DNL’s second State of the City Address held at the City Hall
Atrium, February 8, 2006.
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| ``Making a Difference in a Time of Indifference`` |
Our beloved constituents, respected guests, fellow servants in government, media practitioners,
honorable members of the Sangguniang Panglungsod, Vice Mayor Nuevas Tirol-Montes, a very pleasant
morning to you all.
Allow me to express my appreciation to Vice Mayor Montes who has lived up to her observation to
give me the distinction of being the third man in her life behind her father and her husband.
Indeed, she has proven to be just the right kind of partner during the past year and a half. If we
were musicians, she plays it by the notes while I merely do my part in oido. No wonder there has
been a harmonious relationship that augurs well for the city.
I also acknowledge the invaluable support extended to me by this august body, the Sangguniang
Panlungsod. The exceeding confidence that you have given me has only made me more cautious and
careful of my steps. After you overwhelmingly voted support for the Asphalt Batching Plant and the
Big Bug, I retraced my steps because I wanted to make sure that your trust is not in vain and that
together we can hold our heads up before our people who voted us into office.
My salute to our de facto Deputy Mayor Mario Uy who serves out of his own love for Tagbilaran. He
is the moving spirit behind the conceptualization of the Botica Sa Kabus which will benefit the
poorest of the lot. His unbroken string of successful outreach projects for the poor and the
unfortunate is enough bases to expect the Botica to be another feather to his cap.
I also doff my hat off to our Technical Consultant on Historical and Cultural Affairs, Hans Schoof.
He has traveled to China and lately to New York as Tagbilaran’s point man in the Gear Up
Foundation. After living in the province for the last 15 years, Hans suddenly finds his hands full
especially since he was appointed by the provincial government for practically the same job just
less than a year after the City gave him his marching orders. He did not fail us as his hands-on
brand of service has made it possible for the commitment of two big fire trucks for the City from
the New York Fire Department and four attack vehicles from Clearwater, Florida preferably for the
towns of Albur, Baclayon, Panglao and Dauis. Like the deputy mayor, the City is on the better part
of the bargain because he is serving on a one-peso-a-year compensation.
Today I also announce the appointment of Atty. Victor de la Serna as City Attorney on a
one-peso-a-year compensation.
Let me take time off to acknowledge the silent but invaluable contribution extended to the City by
Mr. Norris Oculam, the President of the Bohol Chamber of Commerce, who has been silently working
to spur economic activity in the City by selling Tagbilaran to potential investors interested to
avail of available quality manpower. The harvest may take time but the seeds are being planted.
Of course, I also recognize the faithful support given to the city by the business sector
particularly Marlito Uy of the Alturas Group of Companies as well as to the various church and
religious groups, the NGOs and People’s Organizations as well as government officials and
employees in national and local government agencies.
I rise on this memorable day to deliver this report card to our people as we mark the half-way of
our three-year term. If this were a basketball game, we have just completed the first half of play
and now going into the crucial second half. Today we present a summary of what we have done so
far. More importantly however, we are laying down the road map to where we desire future events
will take us.
I remember one person saying that the best way to predict one’s future is to create it. We have
slowly taken steps to create a better future for Tagbilaran… and we have started it with putting
on top of the list - our people.
We are finally putting into place the Blue Card Project which is, in a nutshell, providing free
hospitalization to indigent city residents. This will be formalized with the signing of the
memorandum of agreement between the City Government and the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial
Hospital. This is not praying for more sick people, just providing more opportunities for
appropriate health response which strikes at the heart of the city government’s pro-people bias.
We are working for the availability of physicians to meet the medical needs of our people. Just
last week, we hosted the highly successful medical and surgical mission conducted by the
Association of Philippine Physicians in Ohio, USA or APPO which accomplished 67 major surgeries
and 198 minor surgeries. It is difficult to quantify in terms of pesos the quality service
dispensed during the APP Medical and Surgical Mission but it was a shot in the arm to the sick.
As mentioned in passing earlier, the Botika Sa Kabus was conceptualized by Mr. Mario Uy to
supplement further the health care needs of our people. In joint partnership with a non-government
organization, the needy can avail of affordable medicines that include donations from friends and
supporters in the United States including those from the APPO in Ohio. We have made it a policy to
distribute only medicines with quality brands and none of the so-called generic medicines. Just
because people are poor should not be reason enough to give them cheap medicines.
The City Government also conducts free clinics with the cooperation of private individuals and
entities to augment the limited services available in existing government hospitals. As part of
the thrust for preventive medicine, we are conducting the “Dan Cares” outreach programs in
different barangays which is undertaken primarily with private sector initiative and with the
cooperation of volunteers from within the barangays.
This one I would like you all to listen carefully. The city government has approved a project that
is still accepting applications for beneficiaries. Unlike other projects that have been swamped by
interested applicants, our program to provide free coffins to qualified beneficiaries has few
takers.
We have implemented the first-ever free school uniform and free school supplies program and we
intend to institutionalize it in the city. While critics and doubters had dismissed it as nothing
but empty boast, we have shown that it can be done as long as the desire to serve is there. We
make special mention of Manila Mayor Lito Atienza who donated 9,000 school bags last year and who
seems inclined to make a similar donation at the start of the next school year in response to our
personal appeal to him.
As part of our infrastructure development component, we are prioritizing the construction of a
six-classroom building for the Cogon Night High School students at the Dr. Cecilio Putong National
High School. We are considering establishing a barangay high school in San Isidro. Along with
this, we intend to build a toilet for every classroom for the convenience of our school children.
We would also take this occasion to make special mention of the Tagbilaran Science High School
which has been ranked third nationwide. To show our appreciation for this, the City School Board
has appropriated 10 computers sets and the cost to install air-conditioning units in the
designated computer rooms.
More than just the physical make-up, we have also initiated our Early Childhood Development
Program and the Multiple Intelligence Thrust that will hopefully prepare our children for the more
challenging and demanding educational curriculum ahead.
Applying the standard USA comprehensive school reform method for children with no income families,
we are witnessing the dawning of a new era of hope. This is not just about training and learning.
It is a concept that insists that change must not end with the Day Care program. Rather, the
thrust is to leave a lasting impact on the community.
Much of the problems that we face today can be attributed to our inability or even failure to be
trained in preparation for the tough educational grind ahead. What we are putting in place is a
program where the goal is to prepare the student to be competent to enter formal school.
So far, we can relish the thought that we have a competitive set-up with the best in the field.
And yet, we can only rest if we are assured that the seeds that we have planted today will yield
abundant harvest. In this regard, I invite you to share my dream to put up a center for excellence
for our children so we can be assured of a continuing legacy that starts with the child. As I have
emphasized repeatedly, if we want to prepare for the future, let us invest in early childhood
education.
In line with this, we have also committed to expand an on-going project for public school children
by Compassion Phils. by appropriating funds to allow the existing program to accept more
beneficiaries. A success story in itself, the project simply deserves to be replicated.
For out-of-school youths, we have designed a program through the help of STRIVE, a non-profit
organization that helps young adults with intellectual and emotional disabilities in utilizing
resources within their community so they can participate as viable members of the community. To
encourage more youths in the barangay to be involved in productive activities, we shall let them
experience state-of-the-art sports facility and we start this by installing fiber glass goals in
basketball courts.
For the elderly and the senior citizens, we will work for the completion of the comprehensive
program for the elderly. This February, the city will host a Valentine’s Day picnic in Panglao at
no cost to all those who will join. Last year, we sponsored a field trip for senior citizens who
visited historical and tourist spots in Bohol. More than that, we have a continuing program that
will look after their health needs particularly attending to common ailments such as high blood
pressure, diabetes and arthritis.
We intend to maintain peace and order in the city by the relentless campaign to neutralize illegal
drugs and criminal syndicates. We are hitting back with the apprehension of cellular phone
snatchers who assumed wrongly that the city is incapable of dealing with them. We have also
crippled an emerging drug distribution syndicate that attempts to make new inroads among
incorrigible drug dependents in the city.
We hope to ease congestion with the implementation of the new Traffic Code. Side by side with our
investment in upgrading facilities at the disposal of our police organization to improve their
capabilities in peace-keeping work shall be the strengthening of our auxiliary police force, the
tanods and traffic enforcers especially in the barangays. There is no growth if there is no peace.
The future starts now and so we will continue aggressively holding dialogues with leaders of
juvenile gangs. We want them to know what we are doing to prepare them for a better life while
making it plain that it does not pay to go against the law. To many people, life began with second
chances and that is what we offer to juveniles.
As for environment and sanitation, we have revamped the garbage collection scheme by providing for
more direct participation by city residents not only in segregating their trash but in eradicating
waste pile-ups on roadsides. The new scheme, implemented in response to a new law, generated
controversy at the start but our people have admirably responded. In the end, it is not just about
trash management but a sense of responsibility and the right attitude.
Since our negotiations for a proposed sanitary landfill is already considered done, the open
dumpsite in Dampas shall eventually be closed. We are also considering a German company to recycle
our garbage. We are studying other options because we don’t want to suffer the fate of other local
governments that are clueless about the garbage problem.
The Mabaw Reef, recently considered as a marine park because of its rich marine resources, is on
its way to being declared as a marine protected area by our Sanggunian through the initiative of
the late Councilor Nerio Zamora. Tagbilaran has also been given the leadership in the bigger
conservation work on the Maribojoc Bay.
In strict implementation of the clean air act, we shall undertake a creative phasing out of all
two-stroke tricycles this year. Balancing economic gains and caring for the environment is
everyone’s concern. We always have to bear in mind that we are mere caretakers of our environment
and we are doing this not only for ourselves but for our children’s children. Resistance is to be
expected but we cannot do anything about it. We find no pleasure in doing this but someone has to
do it.
More importantly, we have encouraged effective partnership with civil society, barangay
development planners and implementers, Executive-Legislative consensus, direct interaction during
the weekly mayor’s report and through the aggressive partnership with other local government
units.
Our efforts have started to bear fruit as evidence by the response generated during the weekly
mayor’s report that has provided a relatively reliable feedback mechanism for the city and its
programs. The high point for City was the recognition given to Tagbilaran through the City Mayor
by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia or ISA as one of the ten pioneering Philippine cities
identified as dream destinations for their visions and goals. Headed by no less than former
Finance Secretary Jesus Estanislao, the ISA has recognized the potentials of Tagbilaran and its
dreams for growth.
The city hall is a home of our people, and the countenance of our home reflects who we are as a
people. This so, on top of our priorities for infrastructure this year shall be the landscaping of
the city-hall grounds.
We have also commenced the improvement of our waterworks system along with the development of our
road network and drainage system. These two are crucial before we undertake the upgrading of city
streets which will take off with the negotiation with lot owners. To correct the errors of the
past, we will insist on the inclusion of curb and gutter works. This will not only supplement the
comprehensive drainage system planned for the city but will also ensure that the roads will last
longer.
We intend to fast track the improvement of primary roads particularly the concreting of Gallares
Street. I have personally lobbied with the Hanjin Project Director, Engineer Choong Do Lee for a
cut-and-fill design for Gallares Street that includes a drainage system which will henceforth be a
standard requirement in all city roads.
We acknowledge the pot holes and mud pools in many city streets today. That is not surprising
since many of these streets were built when Tagbilaran was still a little city with only light
traffic. We will have to make do with a patch-up job within the next 20 days but the real solution
is for the concreting of major roads to cope with the demands of heavy traffic and heavier
vehicles.
To prevent further deterioration of already dilapidated roads, we will designate routes for 16 and
12-wheeler trucks especially those hauling container vans and passenger buses. Unless we do this,
our roads will be destroyed faster than we can fix them.
The realization of the dream to make Tagbilaran City a premiere convention center in the Visayas
begins with land acquisition activities which will commence by the second quarter of this year.
Before the ambitious structure known as the Big Bug can take form however, we have to start with
the foundations particularly the road network around it. We assure all affected land owners that
the city government will give them just compensation before any actual construction work will
commence. The development of the city should not be subsidized by its citizens.
Tagbilaran’s bid to become a premiere cultural destination was highlighted by the successful
staging of the Sandugo 2005 festival capped by the Sandugo street-dancing Festival of Champions
where the winners of different cultural festivals in the Visayas performed before Boholano
audience. As Chairman of the Sandugo Foundation, I make this commitment - the best is yet to come
in this year’s observance highlighted by the holding of the Tigum Bol-anon Tibuok Kalibutan
conference.
In the field of sports, there was no denying that for a brief moment the eyes of Philippine boxing
sports enthusiasts was on the City of Tagbilaran when it hosted the successful defense of Ray
“Boom-Boom” Bautista which was also the occasion when Tagbilaran’s Czar Amonsot won his
Asia-Pacific title. Manny Pacquiao found out that victory has many fathers. But whatever successes
Boom-Boom and Amonsot will reap, there is no doubt that Tagbilaran gave them a grand send-off.
The search for future Pacquiaos and Boom-Booms has started with our modest program for amateur
boxing. We have emerged champion in the 16-and-under category for the Visayas but we intend to
make Tagbilaran the national champion. Thanks to our guru, Antonio Aldeguer of ALA Stable who is
an adopted son of Tagbilaran.
The moth-balled Agora building is now open for proposals to make it operational on condition that
whatever business to be established in the area must not duplicate with existing ones. While this
is a problem not of our own making, we have started listening to offers to be able to maximize
what remains of its potentials.
The Tagbilaran Central Public Market and the Integrated Bus Terminal shall be rehabilitated and
improved. These are failed economic ventures that we merely inherited but which we intend to put
to good use despite the limited potentials.
We are presently conducting a review of the City’s Revenue Code to improve our revenue generation
capability considering that it has already been outdated and no longer responsive to the needs of
a developing local government unit. To paraphrase comedian Will Rogers, the income tax has made
more liars out of people than golf has.
For city hall employees, the early retirement program shall be continued this year to uphold
rightsizing the bureaucracy for the needs of Tagbilaran. This is an effective way of attracting
employees whose skills are no longer relevant to the needs of the organization. I see it more as a
problem of attitude rather than skills. The skillful got there because of the right attitude.
For those who join the celebration of Our Lady of Lourdes on February 11, I announce the release
of the clothing allowance for City Hall employees so you will have more reason to celebrate.
Instead of hiring casuals, contractuals shall be employed this year so that they can enjoy
appropriate benefits. We are on a full swing on the computerization program which is already for
immediate implementation. Again, it all boils down to attitude. The best computers and computer
program are good only as the people who make them work.
A task cut out for us is the search for peace in the city. The torching of the Globe Tower last
September 25 brought us face to face with the problem. As I had explained during my eulogy for the
late Councilor Nerio Zamora, the quest for peace had been stalled because of his death. That does
not mean the prospects of peace died with him.
I take this opportunity to offer the olive branches of peace to the National Democratic Front and
to the New People’s Army. Elsewhere you may have basis for waging a revolution but I do believe it
is not justified in Tagbilaran. There is no agrarian problem to stir peasant unrest and no human
rights violations that oppress the poor.
On the contrary, we prioritize quality elementary education to the children of the masses that you
love and provide free hospitalization expenses to the poor that you fight for. We are on the same
side in the search for a better life. I see no reason why we should not be on the same side in the
search for peace within the confines of Tagbilaran City.
I hope that this gesture will be rewarded by the NDF with at least a formal reply within the next
30 days. If none is coming, the city will take it to mean that we are left on our own and the
search for peace will have to go on without the NDF.
I see Tagbilaran City as a home and looks at it the way I look at my own home. I first see what is
good for Tagbilaran, for my people, and finally for the environment. We only do what is best for
our people based primarily on their needs. With this we take advantage of currently available
technology while prudently maximizing human and material resources.
There is nothing much more to prove that we have transcended traditional politics. We have brought
governance to a new meaning of partnership and sometimes sacrifices. We have subscribed to the
ideals of good governance where synergy between transparency, accountability and participation is
translated to effective service delivery and prioritizing people’s needs.
Leading the city is like forerunning a chariot race with the other eye blindfolded. Our closed eye
can imagine so many beautiful things while the opened one sees reality. As a visionary and
realistic leader, I see both dreams and reality. And it is both our hope to harmonize reality with
dreams.
As we enter the second half of a game where nothing less than our very future is at stake, it is
only natural to expect tension to rise. The problem is not so much the economic difficulties or
the political turmoil we are in. It is a deeper problem that the eye cannot see. The problem is
far deeper and much more complicated.
Those who doubt that need only to reflect on the recent tragedy that claimed 74 lives at the
ultra. These were people who probably could not spend more than an hour in prayer but many of whom
camped outside the ill-fated venue for days. This is not a time for finger-pointing as the
desperation that drove the mad rush that led to the stampede showed our people are not only
getting hopeless but in fact mindless.
Granting that the network, the government and the ultra management were remiss with their duties,
still none of these would have happened if our people had more faith not just in the system and in
worldly authority but in God. Indeed, there is more than just a political and economic crisis.
This reflects a deep moral and spiritual poverty that no political and economic system can solve.
The task is not easy. It took us many years to arrive into this pit of despair, we cannot get out
of it in a few months. Nevertheless, we know we have to get out of this hole or we will all get
buried in an avalanche of unrest.
The City has to be persistent in demanding its just share form Manila-based financial institutions
that insist in giving us only the crumbs of their just due. The City has to endure the destruction
of our roads by trucks carrying millions of pesos worth of cargoes but pay only according to what
they want to declare because it is the policy of their companies.
More than that, we have to go up against a culture and frame of mind that worship survival over
human dignity, self-respect and devotion to God. For this, all of us must take part of the blame:
the government for allowing itself to be hostage to giant corporations in consideration of
political survival for politicians; the church for not imposing what is right because it has its
own share of indiscretion; and the people for losing hope in the very institutions that they
should believe in and rather taking matters into their own hands that merely complicate the
problem.
If we cannot submit to the authority of the government, if we don’t believe in God’s ability to
bail us out, why are we surprise about the fate that we have brought upon ourselves? The worst
kind of disease is the one that refuses to go down to the root of it all. We have to start right
if we want to move on.
If this were a game, we must not allow the opposing players of inadequate resources to intimidate
us. We must not allow the referees who call the shots in favor of the big cities to disrupt us. We
must not allow the fans, the hecklers, the critics, the cynics and the skeptics to get into our
nerves. What counts more is not really the score at the end of the game but whether we played by
the rules.
If, at the end of the game, our efforts fall short, we should be able to keep our heads up high
instead of being sore losers who blame the opponents, the referees, the fans and the rules -
everything except themselves. Whether we like it or not, this may be the game called life but it
is not the final game we will play.
Somewhere, sometime we will all have to leave this playing venue called earth. Whether we get to
play in the best venue ever or be relegated to the worst, that depends on how well we play the
game here and now.
As has been my guiding motto, if we must dream, which we must if we are to get out of our present
hole, we might as well dream big. Rome was not built in one day and so will Tagbilaran. If you
dream with us, we might yet prove to all the unbelievers that life rewards those who refuse to let
go of their dreams.
People think differently and there are those who disagree with some or even most of what we desire
for Tagbilaran. If they think that have better ideas, I invite them to share these with us. We do
not have a monopoly of ideas and we welcome anything that will be good for Tagbilaran.
Participation and cooperation however are always better than criticism. If people must criticize,
they must come up with a superior proposal and a better solution. Failing that, they are nothing
but eunuchs in a harem – they know how it’s done, they have seen it done everyday but they are
unable to do it themselves.
We all have to go one day and so we all want something for people to remember us by. It is not so
much what we have done or did not do but that people will remember us because we dared to dream
for Tagbilaran and dared to make that dream come true.
I don’t know about you, but I made a commitment long ago never to give up on Tagbilaran. So far,
nothing has made me give up. Not the six consecutive electoral defeats, not the contempt of those
who refuse to believe, not the indifference and apathy of those who have a lot in excess, not the
distrust and suspicion of the poor who had been repeatedly betrayed.
Somehow I find encouragement from my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Segundo Lim, who have shown me what
real parents should be, solace in my faithful siblings Abe, Nelly and Roy, and inspiration from my
wife Sharleen and children Miles, Gail and Charlie. For as long as they believe in me, the load is
less heavy and the odds just even.
Above all, I leave everything to God who has the power to give and to take away. Even when all
else fail, if He decides that Tagbilaran will prevail, it is done.
The task is cut out for us as citizens of Tagbilaran and as human beings. That is the reason why
we are making a difference in a time of indifference.
Thank you and may the year ahead be kinder to us all. Good morning. |
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