Caloocan shoots for ‘No. 1’

Long languishing in the shadow of its more progressive neighbors, Caloocan City, which Mayor Enrico Echiverri claims has lagged behind in development due to official neglect and lack of will and vision by former leaders, is moving determinedly to become the No. 1 city in Metro Manila.

The mayor bared this in a 15-page speech keynoting the first general assembly of the City Development Council (CDC) at the city hall’s Bulwagang Katipunan.

The occasion also marked the first 200 days in office by the new city mayor who expressed confidence "Caloocan can make it in no time at all despite the odds."

The mayor, who heads the executive committee, convened the CDC for a needed reorganization and refocusing of priorities following the change in leadership after the 2004 polls.

He said the programs and projects lined up include the strengthening and improving revenue collection, education, tourism and providing a healthy business climate in the city.

At the meeting, Echiverri claimed that in his first 200 days as mayor, Caloocan has racked up an additional 4,000 registered businesses on top of the previous 8,000 tally, a 50 percent increase.

"We are expecting to register 30,000 businesses next year. Be one of the 30,000," Echiverri dared city business leaders and entrepreneurs present. Earlier, the mayor said that the city increased its collection of revenues to P120 million, some 10 percent higher than figures for the same period last year.

The mayor also rued that the city has not maximized its advantage in population and strategic position as a gateway from the north of Luzon to Metro Manila.

He said his administration is allocating at least P120 million for the repair of old roads and the paving of new ones in the undeveloped portions of the city.

To go with the focus on building new infrastructure to encourage more investments in the city is the administration’s intensified campaign against criminality through the purchase of modern equipment called Mobile Alarm and Recom Response System (MARRS), he said.

Echiverri said this is his response to the clamor of the people for change.

"This is in answer now to that call. The people want change in the quality of governance and we will give it to them. We will give quality governance that will generate jobs, put up additional schools, build roads maintain peace and order and above all, give them an improved quality of life," the mayor said.

Statistically, Caloocan ranks third in Metro Manila in terms of population, nearly one million by latest estimates. It constitutes roughly 1.5 percent of the national population and 12.64 percent of Metro Manila.

"Our people are our most valuable asset. This we will harness to fulfill the gargantuan task ahead of us. With a workforce of almost 600,000 which is larger than most cities in Metro Manila, we can become the No. 1 in not time at all."

The CDC is a multi-sectoral body composed of representatives from the city government, the private sector and non-government organizations, tasked to formulate the city’s long-term, medium-term and annual socio-economic development programs and projects; formulate local investment incentives to promote the inflow and direction of private investment capital; coordinate; monitor and evaluate the implementation of these programs and projects.