Delivery of basic services programs and projects for the constituents is anchored on the City Mayor’s Five Pillars of Good Governance: (1) Education, (2) Health, (3) Housing, (4) Trade and Industry, and (5) Liveability and Disaster Preparedness.
Valenzuela City’s key advocacy on education is to make it available for everybody, especially for those who are commonly unattended to by other local governments. Among the substantial accomplishments of the city on education include the establishment of the prestigious Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science (ValMaSci), CAMANAVA’s first LGU-funded Special Education (SPED) Center, and continuous expansion of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela (PLV).
Free tertiary education at the locally-ran, PLV and Valenzuela City Polytechnic College (Valpoly) was implemented starting the second semester of School year 2016- 2017. It eases the financial burden of Valenzuelano parents who are sending their children to college, a common problem in the Philippines.
A comprehensive and multi-faceted feeding program also supplements the nutritional needs of Valenzuelano children to make them more attentive and competitive in school. A group of volunteer-mothers, assisted and supervised by the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED) personnel, man the city’s Central Kitchen in 4 rotating shifts daily, to prepare the nutritious food for the school children, which are rationed in all public schools in the city.
For pre-school children, the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) runs the “Chikiting Food Patrol” which provides nutritious meals for all learners in daycare centers. The subsequent level is the K to 6 In-school Feeding Program which is extended to undernourished children enrolled from kindergarten to Grade 6 in public Valenzuela City schools as identified by the Department of Education (DepEd).
Increased local revenue is also a significant factor in providing more assistance for indigent Valenzuelano families. Through the collected city income, the local government is able to procure medicines, upgrade medical equipment for the city hospital, and generate additional jobs for community health workers who educate the masses on population control and other pertinent health issues. The purchase of dialysis machines and CT scan facilities, which has the lowest rates in the Northern Metropolis, is among the beneficial health investments of the city government for its constituents.
The local government also builds community health hubs dubbed as Barangay Health Station (BHS) that are compliant with the standards set forth by the country’s Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The problem of informal settler families (ISF) is also being addressed in Valenzuela City. The construction of an in-city relocation site for ISFs symbolically dignifies its inhabitants, acknowledging their potential as the city’s human capital for progress instead of being viewed as liabilities. The Disiplina Villages in barangays Ugong and Bignay are also concrete proofs of the effective collaboration between the government and the private/business sector.
The city’s strong relationship with the business sector is one of the main ingredients for its robust economic growth year after year. Through the city’s streamlining initiatives to make the city business-friendly, more investors were attracted to capitalize in the locality’s potential. Instead of regarding the city’s thick population as a challenge, the status was presented by the city as its rich human capital and vast source of a workforce that is complimentary in business investments.
As such, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) awarded Valenzuela City the Hall-of-Fame trophy as Most Business-Friendly Highly Urbanized City for having won the award in the years 2012, 2014 and 2015. The City once again won the coveted award in the year 2019, after a three-year hiatus as a hall of fame awardee.
Valenzuela City is also consistently among the top rank in the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) Philippines’ Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) since 2014.
The generated jobs for the people also help eradicate the perennial poverty issue. Over the relatively long haul, Public Private Partnership (PPP) is now emerging as a new trend in good governance that is gradually being recognized nationally. In fact, the DILG currently mandates the Public-Private Partnership for the People Initiative for Local Governments (LGU P4), adapting Valenzuela City’s PPP strategies, which other local governments may replicate in their respective localities to gain improved economic posture.
Valenzuela City started engaging in PPP when the City Ordinance No. 140, Series of 2014 or the city’s “Joint Venture Ordinance” was promulgated in July 2014. Two landmark LGU-initiated PPP projects were rolled out immediately after -- the construction and operation of the Valenzuela Town Center (VTC) inside the Valenzuela People’s Park and the rehabilitation of the 22-year old Marulas Public Market.
All these government initiatives are aimed at making the city more “liveable”. Disaster resiliency in Valenzuela City, as represented by the presence of the ALERT (Allied Local Evacuation and Emergency Response) Center and the Sentro ng Samasamang Serbisyo (3S) Centers, is among its crucial and fundamental backbones toward a stronger, more systematic, and more reliable working co-operational mechanisms for public service.
ALERT Center is the brain of the disaster preparedness and response of the city while the 3S Centers are the peripheral nerves. These are integrated satellite government facilities with two primary purposes: governance and pre-positioning of rescue equipment, personnel, and supplies.
The city has also started reclaiming open spaces for the people and turned them into greener public pocket parks and the Valenzuela City People’s Park. These are not merely places to unwind but give Valenzuelanos the opportunity to nurture being cohesive families. Some green mini-parks and children’s playgrounds can also be found inside the compound of 3S Centers and school facilities.
It is through the visible good governance in the city that an increasing number of agencies and business institutions embark on forging investments and ties with the local government. Since the latter built the potentials of the city, it shall stay determined in achieving greater heights for the people, without limits.