One of the youngest chief executives in Negros Occidental has devoted his first 100 days in office to reorganizing the local bureaucracy and improving social services in the third class city of Himamaylan.
Mayor Rogelio Raymund I. Tongson also pointed out in his State of the City Address that local tax collection is on the upswing even as the registration process for businesses is being streamlined.
Tongson, won in the last 2019 polls over Vice Mayor Carmenia Bascon, a former long-time mayor and a member of the Gatuslao clan that dominated local politics for decades.
Reports and statistics furnished DNX by the Himamaylan Office of the City Mayor showed local revenue collection perking up in the third quarter of 2019 covering the months of August to October, compared to the same period last year.
Business and other local taxes went up from P6.7 million in Q3 of 2018 to P9 million of the same period this year.
Fees and other charges also went up to P4.5 million from P4.4 million in the same comparative periods while revenues from economic enterprises also increased to P3 million from P2.5 million.
Real property tax also upped from P7.6 million from P7.5 million.
Tongson also highlighted the effect of the “back to station” policy in the Civil Registrar’s Office that resulted to the “efficiency” in performance of regular employees who have become more organized in searching for files that has resulted in “faster processing and releasing of documents, and more accountability and responsibility.”
He also said job order employees of City Hall are “really working.”
P9.5M BARANGAY AID, SOCIAL SERVICES
Among the “accomplishments” Tongson cited was the earmarking of aid in the 2020 budget for 19 barangays at P500,000 each from the previous P1,000.
The first-term mayor also announced the allocation of P3.3 million in aid for indigents that will be in the form of cash and medical assistance, medicines, and other subsidies.
