, the sidewalks have been cleared of obstructions, the parks and gardens have been replanted, and the city landmarks are being refurbished.

The old City Hall, the seat of the city government, has been the first beneficiary of our cleaning and preservation efforts. I do not have to describe the physical changes that have come over that old, American-built structure; all one has to do is to visit the place and see and feel the difference. At the moment we are busy renovating another historical building, the city police headquarters. We are also engaged in the restoration of the famous Pasonanca Park, especially its popular swimming pools.

The main public market has been emptied of the numerous illegal vendors and unauthorized structures that were clogging its passageways and contributing to its dirtiness. The vendors have been relocated to Santa Cruz where they have been granted a wide space of their own for doing business. The city sidewalks have been similarly cleared. Downtown traffic remains a problem, but a more manageable one today with more policemen, working hand in hand with the civilian traffic aides employed by the city government, helping to control the movements of vehicles and pedestrians.

Garbage collection was an enduring headache for previous administrations. It was also a tough challenge for the incumbent city leadership, but a recent shakeup in the City Public Services Office has resulted in an improvement in the city government’s garbage collection efficiency. In the one month since the office has been placed under a new manager, 22 garbage trucks and compactors and one wheel loader have been repaired and placed in running condition. The result is that not only has garbage collection been made up to date, the collection area has also been expanded to include interior roads, subdivisions and schools. Moreover, the city government has started to delegate some of the garbage collection responsibilities to the barangays. Three garbage compactors have been issued to four barangays, namely, Pasonanca, Santa Maria and the cluster of San Jose Gusu and Baliwasan. We can say Zamboanga is a cleaner city than it was in the recent past.

Another commitment in the Contract of Change is to establish a clean, honest, competent, responsible and effective local government dedicated to the principles of transparency, sound fiscal management, public accountability, and participatory democracy. Mindful of this pledge, the incumbent administration entered office with a firm determination to unmask and weed out corruption, dishonesty and inefficiency and to remove or at least neutralize the dishonest and incompetent public servants. One immediate effect of this move has been the suspension of hundreds of millions of pesos worth of civil works projects initiated by the previous administration. These projects are under investigation because they were conceived under questionable circumstances and some reeked of the odor of "sweetheart deals."

With regard to the suspended projects, I want to assure the public that the funds set aside for them will be put to good use for the benefit of the people. My administration is doing its duty to be prudent and frugal with the public resources that are entrusted to the city government.

If I may remind my listeners, one expensive project that smacked of anomaly, illegality and bad faith was the attempt to use city funds to build a highway from Quiniput to Licomo. It was the product of a city administration that seemed bent on spending the money of the city to the last centavo. Fortunately, the people and their representatives were able to block the project from pushing through. This year the highway will be built at no cost to the Zamboanga City government because it will be part of a multi-billion-peso highway project stretching from the city urban center to Licomo that will be undertaken by the national government with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank.

With the minimal funds available in the city coffers, the incumbent city administration has been implementing its own simple and unpretentious projects. The city engineer’s office reports that as of May 31 this year 38 projects were ongoing or completed. They are basic projects that include drainage construction, structure renovations, bridge construction, road paving and health center construction. They have a total value of slightly over 19 million pesos. The projects are modest; nonetheless their impact on the lives of the people affected is significant.

As part of our effort to make the city government more competent and efficient, I am proud to report, based on figures released by the city treasurer, that local revenue collection has increased and that our markets and other city government economic enterprises have been weaned away from their subsidized condition in the past. The collection of local taxes from January to May 1999 went up by 21.6 million pesos over the collection for the same period in 1998. Taxes and fees collected from the different government business operations rose in the period from July 1, 1998, to May 31, 1999. During the second semester of 1998 – those were the first six months of the incumbent administration – revenues from this source exceeded the collection target by more 2 million pesos. Collections for the first four months of this year also showed an improvement of over 1 million pesos compared to the collection for the same period last year. We have also succeeded in jacking up the collection of amusement taxes. This year, as of May 31^st, the city treasurer’s office has collected a total of P6.8 million in amusement taxes. That is 159.32 per cent or 4.2 million pesos more than the collection for the same period in 1998.

In testimony to the soundness of the city government’s fiscal management, it has been cited as one of the outstanding local government units in budget administration.

The Contract of Change also speaks of generating more employment opportunities through economic initiatives to be introduced by the local government. Creating new jobs has been easier said than done in a business atmosphere clouded by the Asian financial crisis. Given the circumstances, the city authorities directed their focus more on saving jobs and giving succor to displaced workers than on vainly trying to create new jobs. Here I believe we have modestly succeeded. According to the records of the Department of Labor and Employment, in the period from June 1988 to May 1999 a total of 2,166 jobs were lost either on a temporary or permanent basis and for economic or non-economic reasons. On the other hand, during the whole year of 1998 and from January to May this year 4,316 persons were placed in employment. Of this number 560 got regular jobs and 176 were displaced workers who were assisted in finding new employment. The rest found temporary employment in special programs implemented by the government. In summary, fewer jobs were lost than the economic conditions would have justified. The upside is that many people were helped to find employment. We can say that, employment-wise, we have been able to blunt the effects on our city of the Asian economic crisis, which, happily for the Philippines and other countries, is currently on the wane.

The Zamboanga City government has been a direct employer through the Special Program for the Employment of Students. Over 2,000 students coming from poor families were hired through this summer work program this year. The city government also provided temporary jobs for 176 workers who lost their jobs when their companies closed down or retrenched. They were accommodated in the Rural Works Program. The SPES and Rural Works Programs are joint projects of the city government and the DOLE.

The Public Employment Service Office under the City Social Welfare and Development Office helped to place 376 jobseekers with private establishments and in government infrastructure projects. In addition, the city has provided self-employment assistance to needy families that wish to engage in small-time income-generating ventures.

The city government has also been helping to promote the local industrial estates, namely the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone and Free Port and the Ayala de Zamboanga Industrial Park, to prospective investors. It has coordinated with the local business organizations as well.

The spirit of enterprise and entrepreneurship continues to be robust in Zamboanga City. In the second semester of last year, the Office of the Mayor issued 1,045 business permits. Since January this year, 9,684 business permits have been approved. These figures represent a slight increase over the numbers of the previous periods – another indication that Zamboanga City is weathering the economic crisis well.

Agriculture is another sector to which the Contract of Change makes a specific commitment for development. Zamboanga City has tied its agricultural program with the Agrikulturang MakaMASA program of President Joseph Estrada. From July 1998 to June 1999, local farmers have produced 34,505 metric tons of rice and 16,240 metric tons of corn. The city has achieved self-sufficiency in vegetable production, thanks in part to the rains brought by the La Niña weather condition. With regard to fisheries, the city produced 103 metric tons of bangus, 16 metric tons of prawn and 1,617 metric tons of seaweed.

Other agricultural development activities have been the holding of seven farmers’ field classes in different districts; the allocation of over 58 million pesos for farm equipment, farm-to-market roads, and post-harvest and irrigation facilities; the establishment of five additional nurseries for a total of 20 for high value commercial crops; the distribution of about half a million pesos worth of mango and vegetable seedlings to farmers affected by El Niño; and the holding of various agricultural fairs.

The city government is putting up an agricultural terminal, called the "Bagsakan Center," at the former Zamcelco power plant site in Santa Cruz. In this terminal the producers from the rural areas who regularly bring their produce to town will have a market of their own. It is our hope that the Bagsakan Center will minimize the control of the middlemen on the farmers. The goal is to have higher prices for the producer and lower prices for the end consumer.

The city government has been assisted by the local congressional office in the identification of a number of agricultural projects for national funding. These projects include roads, irrigation facilities, post-harvest facilities and others.

The Contract of Change calls on the incumbent city administration to improve the local health facilities and services. Along this line, the city government, through the mayor’s office and the office of the city council, has made available 3 million pesos for free medicine for poor patients and emergency cases. The city health officer reports that this program has reduced the incidence of maternal and infant mortality and deaths from other diseases. The city health office also gives out free vaccines against rabies and tetanus, two common diseases. Other health projects under this administration include the establishment of a geriatric or senior citizen ward at the Zamboanga City Medical Center and the intensified campaign against drug abuse through health education classes in the different health districts.

The fight against dangerous drugs is likewise a specific command in the Contract of Change. Our response to this mandate is the Tumba Droga program, which has intensified police and military operations against the drug traffickers. The Tumba Droga drive has resulted in many arrests and in the neutralization of several figures in the city’s drug underworld. It has also cleaned the local anti-drug trafficking enforcement service of corrupt enforcers.

Our city government is pledged "to make the city safe and secure under a regime of peace, law and order." Our administration has been unstinting in its support, both morally and logistically, of the local police force. The mayor’s office provides the police with motor vehicles and fuel, office equipment and supplies, and communication facilities as well as wage incentives for the individual policemen and women. Zamboanga City continues to face the usual threats to peace and law and order, but the police have reported a perceptible decline in the monthly average number of crimes this year compared with last year. The decrease has been modest at 0.07 percentage point per 1,000 population, but it could be larger when the statistics for the entire year of 1999 are available.

A key component of the local peace and order program is the Area Coordinating Center that has been established at City Hall. The ACC, which combines the resources of the police and the military, is a facility that provides for the quick activation of military and police units in times of emergency.

The city government, with the help of the police and the military, has imposed a total prohibition on the carrying of weapons by unauthorized persons. The gun ban has resulted in many arrests and confiscations.

I am proud to say that the civil government in Zamboanga enjoys a good rapport with the military organization. Never have relations between the military and the city government been better than they are today. Not only does this situation provide extra military security for the city, it also ensures that the behavior of locally based military units conforms to the standards and expectations of the local residents.

A regrettable episode that has smeared our peace and order campaign was the recent kidnaping of two Belgian men in the sea near Santa Cruz Island. It was an isolated incident, and the happy result was that the hostages regained their freedom in a matter of days and emerged from their brief time in captivity without physical harm. The incident served to make us more vigilant against the enemies of peace.

The city government has been active in sports development. The Olympic-size swimming pool at the Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex has been fully rehabilitated. Other stadium facilities have been repaired or improved. The city government has financially assisted many individuals and delegations who have carried the colors of the city in national competitions. This year Zamboanga City hosted the Western Mindanao Regional Athletic Association Meet, where we captured the general championship. The city also played host – for only the second time in local history – to the National Invitational Softball Championships for Men, a very prestigious tournament.

I have enumerated a long list of accomplishments, but we all know there is so much more to be done before we can say the Contract of Change has been fulfilled in its entirety. I would like to thank the vice mayor and the members of the City Council for their invaluable support, without which very little could have been accomplished. I am looking forward to more such support as we enter the second year of our elected term. I also wish to thank our congressman and President Estrada for their assistance to Zamboanga City. We are blessed to have an incumbent city administration that is allied with a party that holds power all the way up to the presidency. This linkage strengthens our ability to pursue our goals without the obstacles raised by partisan political considerations.

Finally, I am thankful to the people of Zamboanga City for their continuing support and understanding. We, the people’s representatives in government, have not done enough, but there is time enough to do more. Onward we must fly on the wind of change.