BAGUIO City—Mayor Mauricio Domogan continues to believe in his city’s strong economy, as he cited accomplishments and challenges in his city’s quest to remain a standard in urban development during his State of the City Address delivered on July 27.
The mayor cited an upbeat business sector reflected in the 25,247 business permits issued in 2016, a 20-percent increase from 2015’s registry of 20,000 new businesses. For the first semester of 2017, it issued 19,649 licenses for local businesses, indicating 78 percent adhere to the policy of acquiring their permits in the first quarter of the year.
Domogan noted the business sector and real-property taxes are the top sources of the city’s tax collections.
The city’s tax collection last year was pegged at 103 percent, exceeding its target of P1.25 billion. Its forecast tax collection of P1.77 billion for the year was already collected as of June 30.
Domogan appealed to the city council to act favorably on the proposal to update the market value of real property that has remained static for the past 20 years, despite a law that prescribes increases over periods of time.
The city also boasts of the timely submission of the annual city budget to the city council for the third consecutive year.
In 2015 the annual investment plan had a total budget of P180.6 million for 35 major projects and 166 barangay projects. In 2016 a little over P196.3 million was approved for 163 project covering both major city and barangay projects. As of this date the local chief executive said the city has a low batting average of 21-percent expenditure of the total budget and is tasking departments to find ways to speed up project implementation.
Tourism, a major industry of the city, is also a major contributor to the city coffers, with the city ranking among the country’s top 14 destinations and among the top 20 MICE choices. There were slightly over a million arrivals in 2016, higher by 1.89 percent over the number in 2015.
One important leap to being a smart city and leveling up the business environment is the digital capability of the city.