Mayor: 2011 remarkable year for Consolacion

WATER, garbage management, Philhealth coverage and the establishment of a one-stop-shop business permit processing desk were among the accomplishments listed by Consolacion Mayor Teresa Alegado in her State of the Town Address (Sota) yesterday.

Addressing the town’s residents inside the SM-Consolacion Mall, Alegado described 2011 and the first half of 2012 as “remarkable.”

She said her administration implemented programs that benefited town residents and “empowered our barangay officials to implement and operate various projects to satisfy our constituents.”

As her agenda has expanded, she said, “this administration (has become) more sensitive and responsive to the needs of its citizens and to the changes of time.”

Alegado said her administration implemented projects that addressed needs in social services, environment, education, health, economy and livelihood, agriculture, peace and order, infrastructure, heritage, culture and tourism, and urban planning.

Insurance

She said 1,522 indigent families were given Philhealth insurance last year, while 1,298 day care center pupils received supplemental feeding.

The Municipal Government also conducted free medical missions to senior citizens; skills training and job assistance to persons with disabilities (PWDs); and moral recovery program for the youth.

She said 80 artesian wells were built in Barangays Tayud, Lamac, Jugan and Nangka to enable more residents to have access to potable water.

The Municipal Government also sustained efforts to clean waterways and rivers, and improved garbage collection and disposal.

Education

“I have just appointed three environmental police to arrest unscrupulous transporters of garbage to the sanitary landfill,” Alegado said.

In education, Alegado said, her administration built more classrooms, granted scholarships, provided support for socio-cultural and sports programs of schools, and initiated the operation of the Consolacion Community College.

The Municipal Government also enabled the Local Civil Registrar to issue birth, death and marriage certificates on National Statistics Office (NSO) security papers. Through this program, residents no longer have to go to Cebu City to line up for NSO documents.

Alegado said her administration also managed to restructure the loans of the previous leadership and brought down the interest rate of these borrowings to eight percent from 11 percent.

Alegado said P6.4 million in realty tax was added to the town’s coffers from the appraisal of the SM mall.