BACOLOD CITY - Mayor Alfredo Abelardo ‘Albee’ Benitez recently revealed the accomplishments and changes that his administration have implemented here in his first 100 days in office.

Benitez shared the gains and priorities of the city to the Bacolodnons in a program held at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) grounds on Oct. 8.

Benitez started by emphasizing his priority of restoring public trust in the city government by building a culture of transparency and discipline and establishing direct communication lines with his constituents.

We issued Executive Order No. 1 which established the good governance committee to ensure prudence and proper documentation of transactions in our offices, particularly the disbursement and liquidation of public funds, Benitez said.

Benitez said the city is now implementing strict monitoring of procurement costs based on reasonable prices to ensure the proper, efficient, and judicious spending of government funds.

Benitez also committed to clean the city’s image. Thus, he stressed the creation of the Bacolod City Task Force on Spaghetti Wires, which cleaned up the dangling cables and electric wires.

Despite starting the untangling of messy cable wires, Benitez said the city is working on a long-term solution, as he plans to place telecommunications and electric wires underground.

The mayor also stressed the planned construction of four access roads, as well as plans to address the traffic congestion.

In terms of flooding, the city have identified drainage sites for repair and rehabilitation to address it.

For e-governance, Benitez said the city has started developing online systems for the departments. In fact, the Office of the Building Official has started to go online, adding that the public can now apply online for business permits.

Benitez also launched an online citizen watch platform, “Isugid kay Mayor! (Report to the Mayor!), where Bacolodnons can lodge their complaints on water, electricity, and garbage services.

“Our long-term solution on garbage is an integrated waste recovery and recycling complex in Barangay Felisa in which several proponents have shown interest to invest,” Benitez said.

Our approach is to maximize recycling of trash, to lessen residual waste and provide alternative sources of revenues, the local chief executive added.

Aside from these accomplishments, Benitez also highlighted his priority programs for Bacolodnons on health and housing.

Benitez said the cornerstone of his campaign for change here is the health program. Thus, they launched the Bacolod Comprehensive Health Program and signed the memorandum of agreement with their first two partner private hospitals - the Metro Bacolod Hospital and Medical Center, and South Bacolod General Hospital and Medical Center. “We already have 53,063 total applications,” the mayor said.

For housing, Benitez said the city has already started implementing its housing plan for informal settlers, following the signing of the memorandum of understanding with the Secretary Jerry Acuzar of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development to build 10,000 housing units here, and the groundbreaking rites for Yuhum Village in Barangay Vista Alegre.

Throughout the election campaign, Benitez said he outlined short and long-term solutions to the problems of the locality, which “leverage new thinking and new technology to enhance the efficiency, equity, transparency, and sustainability of their actions.” Benitez said the city government is just getting started, although it has already started working on implementing change.

“I want to translate our aspirations and dreams into actual, concrete, and realistic projects, something tangible and visible,” he added.