Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas Jr. | Contributed photo/Talisay City PIO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas promised to pursue all the projects he started before the pandemic as soon as the city shifts to a new normal.
In his State of the City Address (SOCA), Gullas said his administration had many plans to improve the lives of the city’s constituents, but these were halted during the onslaught of the pandemic on March 2020.
“This year I was ready to talk about all the advances and accomplishments we supposedly could have had as far as our Aksyon Agad Administration is concerned. Unfortunately, the world took a different turn, as far as our 8 point agenda is concerned, some programs have been implemented, some have been temporarily suspended,” said the mayor.
Among the projects that had to take a step back were projects on environment preservation. The city government conducted massive clean-ups in 2019 resulting to the collection of 200,000 kilos of wastes, but because of the pandemic, it could not be continued.
On December 2019, the city launched the “Basura ko, Panginabuhi Ko” program which gives rewards to barangays, elementary and high schools for plastic wastes that have been collected and not thrown in their waterways or canals.
Gullas said the city government would work on bringing back these environmental projects to make the city cleaner for future generations.
The mayor is also eager to complete or start infrastructure projects, which he has delegated to the barangays as projects under their jurisdiction.
“The barangays are at the forefront of identifying priority projects. No barangay will be left behind,” said the mayor.
For next year, the city is also set to build a social services building at the back of City Hall, where a dialysis center will be established to help families who have members in need of dialysis but can’t afford the hefty price for the treatment.
Most importantly the city will work to continue its eradication of the presence of the illegal drug in the city through its after-care program, which seeks to rehabilitate users.
At least 60 users have been rehabilitating in 2020 alone, and they plan to enroll more individuals into the program in the coming months.
From July 2019 until October 2020, the local police in Talisay City had 718 persons arrested for drugs and seized 7,649.75 grams of shabu which has a street value of P52,018,096.
The mayor promised to continue the Oplan Limpyo Talisay, which is a holistic approach to eradicating the illegal drug menace in the communities.
Read: Number of active COVID-19 cases in Talisay City drops to 15
Finally, the city plans to ensure that the disaster team will continue to function efficiently in terms of responding to disaster and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.
For the COVID-19 response, Gullas said that the Emergency Operations Center would continue to uphold the health protocols and conduct intensified contact tracing.
The mayor dedicated his SOCA to all the Talisaynons who succumbed to COVID-19.
“To all frontliners who fought bravely and fell. To all nurses, doctors and medical personnel who are looking at us from heaven. You will all be missed. To all frontliners still manning the front lines 7 months into this pandemic. We respect you. We appreciate all of you and We love you. We will continue to serve the people of Talisay and our country in your honor,” said the mayor./dbs