ORMOC CITY—Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez delivered his first State of the City Address (Soca) last Thursday, focusing on accomplishments made in his 12-point agenda spelled out during his inaugural speech.
Before the city council and invited guests, including his wife Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez of the Fourth District of Leyte, Gomez highlighted how the improved peace and order situation renewed confidence of the business community, resulting to increased tourism and investments flocking to the city.
“Ormoc has shed its image as the drug capital of Eastern Visayas,” Gomez said in the Soca. “Ormoc was the first city in Eastern Visayas to have 60 percent of its 110 barangays certified as drug-free by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.”
Gomez won by a large margin in the 2016 elections largely due to his strong advocacy against drugs, crime and corruption. His antidrug advocacy has been his political platform since he entered politics in 2001 when he run under Mamamayan Ayaw sa Droga (MAD) as party-list representative. MAD placed second in the election, but was disqualified by the Commission on Elections because it did not represent a marginalized sector.
“The decision of the Ormoc Development Team to align with President Rodrigo Duterte in the 2016 elections did not go to waste,” he added. “In so short a time, we have overturned Ormoc’s undesirable image into what it is now: drug-free and with a happy people who are not afraid to go out into the streets, even at night, because they feel safe now.”
Gomez said he also addressed the concern of the business community for an improved police visibility to deter crimes in the city.
“We are also the first city in Eastern Visayas with policemen visible everywhere. This way, you feel safe every time you go out of your houses, even at night time because you know your police are working for you,” he said.
“To the businessmen who are here, I know police visibility was one of your avid requests from the past administrations but, somehow, it fell on deaf ears,” he told the crowd. “As soon as we came in, our first order was to plan out a holistic peace and order campaign.”
Gomez said the improved peace and order situation in the city has resulted in increased tourism, business and investments, resulting in more jobs for the people.
Citing statistics from the City Tourism Office, Gomez said there is a sharp increase in the number of visitors since he became a mayor. Data shows tourist arrival in 2015 was only 61,608, which increased to 128,218 in 2016 with most of the visitors coming in on the last half of the year.
Gomez said that, as of April, 96,139 tourists have already been recorded.
“If these 96,139 visitors spent an average of P2,000 during their visit here, that is already P192,278,000 circulating in Ormoc City in just four months,” he said.
On the area of investment, Gomez said two big shopping malls are coming up soon—Robinsons and SM. A third player, Double Dragon, has already brought a property where it will put up a Citi Mall.
“While the two malls are still in the construction phase, we can already feel the impact to the economy. Laborers, especially masons and carpenters, are in high demand,” he said. “Hardware and sand and gravel suppliers are also making a killing. Their presence is also enticing other related businesses to come in.”
Gomez added the “business buzz” Ormoc is generating may result in two plane companies serving the Ormoc-to-Manila route in 2018.
“This will further enhance our business prospects, as investors would gladly come to a city where they can fly in and out fast,” he said.
The mayor said business registration for 2017 shows an increase of 487 new retailers, 654 service providers, 43 manufacturers and 12 new banks and financing
institutions.
There is now a total of 6,594 registered businesses, up by 1,196 from 2016, directly employing some 19,731 people.
He said that, out of 6,594, 47 are considered large businesses with a capitalization of P50 million and above. Also, 43 new businesses registered to operate in Ormoc this year.
Business tax collection on the third quarter has already reached P80,602,122.72, which is already higher than the P79,669,680.26 total collection last year. Ormoc City targets a collection of P99,220,348.94 by the end of this year.