Twice before, since my election as Vice Mayor of the City of Cebu in 2022, have I stood before this august body and rendered my report of what we as the Sangguniang Panlungsod has done for the year that was and then set our policy-making direction for the year that is to be.
I feel wistful having to yield that task today to Acting Vice Mayor Dondon Hontiveros, my friend for many years, especially because the past two years have been among the most meaningful years of my professional life as a civil servant.
Together, as one Sanggunian, we passed meaningful ordinances and conveyed, through our resolutions, are collective thought and position on matters of tremendous importance.
Working together, we passed, among other important measures, the ordinance creating the Heritage District of Cebu and formulating the Heritage District Council; we worked to institutionalize the Sangguniang Panlungsod Day and the Order of Rajah Tupas, the highest award the Sanggunian can confer a Cebuano; the Cebu Heritage Awards, to promote the importance of preserving the heritage and the cultural treasures of Cebu; and the Sugbuanong Bahandi” awards, to recognize Cebu’s masters and inspire upcoming ones, and declared every month of August as Cebu City Arts Month.
Similarly, though our stands may differ on certain things, we have always been bound by our common and all-encompassing goal, which is working for what we feel and know is for the best or our constituency in the City of Cebu.
This goal, I believed then as strongly as I believe now, ties us together and makes us true equals – each of us primus inter pares – despite our differing party affiliations.
This equality was what drove my decision then, as it drives my conviction now, to facilitate that all members of council, regardless of affinity, should have all the tools — service vehicles, office equipment, and adequate staffing – needed to facilitate the completion of all our deliverables.
This has made the 16th Sangguniang Panlungsod a bastion of law-making that sustains not only the socio-economic and socio-political concerns of the city and its inhabitants, but also for the preservation of our history, culture, and identity, the arts, and of urban development that does not sacrifice sustainability of the environment.
The 16th Sangguniang Panlungsod has delivered what it has been mandated by law to bring forth: well-crafted legislation that uplifts the lives of our constituents.
But, as was my oath when I took office alongside all the members of the 16th Sangguniang Panlungsod in 2022, to “faithfully discharge to the best of my ability, the duties of my present position”, which include to “automatically exercise the powers and perform the duties and functions of the local chief executive” in cases where the local chief executive is temporarily incapacitated, I have to come to you today under a provisionally different capacity and purpose.
Nevertheless, I remain committed with you in seeing, through-and-through, our RESULTA vision, the vision that we rallied behind here in the Legislative, and the vision I hope you will support as I bring it to the Executive.
It is imperative that we remain: RESPONSIVE to the needs of our constituency; committed to advancing EDUCATION opportunities of the socio-economically disadvantaged; focused on enabling a truly socialized and equitable system for SETTLEMENTS or housing; dedicated to URBAN DEVELOPMENT that does not sacrifice the sustainability of our environment, the health of all living things, the protection of our culture, identity, and heritage, and the state of our agriculture and food security; resolute in facilitating LIVELIHOOD and opportunities for meaningful, viable, and dignified labor; steadfast in addressing the behemoth task of ensuring that people and goods are able to go to where they need to go in the fastest and most convenient way possible by exploring intermodal systems of mass TRANSPORTATION; and, unwavering in ADVANCING the participation and representation of civil society in governance by giving space for meaningful engagement, empowerment, dialogue, exchange of ideas and consensus-building, which can lead us towards jointly facilitating, designing, and implementing more effective responses to needs of our city.
I said this as vice mayor then and I say it as acting mayor now, RESULTA ang GARANTIYA.
Much has been reported of the actions we’ve undertaken in the almost two months I have been acting mayor.
Suffice it is to say that, for the remaining months, we shall continue to be responsive to the needs of our constituency in the manner that has served us well the last two months – with diplomacy.
Through diplomacy, we managed a meaningful dialogue with the MCWD; dialogue that is poised to bear the fruit of water connection to the mountain barangays, thereby responding to the needs of constituents in the uplands.
Through diplomacy, we have brought the Cebu Ports Authority back into the negotiating table and closer to resolving the dispute involving three properties that, when managed, enables us to respond to the need for livelihood opportunities for hundreds of people, we well as revenue for the city.
Through diplomacy, we come meaningfully closer to finally resolving the 93-1 issue, which means responding to the needs of the many Cebu City residents who are occupying province-owned lots and who have been trying, since 1993, to lawfully acquire these.
Furthermore, through diplomacy, we may yet unlock an opportunity for the many others who are occupying lands not part of 93-1 but declared as socialized housing sites, and others who are occupying province owned lots not yet declared as for-socialized-housing-use.
But alongside being diplomatic in our ways, we shall also be resolute in our desire to be responsive to the needs of the rest of our constituency. The public shouldn’t be made to wait for public service and those of us in public service must, at all times, be willing to provide service beyond self.
In this vein, and manifested in the simplest of things like our now-shorter flag ceremonies so that people lining up at our frontline offices on Mondays get served a bit sooner, we will continue to emphasize efficiency in government service.
We will continue to streamline the city’s processes in the manner consistent with how we streamlined the services of our City Assessor’s Office.
We will continue to observe the sound fiscal management you saw us employ for the upcoming Palaro, despite our considerable financial reach.
We will make sure that we spend only what needs to be spent to gain the maximum quality of service for our constituents, even as we recognize that public service is a public trust and involves the critical responsibility of managing and utilizing taxpayer funds, requiring transparency, accountability, and efficiency, for the benefit of society.
We shall continue harnessing technology to facilitate improvement. I have directed the adoption of new technologies in our issuance of IDs for Persons with Disabilities, which also doubles as pilot testing for a wider rollout that now includes our senior citizens.
On responsiveness to the healthcare needs of our constituents, we will continue with the direction of bringing health-focused infrastructure to the communities, similar to how we operationalized the mothballed Apas Super Health Center, which we recently inaugurated after two years of non-use, and the Guba hospital which, in a few weeks, we will also be inaugurating.
This resoluteness of purpose we will also continue to apply to the biggest investment Cebu City has made as far as healthcare facilities go – the Cebu City Medical Center – that, for the last 10 years, has only been granularly operational.
On education, we shall continue our work towards finally establishing the Cebu City College and build it, ground up, to be an institution of higher learning for our constituents. The ordinance is up for third reading and I pray that my colleagues here will take the cudgels to ensure its passage.
On settlements, we shall pivot our efforts towards developing properties which Cebu City already owns and then leverage national government programs like President Bongbong Marcos’s 4PH initiative.
While we held a groundbreaking for the South Coastal Urban Development Project, many parcels of land included in the proposed site are privately owned. Mobilizing the time, effort, and resource towards its acquisition, vis-à-vis the fact that there are lands that we presently own, may prove itself a gargantuan waste of time.
On urban development, Cebu City will continue its thrust towards socio-economic growth but shall take great pains to ensure that development does not sacrifice equally-important indicators such as sustainability and livability.
We need to restructure our strategy on the management of waterways and runoff and consider the plans and direction of neighboring, LGUs because flooding is a shared problem that requires shared solutions.
We can improve our drainage all we want. But if that improvement is not at par with our neighbors, we only migrate the problem elsewhere, or invite their problem here.
We have waged a war on flooding but flooding is a mere symptom of mismanagement of what is otherwise a crucial resource.
We will continue to capacitate and equip our frontline workers so that the solutions and initiatives the propose will consider the cause, not merely the effect.
We shall continue our efforts towards biodiversity protection, coastal resource management, climate resilience, and attaining food security, while working to uplift the lives of our farmers and our fisherfolks, as vigorously as we work to uplift the lives of our urban poor.
On transportation, we shall continue to explore other intermodal systems of mass transport and find the best fit for Cebu City. We are thankful for the presence of urban planning experts who are ready, willing, and able to assist us in this regard.
The BRT is a divisive issue, but the tension the topic causes is merely an indicator that (1) everyone is invested in resolving this major concern; (2) people have become aware that we cannot simply cut-and-paste a solution that worked in Curitiba, Brazil, to solve a Cebu City problem; and, (3) maintaining a status-quo ante on transportation modalities vis-à-vis a Cebu City that is growing year-on-year will not work.
On livelihood, we shall strengthen our continuing and continuous effort towards the establishment of a Creative District, as this brings opportunities to those looking for jobs in the creative sector – filmmaking, animation, digital arts, and the like.
The creative district shall be a major economic driver for Cebu City, in the same way the IT park was when it was begun by my father, the former mayor Alvin B. Garcia.
But we shall do this while continuing to preserve our history, heritage, identity, and culture, by also operationalizing what we have so far established with the passage of our ordinance establishing Cebu City’s heritage district and heritage district council.
And we ensure success by advancing inclusive governance and ensuring the participation of all sectors in consensus-building and decision-making.
We further ensure success by moving away from insular thinking that one person possesses the proverbial panacea of all woes. This is why I have, since my first day as acting mayor, tapped members of this august body as overseers of executive offices.
This room has experts in various fields – revenue generation, infrastructure, livelihood generation, the environment, technology, social welfare, agriculture, etc. And it would be such a waste if their expertise will not be leveraged.
And we ensure success, finally, by rallying behind the same vision – that of ensuring good, tangible results for our constituents. Because, Resulta ang atong Garantiya.
Matud pa sa mga pagtuon nga gihimo sa Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) niadtong 2015 ug 2018, ang mga farmers, fisherfolks, ug kadtong mga tua nanimuyo sa mga rural areas have higher poverty incidences compared to those from other “basic” sectors.
Tuod dili ma-consider ang Cebu City as a rural area but, ang labing tinuod niana, ang uban natong mga kaigsuonan ng atua nagpuyo sa ubang mga upland barangays live in very rural conditions.
Dunay uban nga, in the parlance of Republic Act 8425, “cannot afford in a sustained manner to provide their minimum basic needs of food, health, education, housing and other essential amenities of life.”
And even if they could, ang ilang gilay-on dinhi sa ciudad can sometimes make accessing these basic and essential needs difficult.
Perspective. Cebu City is larger than the sum of the urban centers that define it.
Makita nako ni every time I visit the upland barangays of the northern district. I’ve made it a guiding purpose to mobilize the city’s resources towards improving their access not only to basic services but also to mobility.
Sagad sa atong mga bukiran nga barangay naa mahimutang 1,200-1,300 feet above seawater.
Ang akong mga paninguha karon naglangkob sa pag secure og usa ka ambulansya, pag himo og tulo ka mga drainage projects, og pag semento og usa ka mahinungdanon nga dalan sa Barangay San Jose.
Sa Barangay Cambinocot, mi sponsor ko sa resolution nga nag allocate of P1.8 million gikan sa atong bahin sa Pagcor funds aron ipalit og 600 ka buok empty drums og 300 rolls nga hose isip pagpangandam sa summer.
Gi approve kinisa konseho niadtog December 21. Gidugangan pa gyud kini og lain nga P300,000 niadtong Pebrero aron duna silay magasto sa planning event as ilang mga kabatanunan.
Puhon, makahimo sab kita og road concreting with drainage system didto. Duna sab kita’y i de-clog nga drainage system. Duna sab kita’y paga paliton nga motor vehicle for use during emergencies.
Ining duha ka mga barangays lang, hinaut mapun-an kay 15 kabuok mountain barangays sa Cebu City, mubudget na kita daa’g dili mumenos P30 million.
I meet with barangay captains, barangay councilors, and our own community leaders regularly to discuss their concerns.
I try hard nga masiguro nga ang perspectives sa atong mga leaders og mga mulupyo sa upland barangays, labi na ang ilang mga kababayen-an, are considered and represented in all the laws that I draft and propose to the City Council.
I am thankful whenever women organizations, like this one from Barangay Lusaran, ang usa sa labing hilit nga barangay sa north district, are formed.
A women’s organization was recently formed in Barangay Lusaran. Ang Lusaran ang labing layo nga barangay sa atong distrito. Boundary na siya sa atong dakbayan, Balamban-Asturias, og Copostela-Danao.
I’ve also been very open to partnering with civic groups and organizations that can help bring much-needed services — medical missions, feeding programs, food aid distribution, legal clinics, ug uban pa.
In fact, dunay pagahimoon nga ka medical mission, feeding, og rice distribution sa duha ka mga mountain barangays sa North District sugod ugma (April 24, 2021) kuyog ang civic organizaation nga JCI Cebu Hara, usa ka kahugpungan sa mga halangdon kaayo nga mga batan-on nga kababayen-an sa atong dakbayan.
Ang atong tuyo: wala’y bukiran nga barangay ang mabiyaan sa batakang serbisyo nga gi dalit ning atong dakbayan. Sa atong mga opisyales, leaders, supporters, ug uban nga mga higala sa mountain barangays, duna koy pasalig. Duna moy kaalyado. G?
I appreciate nga si Director Victor Caindec took the time to put into words his thoughts sa atong speed limits ordinance.
As the head of the Land Transportation Office, nahibalo siya sa sitwasyon sa atong kadalanan. And as former executive director sa Cebu City Transportation Office, nakasabot siya specifically sa atong kahimtang in Cebu City.
Nanghinaut ko nga masabtan sa tanan nga kini atong’ ordinance does not intend to solve Cebu City’s general traffic problems. Nor is it to prevent accidents per se.
Gihimo nato ang ordinasa aron nga kapugngan ang fatalities kon duna man ugaling mga bangga sa kadalanan. Sa ako nang’ giingon, one avoidable and unnecessary death is one too many.
Sa pagtuon sa National Association of Transport Officials, for example, ang usa ka sakyanan nga nagdaga’g 50 kilometers per hour, or an estimated 44 feet per second of actual speed, maka travel pa’g additional 109 feet, gikan sa pag yatak sa brake, una ma full stop.
Wala pa giapil sa calculations ang mga variable sama sa upaw nga ligid, kadangug sa dalan, ulan, ug poor visibility.
Dili gyud malalis, when we reduce our speeds, we increase the probability nga kon ma aksidente man gani kita, kita ug ang atong mabanggaan, maluwas pa sa kamatayon.
Sa kadtong nag ingon nga dili speed limits ang sulbad sa aksidente, sakto mo.
Ang mga experts sa road safety dunay gitamod ug gisagop nga Swiss Cheese Model of Prevention.
Ang modelo mipakita nga walay usa ka sulosyon nga makatubag sa tanang mga possible scenarios on road safety.
Kon gusto nato matubag ang tanang scenarios, kinahanglan ta’g daghan nga solutions nga atong I patong-patong.
Sa traffic, the city’s phased intervention has, to date, included upgrading the traffic management system, supporting the modernization of public transport, and facilitating alternative means of transport (sama sa bicycling), and protecting those who do thru designated lanes.
On the emergency response side, dili malalis kon giunsa sab nato pag strengthen ang atong capacities dihang dapita — from creating the necessary structures, procuring the necessary equipment and training, and just generally making sure things work.
Sama sa nabantayan ni Director Caindec, we also further laid down the foundation for other future interventions.
One intervention nga wala na sa akong kamot: ang tanan unta nga motorista mohunahuna pud sa kaayuhan ug kaluwasan sa uban nga mga naa sa dalan – be it their fellow motorists, other road users, and the pedestrians.
The Cebu City Council passed on third and final reading ganina, Thursday, April 15, my ordinance setting the speed limits for all motor vehicles sulod sa territorial jurisdiction sa atong Hara nga Dakbayan.
The ordinance, nga gi designate na karon as City Ordinance 2612 and which will take effect upon publication, penalizes drivers for overspeeding and compounds cases which involve vehicles running in excess of the speed limits. All-in-all, it intends to eliminate one of the factors behind fatal road crashes sa atong mga kadalanan.
Speed limits in Cebu City
Kahibalo ko nga daghan dayon ang moingon nga depende ra na’g masakpan.
Actually, sayon ang dakop karon kay duna man tay paga paliton nga mga speed guns og mga speed cameras which will be integrated sa atong bag-o lang gi upgrade nga traffic system. It will be watched closely sa atong mga kauban sa Cebu City Transportation Office.
Mahibulong na lang unya nang mga kaskasero kay duna na dayo’y Traffic Citation Ticket or, worse, complaint for reckless driving, nga muabot. By the way, the data generated from this will be integrated into the database sa Land Transportation Office.
Penalties for violators.
Of course, dunay exemptions.
Who can drive faster?
I am thankful that my colleagues came together in unanimous support of what is now City Ordinance 2612 nga nahimong mahinungdanon tungod sa kadaghan na sa mga natala nga bangga sa mga kadalanan sulod sa atong dakbayan.
I don’t want to take the pleasure away from motorists who enjoy satisfying their need for speed. But, between January hangtud September, 2019, ang Cebu City Transportation Office mi respond sa 6,049 ka mga individual nga kaso sa bangga sa kadalanan. Ani nga numero, 15 ang patay og 1,591 ang angol.
It cannot be gainsaid that speeding plays a major factor in the road crashes here in Cebu City and I firmly believe that one avoidable and unnecessary death is one too many.
Tungod kay nag dali, nagpasutoy, nagpakas-kas, nakabangga na hinuon, naka-angol na hinuon, unya naka-patay na hinuon.
In the context of road safety, unbridled haste makes waste of property, makes waste of resources, makes waste of limb, and makes waste of human life.
Muslim employees of the City Government of Cebu are exempted from work today, March 11, 2021. This is so they may celebrate in full the Noctural Journey and Feast of the Prophet’s Ascension or the Lailatul Isra Wal Mi’raj.
Atol sa session sa City Council kagahapon, March 10, atong gipadangat ngadto sa Human Resource Development Office ang specific provisions sa Presidential Decree 1083 nga miila sa Lailatul Isra Wal Mi’raj isip usa sa lima ka mga Muslim holidays sa nasud.
Gipadangat sab nato nila nag duha ka mga dokumento sa Civil Service Commission – CSC resolution No. 81-1277 ug CSC resolution No. 020720– nga nag exempt sa mga Muslim nga kawani sa kagamhanan gikan sa trabaho atul sa kasaulogan.
Unfortunately, all Muslim government employees from other agencies need to contact their own HRs to avail of the exemption.
Sa Ciudad sa Sugbo, na automatic nato ni gumikan sa atong resolution nga napasa on mass motion.
Wasslam!
Muslim employees of the City Government of Cebu are exempted from work tomorrow, March 11, 2021, so they may celebrate in full the Feast of the Prophet’s Ascension, or the Lailatul Isra Wal miraj.
Atol sa session sa City Council kaganina, atong gipadangat ngadto sa Human Resource Development Office ang specific provisions sa Presidential Decree 1083 nga miila sa Lailatul Isra Wal miraj isip usa sa lima ka mga Muslim holidays sa nasud.
Gipadangat sab nato nila nag duha ka mga dokumento sa Civil Service Commission – CSC resolution No. 81-1277 ug CSC resolution No. 02072 – nga nag exempt sa mga Muslim nga kawani sa kagamhanan gikan sa trabaho atul sa kasaulogan.
Unfortunately, all Muslim government employees from other agencies need to contact their own HRs to avail of the exemption.
Sa Ciudad sa Sugbo, na automatic nato ni gumikan sa atong resolution nga napasa on mass motion.
Wasslam!
I got very concerned when I read about the Tigbakay held in one barangay.
First, Tigbakay is punishable by law.
Second, because i-underground man gyud ang illegal, dili na ma regulate sa atong kagamhanan ang tapok sa mga tawo; which, karon nga pandemic, is very crucial.
As early as October last year, dihang gitugutan na og sugod ang mga business nga mo-resume, gitun-an dayon sa Cebu City Gamefowl Commission, which I chair, kon unsaon nato nga safely ma-reopen ang mga buwangan.
Ang atong output was contained in a resolution that was endorsed to Mayor Edgar Labella, nga maoy nitahas nato sa pag himo sa study in the first place.
It is up to the Mayor to adopt the guidelines set forth in that resolution. Sabton unta nato nga dili lalim ang balancing of interests nga gikinahanglan ani nga decision.
Dugay na ning Anti-Drunkenness Ordinance sa Cebu City.
Ang atong amendment mipasaka lang sa penalty sa mga madakpan samtang dunay public health emergency, sama ining COVID-19.
Automatic ra ni nga mo reduce inig wala nay pandemic. Kon naay tagay, naa gyuy tapok. Karon nga ginadili ang tapok, i-dili lang sa nato ang tagay.
Unsay ginadili:
1. Ang pag inum og ilimnon nga makahubog sulod sa pampubliko nga lugar. — Sec. 4(a)
2. Ang pag tumaw, suroy, o pondo sa usa ka pampubliko nga lugar samtang ubos sa influencia sa ilimnon nga makahubog. – Sec. 4(b)
*Gitahasan ang si bisan kinsa nga ahente sa balaud sa paghimo og field sobriety test sa kinsa kadtong ilang gituohan nga posibleng’ nakainum or hubog agi sa ilang baho o nilihukan.
Silot:
1. Multa nga Php5,000.00, o pagkapriso sulod sa unom ka bulan, or multa og pagka preso, sumala sa kabubuton sa huwes.
It began with individuals sending direct messages to me via my FB page at the start of the pandemic.
Students forced to do online classes and employees forced to do work-from-home sent the messages.
The complaint was essentially the same: noise made things harder.
It took a while because we needed to balance interests. For a lot of Filipinos, particularly us music-loving Cebuanos, plugging in the karaoke or videoke and belting out our favorite is an effective stress-buster.
This was our measured response and I think we found a good balance in our amendment of the ordinance.
What’s more, we’ve inserted a provision saying the heightened penalties — a fine of P5,000.00 or imprisonment of up to six months, or both, all at the discretion of our courts — will only be as long as there is a declared public emergency.
When a better normal is attained and face-to-face learning and working conditions will be restored, we can go back to singing to our heart’s delight.