City targets anti-poverty

from The Visayan Daily Star

BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said an Anti-Poverty program for Bacolod City is among the major areas of concentration of his administration for 2008.

He said he and Councilor Celia Flor have agreed to come up with an honest-to-goodness Anti-Poverty program and have allocated about P3 million for it, Leonardia said.

“Of course we are inspired and happy with what happened in 2007 since the business and industry in the city progressed by leaps and bounds,” he said but added that they have to address poverty since there are still many who are poor.

Leonardia said they will continue to support the information and technology sector and will work with the private sector and the IT Council that was created by the Sangguniang Panlungsod. They would like to support all the call centers in terms of facilities, security and other amenities that the city could provide because they would like to encourage the growth of the IT industry in Bacolod , he said.

He also said that within the first or second quarter of 2008, one of the biggest, if not the biggest, call centers will open in Bacolod , referring to Convergys.

Leonardia said Solid Waste Management will also be a priority and they will extract the right kind of participation from the barangays. He said the city will continue the clearing of its drainage system and will maximize the use of the Sipalay dredging equipment lent by Sipalay Mayor Soledad Montilla and Vice Mayor Oscar Montilla to the city for the dredging program started by Councilor Roberto Rojas who has also beginning to explore a group that will go into the minor waterways of the city to address the flood problem.

Leonardia said there is a need for the city to explore new relocation sites and they allocated P20 million for this year for it. He said they will also continue the preventive program for dengue that was started last year.

For 2008, he said, the two major events are the operation of the P54 million slaughterhouse project with no cash out from the city and the P394 million new government center which is expected to be opened within the first half of 2008.