 Mayor Pablo C. Ortega finally put an end to skepticisms and non-believers on how he can govern a 12 year-old component city when he cited his administration's achievements and "peak level" performance for the past four years.
Mayor Ortega, who is starting another three-year term after his constituents reelected him in May last year, emphasized the support of the city residents, not only on their involvement with the city's various programs of productivity but also including them in regular, partial and comprehensive surveys and listening to their feedbacks.
Out of 33 small cities nationwide last year, San Fernando emerged as the Most Competitive, excelling in the Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project when it received a The Entrepreneurs Award for Most Honest and Transparent in its Dealings; The Entrepreneurs Award for Most Supportive to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; The Special Award for Best Documentation; and for Outstanding Performance in Quality of Life. All these recognitions were given through a survey conducted by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center through the assistance of St. Louis University.
The City, which has a population of 120, 850 as of 2010, is also establishing quality and environmental systems standard by getting an International Organization of Standardization certifications on April and is eventually improving its accountability, transparency and services to the people through its Integrated Management Systems.
Before 1998, the year it became a component city, San Fernando's lack of a simple and consistent communication with majority of residents, in how it wanted to tell how it is being continually productive and how it was doing in terms or its local government's performance until it has established four areas of governance, bankability, livability and competitiveness with the cooperation of the City Council, employees of City Hall, barangay officials the National Government and Non-Government Organizations.
The Mayor also recalled how the City began concentrating on the four-performance area in order to respond to the residents' needs and safety. He also saw to it that funds were well-generated, allocated and used; how fast were front-line office personnel responded to clients; if crime rates were low, and not over looking its environmental and service-qualities.
"A sure way to determine how productive we are is by measuring and taking our accomplishments in a given period of time; our achievements and performance provide a 'snap-shot' of our well-being and condition," the Mayor added.
He was also grateful for having the Council and the executive department for ensuring important budget and helps shape and decides policies data-driven, hands-on and adapt with want the administration's constituents want.
The said policies are focused on how well the funds generated from taxes and other services are allocated and used for basic services delivery and for the purposes of transparency.
"We are measured how fast service was provided to them; how aware they are of their city ordinances," he also said and added that with various reactions, whether positively or negatively, coming from the people, it is when the administration can prove if it is doing a good job and spending their taxes wisely. |
