STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS - Bacolod City

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STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS 

MAYOR EVELIO R. LEONARDIA 

City of Bacolod 

September 8, 2008 

My beloved people of Bacolod, today . . . we make history! 

Today, for the first time, we report to you from the Bacolod City 

Government Center. Over the past 50 years, this facility was dreamed of by 

generations of public servants before us. Now, it is a reality. 

There are so many people to thank for this dream come true. First, may 

we reiterate our grateful thanks to the descendants of Don Padoc Gonzaga for 

their generous donation of the 5-hectare land on which this Government Center 

now stands. When the property was donated to the city in 2006, it was then 

worth about P140 million. At present, it is surely worth much more than that. 

When the donation of the land was finalized in June, 2006, we were given 

only 6 months thereafter to start the construction work, otherwise, the donation 

would be rescinded and the land reverted back to the donor. 

If you were the City Mayor then, would you have thrown up your hands in 

defeat and given up right there and then, knowing that it would be next to 

impossible to comply within only 6 months all government procedures required 

for any construction project, especially one of this magnitude? 

But to give up without even trying would have been to betray the people 

we have sworn to serve. We would have been criminally negligent had we lost 

through default an ideally-located property worth P140 million then for the 

Government Center. So despite almost insurmountable difficulties, especially the 

scuttling of the original loan to fund the project, and yes, even court cases to stop 

the project from proceeding, we carried on and now, we have this Government 

Center as a legacy to our people - - a landmark they can be proud of for 

generations to come. 

Had we wavered in this resolve to finish the project, the dream for a 

Bacolod City Government Center would have remained just that - - a dream. 

This legacy to our people would not have also been realized without the 

full support of the Sangguniang Panlungsod. For sharing this vision and their 

unstinting support, we thank most gratefully the previous Sangguniang

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Panlungsod headed by then Vice-Mayor Renecito Novero and the present 

Sangguniang Panlungsod headed by Vice-Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson. 

Without their cooperation, encouragement, and legislative help, the project would 

have been lost too. 

May we also acknowledge the hard work of all our other city officials and 

employees who in one way or another, were responsible for the success of the 

project. They are many and we cannot name them all. But they will be honored 

later in more appropriate circumstances. 

May we also thank Hilmarc’s Construction Corporation, the contractor for 

the project. We were able to beat the deadline for the start of the construction 

work, literally by the skin of our teeth, only because Hilmarc’s came to the 

rescue. Even without yet receiving from the city government a single centavo for 

mobilization fund as stipulated in our contract with them, Hilmarc’s started 

construction on December 28, 2006 and sustained the project during the first few 

months using their own funds while the city had to look for a substitute lender as 

the original loan with Land Bank of the Philippines was scuttled by a case filed 

against the contract with Hilmarc’s by people whose political agenda was to 

sabotage the project at all costs. 

May we not also forget to thank the many citizens and friends who came 

forward in their personal capacities to offer us encouragement and moral support 

just so that in moments of discouragement, we were comforted and assured that 

the great silent majority of our people wanted this Government Center finished as 

soon as possible. 

We know there are a handful of people, some well-meaning but many 

others with doubtful motives, who say that the loan taken to construct the 

Government Center should have been spent on something else that the city 

needs. Well, as the Good Book says, there is a time for everything under the 

heavens. It was time for the Government Center to be built. We could not miss 

the golden opportunity. We ask these people to understand that the donation of 

the land came with a special condition which forced us to construct quickly or 

lose both the opportunity and a valuable property that was like a “hulog ng 

langit” to use a local expression for a God-given grace received so unexpectedly. 

Should we spurn such a gift? 

No, we did not, and in return, we have this Government Center to serve 

our people better. 

And as circumstances would have it, we did not only meet the deadline to 

start construction “by the skin of our teeth”, we also finished it “by the skin of our 

teeth” – just before prices of construction materials spiraled. If we build this 

same structure now, we would probably need another P100 million more!

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This brings us to the allegations raised by our political opponents that the 

Government Center is overpriced. May I inform you that the COA Regional 

Office has already rendered an official verdict on this issue. In answer to a 

request of COA-Bacolod Office, the COA Regional Office thru its Technical 

Services Office evaluated the structural, architectural, sanitary/plumbing, 

electrical and mechanical aspects of the Government Center project and based 

on their evaluation, they have found that the contract price of P394,957,121.01 

for the Government Center is REASONABLE. This official finding of the COA 

technical people should therefore put to rest this issue of overpricing. Any 

contrary opinion of other parties can only be speculative or even malicious. 

As for me and for the members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod and 

other city officials who stuck it out and made this dream a reality, we are now 

facing 13 cases relating to the Government Center Project. This is net of 1 case 

that was already dismissed. Enemies of this project have promised to file more. 

So be it. Despite the efforts of these “torpedoes” and “saboteurs”, we believe 

that this majestic Government Center is worth fighting for. 

Talk about the Government Center now leads us to highlight other 

accomplishments achieved over the past 12 months ending June 30, 2008. 

FISCAL MANAGEMENT 

First, on fiscal management, we have continued to manage our 

finances well and to operate within our means. 

When we started our term in mid-2004, the General Fund Budget for that 

year was only P618 million. It rose to P648 million in 2005 and to P675 million in 

2006. Again, it grew to P755 million in 2007. For this year, in 2008, we finally hit 

the P1 billion mark -- the first time ever that this has happened in the history of 

our city. This is a hefty increase of P245 million or 32% over the previous year. 

Growing by 62% from a general fund budget of P618 million to P1 billion in 

just 4 years is no mean feat. It is a pretty good indicator of the rapid growth and 

progress of our city and the healthy business climate spawned by our 

developmental efforts to produce the “enabling environment” needed by business 

to grow. 

Budgets of local government units or LGUs are funded from 2 sources: 

the Internal Revenue Allotment or IRA which is their share in revenues of the 

national government and from local fees and taxes that the LGUs themselves 

can legally impose. About 90% of LGUs nation-wide are IRA-dependent for the 

lion’s share of their funding. For many years, Bacolod was not an exception.

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Our locally-generated funds were always much smaller than our IRA. But in 

2008, for the first time ever, the funding mix has been reversed. We expect to 

fund our P1 billion budget with an IRA of P479 million and local funds of P521 

million. This is another first in our history as a city when our local sources are 

expected to exceed the IRA amount! We hope this trend will continue in the 

future. 

How much have we collected on these fund sources for the first 6 months 

of 2008? Of our expected IRA share of P479 million for the year, we have 

already received 50% as of June 30, 2008. Of target collections of P260.5 

million from local sources for the first 6 months of 2008, we have already 

collected P368 million or an excess of P107.5 million over target. This is a 

collection efficiency of 141%! 

What are our sources for local funds? We have several but the primary 

ones are business tax collections and land tax collections. How are we doing on 

our collection efforts from these 2 primary sources? 

The slide on the screen shows that for the first 6 months of 2007, our 

business tax collections registered at P143 million. For the same period in 2008, 

it grew to P161 million. That is a 13% improvement. On the other hand, our land 

tax collections stood at P65 million during the first 6 months of 2007 while it 

improved to P81 million or by 25% during the first 6 months of 2008. 

Over-all, the next slide will show that in 2006, while the General Fund 

Budget was approved at P675 million, our actual collections from IRA and local 

sources totaled P761 million or P86 million better than budget. In 2007, while the 

General Fund Budget was approved at P755 million, our actual collections from 

IRA and local sources totaled P887 million or P132 million in excess of budget. 

For this year, we are hopeful that our actual collections should at least hit the 

budgeted billion mark despite the pinch that we are now all feeling from the 

continuing price hike on gasoline, other petroleum products and basic 

commodities. 

Our tax collection efforts have been quite successful that no less than the 

BIR itself gave Bacolod City the “Top BIR Supporter Award” last March, 2008. 

May we now acquaint you with the status of our PNB Term Loan that was 

taken to finance the construction of the Government Center. The total amount of 

loan approved was P400 million. However, we will limit actual availments 

thereon to only P394,957,121.01 which is the contract price with Hilmarc’s 

Construction Corp. Of this amount, P338.3 million have already been availed of 

and paid to the contractor as of June 30, 2008. This loan is payable over 15 

years.

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On the other hand, as far as payables to and receivables from Ceneco 

are concerned, the latest figures reaching my office indicate that Ceneco owes 

Bacolod City P190 million in franchise taxes and real property taxes. On the 

other hand, Ceneco is billing us P214 million for electric bills. We are hopeful 

that a compromise settlement on this matter will be made soon. 

We are currently preparing our 2009 Budget Proposal for decision of the 

Sangguniang Panlungsod. Despite the recent downturn in the economy with the 

sharp increases in gasoline and food prices, we project that we can still submit a 

budget proposal of another P1 billion with a 5% increase for next year. 

We would like to recognize the hard work of our Finance Task Force 

under the leadership of City Administrator, Dr. Rogelio Balô, with Private 

Secretary to the Mayor, Mr. Jose Villanueva, and all the various revenuegenerating 

units of the city government, major ones of which are the Business 

Permits and Licensing Office, Land Tax and License Divisions of the City 

Treasurer’s Office, Office of the Building Official, City Planning and Development 

Office, Bacolod Traffic Authority Office and Socio-economic Enterprise Unit. 

Please keep up the good work. 

We would also like to commend our City Treasurer, City Budget Officer, 

City Assessor, City Accountant and MASO Head for helping us manage our 

finances carefully and prudently. 

However, no matter how good we are at revenue-generation, we still 

cannot spend what we collect unless the Sangguniang Panlungsod gives its 

approval. We would therefore like to thank the Sangguniang Panlungsod led by 

Vice-Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson for supporting our programs with funding 

appropriations. The help of Councilor Al Victor Espino, Chairman of the SP 

Committee on Finance and Appropriations, has been indispensable in this area. 

And for that, we would like to thank him. 

Above all, we thank all the Bacolod taxpayers who have made our city 

grow and progress with their support. 

SPURS TO ECONOMIC GROWTH 

Investment Promotions/Job-Generation 

Fully aware that we need to continue spurring economic activities in our 

city to provide more income and job opportunities for our people, we pursued our 

investment promotions initiatives which led to the following positive highlights:

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FIRST: 4 corporations availed of the tax incentives provided for in the 

Bacolod Investment Code. These are Supervalue, Inc., Mainstream Business, 

Inc., 722 Realty, Inc. and Southern Fishing Ventures, Inc. – Bacolod 

Planta Hotel. 

SECOND: Convergys, one of the big IT companies in the world, opened a 

branch which will provide another 1,800 new jobs for a start. Together with 

Teletech, Teleperformance, Focus Pacific Communications, Intervoice, and now, 

Convergys, these IT companies in Bacolod would account for about 4,200 

employees already. Even at an average monthly salary of only P15K per 

employee, this would mean that an additional P63 million worth of purchasing 

power is being injected monthly into the Bacolod economy or P756 million 

annually from these IT companies alone. 

This development resulted from the work of the joint public-private sector 

IT Focus Team with Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, Chairman of the SP 

Committee on Communication & Energy. Our efforts in this endeavor were 

recognized by the NEDA and the Regional Development Council of Region 6 

when it declared our Bacolod Information Technology Investment Program as the 

“Best Public Sector Project for 2006-2007 in the City LGU Category in Region 6”. 

To the IT Focus Team, congratulations and thank you. 

THIRD: There has been a steady increase in additional jobs generated. 

In 2005, there were 2,708 new businesses registered with an initial employment 

of 5,900. In 2006, this grew to 3,856 new businesses with an initial employment 

of 6,985 people. In 2007, there were 2,825 new businesses with an initial 

employment of 8,105 people. During the first half of 2008, 2,517 new businesses 

were registered with an initial employment of 9,400 people. 

Among the recently-opened businesses of notable size are: Planta 

Hotel, 722 Realty, Inc., Metrodome Commercial Complex, New Pavilion 

Hotel, 888 Chinatown Square, Convergy’s, Northwest Inn, MO2 Westown Hotel, 

Caribbean Water Park and Resotel and Casa Marabella. 

Other new large business enterprises undergoing construction now are 

East Point Hotel near Lopue’s East, the commercial building of Triangle Island 

Plaza Corporation at the Capitol Shopping area, the extension of L’Fisher Hotel, 

and the 3-storey commercial building of the Centrum Agri-Business Realty 

Corporation almost opposite the Doctors’ Hospital. 

For all these achievements, may I commend the Local Investment Board 

and our Permits and Licensing Division officials and staff. 

With the recent sharp downturn in the economy resulting from the worldwide 

oil price crisis, we can only pray that our businessmen survive the financial 

crunch so that they can continue to operate and keep their employees.

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In 2006, we were adjudged “Most Business-Friendly City in Visayas” by 

the Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry. This award then landed us as 

one of the top 4 “Most Business-Friendly Cities in the Philippines”. Our 

“committed efforts” to maintain this status in 2007 as the most business-friendly 

city earned us a new commendation last September 8, 2007 from the Philippine 

Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Metro Bacolod Chamber of 

Commerce & Industry during its 16 th Visayas Area Business Conference at the 

Sugarland Hotel. 

On October 26, 2007, we were recognized for the second consecutive 

year as the “Most Business-friendly City in Visayas”. . During the 33 rd Philippine 

Business Conference and Expo of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce & 

Industry at the Manila Hotel, we were proclaimed, to our jubilation, as the “Most 

Business-friendly City in the Philippines” – not just one of the top 4 as in the 

previous year but as no. 1 this time! This award was handed to us by no less 

than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the ceremonies. 

This was the first time ever that we were recognized as the most 

business- friendly city in the country. It set our spirits high and our optimism 

soared. We thought that this was a great push for the momentum to move 

Bacolod City even faster forward. 

As of this report cut-off date of June 30, 2008, we were confident that we 

could win this award again. However, after June 30, 2008, we were dismayed to 

realize that we will be unable to vie for the award this year because the required 

endorsement from the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce & Industry did not 

come. We truly regret this development. 

We requested for this endorsement because we believe that the factors 

needed to win investor confidence were in place. . . factors like the continued 

dynamism in our local economy, favorable peace and order situation, availability 

of trained and educated manpower, tax incentives, infrastructures like the new 

Government Center for better public service, and others more like it. These were 

the strong points that helped us win in the previous 2 years. 

However, our request was not officially answered by the association. We 

only learned from newspaper reports that this endorsement was not made 

because the members of this business association wanted sidewalk vendors 

removed despite the fact that we won the most business-friendly city award twice 

previously with sidewalk vendors already present in our city streets long before. 

We even won over our closest competitor, Marikina City, which people say, has 

no sidewalk vendors. 

Anyway, since we could not get the endorsement, we had to forego vying 

for the award.

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However, we believe we could have successfully defended our status as 

the most-business friendly city in the country if we were given the chance to try. 

Had we won again, we would have gained another competitive edge over other 

LGUs in attracting more inward investments. These investments and new 

businesses are extremely necessary to provide jobs for our people, especially 

the thousands that our colleges and universities graduate every year. 

While other LGUs spend millions to advertise and promote themselves to 

tourists and potential investors, we, on the other hand, by force of circumstances 

beyond our control, lost the opportunity to do the same for free. Had we vied for 

the award and won again, we would have gotten free publicity in national 

newspapers and business magazines. And as a consistent winner, Bacolod City 

would have earned top-of-mind recall from potential investors. 

Nevertheless, we will continue to explore areas of collaboration with our 

business community to discuss their concerns so that even if we may not agree 

on all things, we can understand and respect each other’s point of view. While 

we acknowledge that there are sectors complaining about sidewalk vendors, we 

also recognize that these marginalized people must continue to earn a livelihood 

no matter how humble. Depriving them of a means to live can also affect the 

well-being of our city in general. Our challenge therefore, is how to find a wise 

solution that can be acceptable to all concerned sectors. All things considered 

however, we are very confident that an overwhelming majority of our 

businessmen are still “government-friendly”. 

Another office in charge of helping find jobs for our people is the PESO 

Office. During the year ending June 30, 2008, they held 4 jobs fairs. They also 

registered 23,199 job applicants, mostly for blue-collar jobs. Of this, 16,949 were 

applicants for local jobs and 6,250 for overseas placements. We are happy to 

report that 90% of applicants for local jobs and 46% of overseas applicants were 

placed and deployed. 

Our PESO Office was also able to hire 856 poor but deserving students 

for summer jobs, helped 645 mobile passporting applicants and took care of 543 

city scholars enrolled in various schools in our city. 

For these achievements, our PESO Office was adjudged by the 

Department of Labor and Employment last October 16, 2007 as “Best Regional 

PESO Implementor, Highly Urbanized City Category” which qualified us for the 

same award on the national level. 

We were also the first LGU in Visayas to sign a Memorandum of 

Understanding with the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority or POEA to 

establish an Anti-illegal Recruitment Task Force.

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All these achievements would not have been possible without the hard 

work of the officials and staff of the PESO Office. We would like to congratulate 

and thank them all for this great service to the city. 

INFRASTRUCTURE SPENDING 

Let us go to another economic multiplier - - that of public 

infrastructure spending. 

Over the past year ending June 30, 2008, a total of 275 public 

infrastructure projects worth P552.9 million were undertaken. Of this, 206 

projects worth P78.6 million were completed while 69 projects worth P474.3 

million are still on-going. This includes the government center project. 

The next slide will show completed major projects with a cut-off 

amount of P1 million and up. There are 25 on the list. We will mention only 

the first 5 for brevity. You can look at the screen for the rest or refer later to 

copies of this report that will be distributed. 

COMPLETED PROJECTS (P 1 million & up only) COST 

Const. of Outer-Circumferential Ave. (Phase 3) P 3.4 M 

Conc. of Road Connecting Las Palmas to Circumferential Road P 2.3 M 

Const. - 77 units Artesian Wells @ various brgys. 

P 2.1 M 

Const. of North Road @ New Gov. Center P 1.9 M 

Installation of Traffic Lights @ Lizares-Araneta Sts. 

P 1.9 M 

Concreting of Lacson St. Ext. P 1.9 M 

Installation of Traffic Lights @ Libertad Ext. – Bangga Cory P 1.9 M 

Widening of Luzuriaga St., Reclamation Area 

P 1.8 M 

Repair and Maint. of 225 Artesian Wells at various brgys. P 1.5 M 

Concreting of Roads at Prk. San Dionisio 

P 1.5 M 

Tourism Lights along Taculing Road P 1.5 M 

Installation of Street Lights along Lacson Ext . P 1.5 M 

Const. of Footbridge at Magsungay 

P 1.5 M 

Const. of Concrete Footwalk @ Various Brgys. 

P 1.4 M 

Const. - 40 units Artesian Wells @ various brgys. 

P 1.2 M 

Const. of Tourism Lights along Gonzaga St. from Lacson St. P 1 M 

Rehabilitation of Streetlights P 1 M 

Electrical lighting at various City Streets 

P 1 M 

Rehab. of 150 units Artesian Wells @ various brgys. 

P 1 M 

Const. of Traffic Lights along BS Aquino Drive, La Salle P 1 M 

Repair of Bacolod City Mental Health Building 

P 1 M 

Impvt. of De La Rama Drive P 1 M 

Repair/Maintenance of Manokan Country 

P 1 M 

Impvt. of road leading to Dumpsite P 1 M 

Impvt./Repair of Basketball goals @ various brgys. P 1 M

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On the other hand, ongoing major projects with a cut-off amount of P1 

million and up are on the next slide. There are 16 of them. Again, we will 

mention only the first 3 for brevity. The other details are on the slide and on 

copies of this report which will be distributed later. 

ON-GOING PROJECTS (P 1 million & up only) COST 

Bacolod City Government Center P 395 M 

Const. of Outer-Circumferential Road P 10 M 

Dredging and clearing of waterways at Mandalagan P 10 M 

Const. of Southbound Perimeter Fence & Other Facilities P 5.5 M 

Coastal Road Linkage to Talisay @ Sibucao, Banago P 5 M 

Concreting of South Road at Govt. Center P 3.7 M 

Const. of Outer-Circumferential Ave. (Phase 2) P 3.5 M 

Concreting of North Road at Govt. Center (Phase 2) P 3.3M 

Concreting of Mars Street, Brgy. Taculing P 2 M 

Improvt./ Restoration of existing street/barangay lights P 2 M 

Const. of 65 artesian wells @ various barangays P 2 M 

Const. of traffic lights @ Burgos Ext. Circumferential Rd. P 1.9 M 

Improvement of Doña Juliana Drive P 1.9 M 

Installation of traffic lights @ Bata-Lacson Streets P 1.8 M 

Const. of Single-Barrel Box Culvert @ Circumferential Rd. P 1.6 M 

Widening/Improvt. of C. Hilado Highway fronting Govt. Center P 1.5 M 

One project we wish to highlight is the completion of the road connecting 

Las Palmas Subdivision to the Circumferential Road. This project now provides 

an alternate and shorter route to the Government Center and the Lopue’s East 

area from City Heights, Doña Juliana Heights, Sharina Heights, Lopez Jaena St., 

Gonzaga Bridge and Barangays 27 and 28. Motorists from the inner parts of the 

city going to the Government Center area can now avoid the traffic along 

Libertad Extension and save about 2 kilometers of travel using the new route. 

We wish to acknowledge and thank the officials, staff and employees of 

our City Engineer’s Office for their hard work. We expect more achievements 

from them this year. 

PRIVATE CONSTRUCTION 

In addition to public infrastructure spending, private construction 

projects also boosted our local economy.

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The Office of the Building Official or OBO reported that for the year ending 

June 30, 2008, private construction aggregated P1.3 billion with 846 building 

permits issued. On these private construction projects, the city was able to 

collect P20 million in regulatory fees and zoning clearance fees, up by 10.5% 

over that of the immediately preceding 12 months. 

We would like to recognize the officials and staff of the OBO for looking 

after the needs of private construction projects. An inflow of P1.3 billion into the 

money stream in our city is something to crow about, and especially because, at 

the rate we are going, 2008 would be the fourth consecutive year when private 

construction projects will be maintained at a high level of over a billion pesos a 

year. Can you imagine how much of this money circulated among our people 

several times during the period to perk up our economy? 

city. 

This, again, is testimony to the favorable business climate prevailing in our 

LIVELIHOOD DEVELOPMENT 

Let us now look into our efforts on livelihood development - another spur 

to our economy. 

In line with our thrust to improve micro-economic enterprises as part of 

our anti-poverty campaign, our City Cooperative and Livelihood Development 

Office or CCLDO provided financial assistance of P500K to 12 cooperatives with 

1,528 beneficiaries for projects such as upholstery-making, rice trading and 

retailing, micro-lending, hollow blocks making, swine fattening and water refilling. 

Also in various stages of processing are funding applications worth P1.4 

million of 19 other cooperatives with 2,253 beneficiaries for projects such as 

vulcanizing, egg production, swine dispersal, vermi-culture, water refilling and 

purifying. 

53 entrepreneurial skills training sessions were also conducted for various 

barangays on soap-making, meat processing, fashion jewelry and accessories 

production, hair-cutting, mask-making, etc. 

Orientation seminars on how to organize cooperatives were also done for 

30 potential groups with a total of 900 members. Various seminars on how to 

manage cooperatives were also given. CCLDO also provided their services to 

other agencies involved in livelihood development and skills training.

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With marketing assistance from CCLDO, several producer-cooperatives 

managed to sell P206K worth of their products at the Bacolod Tourism Office 

Showroom, Rockwell Tent in Makati, BAYS Center, SM-Bacolod and at the 

Bacolod Booth- Panaad Park. 

For this great contribution to helping the “small people” find ways to earn 

an honest living through micro-business enterprise, we thank the officials and 

staff of our CCLDO Office. We will be expecting a lot more from them as we give 

more focus to micro-business enterprises as part of our anti-poverty campaign. 

TOURISM 

Next, let us take a good look at tourism. Tourist spending is an 

investment worth cultivating. It keeps afloat our hotels and restaurants, 

transportation companies, souvenir shops, manufacturers of local delicacies, and 

other service providers. 

Because inflow of money into our economy comes more quickly with 

tourist spending than with other traditional forms of inward investments, we have 

consistently promoted Bacolod City to visitors – local and foreign alike. 

The next slide shows that our efforts are paying off. There is a steady 

increase of visitors into our city. In 2005, we received 234,025 visitors. In 2006, 

253,262 came and in 2007, 303,314. 

Between 2006 and 2007, we registered our biggest annual increase ever 

in visitor arrivals – 20% or 50,052 more. The profile of tourist arrivals for the 

same period shows that OFWs increased by 86% while foreigners grew by a 

whooping 122%. 

We are now hitting 46,354 in foreign tourist arrivals with Koreans topping 

the list, followed by Americans, and then by the Japanese, Canadians, Germans, 

and Australians. 

The Koreans reached an unprecedented 10,308 arrivals. The growing 

number of Korean students studying English has also spawned the 

establishment of 5 more language centers in the city, making it now a total of 12 

English language schools. 

During the past 12 months, various conventions and sports tournaments 

were held in Bacolod which brought to our city a steadily growing number of 

visitors. For example, the PAL Inter-Club Golf Tournament alone brought in 

some 2,000 visitors last February, 2008 while the convention of the Masons 

brought in some 4,000 people last April, 2008.

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Prospects for the convention market are also bright. Thousands are still 

expected to come. Within this year, a number of organizations are set to 

convene here. Early next year, we look forward to the first-ever national 

gathering outside of Metro Manila of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines which 

could mean as many as 4,000 visitors. 

Latest figures from the City Tourism Office pegged total room capacity of 

our hotels, pension houses, and other lodging places of varied categories at 

2,234. When we started our term in mid-2004, this was only at 1,595 rooms. 

This means therefore that in the last 4 years, 639 more rooms were added to our 

capability to house visitors. This is a growth rate of 40% - - an investment by our 

local businessmen which is now reaping benefits for our city in terms of 

conventions and visitor arrivals. We can now even dare to claim that we have 

more hotel rooms and lodging spaces than any city in Western Visayas. For this 

development, we thank our local entrepreneurs for their confidence in the 

business and tourism potential of our city and province. 

The Bacolaodiat Festival, now on its 3 rd year of celebration, is becoming 

another tourist event that is attracting a good number of visitors into our city. For 

this development, we wish to thank the members of the Filipino-Chinese 

community for their support of this effort. 

Our main tourism event, the MassKara Festival, continues to draw record 

crowds. It is our pride to share with you that our MassKara Festival won as First 

Runner-up in the Best Tourism Event in the Philippines during the 8 th National 

Convention of Tourism Officers held in Camarines Sur last October, 2007. 

As part of our tourism promotions, our MassKara dancers also performed 

last May, 2008 during the Pattaraday Unity Festival at Santiago City in Isabela, 

Cagayan Valley and during the Sangyaw Festival in Tacloban City last June, 

2008. 

Our MassKara dance performance during the Regional Parade of 

Festivals held last November 15, 2007 sponsored by the Department of Tourism 

also won as “Best in Choreography” and “Best in Performance”. 

Bacolod City co-hosted with the Province of Negros Occidental the 

Western Visayas Regional Travel Assembly last November 14, 2007 where we 

were personally given the “Regional Tourism Excellence Award-Western 

Visayas Lifetime Achievement Award”. 

For the success of our tourism promotions and initiatives, we would like to 

acknowledge and thank the officials and staff of the Bacolod City Tourism Office 

and Councilor Homer Bais, Chairman of the SP Committee on Tourism & Local, 

International Cooperation, for his all-out support of our tourism programs.

AGRICULTURAL PROJECTS 

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Let us now discuss how agricultural activity in our rural barangays 

helped sustain our economy. 

Food production initiatives of our City Agriculture Office included the grant 

of subsidies to 52 farmers for palay seeds and foliar fertilizer and the distribution 

of 6,582 vegetable seed packs and 2,565 fruit tree seedlings to various 

beneficiaries. 

Techno-demo projects were put up to teach poultry and swine 

production. In this connection, 144 heads of layers were introduced and 121 

heads of swine were dispersed. 

Bantay Dagat undertook 105 operations and apprehended 78 vessels 

engaged in illegal fishing. 

14 artificial reefs were also installed in sea waters of Brgys. Singcang 

Airport, Sum-ag and Tangub. 

The Bio-Intensively Nurtured Garden Project was also actively pursued to 

encourage urban poor constituents and families with malnourished children to 

grow assorted vegetables at home to improve family nutrition. To this end, 230 

poor families in 7 barangays were given 1,270 polybags with assorted vegetable 

seedlings to grow at home. They were also taught how to propagate these 

seedlings and asked to teach their neighbors the method of home-growing 

vegetables in polybags. 

For these efforts, we thank the officials and staff of our City Agriculture 

Office. However, we are also putting them on notice that we will be depending 

on them for more help in our anti-poverty and food sufficiency programs. 

DELIVERY OF BASIC SERVICES 

May I now report on basic services that have been delivered over the past 

year ending June 30, 2008. These cover the following areas: 

1. Health services 

2. Social services 

3. Anti-poverty programs 

4. Solid waste management 

5. Flood Control 

6. Resettlement and housing 

7. Public education

15 

8. Youth and sports 

9. Disaster preparedness 

10. Peace and order 

11. Traffic 

12. Streetlighting 

13. Slaughterhouse 

14. City Hall services and employees 

HEALTH SERVICES 

During the year ending June 30, 2008, P 71 million were spent to bring 

health services to our people. 

In summary, our City Health Office was able to provide services to a total 

of 276,564 beneficiaries coming from: 

- 16,324 mothers and mothers-to-be 

- 94,446 children 

- 10,349 dental cases 

- 40,035 people needing various laboratory services 

- 6,247 people needing disease control and surveillance 

- 100,189 people who benefited from environmental health and 

sanitation programs 

- 1,660 people needing mental health services 

- 1,112 people needing pre-marital counseling services 

- 2,942 women needing family planning services 

- 3,260 people needing “Operation Tuli” services 

The City Health Office also conducted blood-letting activities in different 

barangays and organizations and elicited 724 blood donors. 

Philhealth cards were also given to 1,706 indigent beneficiaries. 

In the fight against dengue, P1.9 million worth of larvacides was 

purchased and introduced into stagnant water pools and probable breeding 

grounds of mosquitoes, and a total of 11,255 houses, establishments and 

premises were fumigated as a joint effort between the City Health Office and the 

Dengue Task Force that was created in 2007. Neighborhoods where dengue 

cases were reported were immediately surveyed for epidemiological and 

entomological purposes. An information campaign in different schools and 

barangays was also conducted to help people combat the incidence of dengue 

cases.

16 

So far, the number of dengue cases reported during the first 6 months of 

2007 and the first 6 months of 2008 sharply declined by 51% from a total of 410 

cases to 200. We again call on our people to be aware that dengue cases 

normally rise during the second half of each year during the rainy season. So we 

should start all over again to make sure that stagnant water in our homes and 

neighborhoods are either poured out or treated with larvacides to prevent the 

breeding of carrier mosquitoes. 

For this more successful fight against dengue, we have to thank Councilor 

Nap Cordova, Chairman of the SP Committee on Health and Sanitation, for his 

help in the anti-dengue campaign. 

With reference to hospital services, the city government has been paying 

the salaries of 24 nurses assigned to augment the staff of the Provincial Hospital. 

However, knowing that our people need more hospital services, we created last 

March 6, 2008 a Study Group headed by Vice-Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, in 

partnership with the University of St. La Salle, to look at possible options on how 

we can provide hospital services to our people. Data is still being gathered for 

this study. We would like to thank USLS through its President, Bro. Ray Suplido, 

for this great service to the city. 

Our City Health Office also conducted 34 medical and 8 dental missions 

in various barangays which benefited 15,110 people. In addition, the City Health 

Office partnered with several other civic clubs, companies and NGOs, for a total 

of 17 medical and dental missions which brought help to 17,425 beneficiaries. 

Among these private sector partners of the City Health Office are Bantay 

Bata 163 and ABS-CBN Bacolod, Calvary Christian Trust School, Aksyon Radyo- 

Bacolod, Bombo Radyo-Bacolod, Couples in Touch Group-Baptist Church, 

Boehringer Ingelheim, Inc., Mt. Kanlandog Lion’s Club, Federation of Senior 

Citizens Associations of Bacolod, Neg. Occ. Pharmaceutical Association, Gawad 

Kalinga Foundation, Philippine Waters Foundation, Inc., RMN-DYHB Radio, SM- 

Bacolod, Peace Community Action Group, Drugstores Association of the 

Philippines, Operation Care Ministry, Give Kare Health Foundation, Inc., Negros 

Daily Bulletin, BACGEM, Center for People’s Resources & Services, Inc., Island 

Health Integrated Program, and MOR 101.5 

To all these generous people, we extend our grateful thanks. 

For the effective work of our City Health Office, Bacolod City was cited by 

the Department of Health-Region 6 Office during the 2007 Regional Health 

Summit as having accomplished 100% of the Expanded Program on 

Immunization. 

We also complemented our health services with a Nutrition Program under 

the administration of the Urban Basic Services Division or UBSD. This Nutrition

17 

Program provided supplementary feeding to 5,710 under-nourished 

schoolchildren through the Insumix and Nutripan Projects. 

Our Nutrition Program also continued to get help from 2 generous 

institutions: Evangelistic International and Here’s Hope Ministries, Inc.. In 

partnership with them, 4,613 more schoolchildren were given sustained feeding 

for 4 months. Another 3,000 are targeted to avail of this supplementary feeding 

from the city and from these 2 NGOs. Once more, may we thank Evangelistic 

International and Here’s Hope Ministries, Inc. for their great kindness. 

Bacolod City’s Nutrition Program was given the Green Banner Award last 

October 5, 2007 during the 18 th Nutrition Congress sponsored by the National 

Nutrition Council of the Department of Health. This award is to recognize 

exemplary performance in nutrition program implementation as prescribed by the 

National Nutrition Council. We are very happy about this award because the last 

time that Bacolod City won it was in l980! 

During the Philippine Health Promotion Awareness Awards held last 

November, 2007, Bacolod City was awarded as “Regional Winner, Highly 

Urbanized City Category” in health promotion awareness. During the same 

event, Kaisei Restaurant won as “Healthy Eating Place” and Bongbong’s 

Pasalubong Center as “Healthy Work Place”. These rewards resulted from the 

efforts of our City Health Office and private businesses in ensuring that our 

restaurants meet proper health and sanitation standards. 

To the officials and staff of our City Health Office and UBSD, congratulations 

for a job well done and thank you for your hard work. 

SOCIAL SERVICES 

Let us now look at the contribution of our Department of Social Services 

and Development or DSSD to the quality of life of our people. 

DSSD spent P40 million over the past 12 months to bring its services and 

programs to our people. This was P4 million or 11% more than the previous 

year. They were able to serve 28,055 cases during the year ending June 30, 

2008. 

Major beneficiaries of DSSD services included: 

- 8,927 pre-schoolers enrolled in 116 day care centers 

- 1,041 malnourished children below 3 years old who availed of 

supplementary feeding and Supervised Neighborhood Play

18 

- 7,468 parents who attended the Parent Effectiveness Service to 

enhance their parenting skills 

- 571 street children and children in conflict with the law who were 

placed at the Social Development Center for residential care, 

temporary shelter and custodial care (Of these, 292 have been reintegrated 

into their families) 

- 178 out-of-school youth who were given Alay Lakad vocational 

scholarships 

- 676 World War II veterans who received financial assistance 

- 3,340 senior citizens who availed of various programs and assistance 

- 1,352 other needy adults who availed of Nugabest bed massage 

therapy 

- 130 blind people and their families 

- 86 disabled persons who availed of financial assistance and various 

services 

- 348 indigents who received medical, financial, burial and 

transportation assistance 

- 3,736 Typhoon Frank victims who availed of food and medical aid 

- 54 fire victims who availed of food and medical aid 

- 24 families relocated from Purok Mahimulaton who availed of food and 

medical aid 

- 264 streetchildren or children of mendicants who were given 

supplementary feeding, home visits, counseling and tutorial sessions 

- 11 social welfare institutions which availed of financial assistance 

totaling P2.7 million. 

In addition to these programs of our DSSD, we were also blessed with 

generous donations for Typhoon Frank victims. During my last trip to Las Vegas 

for the title match of Manny Pacquiao vs. David Diaz, I appealed to Manny for 

help to our typhoon victims. This was the first time ever that I asked him for any 

financial assistance. He said yes right away and on July 17-18, 2008, Manny 

Pacquiao came to Bacolod himself and personally distributed relief foodstuffs 

worth P1 million to 6,320 families. 

While still in the U.S. for that same trip, we were also able to reach 

members of the Bacolod Society of America and the Negrenses of America who 

pooled together a total of US$ 2,370.00 which our DSSD used to buy additional 

relief foodstuffs for distribution to 1,070 families. 

To Champion Manny Pacquiao and the members of the Bacolod Society 

of America and the Negrenses of America, our heartfelt thanks. May your tribe 

increase and may you be blessed a thousandfold for your kindness to our 

people.

19 

For other DSSD services, we are happy to report that the Women’s Crisis 

Center was able to help 87 women, 10 children and 16 men who were victims of 

domestic violence. 

Our DSSD staff is also working closely with barangay officials to help them 

organize and activate their Barangay Council for the Protection of Children or 

BCPC. As of now, only 24 BCPCs are functioning. 

We also organized last December 12, 2007 the Inter-Agency Council 

Against Trafficking of Bacolod City with DSSD as lead agency. 

In line with our continuing thrust to improve social services to children, we 

approved last year the inclusion in this year’s budget of the amount of P1.5 

million for the repair of the Social Development Center which provides residential 

care, temporary shelter and custodial care for street children, “rugby kids”, and 

children in conflict with the law. Purchase of materials for the repair work is now 

on-going. More funds will be budgeted next year for the improvement of the 

facility. Once the City Cooperative and Livelihood Development Office moves 

out of the premises shared with the Social Development Center, the vacated 

space will be turned over for use of those children classified as “in conflict with 

the law”. 

In partnership with the City Health Office, the DSSD worked diligently on 

programs for children. As a result of this close collaboration, Bacolod City was 

again awarded for the 8 th straight year as the “Most Child-friendly Highly 

Urbanized City for 2007 in Region 6” and will vie for the national search as 

representative of Region 6. During the national search in the previous year for 

the most child-friendly city in the Philippines, we were ranked no. 2, next only to 

Makati City, in ceremonies graced by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at 

Malacañang Palace. 

For this feat and for their other accomplishments, may we acknowledge 

and thank the officials and staff of the DSSD and the City Health Office. Please 

keep up the good work. 

To augment the services of the DSSD, our Sectoral Concerns Office, 

through linkages with various national government agencies and Philippine 

embassies abroad, also helped 10 families of OFWs with assistance ranging 

from repatriation of human remains to locating missing OFWs who went into 

hiding from abusive employers. 

The Sectoral Concerns Office also oriented trisikad drivers and operators 

on their duty as transport workers and on social welfare protection through 

Philhealth and SSS coverages. It also helped Globe Telecom launch its 

livelihood program for trisikad drivers and operators.

20 

It also coordinated with the Department of Labor and Employment on 

ways to implement programs to promote and protect informal sector workers 

under the Unlad Kabuhayan Laban sa Kahirapan Program of the DOLE. The 

Sectoral Concerns Office also assisted in helping sidewalk vendors, the disabled, 

and senior citizens. 

Additional financial assistance totaling P1.3 million was also provided to 

1,939 indigent beneficiaries for medical and burial expenses through the Public 

Affairs and Assistance Division. 

For his help in attending to senior citizens’ concerns, we wish to thank 

Councilor Catalino Alisbo, Chairman of the SP Committee on Senior Citizens 

and Veterans Affairs. May we also cite and thank the hard work of the officials 

and staff of the Sectoral Concerns Office and the Public Affairs and Assistance 

Division for their service to the marginalized sectors of our community. 

ANTI-POVERTY PROGRAMS 

Ever cognizant of the prevalence of poverty among the greater number of 

our people and the need to uplift them with government help, we organized the 

Bacolod City Anti-Poverty Council to help formulate policies and programs that 

can help alleviate the plight of the poor in our city. 

The first activity of this council was to commission a survey and mapping 

activity of economically-depressed areas in our city to develop a broad and solid 

sex-disaggregated data base that will help us diagnose the extent of poverty in 

our city, to determine its causes, to formulate appropriate policies and programs, 

to identify eligible beneficiaries, and to assess the eventual impact of such 

policies and programs. 

For this extensive survey and mapping activity, we are being assisted by 

Councilor Celia Flor, Co-Chairman and Action Officer of the Bacolod Anti-poverty 

Council, to organize, guide and monitor the survey team through its pre-survey 

training and actual field work so that appropriate anti-poverty programs can be 

planned out and implemented as soon as possible based on the results of the 

study. The survey enumerators have already undergone training and the actual 

field work will start soon. For her unstinting help in this endeavor, may we thank 

Councilor Flor. 

In this regard, may we ask for the help of all city government officials and 

employess, all barangay and purok officials, and all Bacolodnons for that matter, 

to make this survey a success so that useful data for proper planning can be 

secured as soon as possible.

21 

In line also with providing better services to the urban poor, we launched 

last April, 2008 “Task Force Bantay-Bugas” to keep a special price watch on rice 

supply, rice sales and rice prices among dealers, suppliers, distributors and 

retailers of this basic commodity. This task force also assisted in delivering NFA 

rice stocks to authorized outlets in the barangays and puroks of the city to make 

cheaper rice more readily available especially to the poor and to help the NFA 

make sure that their rice are not rebagged and sold at commercial prices. This 

project will continue as long as there is a need for it. 

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 

We come now to another priority area of service – that of solid waste 

management. 

Our activities in this area focused on 3 main thrusts: improve garbage 

collection, improve garbage disposal and purchase a dumpsite where we can 

eventually establish a sanitary landfill in compliance with R.A. 9003. 

On measures to improve garbage collection, our Department of Public 

Services or DPS reviewed its garbage collection routes and schedules and 

implemented the block system of garbage collection. On the average everyday, 

we handle more than 150 tons of garbage. We are now fielding 33 garbage 

trucks to 51 collection zones in the city plus a striker unit to attend to phoned-in 

complaints from areas where collection may have bogged down because 

assigned garbage trucks needed emergency repairs. 

The downtown area and the three public markets are serviced daily by 3 

shifts. Residential areas are serviced once or twice a week. Garbage collection 

by DPS is also augmented by some barangays which have their own dump 

trucks and are the ones doing door-to-door collection in some of their areas. 

The DPS also monitored and closed 30 mini-dumpsites that have 

developed in various points in the city, some even on median islands of city 

streets. Keeping people in neighborhoods informed of garbage pick-up schedule 

in their block have greatly helped towards the eradication of these unsightly and 

unsanitary mini-dumpsites. 

Public address systems have been installed in our dump trucks so that 

neighborhoods can be alerted early enough of their arrival and give the residents 

enough time to put out their garbage along the street for pick-up. 

We also instituted a similar measure in the 3 major public markets where 

garbage is brought out only upon the arrival of garbage trucks to lessen the 

incidence of garbage scattered in the outside premises of these markets.

22 

The DPS has 4 old garbage container vans, 3 of which are currently under 

repair. Considering the need for this equipment to combat the proliferation of 

mini-dumpsites in populous areas, 5 additional garbage container vans worth P1 

million were bought and placed at strategic points in the city. 

Big stores, malls, hospitals and schools were also encouraged to have 

their own garbage container vans which the DPS periodically hauls away and 

empties out. Presently, there are 17 of these private container vans which are a 

big help to our garbage collection efforts. 

We are now in the process of procuring protective gloves and masks for 

our garbage collectors. Those on the night shift will also be issued reflectorized 

vests so that they can be easily seen as they work on roadsides at night. 

Two groups of Monitoring and Enforcement Teams were also formed to 

check on uncollected garbage and apprehend illegal dumping of garbage. From 

July to December, 2007, our Enforcement Team had filed about 70 cases of 

illegal dumping. From January to June this year, we are down to 38 cases. We 

believe our enforcement activities are starting to bear good fruit. These cases do 

not include minors and violators above 70 years of age who were just warned 

and educated regarding proper waste disposal. 

Considering that community cleanliness is the responsibility of every 

citizen and not of the DPS alone, we had to involve the entire community in this 

effort by undertaking an information campaign through TV, print and radio 

advertisements. 

We also requested the help of the Department of Education for an 

information drive in public and private schools on how schoolchildren can help in 

our “clean and green” activities not only in their schools but also at home and in 

their neighborhoods. 

A seminar on R.A. 9003 otherwise known as the “Ecological Solid Waste 

Management Act of 2000” was also conducted by the DPS in various barangays. 

We also launched in May, 2008 the “Clean and Green Contest in Barangays” to 

run until September this year. In line with this, we are working more closely with 

SK organizations in various barangays for a voluntary clean-up drive every 

Sunday. We have observed that in barangays which actively participate in the 

Clean & Green Project, there is always a noticeable improvement in the 

cleanliness of its surroundings. 

As of June 30, 2008, 60 of the 61 barangays have received their solid 

waste management funds aggregating P3 million. The lone remaining barangay 

will also get its proper share once it submits the required prerequisite documents.

23 

To improve waste disposal, we started to implement waste segregation in 

malls, Libertad market, and commercial establishments within the downtown 

area. Every afternoon, biodegradables are picked up first and brought to the DPS 

Compound in Alijis for shredding and composting. In previous years, we used 

vermi-culture to help in composting activities to produce organic fertilizers which 

we use in our Clean and Green Programs. However, considering the volume of 

biodegradable waste, we found it necessary to speed up the process by using 

rotary composters, 4 units of which were recently bought. On the other hand, 

non-biodegradables are brought directly to the Felisa dumpsite. 

To reduce the incidence of dump truck breakdowns due to bad roads and 

to ensure that the road leading to the Felisa dumpsite remains passable even in 

bad weather, this road was also repaired for P1 million. 

Another big project we undertook for solid waste management was the 

purchase of a 7-hectare property of the Lopez Family at Barangay Felisa for a 

total price of P23.8 million, of which P20 million has already been paid. This is 

adjacent to the area presently used as a controlled dumpsite of the city. Again, 

this is another project dreamed of in previous administrations which became a 

reality only now. 

This newly-bought property will eventually be developed into a waste 

disposal facility such as a sanitary landfill to comply with the provisions of R.A. 

9003. The DENR has imposed deadlines on the closure of open dumpsites like 

the one we have. We were therefore hard-pressed for time to purchase a 

property for the required replacement waste disposal facility. Choosing the site 

for such a facility is not easy to do as the DENR has strict guidelines and 

prerequisite activities which may take months to comply with, especially if it 

involved moving the site to another barangay. 

The Clean and Green Coordinating Action Team recommended the Lopez 

property at Barangay Felisa because it complies with many basic requirements 

for a dumpsite. Another major consideration is that the property can be 

considered as covered by the DENR “Notice to Proceed” which, in effect, 

guarantees continuity of our dumpsite operations. 

In all these undertakings on solid waste management, we would like to 

acknowledge with grateful thanks the consistent help of Councilor Greg 

Gasataya, Chairman of the SP Committee on Environment & Ecology and 

Chairman of the Bacolod City Clean and Green Coordinating Action Team. 

Our thanks also go to Councilor Diosdado Valenzuela, Chairman of the 

SP Committee on Barangay Affairs, and to the other barangay and purok 

officials who implemented the “Clean and Green Program” in their respective 

areas.

24 

Apparently, our efforts have been successful. The Department of Tourism 

and the Department of Interior and Local Government jointly awarded Bacolod 

City last December 20, 2007 as “First Place, Highly Urbanized City Category” in 

the 2007 Gawad Pangulo sa Kapaligiran, Western Visayas Regional Clean and 

Green Award. 

To the officials, staff and employees of our DPS, we would like to 

commend them too for their hard work, especially the garbage collectors and the 

street cleaners. They very rarely get acknowledged for their efforts and in this 

connection, we would like to thank the Rotary Club of Bacolod-West for 

awarding the 10 Outstanding Metro Aides of Bacolod City last December 11, 

2007. 

The DPS also awarded the outstanding garbage collectors and street 

cleaners for 2007 in a special program last December 22, 2007. 

All these efforts have resulted to a discernible reduction in garbage 

volume. We plan to do even better in the succeeding months. But we cannot 

make it without the cooperation of all citizens because there is not enough 

money to pay people to do the job. We just have to depend on each citizen 

doing his share in cleaning up his surroundings. 

FLOOD CONTROL 

After solid waste management, we would like to address now the related 

issue of flood control. 

To plan and implement flood control activities, we organized the Bacolod 

City Flood Control Coordinating Action Team headed by Councilor Bobby Rojas 

as an inter-agency effort. 

Main activities during the year ending June 30, 2008 involved the dredging 

of the Banago Creek and the Mandalagan River, and the improvement and 

declogging of drainage in various parts of the city. 

A total of P10 million was spent for the dredging of Banago Creek and 

Mandalagan River. 

The dredging of Banago Creek started in August, 2007 and was 

completed on March 19, 2008. 600 meters of the shallowest portions were 

dredged. Before dredging, this creek was only 12 meters wide and 1.5 meters 

deep. After dredging, it was widened to 40 meters, especially at its mouth, and 

deepened to 2 meters based on water sounding taken during mean low water.

25 

The dredging of the Banago Creek took time to finish because we had to 

contend first with illegal structures along its banks which impeded the work. 

Since DPWH, and not the city, has jurisdiction over waterways, the removal of 

these illegal structures was supposedly also their responsibility. However, since 

their legal people could not attend to this local problem effectively and quickly 

enough, the city found itself forced to assume the responsibility of DPWH in 

removing these illegal structures. 

Since we cannot forcibly demolish these structures as we had to also 

observe due process and consider the human rights of the squatters to be 

affected, we initially mulled the filing of appropriate charges in court, like what the 

DPWH could have done. However, it was eventually the consensus that such 

legal action may take too long to be resolved while the need to dredge the 

Banago Creek was urgent. After careful study, it was decided that the best 

possible legal option was to go through the legislative route by requesting our 

Sangguniang Panlungsod to pass a resolution to declare these structures along 

waterways as “nuisance” and therefore hasten the legal process needed to 

remove such structures. This resolution was unanimously passed by the 

Sangguniang Panlungsod for which support I would like to thank them. 

You know, politicians, in their work of public service, would very rarely 

take the courage to do this for obvious reasons. Many would prefer to leave this 

to the courts, never mind if it will take a long time to be resolved. But no, your 

public officials took this difficult way and I think, they deserve a round of applause 

for it. 

The 86 families at the mouth of the Banago Creek who were removed 

from there were given financial assistance of P3K per family. However, only 14 

chose to be relocated to the Vista Alegre-Granada Relocation Site. The rest 

relocated themselves to neighboring areas to be close to their source of 

livelihood. 

To protect the newly-dredged Banago Creek from filling up again quickly 

from erosion of its riverbank, a river protection wall is now undergoing 

construction there at a cost of P1.5 million. Another shoreline protection wall 

with a project cost of P350K is being constructed near the mouth of the Banago 

Creek to protect the foreshore area there from further erosion. 

In the inner portion of the Banago Creek, the DPWH also started last 

December, 2007 their own Floodway Project, said to cost P16 million. This 

floodway is supposed to be for 800 meters but the project has to traverse a 

property owned by the Philippine National Bank and while we have helped 

DPWH negotiate with the PNB to allow the floodway to pass through the 

property, DPWH has to take a more active role in pursuing either the 

expropriation of the portion that the floodway will use up or the purchase of the 

properties from PNB inasmuch as the bank is unwilling to cede it for free.

26 

Since the floodway project is under the jurisdiction of the DPWH, the city 

can only assist in whatever way it can to speed up its completion. In fact, we 

have set aside P1.5 million of city funds to contribute to this national project, if 

need be. We have also given financial assistance of P3K per family to the 38 

families who will have to vacate from the area. Presently, we understand that 

DPWH has finished about 60 % of the first 300 meters of the floodway that was 

funded by the initial release of P6 million from the DPWH. 

With regard to the Mandalagan River, dredging started on March 24, 2008 

and wound up last July 22, 2008, beyond the cut-off of this report. This work 

involved dredging a length of 700 meters and widening the river from 100 to 120 

meters. Based on water sounding taken during mean low water, the dredging 

also deepened the river from a shallow 1/4 meter to 2 meters. 

At this point, may we thank the City Government of Sipalay through Mayor 

Soledad Montilla for renting out their dredger to us. 

During the year, the Public Safety and Emergency Management Section 

of the Mayor’s Office also conducted hazard mapping activities to pinpoint floodprone 

areas in the city. 

In addition to these projects, the Flood Control Coordinating Action Team 

was provided a budget of P2.5 million for cleaning of creeks and waterways and 

declogging of drainage in various parts of the city. A clean-up team of 21 people 

was organized in December, 2007. 

Since then until June 30, 2008, they have undertaken 15 jobs to clean 

various creeks and waterways aggregating a combined length of 11,560 linear 

meters and 26 jobs to declog canals and drainages with a combined length of 

12,915 linear meters in various parts of the city. 

It would take too long to enumerate the details of these clean-up jobs, 

so please just refer to the screen as the information is flashed or you can refer 

later to copies of this report that will be distributed afterwards, for the details. 

CLEANING OF CREEKS AND WATERWAYS 

1. Bata-Banago Creek 

(Roselawn – Bata up to Prk. Riverside, Banago) 

2. Catmon Creek 

3,500 linear meters more or less 

(Country Mart, Bangga Subay, Back of Lopue’s) 

3. Prk. Carvic, Tuburan, Progreso, Paraiso, & Rolling 

700 linear meters 

Hills Bridge / Brgy. Mandalagan 

4. Mambuloc Creek 

1,100 linear meters 

(Lopez Jaena Bridge., Brgy. 17, 18, 9, 11, 10,& 8) 1,600 linear meters 

5. Maupay Creek ( Brgy. 37, 15 & 14) 600 linear meters 

6. Prk. Malinong – Tangub 100 linear meters 

7. Pag-asa Creek – Tangub 1,200 linear meters

27 

CLEANING OF CREEKS AND WATERWAYS ( continued) 

8. Cabalagnan Creek (Cabalagnan Bridge going to 

back of LCC/Brgy. Pahanocoy 

9. Pahanocoy Creek (from Bridge going to East/Brgy. 


Pahanocoy 

10. Taculing Creek ( Prk. Santan, Rosal, B.M. & 


Progreso / Brgy. Taculing) 900 linear meters 

11. La Salle Creek (USLS & L’ Ecole School) 200 linear meters 

12. Lupit River (Gaisano City Bridge) 75 meters long x 20 meters width 

13. Magsungay River (J.R. Torres Avenue) 35 meters long x 6 meters width 

14. Pepsi Bridge, CY NN Bridge, Prk. Riverside, Prk. 

Paraiso 

250 meters long x 30 meters width 

15. Carmelite Creek ( Re-Ditching and Clearing) 200 meter long x 25 meters width 

DRAINAGE DECLOGGING 

1. Brgy. 1 ( Prk. Tuna, Bangrus & Bolinao) 840 linear meters 

2. Brgy. 2 ( Prk. Sigay & Kagaykay) 235 linear meters 

3. Brgy. 3 ( Prk. Lubi, Tilapia, Ceresa I, Kamunsil, 1,080 linear meters 

Nangka, Ceresa II 

4. Brgy. 4 ( Prk. Saylan, Uraro, Kamote Kahoy) 1,200 linear meters 

5. Brgy. 7 (12, 13, & 14 th Sts.) 100 linear meters 

6. BCNHS – Libertad 300 linear meters 

7. Brgy. Taculing ( Cory, B.M., Rosal) 510 linear meters 

8. Brgy. Singcang (Prk. Kaingin) - ongoing 300 linear meters 

9. Brgy. Villamonte (Malaspina-Lopez Jaena) 100 linear meters 

10. Rosario-San Juan 

11. Eroreco Subd. fronting the residence of Mrs. 


Maggie Jalandoni 200 linear meters 

12. Rosario-San Juan to San Juan- Luzuriaga 500 linear meters 

13. Prk. Kaingin, Singcang 300 linear meters 

14. Lopez-Jaena-Burgos to Lopez Jaena-Narra St. 700 linear meters 

15. Malaspina-Lopez Jaena St. to Malaspina-Hilado 600 linear meters 

St. 

16. 12 th Lacson St. to 14 th Lacson St. 400 linear meters 

17. San Juan-North Capitol Road/Pala-Pala 

18 San Juan-Luzuriaga St. to San Juan-Gonzaga St., 


Gonzaga-San Juan to Gatuslao St., Gonzaga- 1,300 linear meters 

Gatuslao to Gatuslao-Rizal St. 

19. San Juan-Rosario to Gonzaga St. 800 linear meters 

20. Luzuriaga-San Juan to Lacson St. 300 linear meters 

21. Gatuslao-Rizal to San Sebastian St. 500 linear meters 

22. Ballesteros St. 400 linear meters 

23. Gonzaga-San Juan to Locsin St. 600 linear meters 

24. Cuadra-Gatuslao to Locsin St. 300 linear meters 

25. Hilado-Burgos to Hua Ming 500 linear meters 

26. Brgy. 20, Prk Avocado and Prk. Tisa 300 linear meters

28 

In addition to the above-mentioned projects, the City Engineer’s Office also 

completed 25 other jobs related to flood control with project costs totaling P4.9 million. 

Details are also going to be flashed on the screen and can be read on copies of this 

report that will be distributed later. 

CEO- COMPLETED PROJECTS FOR FLOOD CONTROL 

Additional construction of spur dike at Purok Kagaykay-Brgy 2 P 200,000 

Box culvert at Purok Cereza-North 90,000 

Drainage improvement at Purok Coca-cola 100,000 

Drainage improvement at Purok Magnolia 145,000 

Clearing/cleaning of drainage canal at Purok Paglaum 

Improvement of drainage /laying of RC pipe at Brgy Hall, Purok 

60,000 

Paglaum 50,000 

Rehab of drainage at Brgy 18 100,000 

Rehab of main drainage at Brgy 23 80,000 

Reditching of canal at Brgy 23 20,000 

Repair/rehab & cleaning of drainage at 4 puroks, Brgy 26 

180,000 

Construction of River Wall Protection & installation of 

culverts/pipes at various puroks, Brgy 28 270,000 

Repair of drainage & sewerage system at Brgy 29 

Drainage improvement @ Bagong Buhay Road & widening of 

100,000 

Cameroli Ave. 

100,000 

Improvement of canal at Alunan Ave. 100,000 

Redredging of open canal at Brgy 35 40,000 

Widening of drainage system at Purok Adelfa, Brgy 38 100,000 

Drainage improvement at Osmeña Ave., Brgy 39 515,000 

Drainage improvement at Roxas Ave., Brgy 39 485,000 

Drainage repair at Zone 9, Brgy Handumanan 100,000 

Drainage improvement at Kaakbay Homeowners Assn., Purok 

Tonggoy, Brgy Mandalagan 

280,000 

Construction of wing wall and riprap approaches of Magsungay 

and Brgy 35 

550,000 

Imprvt. & const. of drainages/open canals with riprap, JR Torres 345,000 

Road from Magsungay Bridge to Calong-calong 

Drainage imprvt. at San Sebastian Rd., Brgy Sum-ag 300,000 

Drainage imprvt. at Greensfield, Brgy Tangub 50,000 

Drainage imprvt & const. of footwalk at Purok San Roque, Brgy 

Tangub 

570,000 

TOTAL P4,930,000 

An additional P1.9 million have been committed for 12 on-going flood 

control projects of the City Engineer’s Office, as follows:

29 

CEO ON-GOING PROJECTS FOR FLOOD CONTROL 

Const. of drainage system & footwalk @ Brgy 1 P 275,000 

Riprap at Purok Bolinao, Brgy 1 100,000 

Improvement of drainage @ Purok Tuna & Bonito, Brgy 1 100,000 

Drainage imprvt. & repair of gutter & covered court, Brgy 4 100,000 

Continue laying of culvert to open canal & widening 

thereafter @ 21 st St., PO Torre Sts. & back of 

Redemptorist 

100,000 

Repair/rehab/clearing & cleaning of drainage & canals at 

Puroks Paglaum & Pag-asa, Brgy 17 75,000 

Declogging of Mambuloc Creek, Brgy 21 100,000 

Footwalk with box culvert @ Purok Acacia 1, Brgy 27 345,000 

Riverbank protection wall @ Purok Balonggay, Brgy 28 270,000 

Repair/rehab of drainage system, Brgy 36 145,000 

Rehab of drainage system along Mabini and San 225,000 

Sebastian Sts., Brgy 30 

Drainage cleaning/declogging at Puroks St. Joseph, San 50,000 

Sebastian & Sto. Niño, Brgy 37 

TOTAL P 1,885,000 

In addition, 2 new projects totaling P6.4 million are forthcoming. 

One is for the construction of a diversion channel from Purok Riverside to 

Banago Creek for a project cost of P2 million. This project will also benefit 

directly the Sta. Clara Subdivision area. The other, with a project cost of P4.4 

million, is to cover the demolition of cracked pavement and replacing it with a 

new concrete pavement with drainage declogging in Capitol Shopping, 

particularly along sections of Hilado St. from Malaspina to Yakal Ave., sections of 

Tindalo Ave. from Hilado to Lopez Jaena St., and sections of Narra Ave. from 

Hilado to Lopez Jaena St. We expect this project to diminish the constant 

flooding of the area near St. John’s Institute even with mild rains. 

In summary therefore, a total of P27.9 million have been spent or 

allocated for flood control activities and infrastructures during the year ending 

June 30, 2008. This covered the following: 

Dredging of Banago Creek and Mandalagan River P 10 million 

Construction of river wall protection at Banago 

Creek 1.5 million 

Construction of foreshore protection at Banago 

Creek .350 million 

Budget for clean-up of waterways & drainages 

by Action Team of Councilor Bobby Rojas 2.5 million 

Financial assistance to families affected by 

clearing of waterways .372 million

30 

Flood control projects of the CEO: 

Completed 4.9 million 

Ongoing 1.9 million 

Forthcoming 6.4 million 

TOTAL P 27.9 million 

Last June 2, 2008, we held a workshop with the Hon. Under-Secretary 

Antonio Golez of the Office of Civil Defense together with representatives of the 

Anti-BAHA Alliance with the hope that he can help us secure some funding from 

the national government for our flood control activities. A total requirement of 

P375 million was presented to him. It was also during this workshop that the 

Flood Mitigation Committee was created under the Bacolod City Disaster 

Coordinating Council. Membership of this Flood Mitigation Committee came 

from those who attended the workshop with USEC Golez. 

After report cut-off of June 30, 2008 however, the prospects for getting 

national funding for our flood control program seemed to have become 

problematic. With the devastation that Typhoon Frank recently wrought on 

Western Visayas, particularly in Panay, disaster and rehabilitation funds from the 

national government, are now being poured into Panay. Bacolod City, if we 

should get any portion of this funding at all, cannot aspire to get the amount 

originally envisioned. 

However, in consultation with the Hon. USEC Golez, we recently 

submitted a proposal requesting if Bacolod City can initially share even just P30 

million from the “Typhoon Frank” Disaster Rehab Fund for Western Visayas to 

repair our own drainage systems damaged by Typhoon Frank. Specifically, we 

proposed that this P30 million go to the following projects: 

Rehab/restoration of damaged drainage system 

at Malaspina-Lopez Jaena-Burgos Roads P 4.685 million 

Rehab/restoration/clearing of damaged drainage 

lines along Libertad-Lopez Jaena Sts. 3.685 million 

Rehab of damaged drainage lines and system at 

Brgys 3 and 4 and Aguinaldo St. going to BS 

Aquino Drive 3.930 million 

Reconstruction/decongestion of damaged drainage 

channel from Mambuloc Creek cutting across 

the reclamation area 15.000 million 

Reconstruction/repair of damaged drainage lines 

along Ramylu Drive from Punta Bato to Prk. 

Pag-asa, Brgy. Tangub 2.700 million 

Total P 30.000 million

31 

After several follow-ups, we were verbally informed a few days ago by 

Regional Director Rosario Cabrera of the Office of Civil Defense that our P30million 

request has been included as part of the items to be funded by the Rehab 

Program of P12 billion under the Bangon Panay Task Force for Typhoon Frank 

damage. Please add your prayers to mine that this P30 million will be remitted to 

us soon. 

So far, these have been our initiatives for flood control during the past 

year ending June 30, 2008. Contrary to what some sectors are saying, we have 

not trivialized our concern for flood control. Substantial local funds have been 

invested in this endeavor. However, we cannot accomplish everything 

overnight. May we appeal for greater patience. 

To those who have given their overwhelming support for our flood control 

activities this year, especially Councilor Bobby Rojas and his team, the officials 

and staff of the City Engineer’s Office and barangay officials who cooperated in 

many ways, our grateful thanks and appreciation for their hard work. There is still 

much more to be done but for now, let us celebrate what has been 

accomplished. 

RESETTLEMENT AND HOUSING 

May I report to you now on resettlement and housing since this is also 

partly related to flood control efforts. 

On The Vista Alegre-Granada Relocation Site 

So far, P37.3 million have already been spent since the start to develop 

the Vista Alegre-Granada Relocation Site. Of this, P25 million went to the 

clearing and building of a new road with a bridge and a box culvert branching out 

from the Granada Road to the entrance of the relocation site. P2.1 million went to 

land development, P3.4 million to electrification, P1.2 million to 50 artesian wells, 

P5.1 million to drainage facilities, and P500K for a box culvert to connect Block 

53 to Block 58 and adjoining blocks and other facilities and utilities. 

Specifically, over the past 12 months ending June 30, 2008, we have 

introduced improvements worth P5.6 million into the Vista Alegre-Granada 

Relocation Site for the construction of 20 additional artesian wells for P419K (this 

brings to 50 units of artesian wells so far constructed in the site, several of which 

are for repair or replacement), completion and construction of various drainage 

systems totaling P3.7 million, back-filling of some depressed areas for P1 million 

which generated 78 new homelots, and a box culvert for P500K.

32 

An additional P2 million was also appropriated to energize the Gawad 

Kalinga Site, Kalantas and adjoining areas. Per program, these areas are 

expected to be energized before the end of this year. 

A complete elementary school is already operating in the site. Part of the 

construction cost was funded by the city but the bigger share was from a 

generous donation of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce 

and Industry which donation we again acknowledge with thanks and deepest 

appreciation. This is a fine example of government and private sector teamwork 

which gets things done more quickly for the benefit of the community. 

We have also set aside an area for Gawad Kalinga, the officers of which 

have committed to build 120 homes there. Of this number, 47 have already been 

built and 31 of those have been occupied by eligible beneficiaries. The 

remaining 16 will soon be awarded to beneficiaries who have complied with the 

initial sweat equity requirements. May we thank the Gawad Kalinga volunteers 

once again for their apostolate among our poor and homeless. 

Over the past 12 months ending June 30, 2008, the Bacolod Housing 

Authority or BHA processed 332 applications from various barangays to be 

accommodated in the area. BHA is expecting another batch of 289 applicants 

coming from those identified to be removed from waterways. After this batch, 

additional applicants can be accommodated only in case those with approved 

applications back out or lose their slots due to violation of award rules. 

Of the applications processed, 249 lots were awarded during the year 

ending June 30, 2008. This brings to a total of 1,158 lots awarded since 2005 

when we initiated the phase-by-phase development of the site. 

On Fortune Towne 

The Fortune Towne Relocation Site is already a settled community with 

some 659 lots awarded. 

During the past 12 months ending June 30, 2008, we undertook 2 projects 

to improve drainage at various alleys and road lots for a total of P1.1 million. We 

also back-filled some depressed areas at a cost of P600K. 

On Handumanan 

The Handumanan Relocation Site is also another settled community with 

some 4,883 homes.

33 

During the past 12 months ending June 30, 2008, we spent P448K there 

to improve the drainage in Road Lot 6, Phase 3. 

Proposed On-Site Development at Brgy. 1 and Villa Esperanza-Brgy. Tangub 

On the proposed on-site development at Barangay 1 and Villa Esperanza- 

Barangay Tangub, lot boundary survey and monumenting are ongoing in these 2 

sites. 

For Barangay 1, residents opted for Miscellaneous Sales Application 

facilitated by the City Task Force Public Land Acquisition and the Department of 

Environment and Natural Resources or DENR. There are 510 families involved in 

this undertaking. Land area for on-site development consists of 3 hectares more 

or less. 

On the other hand, for Villa Esperanza, there are 243 occupants who will 

be beneficiaries of this on-site project. This involves 7.8 hectares, 4.6 hectares 

of which are earmarked for the beneficiaries and 1 hectare for the school site. 

The City will be applying for a Presidential Proclamation for the remaining 2.2 

hectares to generate more lots and for an eco-park on the site. 

Purok Riverside, Barangay Banago 

Purok Riverside in Barangay Banago has an approximate area of 4.98 

hectares. The lot was donated by Mr. Manuel Lacson to Bacolod City. 

Presently, there are 471 occupants on this site. 

Adjacent to this site is another 1 hectare donated also by Mr. Lacson to 

Bacolod City. We have an agreement with Gawad Kalinga for them to also build 

126 homes on this 1-hectare lot. Presently, 12 houses have been finished and 

30 are undergoing construction. 

A Note on Relocation 

At this point, may we clarify that when a piece of private or public property 

needs to be cleared of squatters either because of judicial or legislative actions, 

these people must move out but they are free to move elsewhere, not 

necessarily to a government-owned relocation site. Government cannot force 

relocation on people. It is a voluntary thing. That is why people who want to 

avail of it should apply first for a slot in an official relocation site because these 

are getting fewer and more limited.

34 

It may be of interest to note that Bacolod City is probably one of the very 

few highly-urbanized cities in the whole country that own large relocation sites. 

Presently, we have about 148 hectares all-in. Other cities merely give financial 

assistance to squatters who are subject of ejection and do not provide a 

relocation site. Others who are given a relocation site do not get financial 

assistance anymore. In Bacolod, we give both. 

However, we foresee a time when land for relocation cannot be had 

anymore either because it has become too expensive or simply just no longer 

available. In the meantime however, we try to provide a relocation site for those 

who are subject of ejection cases. Presently, there are more than a thousand of 

these people who are covered by court cases for ejection. We all know that 

when landowners file cases for ejection, it will only be a matter of time before the 

affected squatters would have to move out. In addition, there is also quite a 

number of people who need to vacate from several waterways. Further 

aggravating the situation is the increasing emigration into Bacolod City by out-oftown 

people seeking better livelihood opportunities. 

Considering these mounting social problems, we are now seriously 

studying to expand our landbanking efforts to provide another resettlement site 

for this growing number of informal settlers. 

In the meantime, may we acknowledge and thank the officials and staff of 

the Bacolod Housing Authority for their achievements over the past year and the 

invaluable assistance of Councilor Dindo Ramos, Chairman of the SP Committee 

on Urban Poor, Housing & Resettlement, who has done a lot in advancing the 

cause of providing homes for the poor. 

PUBLIC EDUCATION 

Let us now move on to public education. 

We are happy to report that we have continued to subsidize miscellaneous 

fees in all our public elementary and high schools since Schoolyear 2005-06. 

We spent P2 million for this in SY 2005-2006, P2.7 million in SY 2006-2007, and 

P6.2 million in SY 2007-2008. We are still awaiting the billing of the DepEd for 

SY 2008-2009. 

Likewise, we have expanded our City Scholarship Program. We are now 

sending 543 scholars to various colleges and universities in our city. We only 

had 374 scholars last year and 199 the year before that. 

The Bacolod City Government through the Local School Board provided 

funds for an additional classroom and 2 school buildings at a total cost of P3.2 

million. The DepEd Social Hall was also repaired. Furthermore, we provided 20

35 

computers for various elementary schools and another 20 computers for various 

high schools. 

Instructional materials worth P4.8 million were also distributed as 

additional subsidy for Grades 2 to 6 students. 

During the past 12 months, we paid P16.6 million of the back ECOLA of 

public school teachers. As of June 30, 2008, unpaid back ECOLA stands at only 

P13.4 million out of the original amount of P69.5 million. Indeed, we have come 

a long way in settling this big obligation that seemed like a “Mission Impossible” 

when we assumed office in 2004. Our hard-working teachers truly deserve this 

priority attention. 

Our public schools excelled in sports during the period under review. 

During the Provincial Meet Competition in December, 2007, the Division of 

Bacolod City emerged as the Over-all Provincial Champion with both the 

elementary and high school levels reaping championship trophies in their 

respective categories. 

In the ensuing Regional Meet Competition in March, 2008, we brought 

home gold medals for table tennis, softball, discus throw, shot put, high jump, 

sipa, badminton, football, gymnastics, archery and taekwando. 

In the National Palaro Games last April, 2008, the elementary softball 

team of ETCS 1 won the gold while the High School softball team of Domingo 

Lacson National High School earned the silver. 

In addition to sports awards, our Bacolod public schools also distinguished 

themselves in other areas. The Bacolod City National High School won the 

championship in the West Negros University Quiz High in September, 2007 and 

also took 2 nd place in the Mathematics Competition given by the Teachers 

Association of the Philippines Regional Team last February, 2008. In the 

Regional Schools Press Conference held last December 2007 in Iloilo City, 

representatives from our elementary schools won the Championship trophy in 

various aspects of journalistic writing while those from our high schools won the 

1 st runner-up slot in the same event. 

Let us now take a look at the Bacolod City College. 

We are happy to report that for the first semester of Schoolyear 2008- 

2009, we have 2,310 students enrolled in its various courses. This is an increase 

of 362 students or 19% over that of the last schoolyear. These figures show how 

far the Bacolod City College has grown since it was founded in 1997, during my 

first term as City Mayor, with an initial enrollment of only 91 students!

36 

Enrollment profile of the Bacolod City College over the last 5 schoolyears 

and the first semester of the present schoolyear are shown on the screen. You 

will note that, except for SY 2005-06 when there was a slight reduction of 90 

enrollees against the previous year, our enrollment has been steadily growing 

from year to year. 

By the way, tuition fees at the Bacolod City College started at P30 per unit 

in 1997. Today, eleven years after, it is still at P30 per unit -- cheaper than a liter 

of gasoline and certainly, much more cheaper than the tuition of private colleges 

and universities which can run from a minimum of P430 per unit to P700 per 

unit. 

Despite the cheap tuition, the curriculum has been beefed up with the 

introduction of short-term technical courses accredited with TESDA and the 

implementation of the ladderized system in Bachelor of Science in Information 

Systems and Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology. 

The ladderized system works this way – for example, a student wants to 

enroll in Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology which is a 4-year course. 

He would have 3 routes to reach it. During the first 2 years, he should take the 

prescribed basic subjects and vocational courses of his choice. 

For route no. 1, he can opt to train as a Civil Technician in painting or 

masonry or carpentry. After 2 years of basic subjects complemented with the 

prescribed vocational training, he can take a test given by the TESDA to earn a 

Certificate as Civil Technician specializing in painting or masonry or carpentry. 

This certificate will already help him find a job locally or abroad in these fields. If 

after earning this certificate, he decides to continue and gain the full Bachelor of 

Science degree in Industrial Technology, then he invests in 2 more years of 

academic courses. In the meantime he can already find a job. The additional 2 

years of study for the Bachelor of Science degree can be finished right away or 

at a later time. 

Route no. 2 would be to train initially for a TESDA Certificate as 

Mechanical Technician specializing in plumbing or automotive or 

refrigeration/airconditioning courses. Route no. 3 would be to train for a TESDA 

Certificate as Electronics or Electrical Technician specializing in electronics or 

industrial electricity or building electricity. Then an additional 2 years of study is 

needed to earn the Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Technology. 

The benefits of the ladderized system are obvious, especially to those 

who cannot afford an expensive 4-year college course. If people find themselves 

unable to complete the 4-year degree course, then at least, their first 2 years in 

college need not go to waste because they can now qualify as skilled workers 

when they go job-hunting here or abroad. And all these for only P30 per unit!

37 

On physical amenities, we previously maintained 2 campuses: one in 

Sum-ag and another in Taculing. However, with increased enrollment for this 

semester, the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos very kindly allowed us 

to use their St. Ezekiel Moreno Training Center in Handumanan as an extension 

campus. Now, we also hold evening classes at the Bacolod City National High 

School. 

We have already finished the covered footwalk from the entrance of the 

Sum-ag campus to its main building. 

We are happy to report that in the 2007 licensure examinations, our 

passing average for Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education was 63% 

against the national passing average of 27.5%. For Bachelor of Science in 

Education, our passing average was 58% against the national passing average 

of 29%. Not bad for a tuition fee of only P30 per unit, don’t you think? 

For all these achievements, we would like to thank the administration of 

the City College headed by Dr. Rogelio Balô, who is also our City Adminstrator, 

for their work in upgrading the school facilities on a shoestring budget and for 

enhancing the curriculum of the school to make it more responsive to the needs 

of the students and the job market. Truly, getting an education at the Bacolod 

City College is a good investment for the future. 

YOUTH AND SPORTS 

With regard to youth and sports, we organized various activities for this 

sector. 

We sponsored several grade school and high school students from the 

city to participate in the Panaad sa Negros Sports Festival 2008. These Bacolod 

students reaped for us 3 golds, 3 silvers, and 3 bronzes in taekwando, 2 nd and 

3 rd place wins in volleyball, and championship slots in various categories of 

chess. 

To assist various barangays and sports associations, we issued to them 

sports supplies for basketball, volleyball and chess. 

Financial assistance aggregating P995K was also given to various sports 

groups and barangays. Of this amount, P775K went to the Little League softball 

teams to help defray part of their expenses to participate in the World Series last 

year in the U.S. and for their participation this year in the Philippine Series. As 

you will note, of the total financial assistance extended to various sports groups, 

these Little League softball teams got 78% of it – the biggest chunk in fact.

38 

May we clarify that these Little League softball teams are not official teams 

of the schools whose names they carry nor are they official teams of the City of 

Bacolod. They are private sports groups which recruit softball teams from 

public schools such as ETCS 1 and 2, Domingo Lacson National High School, 

Paglaum Elementary School, and Bacolod City National High School, and when 

they participate in local, national and international softball events, they do so as a 

private entity. Bacolod City is supposedly only one of the many sponsors that 

they can tap for funding assistance. In fact, the province of Negros Occidental is 

also contributing to their travel expenses. Thus, the recent media attacks 

denigrating Bacolod City officials for not footing travel expenses of these softball 

teams to China for the 2008 Asia-Pacific Series is, at the very least, a 

misunderstanding of the status of these teams. 

While we are proud of the trophies brought home from time to time by 

these Little Leaguers, we cannot subsidize all their national and international 

trips every year, otherwise, we will have nothing left for sports development 

programs being run directly by the city itself, such as those implemented in the 

barangays and in our schools. So, like what we have done in previous years, we 

can only give them whatever financial aid we can afford and at a time when it can 

be accommodated by our cash flow. We hope this puts to rest this issue of 

Bacolod City heartlessly forsaking the Little League softball teams, as pictured by 

some public figures and some people in media. 

Going back to sports activities being run by the city itself, the SK 

Federation headed by its President, Councilor Kevin Ramos, held a 3-point 

Shoot-out Basketball Challenge for youth, ages 15-17, from various barangays 

under the supervision of the Office of Youth and Sports Development or OYSD of 

our city. 

We also ran a basketball tournament for young people in 2 categories: 10 

teams for 12 under and 9 teams for 14 under. This was participated in by 

different private schools and commercial establishments. The teams from the 

University of St. La Salle took home the gold in both categories. We spent P259K 

for this tournament. 

Basketball Sports Clinics organized by the OYSD staff for 12 and 14 under 

were periodically held in Barangays 10 and 35 with well-known basketball star, 

Mr. Maui Huelar, as instructor/trainor. 

The city also co-sponsored the PBA All-Stars Weekend last April, 2008 

which was attended by an overflow crowd from local and out-of-town residents. 

The media coverage of the event on national TV and newspapers was a great 

boost to our efforts in promoting Bacolod City to tourists and businessmen alike, 

not to mention the positive impact on our young people and other sports 

enthusiasts as they watch their favorite basketball superstars in a live game right 

before their eyes.

39 

Last May 14, 2008 was a breakthrough for boxing in Bacolod. The 

Amateur Boxing Association of Bacolod or ABAB was formally organized with 

former Games and Amusement Board Chairman, Eduardo Villanueva, heading 

the list of boxing enthusiasts composing the group. ABAB is recognized officially 

by the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) as a chapter and 

no less than ABAP Secretary-General Rogelio Fortaleza and ABAP Head for 

Region 6, Bebs Ciocon, inducted the local officials. 

The city-wide barangay-based boxing tournament kicked off at the Sumag 

Gym with teams in the southern barangays participating. P371K has been 

allocated for this tournament. 

The ABAB program is coordinated with the national organization and we 

are confident that with such guidance, our boxing program will go a long way in 

discovering and developing local talents. 

It is also worthwhile mentioning that Mr. Rey Golingan, President of the 

Amateur Boxing Association of General Santos City, has volunteered to serve as 

our adviser. Of course, we all know that General Santos is where our world 

boxing champion, Manny Pacquiao, comes from and Mr. Golingan is considered 

among those who guided Manny Pacquiao in his early days in boxing. 

In addition to sports activities, we also harnessed the energies of the 

young people in our barangays for other worthwhile civic projects. Our Public 

Affairs and Assistance Division organized the Barangay Youth Volunteers 

Brigade and gave them a series of seminars on first aid and disaster 

preparedness so that they can assist their barangays in times of calamities like 

fire, flood, earthquake and other disasters. 

For helping us develop our Sports Program, we would like to thank 

Secretary to the Mayor, Atty. Goldwyn Nifras, and the officials and staff of the 

Office of Youth and Sports Development. We also commend the help of 

Councilor Kevin Ramos, Chairman of the SP Committee on Youth, SK Affairs, 

and Sports, on matters and activities relating to our young people. 

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS 

We come now to the aspect of disaster preparedness. 

To improve our support systems, we reorganized the Bacolod Disaster 

Coordinating Council in August last year. Then, we strengthened the 

organization at the barangay level. As of this report cut-off, 47 Barangay 

Disaster Coordinating Councils have been synchronized with the mother

40 

Council in terms of training and coordination. We hope to bring in the remaining 

14 barangays into the system within this year. 

We are happy to report that in addition to disaster rescue teams now 

formed in the barangays, we also have 12 private volunteer disaster rescue 

teams coming from the Amity Volunteer Fire Brigade, the Chamber Volunteer 

Fire Brigade, the Philippine National Red Cross, and the Philippine Coast Guard 

Auxiliary. The Philippine Army Rescue Group is also on call for us. 

These volunteer rescue teams are members of the Bacolod City 

Federation of Rescue Organizations. Presently, these volunteer teams have 

equipped themselves with 8 rubber boats, 2 jet skis, 1 rescue tender, 3 

ambulances, 3 pump boats, 1 service truck, 1 pick-up and 1 utility van. These 

equipment augment whatever resources the city has for rescue operations. Of 

course, we also have the fire trucks of the city and those of the Amity and 

Chamber Volunteer Fire Brigades. 

Earthquake drills in schools and some business establishments were held 

as well as water search and rescue drills with the assistance of these private 

volunteer teams. 

Our Public Safety and Emergency Management Section also now 

maintains 24/7 a Code 117 Unit at the Bacolod Public Plaza to respond to 

medical emergencies. They also conduct free blood pressure reading every 

Monday morning at the City Mayor’s Office. 

During the recent Typhoon Frank and the big fire at Barangay 18, these 

rescue teams from private volunteer groups and the barangays went into action 

and saved many families who were flooded or burned out. That there were no 

lives lost during these recent disasters can be greatly attributed to their timely 

rescue efforts, both by land and water, which were also supported by the 

different departments of the city government like the Code 117 Unit, Bureau of 

Fire Protection, City Engineer’s Office, Department of Public Services, DSSD, 

City Health Office, Public Affairs and Assistance Division and other units under 

the able leadership, at that time, of Acting Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, in 

teamwork with the city councilors. 

For their heroic work, we thank all the rescue volunteers, city 

government officials and employees who did their civic duty quietly and without 

fanfare. 

We have been told by officials of the Office of Civil Defense-Region 6 that 

the disaster preparedness program of Bacolod City is at par, if not better, than 

those of other big coastal cities. For this, we have to thank the unselfish support 

of the private sector especially those from the Chamber Volunteer Fire Brigade 

and the Amity Volunteer Fire Brigade.

41 

This is a great proof of the good that can come about when government 

and its citizens work together and help each other in an atmosphere of mutual 

respect and collaboration. 

Let this be a continuing call for disaster preparedness in our own homes 

and neighborhoods. Look at the devastating experience of Panay, especially 

Iloilo City, during Typhoon Frank. Even after they have poured billions of pesos 

into their Flood Control Program, flood waters could still rise so quickly leaving 

many people stranded on the rooftops of their homes because they had no time 

to evacuate to higher ground. Let us pray our province and city does not suffer 

the same fate at some future time. While climate change alone has already 

given us problems, the recent experience of our neighbors tells us that nature’s 

fury can be terrible indeed, and that is why we must be prepared. 

PEACE AND ORDER 

We come now to the area of peace and order. 

We are happy to report that we have been blessed with a relatively 

peaceful year ending June 30, 2008 with no incidence of high profile crimes such 

as kidnapping, bank robbery, arson, liquidation, sabotage or violent terroristic 

incidents like bombings and other similar happenings. 

Our Bacolod City Police Office or BCPO reported that total crime volume 

for the period registered at 518 incidents against 526 of the preceding 12 

months. They also reported that the average monthly crime rate registered at 

9.33% per 100,000 inhabitants while the Crime Solution Efficiency is at 93%. 

The BCPO undertook measures to improve crime prevention by 

increasing visibility of its forces in crowded places and in identified crime-prone 

areas, intensifying its intelligence monitoring particularly in areas where there is a 

marked incidence of street crimes, undertaking more frequent saturation drives 

and random checkpoints in strategic areas, mobilizing force multipliers like 

barangay tanods and security guards and other anti-crime groups, and the like. 

Intensified law enforcement operations also led to the arrest and filing of 

criminal charges against: 

- 85 personalities engaged in illegal drugs; 

- 94 persons engaged in illegal gambling; 

- 37 persons with loose firearms; 

- 229 persons involved in cellphone snatching and robbery hold-ups; 

- 158 wanted persons, 20 of whom are facing capital offenses.

42 

107 vehicles and 325 tricycles were also impounded with the enforcement 

of the “No Plate, No Travel Policy”. 

Other significant accomplishments of the BCPO involved the arrest and 

neutralization of various criminal gangs operating in Bacolod City. Specifically, 

these are the: 

- Salisi gang suspects Michael Ray Contreras and Sheila Nuable; 

- Baluyot/Mahinga Motorcycle Theft Gang; 

- Gabornay Robbery Hold-up Gang (the arrest of 7 suspects from this 

gang led to the resolution of 85% of robbery/hold-up cases in Bacolod 

City) 

- Temblor Group allegedly responsible for water meter and water pipe 

pilferages 

- Sambilad Robbery Group allegedly responsible for arson with robbery. 

For its good relations with the Muslim population in Bacolod, the BCPO 

was awarded as Best City Salaam Police Center for 2007 in the whole country by 

the PNP National Command. 

A very positive note in this area is that the Bacolod City Peace and Order 

Council is a consistent finalist in the national search for the “Best City Peace and 

Order Council, Highly-urbanized City Category”. Last year, we came out second 

only to Makati in this nation-wide contest, highlighted by awarding ceremonies in 

Malacañang Palace. Taking second place to Makati with its billions and 

seemingly unlimited resources for its peace and order programs is, to us, already 

a big victory. 

As of April 22, 2008, there were 420 police officers assigned at the BCPO. 

Considering that our city population is now almost 500,000 people, this means 

that we only have 1 police officer for every 1,190 citizens. The ideal ratio is 1 

police officer for every 500 citizens. 

Comparatively speaking, we are a bigger city than Iloilo in terms of land 

area and population. While Bacolod City has a land area of 16,145 hectares, 

Iloilo City has only 8,080 hectares. Our population also exceeds theirs by some 

81,000. However, Iloilo City has 601 police officers while we have only 420. 

That means that Iloilo City’s police force ratio is 1 police officer for every 697 

residents while our city has 1 police officer for every 1,190 residents. 

In this regard, we have appealed personally to the PNP National 

Command thru PNP Chief Avelino Razon, Jr. if they can add another 200 

officers to our police force. They are badly needed, especially for mobile patrols

43 

at night and for traffic management. Many public transport drivers obey traffic 

rules only when police officers themselves direct the flow of traffic. 

So far, 21 police officers have been added to the BCPO complement since 

that request was made. Definitely we need more than that but at least, we are 

getting some positive response already. 

To augment funds from the national government for its operations, 

Bacolod City continued to provide financial support to the BCPO of about P12.3 

million for the year ending June 30, 2008, part of which came from PAGCOR 

funds and part from the General Fund of the City. These were used to cover 

monthly cash allowances of Pl,000 per personnel, gasoline allowances of P438K 

per month, and other maintenance and operating expenses. 

In addition, the city spent P350K to renovate the office of the Traffic 

Management Unit/Bacolod Traffic Authority. 

Presently, a new BCPO Headquarters is undergoing construction for a 

cost of P12.5 million. They have asked us to share in the cost but although we 

have agreed in principle, we still have to determine how much we can contribute 

to this project. 

To our City Director, Police Senior Superintendent Ronilo Quebrar and the 

men and the women in his command, thank you for your work in keeping our city 

relatively safe and peaceful. 

TRAFFIC 

May I now report on traffic. 

During the year ending June 30, 2008, the Traffic Management Unit and 

Bacolod Traffic Authority Offices or TMU/BTAO were reorganized for more 

effective management. 

First, both offices were placed under one officer-in-charge so that there is 

quicker decision-making and tighter supervisory control over systems and 

personnel. 

Second, an Engineering Unit was created under the BTAO set-up to take 

care of physical needs of traffic management such as installation and repair of 

traffic lights, filling up of potholes in major streets, setting up of traffic signs and 

other signages, putting up of road markings and barriers to guide the smoother 

flow of traffic, etc. Previously, all these were under the City Engineer’s Office 

which was already swamped with a lot of work and projects. Providing the

44 

BTAO with its own Engineering Unit has speeded up action on physical needs of 

traffic management. 

Except for a minor change in the route of jeepneys plying the Libertad- 

Banago route, there was no major rerouting done within the period. However, we 

expect the Sangguniang Panlungsod to set up a new route of PUJs to and from 

the Government Center in time for its opening. We are also mulling a looping 

system around the block fronting UNO-R to provide for a smoother flow of traffic 

in that area. 

We presently have a complement of 115 traffic enforcers which, from time 

to time, is augmented by 30 volunteers. These traffic enforcers have undergone 

several training sessions with the LTO-Regional Office and TMU on traffic rules 

and its enforcement. Discipline over these traffic enforcers was also tightened. 

The dismissal a few months back of 2 traffic enforcers for absenteeism instilled 

more discipline among them. 

In the latter part of 2007, our traffic enforcers were stripped by the LTO of 

the authority to apprehend and confiscate licenses of erring drivers. LTO was 

supposed to do this job themselves. However, because they could not provide 

the manpower to do it and drivers started to ignore our traffic enforcers because 

they had no enforcement power anyway, we appealed to LTO to reinstate this 

authority because of the growing disorder in our streets. LTO eventually acceded 

and deputized 26 of our traffic enforcers only in February this year. We are 

presently working to add more names to this list. 

From July to December, 2007, 423 drivers were apprehended during 

those months when our traffic enforcers could still do so. But with the return of 

the authority to apprehend erring drivers, our TMU/BTAO went into stricter 

enforcement mode. From January to June, 2008, 2,318 drivers were 

apprehended - - this is 448% more than the previous 6 months. 

Corresponding fines from the issuance of the Temporary Operator’s 

Receipt of LTO amounting to about P822K were all remitted to LTO. Sadly, the 

city could not directly share in these collected fines according to LTO guidelines 

although we did all the work for them. We hope that the national government will 

relent on this matter and directly share a part of these collected fines with LGUs if 

only to enable us to provide more incentives and bonuses to our traffic enforcers. 

As far as erring trisikads and tricycles are concerned, a total of 5,739 units 

were apprehended. In the previous 12 months, this stood at only 1,090 

apprehensions. 

The TMU/BTAO Offices also strictly monitored stickers and permits for 

PUJs, taxis, tricycles, trisikads, truck vans of establishments in the city and from 

out-of-town so much so that for the first time in its history, it generated total

45 

collections from this activity and for other services of a record P6 million. This is 

a 15% improvement over the previous period’s total collections of P5.2 million. 

The TMU/BTAO Offices also maintained open communication lines with 

officials of transport groups so that their problems can be attended to more 

quickly and feedback from them can be more readily accessed on anything 

concerning traffic and enforcement of traffic rules. 

For smoother flow of traffic, we also installed 2 traffic lights at the 

intersections of La Salle-BS Aquino Drive and Burgos-Hilado Sts. during this 

report period. This brings to 12 the total number of traffic lights in the city, 6 or 

50% of which were installed only within the last 3 years. The traffic lights at the 

Lopue’s East intersection will rise soon once the road widening at the corners of 

that intersection will be finished. 

One major achievement during the period is the passage of an ordinance 

for the establishment of a northbound terminal along the highway in Banago 

fronting Pepsi-Cola. Once operational, this will greatly reduce the number of 

public vehicles entering the city from the north. Even Ceres Liner has agreed to 

transfer its northbound terminal to that area in a show of cooperation with the city 

to improve our over-all traffic situation. 

To make more areas in the city accessible, we have also undertaken to 

build more link roads. The one which connected Las Palmas to the 

Circumferential Road as mentioned earlier has already been completed. The 

others in the pipeline are: 

- the link road from Barangay Taculing to Barangay Alijis National 

Highway Bridge 

- the continuation of the Gatuslao St. Extension thru the back of 

Robinson’s Place with a bridge 

- the link road from Eroreco Subdivision to the Circumferential Road 

- the widening of Burgos St. from San Juan to the bridge at Barangay 

10, and 

- arterial roads from Barangay Vista Alegre to Burgos-Granada Road. 

Once completed, these link roads will make more areas easily reachable 

and provide alternate routes to help decongest traffic on over-used roads. 

We have been blessed with the help of private groups like Bantay Banwa, 

Bantay Bayan and various motorcycle clubs which volunteer to do traffic watch 

and even assist during traffic accidents, motorcades and special events like the 

MassKara Festival and All Souls’ Day. Bantay Banwa, in particular, donated 

more than 100 vertical street signages worth almost half a million pesos

46 

We are also grateful to the Living Way Christian Ministry through Pastor 

Efren de la Cruz which provided accident insurance, raincoats and boots to our 

traffic enforcers. 

To all these generous citizens, thank you for all the help that you are 

giving the city. 

For all these initiatives to improve our traffic management, we would like 

to acknowledge with great thanks Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr., who is the 

Chairman of the SP Committee on Transportation and Traffic, as well as Police 

Senior Inspector Levy Pangue and the officials and staff of the TMU/BTAO 

Offices. We would also like to commend all our traffic enforcers and encourage 

them to be more dedicated to their duties because their city needs them. 

STREETLIGHTING 

In line with the plan to light up more streets as part of our program for 

peace and order, public safety, and tourism, we are happy to report that we have 

completed streetlighting projects worth P12.1 million while another P685K are 

ongoing. 

Among the main ones that were completed are tourism lights along 

Manokan Country, 6 th Street from Corner Lacson to Hilado St., Galo St. from 

Lopez-Jaena to Hilado St., Cuadra St. from Gatuslao to Lacson St., Rizal St. 

from Corner Lacson to Corner Lopez Jaena St., Hilado St., Luzuriaga St. from 

Corner Lacson to Mabini St., San Sebastian St. from Corner Lacson to Locsin 

St., Magsaysay Road from Corner Lacson to Corner Taculing Road, Taculing 

Road from Corner Hernaez Ext. to Corner Magsaysay Ave. 

A closer monitoring of non-functioning streetlights was also made so that 

repairs and maintenance work can be done more quickly. 

We continue to be plagued by theft of electrical wires but not as much as 

in previous years. For this, we would like to thank barangay tanods and our 

policemen for their greater vigilance and the officials and staff of the Electrical 

Division of the City Engineer’s Office for their work. 

SLAUGHTERHOUSE 

The new slaughterhouse is another major project that we have long 

dreamed of. It was 9 years ago, in 1999, when then Congressman John Orola 

had the building constructed at a cost of P20 million. Efforts to complete the 

project during the intervening years failed, and for many years, the building

47 

remained unused and has started to deteriorate. But seeing the great need of 

Bacolod City for a cleaner and modern slaughterhouse pushed this 

administration to work for the completion of the project. Now, after 9 years, this 

is another dream come true for our city. 

AVM Bernardo Engineering, Inc., contractor for this Add-Operate-and 

Transfer project, has invested P54 million into the venture. This facility is now 

the largest mechanized slaughterhouse in Western Visayas in terms of size and 

capacity. 

The new slaughterhouse is classified as a double A facility which means 

that meat slaughtered there can be sold outside of Bacolod City. This will be a 

good opportunity for our cattle and hog raisers who would like to ship to the 

Metro Manila market. Small meat raisers can be assisted to form cooperatives 

so that they too can avail of expanded business opportunities. 

As it is now, Metro Manila is getting a lot of their meat from Mindanao. 

This facility will provide good competition for that because it will be cheaper for 

meat traders to use our slaughterhouse instead, because of the savings in 

transport cost. 

About a year ago, the old slaughterhouse was featured on national 

television. Sad to say, it was not positive at all. The dilapidated structures, 

inadequate instruments and equipment, and the general unsanitary conditions 

were the focus of the presentation that was viewed all over the country. But after 

all is said and done, what is most important is . . . that now, Bacolodnons will 

have cleaner meat from the markets. 

The project was inaugurated last August 16, 2008. Initial operations came 

with the usual “birth pains” which the contractor is attending to. 

As to the complaints of some residents of Barangay 35 whose livelihood 

will be disrupted with the closure of the old slaughterhouse, many of them have 

been hired by the new slaughterhouse. For those who were not, we will do our 

best to help them get back on their feet. To enable these people to have enough 

time to adjust to the change in their circumstances, we have mutually agreed with 

AVM Bernardo Engineering, Inc. to grant an extension until November 2, 2008 

for the closure of the old slaughterhouse. 

May we thank the leaders of the Catholic Church led by His Excellency, 

Bishop Vicente Navarra, Rev. Fr. Aniceto Buenafe and Rev. Fr. Virgilio Mahinay 

for facilitating a dialogue with these affected residents of Barangay 35 and for 

helping forge a peaceful resolution of a volatile situation. 

This project for a modern and clean slaughterhouse for Bacolod City was 

dreamed of in the l990’s yet. Several attempts were already made in the past to

48 

build it but somehow, it never really got off the ground. But thanks to the resolve 

of your public officials, this project is now a reality. 

At this point, may we acknowledge and thank Councilor Alex Paglomutan, 

Chairman of the SP Committee on Markets and Slaughterhouse for his help in 

pursuing the successful completion of this project. Our thanks also go to the 

other city officials who gave this project their unqualified support. 

CITY HALL SERVICES & EMPLOYEES 

On City Hall services, the move of our offices to the Government Center 

will streamline the paper trail and shorten processing time between departments 

involved in the transaction flow. 

From the slide, you can see that our offices are presently located in 9 

various places in the city. This has greatly hampered the efficient flow of papers 

and coordination in between departments and has sometimes even caused the 

loss of papers between offices distantly located from each other. Once we are all 

at the Government Center, Bacolodnons can avail of the services of these 

different offices under one roof. 

Once we have all moved to the Government Center, we will hold a grand 

inauguration and festivities to celebrate this great milestone for our city. 

Please consider this notice already as an advance open invitation to all 

Bacolodnons to this historic occasion. The exact date will be announced later. 

For City Hall employees’ welfare, we have continued to release on time 

their salaries, bonuses and other cash benefits. In addition, we have approved a 

10% across-the-board salary increase for permanent employees effective July 1, 

2008 in compliance with Executive Order No. 719 of President Gloria Macapagal- 

Arroyo, chargeable against local funds. The Sangguniang Panlungsod has 

already appropriated the funds for this. It is another indication of the good 

financial condition of our city -- that we are able to afford this increase right way. 

Many of our officials and employees have also undergone seminars here 

or out-of-town to enhance knowledge about their respective fields and update 

them on the latest policies and programs of the national government that need to 

be implemented through the LGUs. 

We have Councilor Reynold Iledan, Chairman of the SP Committee on 

Human Resource Development, to thank for his support in the various programs 

intended to benefit our City Hall employees. 

In terms of computer systems improvement, the Management Information 

Technology and Computer Services or MITCS successfully launched last

49 

December, 2007 the on-line billing and receipt issuance system for real property 

taxes in the Land Tax Division of the City Treasurer’s Office. We thank them for 

the effort in making our City Hall services more efficient for Bacolodnons. 

May we also acknowledge and thank Atty. Allan Zamora and his staff at 

the City Legal Office for their indispensable help on the many day-to-day legal 

issues affecting our work. In times like these, when it is very clear that the game 

plan of our political enemies is to destroy our image by filing cases against us by 

the dozen, definitely, Atty. Zamora is our “Man of the Hour”. 

We are also grateful to the staff of the City Mayor’s Office headed by 

Secretary to the Mayor, Atty. Goldwyn Nifras, as well as the Executive Assistants 

to the City Mayor for their liaison work with the various units of the city 

government. Their coordination work helped us implement projects more quickly 

and brought us feedback from the ground that enabled us to respond more 

appropriately to the needs of the sectors they take care of. To them all, our 

grateful thanks and our challenge for even more effective public service in the 

months ahead. 

Last but surely not the least, we would like to emphasize that these 

achievements and services rendered to our city would not have been possible 

without the cooperation and support of Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson and 

the members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod. Never before have we 

experienced such teamwork as now existing between the executive and 

legislative branches of your city government. We have given our elected officials 

many challenging tasks and they have lived up to the demands of the work that 

had to be done. Yes, they have done their share in making our city a better 

place to live in. And for this, please join me in a round of applause to commend 

and appreciate these officials of our city. 

WHAT’S NEXT? 

Ladies and gentlemen, we have reported to you the highlights of what 

your city government has done for you over the past 12 months ending June 30, 

2008. 

May we give you now a summary of the major concerns we intend to 

focus on for the next 2 years. These are on the areas of: 

- solid waste management -- particularly the establishment of a sanitary 

landfill & material recovery facilities, reduction of waste volume at 

source

50 

- flood control projects – more drainage declogging and improvement; 

clearing of waterways 

- landbanking for relocation sites – acquiring an additional relocation 

site and making it habitable 

- health service facilities – setting up mobile clinics to reach poorer 

sections more frequently; implement options for hospital services 

- traffic improvement – pursue the establishment of the northbound 

terminal, more traffic enforcers or police officers on the streets, more 

road arteries to decongest traffic chokepoints, continuing traffic 

education for enforcers and motorists alike 

- anti-poverty programs – expanded livelihood and skills training 

programs, linkages with private sector institutions, marketing 

assistance to micro-economic enterprises, food sufficiency programs 

- social services to the poor – expanded programs for children, women, 

families, senior citizens and other under-privileged sectors 

- education – more practical vocational courses and scholarships. 

FULL SPEED AHEAD! 

With these plans in mind, it is now time to look forward. We do not need 

to tell you how difficult the months ahead would be. Inflationary pressures are 

being felt all over while incomes remain constant and take-home pay is buying 

less and less everyday. 

In the midst of all these, perhaps it is necessary to remember that we have 

all experienced tough times in the past, times when difficulties seemed 

insurmountable. But with faith in God’s mercy and kindness, faith in ourselves 

and in each other, and a lot of hard work, we prevailed and triumphed over these 

past trials and difficulties. 

Over the last 4 years alone, our city has progressed by leaps and bounds. 

We are outpacing many cities of comparable size in development and vibrancy of 

community life. 

True, we may have to face the next few years with guarded optimism 

because of adverse economic developments beyond our control, but face it, we 

will, with the courage and the “never say die” attitude that has allowed our people 

to survive and grow even stronger.

51 

Because of the global oil price crisis, threatening food shortage, and the 

slow down in the U.S. economy, all of which are affecting us, we can say we are 

in troubled times. Yes, we have to face these realities. 

But these circumstances today remind us also of how it was when we 

started to pursue the plans to build our Government Center. We remember 

distinctly how the details and complexities almost “drowned” us. Because of the 

magnitude of the project, the procedures, requirements and regulations alone 

that we had to comply with were already overwhelming. 

But what really made matters worse were the opposition, intrigues, 

machinations, sabotage and “torpedoes” thrown against us by our political 

opponents who were driven by their burning desire to block us from achieving our 

goal. They wanted us to fail. 

It was during those troubled times that when faced with seemingly 

insurmountable adversities and the ultimate challenge from “torpedoes” and 

saboteurs, we stood firm, we moved on, we barreled through and we declared 

“DAMN THE TORPEDOES, FULL SPEED AHEAD”. 

Because of our resolve and determination, we now have this new 

Government Center. So my beloved people of Bacolod, even if, in a manner of 

speaking, we will go through rough seas, hurricanes and typhoons in the months 

ahead, let us go FULL SPEED AHEAD! 

We are a resilient people. We are a people of hope. Let us go FULL 

SPEED AHEAD and treat our present difficulties not as burdens but as 

opportunities in disguise. 

Let us count our blessings and be thankful for them. Let us give back to 

God the glory for His manifold mercies upon our people. 

Times ahead will be difficult but together, helping each other, we will 

survive! 

For generations now, we, Bacolodnons, have shared an open secret 

amongst ourselves. Now, that secret has been revealed to the whole country. 

And this secret is . . . . 

BACOLOD CITY IS THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE IN THE 

PHILIPPINES! 

No less than MoneySense, a prestigious business magazine, with an 

editorial board composed of highly-respected business leaders, economists and 

professionals, has cited Bacolod City, in its March-April 2008 issue, as the best

52 

place to live in the Philippines, outranking even Makati, Davao, Marikina and 

16 other more developed cities. 

Bacolod City bested them all in the 3 major categories of standard of 

living, quality of life and cost of living which were the essential criteria used to 

compare one city with the other. 

This honor is the honor of every Bacolodnon because each of us in our 

individual and collective ways made our city shine brighter than the rest. 

This citation is WELL-DESERVED. Because it is true. And I am very 

sure, you all agree. Our city indeed, is the best place to live in the Philippines! 

So my beloved people of Bacolod, let us help each other keep it that way. 

Madamu gid nga salamat sa inyo tanan. 

MABUHAY AND MAY GOD BLESS US ALL!

STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS - Bacolod City

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