Over the years, the City of Valenzuela has developed a great number of practices that significantly improve the lives of Valenzuelanos and elevate the City Government’s efficiency in delivering services. Some examples of these are the digitalization of government service processes through the 3S+ Electronic Terminal and the Paspas Permit System, the opening of parks, open spaces, and recreational facilities, the provision of free healthcare services, the development of the Disiplina Village housing and resettlement projects, the establishment of advanced learning facilities like the Valenzuela City Academic Center for Excellence (ValACE), the improvement and modernization of the transportation system, and the continuous advancement and refinement of various social services.
To maintain its fast progress, the City of Valenzuela continues to improve these measures, as well as create new ones, in line with Mayor WES Gatchalian’s Six Pillars of Good Governance: (1) Liveable City and Ecotourism, (2) Community Health and Wellness, (3) Housing and Resettlement, (4) Education, (5) Transportation, and (6) Social Services.
After all the hard work that went into developing its best practices, the City Government is also very glad to share them with other cities and municipalities, as can be seen in the frequent governance tours and benchmarking activities in the city, believing that they can transform not only the City of Valenzuela but the entire nation.
The city government puts premium to the education of young Valenzuelanos. During the 1st term of Mayor REX Gatchalian in 2013, he trail blazed the city’s education plan. The revolutionary Education 360° Investment Program continues to address the perennial education problems the city is facing. The program is a holistic approach to uplifting the quality of local basic education. With this program, the city government focuses on all aspects of student’s learning. It adapts a “cover-all-fronts” strategy and invests in every vital aspect of basic education- school supplies, curriculum, nutrition, teacher competency, parental involvement, and infrastructure. Through its holistic and systematic approach in educating the youth, the city government endeavors to produce a globally competitive citizenry.
Each component is geared towards the development and advancement of every student in the city. The massive construction of classrooms and school buildings in Valenzuela provided the students the best learning environment. The facility build-up in the city gave the students a more secured and conducive place for learning. The Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science, the city’s education crown jewel, is considered to be one of the best science and mathematics school in the country. With the additional facilities provided by the local government, each Valenzuelano student will have more developed skills and abilities.
Parents and teachers are both significant contributors to the child’s full growth and potential. This is why the city government aims to engage more parents on the learning and development of their children through the city-wide Nanay-Teacher Parenting Camp. This capacity building activity helps the parents understand and nurture their children’s academic progress. On the other hand, teachers are given proper training to better equip them teaching their students. Teachers undergo comprehensive and intensive training as a preparation for the annual reading and math camp every summer. The Reading Camp gathers the frustrated and non-readers in the city and engage them in an extensive 20-day remedial summer reading lessons. Aside from the teachers, student-aide teachers from Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela also help in the reading and math camp.
Valenzuela City also prioritizes the health and nutrition of the students. Together with the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED), the city government designed a city-wide feeding program that caters to the underweight school children of the city. Parent-volunteers prepare meal boxes for over 16,000 students in all day care and elementary schools.
Other significant components of the Education 360 are the “Katok Para sa Magandang Bukas”, a program designed to encourage the Out-of-School-Youths (OSYs) to attend the community based school program; and the Little League, a sports development program enhancing the physique, camaraderie, discipline, and critical thinking of the students.
In compliance with the national mandate of the fight against illegal drugs, the Valenzuela City government launched its comprehensive, responsive, complete, and sustainable rehabilitation program that guarantees full moral and economic support to identified drug suspects from the moment they surrender- the Valenzuela City Cares Plus or more known as the VC Cares Plus.
Launched in August 2016, the program caters to the surrendered drug users and pushers. The city, through the Valenzuela Anti-Drugs Abuse Council (VADAC), implemented the drug dependents care program. Under this program, a surrendered drug offender will undergo assessment by local medical doctors for appropriate treatment or rehabilitation. Based on the assessment, the surrenderees will either go to the six-month long rehabilitation program in Central Luzon Rehabilitation Center in Magalang, Pampanga, or they will join the six-month long Community Based Wellness Program set up by the LGU in their respective barangays. After the six-month rehabilitation, drug surrenderees will be re-integrated in the community through the 18-month After Care Program. The city government will closely monitor the surrenderees to make sure that they won’t use illegal drugs again. The Public Employment and Services Office is tasked to create jobs and offer livelihood packages after they finish the rehabilitation program. Recently, 142 surrendered drug offenders finished the first phase of their center-based rehabilitation program in Magalang, Pampanga.
In April 2017, the city government and the Philippine National Police-Valenzuela launched the first mobile drug testing in the Philippines, the Tokhang-on-Wheels one-stop-shop. The mobile one-stop shop aims to encourage more suspected drug offenders to submit themselves to authorities and undergo the necessary rehabilitation program for them.
Valenzuela City has instituted a number of programs for rehabilitation as a response to the campaign to fight illegal drugs throughout the years. The city also reintegrates initiatives to give hope to drug dependents by creating a reformatory center to provide for a comprehensive drug rehabilitation program.
On February 14, 2020, the city government opened a Drug Rehabilitation and Treatment Center or the “Balai Banyuhay”. “Balai” means home and “Banyuhay” stands for “bagong anyo ng buhay”, setting the caliber for a top-notch rehab center in the country.
The establishment of Drug Rehabilitation and Treatment Center was mandated by the City Ordinance No. 603 S. 2019 and under the ordinance, the cost of care and maintenance for applicant drug dependents may reach from P3,900 for residents up to P15,000 a month for non-residents. Some of the facilities at Balai Banyuhay are outpatient recovery clinic, a clinical lab section, a nurse’s station, a psychology/social workers section, a kitchen, a learning center, a PDEA office, classrooms and a full-sized basketball court. The facility provides effective and sustainable after-care services for drug surrenderees.
Another innovative practice of the city government of Valenzuela is the streamlining of business permits and licenses. Then-Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian spearheaded the 3S in Public Service which stands for Simple, Speed and Service Excellence, the city government’s anti-graft and corruption platform that guarantees transparency and good governance. This innovation was further developed under the new administration of Mayor REX Gatchalian in 2013. The 3S Program evolved into what is now called the 3S Plus. Plus is the innovation in the efficient use of technology. This program aims to minimize graft and corruption to a zero level through the use of communication and information technology to minimize direct contact between the city government employees and its customers thereby reducing the probability of graft and corruption among local civil servants.
The 3S+ program has changed the way citizens transact their businesses in the city hall. Normally, customers would have to endure long and tedious processes to get their permits and licenses, but with the now simplified program, government transactions are made much faster and efficient.
In 2014, Valenzuela made another milestone by launching the Philippine’s first fully automated building and construction permit application system- the 3S Plus Electronic Terminal. This is the product of the enhanced 3S Plus which banked further on the element of technology. Installed at the 3rd floor of the Finance Building in Valenzuela City Hall, the electronic terminal is a well-planned mix of anti-graft and corruption technologies that includes a touch screen registration booths, barcode system and scanner, randomizer, in-house fire marshal, holistic evaluation reports, and application status display screens. With this new technology, the usual two-month application period for construction permits has been drastically reduced to one or two days.
The city government is also the first city in the country to adopt an online real property tax application and payment system using credit card, ATM, and mobile payment. It serves as the model for other cities.
In 2015, Valenzuela City was bestowed the Hall of Fame Award in the Most Business Friendly-Highly Urbanized City of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry because of its dedication in delivering the best results for its citizens, especially in the business community.
In November 2019, the city government launched its latest innovation, the 3S+ Online Services for application of permits and request for documents. Temporary documents like business permits, real property tax, certified true copy of tax declaration, tax mapping certificate, certificate of non-improvement, appraisal of real property, building permit, birth certificate, death certificate, and marriage certificate can be claimed online through the online permits system.
The highlight of the project is the #PaspasPermit, a business permit application system that allows the issuance of provisionary business permits within ten seconds after the payment confirmation. Applicants must create a new account on the website and fill out online forms with all the necessary details, computation of all taxes to be paid will appear. Payments can be made through Landbank, Development Bank of the Philippines or PayMaya and the actual copy of the permits can be delivered via Worldwide Express or Grab.
Valenzuela is a liveable city. In 2014, the City Government’s design proposal for a liveable and disaster-resilient city was judged second best in the government/evacuation center category of the Liveable Cities Design Challenge.
ALERT CenterThe local government inaugurated in May 2016 the Allied Local Evacuation and Emergency Response Teams (ALERT) Center, the city’s disaster response complex that sits just across the City Hall and houses the Valenzuela City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (VCDRRMO), the Valenzuela City Command, Control, and Communication Center (VCC3), the Relief Operations Unit of the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), the Digital Communications Office, and a satellite Office of the Mayor.
Expected to be "the last building standing" in the aftermath of a disaster, the ALERT Center serves as the city’s emergency operations center, functioning round the clock. It is also regarded as the "brain" of the city’s disaster response infrastructure, with the 3S Centers as the "peripheral nerves.”
Located in strategic areas of the city, the 3S Centers, also called City Hall Annex buildings, are smaller buildings that provide quick response to emergencies in the communities with their own disaster response facilities. Each has a satellite office of the CSWDO, a health station, a day care center, a police community precinct, a fire substation, and a multi-purpose hall. Some 3S Centers also have Serbisyo Centers that include the satellite payment and service centers for the Local Civil Registry, the City Treasurer’s Office, and the Business Permit and Licensing Office.
Parks and Open SpacesParks and Open Spaces Another initiative of the City Government that adds to the liveability of Valenzuela City is the opening of public parks and open spaces. These destinations provide Valenzuelanos with pockets of green spaces and an escape from the hustle and bustle of urban living.
Polo ParkBarangay Poblacion
Valenzuela City People’s ParkBarangay Karuhatan
Valenzuela City Family ParkBarangay Karuhatan
Fatima AvenueBarangay Marulas
Tagalag Fishing VillageBarangay Tagalag
Valenzuela City Sports ParkBarangay Wawang Pulo
Museo ni Dr. Pio ValenzuelaBarangay Pariancillo Villa
MMDA-Valenzuela City Friendship ParksBarangay Bignay
Know more about the places to visit in Valenzuela City here: https://valenzuela.gov.ph/the_city/places
The City Government of Valenzuela envisions a city free from informal settler families (ISFs) living in danger zones. It is also committed in addressing poverty and restoring human dignity by implementing sustainable housing project which can provide safer and more decent homes and basic services to families living in danger zones in Valenzuela, thus the rise of Disiplina Village in Barangay Bignay and Ugong.
The onslaught of Typhoon Ondoy in September 2009 prompted the local government to ultimately solve the problem of ISFs in the city. As an immediate response, the local government called on the private sector to help in providing them with better and safer living condition in a community they can call their own. This has paved way for the construction of the only LGU-initiated housing project for the typhoon Ondoy victims, the Disiplina Village Ugong. The Valenzuela City Government donated the 1.9 hectare property while the private sector helped build the units. The implementation of this project has accorded some 890 ISFs with safer and more decent homes, quality basic services, values formation and other programs to restore human dignity.
But the city government of Valenzuela wanted to ensure a more dignified housing project for the remaining ISFs in the city. This has spawned the second Disiplina Village Bignay.
The local government of Valenzuela takes pride in building the biggest in-city medium-rise public rental housing project in the country. With a total of 11 hectares, it can house 3,834 ISFs in the city. DVB is a new, comprehensive and completely integrated community to make sure that the families will live comfortable and safer lives. The Sentro ng Sama-Samang Serbisyo (3S Center) or a satellite city hall is inside the village. It has a barangay health station, Police Community Precinct, Fire Substation, Barangay Hall and Daycare Center (aside from other four day care centers scattered among the clusters of buildings). It is complete with basic education facilities with the inclusion of the Disiplina Village Bignay Elementary and High School. The Activity Center/Covered Court and the mini park can be found at its heart. The construction of the Disiplina Village Transport Terminal, public market, and chapel are underway. The residents are also training for the community vegetable farm for additional income and family consumption.
Disiplina Village Lingunan is the third housing settlement project in Valenzuela City. The housing project is constructed on a 2.5-hectate lot and will house 750 ISFs living in danger zone areas.
The groundbreaking and capsule-laying ceremony of Disiplina Village Arkong Bato (DVA) was held last July 13, 2021. DVA can accommodate 720 ISFs with three-story buildings. The fourth in-city relocation project will also have a linear park where residents of the village can spend leisure time.
True to its name, Disiplina Villages aim to instill the value of discipline among the families living there. The local government is well-aware that to make the project sustainable and long-lasting, the participation of each and every beneficiary is vital. The success of this program lies not only on the local government but also on the active participation of private sector and most specially, the beneficiaries themselves. Through these, the city has able to build more disaster-resilient communities with families that are well aware and prepared from impacts of natural calamities.