STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS - Bacolod City

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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.