As I begin, I would like to tell our Butuanon people that it is truly an honor and privilege to serve and represent you. I would also like to thank and recognize my colleagues in the Sangguniang Panlungsod – who work hard to make Butuan a better place to live. It is my pleasure to serve with each one of you.
Today, after more than a decade, we find evidences of the fruits of our efforts everywhere: more efficient systems and processes in government, instead of constant red tape and inefficient service; bigger and better roads interconnecting different parts of our city, to replace the one-lane, narrow and rough ones.
We now see in all our barangays, barangay stage, beautiful barangay hall, a health center, a day care center, and a covered court or a basketball court, where before, we had to use the home of our barangay kapitan to transact our business.
As to our commitment to our most vulnerable, our children, we have been adjudged, time and again as a child-friendly city, and have won recognition for our work with them, as well as for our elderly.
It can no longer be denied that the Butuan we see now, is not the same city 14 years ago. In the next decade, we shall see an even more progressive face of Butuan.
We Butuanons have dreamt of progress. It is time to see progress happening. It is time to see this dream coming true.
Allow me to tell you these in detail.
First, public safety is the foundation of the city’s prosperity.
But, with economic development comes the upswing in petty crimes and other problems. Our response: provide our police with four more patrol cars, one for each district, to increase their mobility.

Two more vehicles are coming this year. We strictly impose all ordinances on traffic, wearing of helmets and parking on no parking zones. Our fire department’s budget was also increased by 71% in a bid to improve their services.

We will not allow crime, fire or traffic to overcome our development.
Anti-drug abuse activities by our police and Council on Drug Abuse Prevention resulted to a significant decrease in the number of drug-affected barangays, but increase in the number of drug personalities arrested, and illegal drugs confiscated. We see the impact reflected in the decreasing trend of reported cases to our Walk in Clinic in the last three (3) years.
Our revenues show increasing trend. We collected a total of P128.5 million from local taxes in 2005, a P12 M increase from that of 2004. There is also notable increase at P11.2 M in the expected total tax due in 2005 as compared to Php 3.8 M in 2004.

This is the result of improving our financial systems with the implementation of Business One-Stop-Shop (BOSS), computerized issuances of business permits, year end auction sale of tax delinquent real properties and computerization of real property tax information system. These systems ensure that tax assessment and collection are updated and accurate.

Another source of revenues, the City Economic Enterprise collections of P29 million is a whooping hike of P1.5 from last year’s P27.6 million.

When converted to services, our growing income would mean more for healthcare, housing, education, and infrastructure.

For us to achieve real long-term economic development, we must also encourage the growth of businesses here.

P 13 million worth of new investments awarded with Tax Holiday poured in last year, providing our people with 132 new jobs.

We have 6 Potential Investors for Agro-Forestry, Agri-business and Furniture Industry with an expected potential 100 jobs. This we generated through an Investment Opportunities Showcase. Mr. Mario Tiu and his staff in the Trade and Industry Division are the force behind this achievement.

More than a thousand new Micro Small and Medium Enterprises have opened their doors here and more are on the way. These include businesses in the agribusiness sector such as coco coir processing, abaca and oil cassava palm plantation.

We have various livelihood options available for our people. We have provided 451 families with additional income through our Self-Employment Assistance (SEA) Livelihood Program, Development Action of Intersectoral Synergy for Poverty Reduction (DAISy for PR), and Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services (CIDSS).

Another 1,000 students were employed through the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) for them to be able to pay their tuition fees.

Our three million standing fund for the Overseas Financial Assistance Program helped four applicants leave the country for work abroad while 181 domestic helpers, factory workers, teachers and masons were deployed to countries like Kuwait, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Jordan, and Lebanon on a Fly Now Pay Later scheme.

Our goal for food sufficiency requires focus on agriculture. For some years now, we have been importing rice from other provinces. But last year, we recorded a rice surplus at 7,000 plus metric tons, making Butuan a supplier of rice to other provinces. Our Rice Hybridization Program is mainly responsible for this huge improvement.

We also acknowledge the assistance of the Department of Agriculture in implementing many agricultural projects in our city.

Investing in infrastructure also allows our city to continue to build the economy of tomorrow.

We saw the culmination of several important projects, totaling almost P162 million. These include: farm-to market roads for Bonbon-Mayapay, Taligaman-Bugsukan-Antongalon, and the Aupagan Circumferential Road. We have completed the Pigdaulan bridge.

We built new roads, urban drainage, school buildings, covered courts, barangay halls, barangay public market, school stage, road repair and rehabilitation, and street lightings.

We also have P284 million of on-going priority projects.

We have earmarked P 136 million for D.O.Plaza Regional Center, for construction of a four (4) storey and two (2) storey building, including road networks and site development leading to the buildings.
I guess everybody is aware of the very exciting construction project going on in the P1.962 Billion 2nd Magsaysay Bridge. By 2007, the bridge will make the City more accessible. Most significantly, it will eliminate the bottleneck that occurred along the area of the first bridge.
Last month, some Japanese consultants visited Butuan and inspected our first Magsaysay Bridge and they recommended for a major repair. I suggested that it should be replaced with a new one to complement the 2nd Magsaysay Bridge.
The Boardwalk is becoming a reality along the Agusan River. We broke ground on a waterfront for the construction of Millennium Development Goals theme park in partnership with United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and took the first major steps toward transforming these once blighted areas into a place of recreation.

My fellow Butuanons, we must also build to be competitive in attracting conventions and other big events into our city. This is vital to Butuan’s long-term development and economic strength.

Thus, construction workers will put shovels in the ground at a 6 hectare complex that will house the most exciting, commercial, and sports development complex in Butuan’s history, the Butuan City Coliseum, with a capacity of 12,000 people in any one event.

The new South Market will also soon rise for the convenience of our people. We shall also improve the Salvador M. Calo Public Market at the same time see to it that the roads, drainage and toilets are on top condition.

Signs of development are everywhere. Our city experienced a strong building year in 2005 for both residential and commercial construction. There was a total P3.9 Million worth of building permits issued in 2005, with a total P378 Million worth of construction.

Our people are building more houses, with almost 1,500 new housing permits issued last year. Commercial, industrial and institutional construction has also jumped to 198 from 184 in 2004.

Ladies and gentlemen…
Quality of life is quality of place. It isn't enough to rebuild our roads and bridges to make them functional. We need to create beautiful places and inspired settings. The Urban Design created by Palafox and Associates for our city shall ensure that Butuan will develop with a beauty and charm that is uniquely its own.
While the city gears for economic development, we are also taking steps to produce healthier communities.
In our Rural Health Centers, there are 6 doctors, 12 nurses, 51 midwives and 485 barangay health workers serving all 86 barangays.

Our health program’s impact on health indicators show increasing improvement.
• the Infant mortality rate is now10 deaths per 1000 live births in year 2005. This was 22 per 1000 live births in year 2000. That is a 50% reduction in just five years and we should expect it to decrease further in the next half of the decade. This means less and less new-born dying because of infancy related causes.
• Maternal mortality rate was 2.2 deaths per1000 live births in 2005 compared to 3.7 deaths per 1000 in 2000.
• Immunization of children is at 93.7%, the highest in Caraga.
• In 2005, the City Health Office and World Vision, represented here today by Mr. Roniel Barrios organized TB Networks to actively participate in the TB program of the City. The result: more people with TB symptoms were identified and cured.
• Our nutrition program ensures that our city shall have a decreasing trend in Below Normal Weight for Children.
Our Butuan Medical Center is the first and only hospital in Caraga with Private-Public Mix DOTS or Directly Observed Treatment for Short Course Chemotherapy Program accredited by the Philippine Coalition Against Tuberculosis (PHILCAT) and the Department of Health (DOH). It now has a fully-opened Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with complete monitoring equipment.

We have equipped it with the best facilities. Every year, we add some more. In 2005, we have a new ECG machine, New Doppler, bone rongeur, and the latest fully automated blood chemistry machine, hematology and dental x-ray machines, a new Shuttle Bus and another ambulance.

At this point, I would like to recognize some of the donors to our hospital who donated some equipment and supplies. They are: Mrs. Marilyn M. Arquisola, Engr. & Mrs. Warto Jandug, Mr. & Mrs. Felipe Villena, some German Doctors, Ivory Charities Foundation, and Dr. Amado Layno, and Dr. Jose Dacudao .

On sanitation, our City Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) was fully operationalized which saved approximately 60 tons of recyclable wastes, while our open dumpsite was finally converted into a controlled dump. Preparations for the Sanitary Landfill is already underway.

Our City’s support to education reached 20 million in 2005. We built 12 new school buildings and hired 4 additional teachers.

Also, our partner in education, the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, represented here by Mr. Crispin Young provided 14 new buildings for our elementary students. These initiatives help to wipe out pockets of overcrowding, reduce class size and create up-to-date technology in schools throughout the city.

Because of these efforts our education indicators have remained above the national standard. These include the teacher-student ratio at 1 teacher for every 36 students in the elementary level, and 1 teacher for every 37 students in the high school, still above the 1 teacher for every 40 students national ratio. Elementary school students registered a 2% increase in the graduation rate.
People who don’t read, are really no better off than people who can’t, thus the library is an important part of education.
With 53 years of service, finally, our Butuan City Public Library transferred to its new building last year, in the process, tripling the number of visitors. There are now 100 or more students researching in one setting. By the end of 2005, the Library recorded 15,000 patron visits, an average of almost 57 visitors per day. We received 2,400 book donations from 29 donors. We also thank Congressman Boy Banaag for helping to make the new library a reality.
Today, an average of 4,500 preschoolers is enrolled in 108 Day Care Centers. There is no more reason why our children can’t have good pre-school education.

We have Basic and Functional Literacy Classes where hundreds graduate each year, as well as Madrasah Classes for our Muslim brothers to learn to read and write Arabic.
Our mobile school project "Kangyatan Hong Kabataan,” is there to attract back into the schools those who have left it for the streets. Since it began in 2004, the school has catered to 93 children.
Our P2 million a year allocation for the City Scholarship Program and the Barangay Scholarship Program, has earned for us 127 graduates that include 2 licensed civil engineers, 5 registered nurses, 2 certified public accountants, 11 teacher’s board passers, and 5 licensed criminologists and they are here with us today.

I would like to announce that this School Year 2006, 29 of our scholars graduated with 4 cum laudes in the batch. From the same, we have 3 new licensed nurses, 2 criminologists and 1 teacher.

The sports program continues strong in the city. In 2005, we distributed sports paraphernalia. To date, 85% of urban barangays and 100% of rural barangays have been provided with basketball courts.
The time has also come to invest more in our human resources.
We have programs such as Medicare Para sa Masa, giving 5 thousand beneficiaries Philhealth benefits. 11 thousand more were sponsored by Presidential funds under the OPLAN 2.5 M.
In the next two months, we are giving Philhealth cards to 30-50 beneficiaries for each barangay. We will allocate an additional P 4 Million for the Philhealth Program to benefit the poorest among the poor.
We have the Lingap Center. Our pride, the Tuloy Aral Walang Sagabal or TAWAG program for children with disability, no.3 in the League of Cities Best Practices Award, is now considered one of the Social Laboratories for TAWAG in the entire country.
This successful program under the City Social Welfare and Development Office is carefully manned by our Tawag Center in charge, Ms. Evangeline Lipa under our CSWD Officer, Mrs. Aldeberan Mordeno.
Of course, how can we forget our elderly? We provide a most comprehensive, nationally recognized and award winning program that sees to the needs of our senior citizens: the OSCA Geriacare program.

We expanded the OSCA-Geriacare and Rehabilitation Clinic’s area, visited more communities, provided mortuary cash assistance of P 2,000.00 to the family members of deceased senior citizens, plus other medical and dental benefits through the Pag gaam Hong mga Pinalanggang Senior Citizens and Luwas Pag-Atud Program.

Our special mention and thanks to our volunteer doctors and our consultant Dr. Michelle Villanueva.

We also acknowledge the hard work of our OSCA chairman Councilor Randolph B. Plaza, Ms. Joan Aquino, chief physical therapist and other OSCA Geriacare staff for a job very well done.

For the year 2005, our Integrated Social Development Assistance Program (ISDAP) Executive Funds, expanded beneficiaries to include those who are suffering from cancer. May I make special mention of Ms. PHOEBE LINCUNA, a cancer patient and Baby girl Mila, who had an eye defect. They are just two of those who have recovered through the help of ISDAP.

Every Tuesday of the week, is a special day for us, people of Butuan, to discuss individual concerns through a one on one meeting during our People’s Day. This is also an opportunity for me to get the real sentiments straight from our people.

For those who find it difficult to come to the city, we bring the government to you through our Barangay Visitation. You can get your health, civil registration, agriculture, veterinary, environment and other government services delivered right in your barangays.
We will be able to see, during these visits, the felt needs in your barangay which we shall prioritize.

Where each family has a place, our City’s Shelter Program provided lots for more than 9,000 families, and poured in more than P5M each year to acquire and develop land.

We partnered with Gawad Kalinga and other private persons for another P5M annually for houses. I would like to thank Gawad Kalinga through its representative Mr. Butch Ozarraga, and other private donors, contractors, businessmen, other sectors and individuals who have made possible the construction of houses for 5 villages now existing in Balangayan Butuan.

Our national government officials also provided their support. No less than President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gave P2 million funds to build the PGMA Village.

Senator Manny Villar also shared P1 Million and another P1 Million from Senator Pangilinan will help build more houses for our poorest of the poor.

Our housing program is ably supported by national agencies, specifically the Pag-Ibig Fund, Home Mortgage Corporation, HUDCC, HLURB, and the National Housing Authority which has already funded more than P40 million for land development in 2 relocation areas in Barangay Doongan and Mahay. I believe the Regional Manager of NHA, Mr. Virgilio Rivera is here to join us today. We hope that we will be able to realize the P15 Million NHA assistance for Barangay Pagatpatan this year.

The planning and implementation of these projects are ably handled by the Committee on Lot Awards, Engr. Lorden Vismanos and his staff.

Butuan City reconfirms the importance of gender equality.

Adult learners, mostly women were provided with Basic and Functional Literacy interventions. This is crucial as it does not only help them in their day to day activities but also enhances their self-concept and community participation.
The Women’s Christmas Bazaar showed-off the different products produced by various women organizations of the city through the leadership of the Butuan City Council of Women headed by former Mayor Leonides Theresa B. Plaza.
Women who are victims of domestic violence will at one location, be able to receive help at the Butuan Women’s Center. The center, located in the City Social Welfare and Development Compound, offers skills trainings and seminars for women, as well as serves as a venue for other activities.
For solo and single parents, we are ensuring that you can avail of the benefits provided by the Solo Parent Law. In fact, we have already given financial assistance to some solo parents.

The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) during its Pearl Anniversary in 2005 presented an award to the City Government of Butuan as one of the Ten Outstanding LGUs with Good Practices in Gender Mainstreaming.

Finally, in everything that we do as a people, we always remember that it is God that makes all things possible.
I am proud of the Butuan and the progress we have made together, because the work that we have done here was not wrought by me, or the Sangguniang Panlungsod or the government alone, but by all of us who have contributed our ideas and resources into building a better future for all.
We, as a people do not have to wait for progress to happen, but shall make it happen. And the face of the future is taking shape right before our eyes.
To make our city safer, we shall mobilize a special peace keeping force to focus on the safety of the business sector, visitors and other at risk communities against certain crimes.
We shall implement the wheel clamp on motor vehicles parked in no parking areas.
We shall develop tourists spots including concreting of roads going to historic places.
We are negotiating for a 52 hectares foreclosed property to house the Regional Sports Center.
We are building up Butuan City into a major thoroughfare of economic activity by making it accessible and easy to traverse.
For the proposed Butuan City International Seaport we are looking for private investors to finance the construction of the port. The President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has given her go signal to publish the bidding through the Build, Operate, Transfer Scheme when we visited her during our Lakbay Aral last April 26 together with the 86 punong barangays.
The Department of Public Works and Highways is now in the process of completing the required documentation for the concreting of the Bit-os - Tungao - Las Nieves – Esperanza - Bayugan Road and this project will start in 2007.
To fast track development of rural barangays, we shall start concreting this year all rural barangay roads, even to the remotest areas.
We shall acquire 10-20 hectares on each boundary of the city to serve as terminal for a future light rail transit system.
This will prevent expected traffic congestion within the urban area at the same time open up business opportunities to taxi operators and other public vehicles.

In consonance with rapid advancements in technology, the City shall endeavor to create an e-commerce environment. Under proposal is the computerization of the City Economic Enterprise and other systems that will make the city capable for e-governance.

This year, we have started implementing the Computerized Cedula System which has improved our collection of Cedula Taxes.

The dream of a city without slums is no longer just a dream. The systematic and orderly transfer of residents to relocation sites has ensured that there is indeed an end to illegal settling and a place for better communities in Butuan.

Finally, to make our city more attractive to foreign investors, we have to improve not only our business climate but also our recreational facilities. Probably, the most significant and most appealing of which is a golf course for which we have more than enough land and water to supply.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the face of our future.
Again, I thank the members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod for working with me for the good of our entire city, and I thank all of you who believe we can do it. Thank you for your faith, perseverance and values which will serve as our pillar as we build to attain the future that we envision.
Let us all imagine and look forward to what awaits us in the years to come.
Thank you for all your hard work and may God bless us all!