123 RESOUNDING APPLAUSE FOR MAYOR MIGUEL’S STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS
11:13 PM
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City Mayor Peter Miguel received 123 resounding
applause during his State of the City Address (SOCA) last July 9, making this
year’s SOCA his most applauded speech.
Mayor Miguel held his audience captive at the
South Cotabato Gymnasium and Cultural Center for a speech which ran 2 hours
long including adlibs. Thousands of spectators and guest officials coming from the
provincial government and the neighboring municipalities, heads and employees
of the regional offices, academe, business sector and civil society graced the
occasion.
In his speech, the Mayor painted a full picture
of the current development of the city using the model of Productivity and
Ecological Balance Towards Economic-social Recovery (PETER) agenda which
follows a set of strategies for the attainment of each development thrust. The
mayor said that he was compelled to introduce changes and innovations to the
city’s current development framework to provide a clearer, doable and
sustainable climate change responsive development direction for the city. It is
where the Green Economy was introduced to create a sustainable development
approach leading towards economic-social recovery.
“This is
the development that we want for Koronadal, a socio-economic development that
does not compromise the needs of the
future generation”, Mayor Miguel said.
The Mayor presented a long list of
accomplishments in which he highlighted the city’s intensified local
revenue collection with highest efficiency attained in both real property tax
and local revenue collection and was duly recognized by the Bureau of the Local
Government Finance Region XII of the Department of Finance. “I am happy to inform you that our efforts
have brought a huge 62% increase in our
income from local revenues; from only
about P90.5M in 2010 to more than P146M in 2011”,Mayor Miguel emphasized. “We wanted to increase local revenues by more efficient tax
collection campaign in order to give back more social services and
infrastructure to our people, and we did”, he added.
With the present population of 166,465 in 2011,
the Mayor explained that the city government was able to spend about P4,228 per
person last year, which is higher than the national average expenditure per
capita of P3,387.96. Further he called for all Koronadaleños to work even
harder to gradually free the city from too much IRA dependency.
Mayor
Miguel acknowledged the Members of the
Sangguniang Panlungsod led by City Vice Mayor Eliordo U.Ogena for their full
legislative support through the appropriation of financial and technical resources
to facilitate the implementation of programs and projects. He cited with
gratefulness the full support as well of his department heads and all the personnel
of the City government. He also recognized the well-performing barangay
government units who excelled in the Dangal ng Barangay evaluation.
Towards the end of his speech, the Mayor enumerated
the various citations that the city
garnered for its excellent
performance and innovations in
governance in 2011 and in early 2012 which included among others as BEST PREPARED LOCAL RISK REDUCTION MANAGEMENT COUNCIL IN REGION XII, qualifying the city for the national GAWAD KALASAG AWARD; Silver Recipient of the Seal of Good
Housekeeping in the country qualifying the city as a contender for the regional
“GAWAD PAMANA NG LAHI”, an award for
excellence in local governance; BEST
PRACTICE IN PUBLIC-PRIVATE-PARTNERSHIP (PPPP), having implemented the first successful BOT project on ICT; LGU with the HIGHEST EFFICIENCY IN BOTH REAL PROPERTY TAX AND BUSINESS TAX
COLLECTIONS IN REGION XII; HALL OF FAMER for NUTRITION HONOR AWARD AT THE
NATIONAL LEVEL.
Being the son of Former City Mayor Fernando Q.
Miguel, the longest-serving mayor in the province, Mayor Peter Miguel also
revealed his feelings of apprehension that he could be merely performing as a
shadow of the many good things his father did after he accepted the challenge
of leading the city. Yet, after his 2 years
in service he said he too had set a unique imprint in shaping Koronadal.
City Mayor Miguel also outlined his priorities
for the rest of 2012 and for 2013 offering
a glimpse into the future by highlighting some upcoming projects. To a great applause and awe of the
audience, he cited the
construction of the city’s Integrated Transport Terminal at Purok Yellow Bell, Brgy.Sta.Cruz
and the transformation of Rizal Park into a wholesome theme park among others,
all viewed in virtual presentation.
In conclusion, the Mayor said, “We will continue to work the hardest, and
we will not rest, not for a second, until we have fulfilled the promise and possibility of this great
city for every Koronadaleño”.
The speech, delivered mostly in Ilonggo as the
common dialect in the city and supported with an audio-visual presentation, was
met with a standing ovation.
In a radio interview, Miguel said that during his
speech, there was a streak of stirred emotion in him when he said that the
greatest accolade for all the accomplishments should go to all the constituents
being his inspiration for all his hard work.
Meanwhile, Mayor Miguel speech
received positive comments and appreciation from spectators coming from the
different sectors. Father Ricardo Pajarillo, Jr. from the local Catholic parish
of the City commended the administration’s accomplishments which focused on the
integral development of the people giving emphasis on his capability as a
leader able to respond to the demands and challenges of today. Likewise, Mr.
Carlito Uy of the business sector gave the Mayor a good
deal of credit for meeting the
expectations of the business sector by establishing good public-private partnership.
PRIORITY
THRUSTS: MOVING FORWARD TO 2012-2013
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The construction of the city’s first ever Integrated Transport Terminal at Purok Yellow Bell, B/Sta.Cruz tops the City of Koronadal’s agenda with
significant features of green architecture and facilities, use of natural
ventilation, use of natural lighting (skylight)and LED lights, provision of
adequate green open spaces, preservation and integration in the design of the
land’s existing natural water bodies and
natural features.
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Conduct
of 3rd Tree Growing Festival on June 29,2013 with bolder
goals and bigger targets of 500,000 forest and fruit trees on 2,000 hectares of
upland forest along Roxas and Quezon Mountain Ranges
Ø
Urban Greening and Redevelopment Program
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Enhancement of Rizal Park with environment and
child-friendly facilities and family-oriented spaces
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Improvement of the public market including our
Satellite Market or the “Chinatown” to make them competitive with the big malls
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Development of Old City Hall into a Prime Cultural Center
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Procurement of 2 lots for the proposed Establishment of
Sanitary Landfill and Relocation of Public Cemetery
