The mayor highlighted various achievements of the city during her Valedictory and State of the City Address (SOCA) that premiered live via the City Government of Davao Facebook page on Thursday afternoon (March 17).
She said the city emerged as one of the best cities in the Philippines as they focused all energies and resources on key areas that are vital to the city's growth and empowerment of Dabawenyos.
The city was awarded the fourth Most Competitive Highly Urbanized City in the 2021 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI), which was the highest-ranking of any city outside of the National Capital Region.
The city has been consistent in landing on the Top 5 list since 2015 due to continuous efforts in economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure, and resiliency - known as the four pillars of competitiveness.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) also regularly recognized the local government with the Seal of Good Local Governance and the Seal of Good Financial Housekeeping. The City Government of Davao is currently working towards the development of a Quality Management System (QMS) Certifiable to the ISO 9001:2015 Standard to standardize systems and procedures.
She attributed the city’s numerous gains and achievements to "hard work" that allowed Dabawenyos to overcome challenges and gave them reasons to celebrate.
"Hard work. I always believe that the secret ingredient to success is hard work. Because of hard work, we are where we are now. Because of hard work, we were able to overcome tumultuous times. Because of hard work, we will be able to have hundreds of reasons to celebrate,” Sara said.
She also cited successes in her nearly six years in office as mayor, a journey she dubbed `Byaheng Do30' that focuses on the 10 priority areas of development: education, health, poverty alleviation, infrastructure development, solid waste management, and environment, agriculture, investment and tourism, transportation planning and traffic management, disaster risk reduction, and mitigation, and peace and order.
The mayor, however said that the Byaheng Do30 journey has not been without unnecessary interruptions and difficult stops as Dabawenyos faced `roadblocks after roadblocks' - from the September 2016 Roxas Night Market bombing that claimed innocent lives to the COVID-19 pandemic, which Mayor Duterte claimed as the greatest roadblock of them all.
She also said the city directed efforts to build more infrastructure, enhance revenue generation efforts, strengthen security, and improve the delivery of social services, while also continuously learning, embarking on business and tourism missions, and forging partnerships with other cities in the country and abroad.
"Davao City experienced exhilarating highs and suffered blows, and yet, here we stand today – stronger, more resilient, more ready to face the future," Sara further said.
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