Guiani-Sayadi delivers 1st SOCA

Cotabato City Mayor Atty. Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi delivered her “State of the City Address” last November 09, 2016 held at the function hall of South Seas Mall. Guiani-Sayadi cited the triumphs and accomplishment of the city government in the past months specifically on infrastructure, trade, and her fight against illegal drugs. (GILMHAR A. LAO)

COTABATO City’s first lady mayor, by succession, cited various accomplishments of the local government for Calendar Year 2016, which she described as another milestone.

“As President Rodrigo Duterte said, change is coming. I say that great changes will be coming to Cotabato City,” Mayor Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi  spoke before a crowd during her first State of the City Address (SOCA) delivered last November 9 at the Function Room of the South Seas Mall, 47 days since she assumed the mayoralty post following the untimely demise of her brother, the late mayor Japal Guiani, Jr.

Mayor Guiani-Sayadi stressed that there are various challenges and problems that the city is now facing, from the problem of law and order to traffic congestion, to health and sanitation, and  to livelihood and employment, among others.

“During my short stint as your city vice mayor then, I could say that I have started something that would facilitate change in our city. Among these are the deliberations for the amendment of our Market Code, our Local Revenue Code, and the Traffic Code,” she said.

Guiani-Sayadi said she is confident that the present leadership and membership of the Sangguniang Panlungsod could fast-track the finalization of these amendments so that the economic development agenda of the executive branch could also speed up.

In just 47 days, she said the city government has already a bucket-full of accomplishments.

“First in our long list of accomplishments is the establishment and operationalization of the Cotabato City Visitor’s Information Center located at the old City Hall. This was done in less than a month. This is just the first phase of our plan to rehabilitate and refurbish our old City Hall building in order to preserve and enhance its historical and tourism value,” she said.

Mayor Guiani-Sayadi added that the constituents are aware of the city’s tourism potentials, citing the geographical location where Shariff Mohammad Kabunsuan landed to spread the Islamic faith in this part of the country.

“Our city is also the cradle of the Sultanate of Maguindanao and the gateway to Central Mindanao. Thus, our tourism potential is great,” she said.

She pointed out that the initial achievements could not have been realized if not for the improved revenue collection.

“At the close of the third quarter this year, our city has already posted a total current operating income of P632,637,099.51 or an increase of 17 percent as compared to the same period last year. Our total current operating expenditure as of the end the third quarter this year is P439,482,405.31 or a decrease of 7.5-percent as compared to the same period last year. As a result, our city has a net operating income of P193,154,624.20 as of the end of the third quarter,” she said.

Mayor Guiani-Sayad said when she first joined the city government as city administrator, the Internal Revenue Allotment was a meager P327-million, just  enough to support the administrative requirements of the city government. Now, the annual IRA is P672 million or an increase of 210-percent in just six years.

“Because of this, we now have 49 ongoing infrastructure projects in the city which are all scheduled to be completed on or before the end of the year. All of these are being undertaken by this administration, under the City Engineering Office. Among these are four farm-to-market roads located at Barangay Tamontaka 3, Tamontaka 4, Tamontaka 5, and Kalanganan 2,” she revealed.

Furthermore, to provide potable water to the constituents, the city government is now implementing the potable water supply expansion project under the Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig para sa Lahat or Salintubig Program of the national government.

She said a sizeable portion of the water project cost is funded by the Department of the Interior and Local Government. The project implementation is being undertaken with the technical support and cooperation of the Metro Cotabato Water District.

“Beneficiaries of these projects are residents along East Diversion Road and Talainged Subdivision of Barangay Tamontaka Mother and Tamontaka 1; Virgo Urban Poor Subdivision in Barangay Rosary Heights 9; Zenaida Subdivision and Purok Taliltay at Barangay Rosary Heights 8; and Peñafrancia and Federville Subdivisions at Barangay Rosary Heights 11,” she said.

Aside from these major infrastructure projects, the mayor said that in a matter of days they will be completing the construction of the Women Crisis Center and the Vocation Training Resource Center for Persons with Disability. In addition, senior citizens of Cotabato City will soon be having their own building.

On the issue of health, the city government is looking at some long range programs for its promotion and service delivery.

“One of this is the establishment of a city hospital. This is in response to many health services issues. Another is the establishment of nutrition centers in every clustered barangay health centers. This will also serve as a facility for promoting nutrition among children and as emergency feeding centers during calamities and disasters,” she said.

The city LGU will have a Septage Processing Plant to be undertaken jointly with the Metro Cotabato Water District with the technical support provided by the United States Agency for International Development.

“This septage facility is the first project in Cotabato City that is self liquidating and can benefit both parties that are spending for its establishment. It will serve as a treatment plant of all the wastes that we can declog from the city’s septic tanks. This is one of the city government’s ways of protecting our environment from being polluted by the harmful chemicals from waste materials,” she said.

Mayor Guiani-Sayadi said that just last month, aside from a number of fast-food establishments, beauty clinics and department stores, a new mall have opened.

“These new business establishments have also resulted to job generation and employment of some 1,300 of our residents. The economic growth we are seeing and experiencing now is, I would say, just the tip of the iceberg. In the months to come, more investors will be coming in. More tourists will be visiting the city,” she said.

When assuming as mayor, she reiterated her commitment to further intensify the campaign against all forms of criminalities in Cotabato City.

“As a result, we now have zero incidence of motorcycle theft; zero incidence of snatching; zero incidence of hold-up; zero incidence of bukas-kotse; and, zero incidence of agaw cellphone. This is aside from zero incidents of minors caught violating the curfew for minors. It was only during the first 10 days of June that minors were caught violating the curfew. Since then, no more minors are out of their homes by 10 o’clock in the evening. This was successfully done with the help of our Christian and Muslim religious leaders and the neighborhood organizations,” she said.

She added that records from the Cotabato City Police Office show a very remarkable decrease in crime incidents from the period July 1 to November 6 this year.

“There is a 21.28 percent decrease in the occurrence of shooting incidents as compared to the same period last year. On the so-called
Eight Focus Crimes, there was also a decrease of 15.18 percent as compared to the same period last year. These so-called Focus Crimes are murder, homicide, robbery, theft, carnapping, motorcycle theft, physical injury, and rape. Crimes against persons also decreased by 27.21 percent. From a total of 136 for the same period last year to 99 this year. Of the 99, sixty-eight are physical injuries,” she said.

On the campaign against illegal drugs, the mayor said nearly P1-million worth of prohibited drugs were confiscated since July 1, 2016 when dozens of drug pushers and traffickers were either arrested or neutralized, and hundreds of drug users have voluntarily surrendered to the police.

“This is due to the joint PNP-LGU ronda patrols that we are conducting every night. As you may have seen on my personal Facebook page, i usually join our city police in going around the city,” she said. (GILMHAR A. LAO & ANNE B. ACOSTA – MINDANAO EXPOSE’)