Mayor Sara Duterte stands ground to work under a pro-active, responsive, efficient, and pro-people agenda for Davao City. Her Barangay Empowerment, Academe, Resource Generation, Peace and Order and Governance (BAROG for brevity) encapsulate her main thrusts and key strategies of a three-year city governance. This issue highlights various events which are geared towards giving a significant impact to the lives of the Dabawenyos.

Our City Government of Davao is service-oriented. Our City Mayor in the frontline would ensure the success of BAROG with its noble and doable objectives for the city and its people. The welfare of the Dabawenyos is and will always be her number one priority.

Food for Work Program kicks-offThe City Government has recently launched a food for work program, “Bayanihan ni Inday Para sa Barangay”, which taps the services of community volunteers in exchange for food items. The program was launched last April 2011 with Isla Verde, located at Ba-rangay 23-C, as the pilot area. A total of 100 volunteers cleaned up the Isla Verde coastline with 50 volunteers in the morning and another 50 in the afternoon. The massive cleanup was done to clear the tons of garbage that piled up and covered the water surface under wooden shanties. Mayor Sara Duterte encourag-es community participation, especially the underprivileged families, to veer away from relying on dole outs and instead participate in community works. The City allocated a budget of P3M for the Food for Work Program reinforcing the clean-up efforts in the city’s coastal and barangay riverbanks under the Bio-Diversity Enhancement Program.

B . A . R . O . G .Barangay Empowerment. Academe. Resource Generation. Peace and Order. Governance.

Sports, Eco-Adventure & Entertainment highlight 1ST Davao Summerfest

Mayor Sara Duterte, together with the Association of Tour Operators and the Davao Tourism Alliance forged ties to further boost the tourism industry in the city through the 1st Davao Summerfest, an event that focuses on sports, eco-ad-venture, and entertainment. City Tour-ism Officer-in-Charge Jason C. Magnaye said that the Summerfest was organized to address the need to hold an event during summer in the city. According to him, this is the season when the city re-ceives the most number of tourists. He added that the Summerfest will comple-

ment the city’s existing major festivals - Araw ng Dabaw and Kadayawan Festival. “With the de-velopment of a new festival, our city can establish itself as a primary summer destination in the country,” Magnaye said. He underscored the opportunity for local facility owners, tour operators and sports organizers to showcase the city’s various sport adventure facilities and activities, such as zip lines, wakeboard park, river rafting, kayaking, mountain climbing and even spelunking. “The city during the event can highlight its existing facilities showing its readiness to host world class competitions, such as golf. But on top of that, we can generate revenue while we promote cama-raderie, project a wholesome image for the community, and promote an interest in sports and healthy living among the youth,” he said.

City provides Free Medical Services for Operation Tuli The City Government of Davao conducted a 2-month free Operation Tuli in the different administrative districts of Davao City, which was scheduled in time for summer vacation. Since not everyone can afford the circumci-sion services of private health practitioners, the City Health Office took the lead in imple-menting the P1.1M project and tapped the services of doctors, nurses and other health workers to ensure the safety of the patients and success of the operation. The program served around 3,600 male adolescents and indigent beneficiaries in the different ba-rangays of the city.

City boosts its support to Home-Based ECCD Service ProvidersConsistent with the provisions of Repub-lic Act No. 8980, Mayor Sara Duterte has implemented Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) by employing ser-vices at the family level undertaken at home or in the neighborhood-based play-groups. According to City Social Services and Development Officer Maria Luisa T. Bermudo, a survey conducted by the Na-tional Statistics Office revealed that out of the 99,241 children in Davao City aged 3 to 5 years old, only 42,468 were en-rolled in the different ECCD centers and home-based sites managed by various

organizations. She said this can be interpreted as only 44% of the total population of children participated in the city’s ECCD Program. With a P2M budget, according to Bermudo, the city will be able to address the 56% disparity rate and eventually come up with a total of 100 home-based sites operating in 43 barangays and managed by the home-based ECCD Service Providers.

Mayor Sara supports Press Freedom DayMayor Inday Sara Duterte recently signed Proclamation No. 8 declaring May 3 of eve-ry year in Davao City as Press Freedom Day. Mayor Duterte said there is a need to ad-dress the plight of journalists who endure and brave dangers to deliver truthful news, and also honor those who have been killed due to the nature of their profession. In re-cent times, the Mayor said, the freedom of the press has been under assault due to the various killings and forced disappearances of journalists in the country. “The City Gov-ernment of Davao supports press freedom. The press, as a watchdog of democracy, is considered vital in ensuring a fair, honest, transparent government and guarantees effective public participa-tion and decision-making through the free access of information and as such, must always be protected and valued,” she said.

Vice Mayor Rody asks Church not to get too personal with RH Bill debateDavao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte urged the Catholic Church and those who oppose the Reproductive Health (RH) bill to be more respectful of other people, especially the Presi-dent. “For me, it is their stand, that is my stand, and it is the stand of the President,” he said. He also requested concerned parties to tone down their violent language, which is getting too personal to the President. Duterte said the Catholics who believe in the stand of the Church and the warnings of the priests can do so, however, he said the Philippines cannot be ruled by the Roman Catholic Church as Filipinos have different religions and different beliefs. “The Church cannot speak on behalf of everyone,” he added.

Gay Representative preferred in the City CouncilVice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is keen on hav-ing a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgen-der (LGBT) representation in the City Coun-cil. With the seats allocated to sectoral representatives, Duterte commented that one from the women’s sector is no longer necessary. He anchored his argument on the present number of elected women councilors in the 16th City Council which, according to him, can already sufficiently protect the rights and interests of women. It can be noted that Duterte had endorsed

to the City Council early in the year the proposed Anti-Discrimination Ordinance affording LGBTs adequate opportunities and equal protection under the law. Duterte has shown support for the LGBT community in the past when the Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, his local political party, field-ed a gay candidate for the City Council in 2001, yet failed the bid. He instead appointed the candi-date to head a department in city hall. The Local Government Code of the Philippines states that every provincial, city and municipal council should have at least three sectoral representatives from non-government or People’s Organizations. Of the three sectoral representatives, women and labor groups must be represented and one from either the urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, disabled persons or any other sectors.

Queen of May: Santacruzan sa Dabaw 2011 SuccessfulThe City Government of Davao has successfully revived Santacruzan, the Queen of Filipino festivals. San-tacruzan is a religious tradition of street pageantry in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary customar-ily held during the month of May. It was one of the highlights of the 1st Davao Summerfest because of its festive undertones. It also fea-tured ladies in the community, the sagalas, who possessed the traits of a role model making the summer vacation truly enriching and memo-rable. The Santacruzan was done under the platform of a truly conservative Catholic tradition based from the call of the Archdiocese of Davao. Organizers had consequently unspoiled the touch of sacredness by ensuring that sagalas maintain decorum inside and outside the church. The 27 vivid representations of Mother Mary gave way to the radiance of Reyna Elena personi-fied by 2007 Binibining Pilipinas International Nadia Lee Cien Shami. It was also an opportunity for local gown designers to display their art which was strictly based on the traditional Philip-pine terno. Organizers assessed success and resolved to make Santacruzan sa Dabaw a yearly event, proving that indeed, the church and the City Government of Davao are good neighbors.

May 2011