Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella will deliver his accomplishment report on his first 100 days in office on October 16 at the IC3 Convention Center. CDND PHOTO / Delta Derycka Letigio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — How did Mayor Edgardo Labella fare during the first 100 days of his first term as Mayor of Cebu City?
The public will know on October 16 as Labella decided to deliver his report on the week after he marks his 100th day since he officially sat down as the Cebu City’s chief executive.
In a press conference on Tuesday, October 8, the mayor said he chose to delay his report so that he can gather all stakeholders at the IC3 Convention Center.
Members of the city council, barangay officials, academe, and other stakeholders are expected to attend Labella’s report of his achievements in his first 100 days in office.
“I will be inviting a cross-section of the community… at least 600 people. It will take me a little time because I want all these stakeholders to attend so they can appraise and evaluate and they will know what I have done in the last 100 days and what I plan to do in the next year,” said Labella.
The mayor said he is generally satisfied with his performance in the first 100 days.
He said he has” done a lot” in the areas involving environment, flooding mitigation, and garbage management in the past three months.
Achievements
These issues make up three of his 10-point agenda which he announced to the public during his inaugural speech on June 30, 2019.
READ: Mayor Labella’s 10 goals for Cebu City
Since then, the Cebu City Government under Labella’s administration conducted two major river cleanup drives at the Guadalupe River and Mahiga Creek.
The two clean-up drives collected over 100 tons of garbage.
READ: Guadalupe river rehabilitation project kicks off with clean-up drive
The city was also able to form an Inter-Agency Task Force on Flooding (IATFF) to focus on providing solutions to the flooding issues in Cebu.
Recently, the Cebu City Government led the planting of 25,000 seedlings last October 5.
This jumpstarts the city’s goal to raise three million trees within three years.
READ: Labella’s Promise: Cebu City to plant 3M trees to replace 5 trees cut by DENR
The Cebu City’s Office of the Building Official announced that they no longer have backlogs in requests for building and occupancy permits since September 2019.
This is in line with the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to provide ease in the processing of government permits.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) also praised the city for successfully clearing Colon Street and Osmeña Boulevard following the agency’s directive to all local government units (LGUs) to ensure the roads are clear of obstruction.
Within the last three months, Labella and his allies also identified the areas in the city where mid-rise tenements for social housing will be built.
He led a groundbreaking ceremony for two of these tenements in Barangay Lorega.
READ: Cebu City plans to build tenements in Lorega that will be rent-free for 5 years
As for education, the city has also began processing their requirements for a Cebu City College. The ordinance that will create the city college is still pending with the Committee of Laws.
Traffic situation
Labella admitted that he needs to work harder on providing solutions to the city’s traffic congestion problems.
At least 70 traffic lights malfunctioned on August 13, 2019 causing a major traffic jam in the city.
READ: Cebu City hit by horrendous traffic jam caused by malfunctioning SCATS
Despite a budget of P250,000 provided to the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) through a supplemental budget, the amount was only enough to upgrade the digital board system.
It did not cover the purchase of new traffic lights.
Labella agreed that traffic issues cannot be solved by Cebu City alone.
He said members of the Metro Cebu Development Coordinating Board (MCDCB), a body mandated to formulate development plans for the Metro Cebu area and coordinate their implementation, need to reconvene to solve traffic issues.
MCDCB is composed of businessmen, civil society organizations, local government officials and government agencies
“It has to be an integrated traffic system involving all LGUs (local government units) in Metro Cebu,” said Labella.
Casual employees
Labella was also hit with criticisms involving the presence of “too many casual employees” at the Cebu City Hall.
READ: ‘Too many’ casual employees at Cebu City Hall
The mayor has since rectified the situation and said that they will focus on filling the 2,900 plantilla positions so they can do away with casual employees.
Another issue that hit the Labella administration in the last three months involves the Operation Second Chance facility in Barangay Kalunasan, where 11 children in conflict with the law escaped from the city-owned center on Friday, October 4.
During Labella’s first 100 days, the Metropolitan Water District (MCWD) announced several water supply interruptions due to drying up of dams, and saltwater intrusion in groundwater wells.
Labella has warned the MCWD Board of Directors to “shape up” in the succeeding months or face dismissal.
The mayor said he faced various challenges and problems in his first 100 days.
He said plans are still in place to solve these problems as he called on the constituents of Cebu City to remain patient and work with the local government to implement positive change. / celr