Tacloban City, the only Eastern Visayas Highly Urbanized City (HUC), had its best year in 2018 when it garnered many awards and recognitions.
“Tacloban City has faced many challenges through the years, but 2018 has been a fruitful year. I thank the Lord for the many blessings we got and the trials we went through,” said Tacloban City Mayor Cristina Romualdez.
The Cooperative Development Authority’s (CDA) named Tacloban the champion in cooperative best practices in its Gawad Parangal 2018. LGU Tacloban has bagged first place for three years as the Best Performing LGU Cooperative Development Office.
“Our LGU has been increasingly building a cooperative community and empowering coops through development programs,” added Mayor Romualdez.
During the Gawad Parangal Awarding Ceremony in October at Novotel, Manila, Tacloban was given three other CDA awards: national nominee to the CDA Parangal Award, 1st Place Best Performing LGU Cooperative Office HUC Category, and Gawad Parangal Special Citation Award given to Mayor Romualdez as the LGU Cooperative Development Champion.
Tacloban City was likewise first place in this year’s 20th Regional Gawad Kalasag Best Government Emergency Response Management (Urban Category) held July 31 at the Summit Hotel, in recognition of its outstanding contributions in disaster risk reduction and humanitarian assistance.
At the 28th and 29th Philippine Travel Mart (PHILTOA) held at SMX Convention Center, Tacloban was named Best Dressed Booth, with the winning design by the Guarino brothers.
In the dynamic city, waterways and drainages were constrcuted and roads were widened to address flooding and traffic congestion issues. More establishments were opened like the Robinson’s North, Gaisano Real branch, SM Save More and Prime Town Market, Pure Gold Real Branch, Wilcon Hardware and Mandaue Foam, to name a few.
In addition to the main city hall offices and the supermarket MASA offices, the City also established the Sto. Nino City Hall Satellite Office to extend basic services to dwellers from the northern barangays. Fish ports were upgraded, a supermarket building along Quezon Boulevard with stalls for fish and vegetable/fruit vendors was installed, and a triple A slaughterhouse at Brgy. Salvacion will replace the old slaughterhouse of the city soon.
The National Housing Authority awarded 80% of the 14,000 socialized housing units to survivors of Yolanda. A water supply system for Yolanda resettlement sites and pipeline rehab replacement in some parts of the city are also underway. Temporary educational facilities, day care centers and child minding centers were established in the resettlement areas.
The Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) was opened and can be easily accessed through six Ceres bus liners from President Rodrigo Duterte and 45 Solar E-Jeepneys from the LTFRB PUV Modernization Program. Health Centers continue their services for every Taclobanon.
The Comprehensive Livelihood Entrepreneurial Program (CLEP) continued to provide livelihood and training classes at the newly finished first Region 8 Green Eco-Building, the Tacloban City Community Livelihood Enhancement Training Center built by the Salvation Army in partnership with TESDA. The USAID Training Centers located next to the main City Hall Building houses the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office for its Disaster Preparedness trainings and other City functions.
Tacloban has partnered with Mother Earth Foundation to address garbage disposal and implement its Solid Waste Management Program. Several garbage monitoring centers were placed arpund the city and proper waste segregation will be implemented in all barangays.
“The Solid Waste Management Prograam, if implemented in the barangay level, will give a potential source of income for them. Every barangay of the City will now focus more on materials recovery and recycling. We awarded 52 garbage collector pedicabs to pilot barangays and they are tasked to collect and segregate garbage in its Materials Recovery Facilities. We are also partially closing the open dumpsite and we hope to use the Sanitary Landfill next year,” shared Mayor Romualdez.
Another accomplishment that Mayor Romualdez is proud of is the city’s holistic approach in dealing with persons victimized by addictive substance, through the New Beginning Program.
“The program has touched thousands of lives, many people were reconciled with their families and the community, and they now live normal lives with livelihood trainings,” ends the lady mayor
