Parañaque at 20: A continuing transformation
The city remains steadfast in its transformation to a BAGONG Parañaque under the leadership of Mayor Edwin Olivarez
Change takes time. In the case of a city, its transformation is the result of years of consistent good governance, wise investment and dedicated service to the people. In the case of Parañaque City, a highly urbanized city in the southern portion of Metro Manila, it has transformed into one of the country’s most dynamic cities since Mayor Edwin Olivarez and the City Council assumed office in 2013 through its flagship program dubbed BAGONG Parañaque. The first word in the program represents the Olivarez administration’s sixpoint agenda, which focuses on (1) business and environment friendliness; (2) academic and cultural excellence; (3) good governance and public order; (4) opportunities for livelihood and housing; (5) nutrition, health and social services; and (6) God-centered leadership.
As the city celebrates its 20th anniversary today, The Philippine STAR recently spoke to Mayor Olivarez to find out the city’s progress in transforming into the BAGONG Parañaque.
“From the very beginning, since we assumed office in 2013, our administration’s program has centered on BAGONG Parañaque, which is a continuing program that we hope to complete by the end of our term. And with the city thriving with potential, we can still bring larger outcomes for the city,” Olivarez explained.
Given this potential, the city government is consistent in maximizing use of the resources at its disposal to provide its citizens with quality services and positive outcomes within the BAGONG Parañaque program.
BUSINESS, ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLINESS
Under the Olivarez administration’s Business One-Stop Shop (BOSS) program, the City’s Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO) fasttracked its government-to-business transactions through the adoption of electronic queuing, document tracking, online payment and No Noon Break policy. With such system, what used to be a 15-step process in applying for permits and licenses has been reduced to a simple three-step process of application, assessment and payment.
As result of faster, more efficient business processes, the city topped the Civil Service Commission’s (CSC) list of most compliant cities and municipalities in terms of eliminating red tape and corruption. Based on the commission’s evaluation, Parañaque received an overall score of 92.7 percent, which is equivalent to Excellent, and tops other major Metro Manila cities like Manila, Quezon City, Makati, Pasig and Taguig.
Apart from CSC’s recognition, the city also received other awards in the past year. “The city has been awarded once
again with the Seal of Financial Good Housekeeping from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), while in the National Competitiveness Commission of the Philippines’ (NCCP) list of the most competitive cities in the country, Parañaque placed seventh overall,” Olivarez added.
ACADEMIC, CULTURAL EXCELLENCE
The city is also relentless in its pursuit of quality education for the city’s youth. Just last year, the Olivarez administration began construction of a school building for the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Parañaque in a one-hectare government property in the Kabihasnan area of Barangay San Dionisio. Once completed, it will be the first state-funded university in the city and will offer baccalaureate degrees to aspiring college students.
“The establishment of the permanent campus for Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Parañaque will make tertiary education even more widely accessible to our city’s youth and will augment the existing Parañaque City College and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, both of which are located in Barangay Sto. Niño,” Olivarez said.
The mayor added that, initially, the university would offer courses that match the existing job opportunities in the city, particularly in the gaming and tourism, hotel and restaurant, logistics and airport operations.
“Matching our courses with available jobs is important because we want to ensure that the city’s youth don’t just get a degree. It’s the city’s obligation to find jobs for them as well,” Olivarez said.
GOOD GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC ORDER
Maintaining public order is a challenge that the city government continues to work on. This challenge has become an easier task to accomplish now that every barangay in Parañaque has the necessary equipment, vehicles and facilities to respond to threats to public order and reduce risks posed by natural calamities.
“Our response units such as the police, fire brigade and ambulance units are already in place since we started office. We’ve actually added more fire trucks and fire substations such as in Merville, Don Bosco and La Huerta, which augments the existing substation in BF Homes and the Bureau of Fire Protection headquarters in Sucat,” Olivarez explained.
This city’s readiness was put to the test recently when successive fire incidents happened in Barangays San Dionisio and Sto. Niño. The fire on January 13 gutted 12 homes along Talisay Street, Barangay San Dionisio and affected 36 families, while the February 2 fire along Gomburza Street, Barangay Sto. Niño destroyed 50 homes and displaced 100 families.
“Our fire brigade and emergency response units were able to respond quickly in these incidents, leading to zero casualties. They also set up staging areas where the evacuees were given temporary shelters, relief packs and even portable toilets,” the mayor stated.
To further maximize the efficiency and response time of the city’s emergency response units, Mayor Olivarez said that construction of a Command Center would commence soon. The Command Center will be used to monitor all incidents throughout the city—from crimes and traffic violations to natural calamities and security threats—using highdefinition CCTVs and facilitate consolidation of the different response units during such emergencies.
Public order also means a better means of mobility within the city. Hence, the City government has invested in creating new roads in easements along the city’s shoreline and waterways. One such easement is along the Parañaque River in La Huerta, wherein sheet piling and road concretion was conducted during the past year through the initiative of Rep. Eric Olivarez.
“Our plan is to turn these easements into walk areas instead of letting private vehicles use them. It would be like a park along the river and the Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA) where people can jog, stroll or ride their bicycle,” said Olivarez.
Near the LPPCHEA in Barangay Tambo, the new Southwest Integrated Transport System (SWITS) is also being constructed, Olivarez added. Once completed this year, it will be the first modern terminal in the entire country, which will be the final stop of provincial buses from Cavite and Batangas and where a station of the extended Light Rail Transit would also be located.
“All of our buses from the provinces will no longer be allowed to reach Baclaran and EDSA as they will have to stop and unload passengers at the new terminal, where they can ride city buses or the train to other parts of Metro Manila,” Olivarez stated.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR LIVELIHOOD, HOUSING
Informal settlers have always been a major concern, not just of Parañaque but in other cities in Metro Manila as well. It’s a concern that the City government has addressed by relocating a targeted 10,000 families from communities along rivers and creeks to in-city and off-city socialized housing.
“This week, we will be conducting the official blessing of an additional 200 to 300 houses in our relocation site along C5 Road Extension. These houses are on top of the 300 units that we already turned over last year to indigent families that we relocated in that community. All in all, we’ve already relocated almost 5,000 families in in-city and off-city relocation sites, and we are continuing to relocate more families, with the help of the National Housing Authority and the local governments of Trece Martires City and Naic in Cavite,” the mayor mentioned.
Another major concern is the livelihood of Parañaqueños, which Mayor Olivarez said is consistently being taken cared of by the Public Employment Service Office (PESO). The PESO conducts several Mega Job Fairs yearly, connecting members of the city’s workforce with employers within Parañaque. Trade and commerce also continues to flourish, with developments ongoing not just in the Bay Area but throughout the four corners of the city.
“If you’ve noticed Sucat Road, it has undergone urban renewal in recent years with new business establishments and condominiums being constructed. Along J. Aguirre Street, various commercial establishments have sprouted from specialty food to domestic services. Even in the East and West Service Road corridor, we’ve maintained our light industrial development there and even attracted real estate companies to construct condominiums in the area. And then, there’s the Bay Area, where a new integrated resort and a large mall is being constructed,” Olivarez explained.
NUTRITION, HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES
Various health and social services have also unfolded one by one within Parañaque City in the past year, thereby bringing these services within reach of the common folk of avail of them at minimal or no cost.
“One of our main accomplishments in 2017 was the completion of Ospital ng Parañaque’s extension in Barangay La Huerta, which we will officially bless within the week. This is the third phase in the hospital’s extension, which aims to increase its bed capacity and accommodate additional hospital facilities such as a therapy room for stroke patients, dialysis center, blood bank, and CT Scan room,” said Olivarez.
He added that a second Ospital ng Parañaque would soon be constructed along Doña Soledad Avenue in Barangay Don Bosco, the groundbreaking for which will be conducted next month. These two district hospitals will enable the city to provide medical services to its increasing population.
“Several of our social services have been rolled this year too. The state-of-the-art Parañaque AntiDrug Facility along Coastal Road in Barangay La Huerta opened last year. Beside that, the Bahay Pag-asa for juvenile delinquents has also begun operations. During our anniversary this week, we will also inaugurate our Bahay Aruga for street children, Bahay Para sa Kababaihan for disadvantaged women, Home for the Elderly, and Animal Pound, all of which are also along Coastal Road,” the mayor said, who added that the construction of the city crematorium is also ongoing and will be finished within the year to augment the city’s funeral and burial needs.
GOD-CENTERED LEADERSHIP
The Olivarez administration is also persistent in its thrust of fostering God-centered leadership among the city’s leaders and personnel, beginning with the Mayor’s office down to the barangay level. Everyone in the service of the city government is encouraged to serve with integrity, honesty, humility, selflessness and fear of God.
“We created the Moral Ascendancy Program office for the purpose of imbibing God-centered leadership in our officials and employees. For this initiative, we partnered with our pastors and priests who assist in value formation for our personnel and, together with our police force, in rehabilitating drug dependents who were arrested as part of Oplan Tokhang,” Olivarez stated.
Proof of this God-centered leadership is manifested in Mayor Olivarez himself, who is always present at the City Hall as early as 7:30 in the morning to the late hours of the night to attend to concerns of his constituents.
“Anyone can go to my office to air their concerns even without an appointment. After all, this is not my office, but the people’s office. As long as we have people coming over here, we listen and talk to them and help them find a solution to their concerns, whether these are personal, community or citywide concerns,” the mayor explained.
A VISION OF A FUTURE PARAÑAQUE
As the city moves toward the complete actualization of its vision of a BAGONG Parañaque, Mayor Olivarez expects another renaissance in the next five years or so.
“I think we will be the premier city in the country in the next five to eight years in terms of job generation, investment, infrastructure, revenue and giving services. Imagine, we’ve been in the service for five years and we never borrowed a single centavo. We have even paid much of the loans that the past administration made without incurring additional loans and increasing taxes. We wouldn’t want to add to our people’s burdens. What we simply do is follow our usual formula: efficiency of collection, prudent spending equals good service,” Olivarez stated.
Parañaque is indeed in a better position today compared to when the Olivarez administration inherited it. And it will continue to push for more investments, create more social services and improve the overall quality of life for Parañaqueños as it moves to the culmination of its term.
“By the time our term ends, we want to leave a city wherein it’s the government that goes to the people and assist them, instead of the people having to approach the government for help,” the mayor said.