ILOILO City – Through the public-private partnership scheme the city government may yet be successful in finally upgrading its slaughterhouse and redeveloping its public markets, and sustaining them. Eager to hit the ground running, Mayor-elect Jerry Treñas revealed he already sought the help of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center of the Philippines.
The center espouses the PPP scheme – a contractual agreement between the government and a private firm targeted towards financing, designing, implementing, and operating infrastructure facilities and services traditionally provided by the public sector.
“Iloilo City is a highly urbanized city. We cannot allow it not to have a triple A slaughterhouse,” said Treñas during yesterday’s multi-sectoral consultative meeting organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Iloilo Chapter.
Treñas, who will formally assume as mayor again this June 30, had been the city’s chief executive for nine straight years from 2001 to 2010 before becoming its congressman for another nine consecutive years from 2010 to 2019.
“When I was mayor I was able to access funds from the PPP Center (then known as the Build-Operate and Transfer Center). We were able to build a building and a wastewater treatment plant. The Department of Agriculture purchased all the equipment for the slaughterhouse. Unfortunately, that all deteriorated. Probably there are certain stages that can be better run by the private sector,” said Treñas.
Through the years there had been attempts to upgrade the city’s slaughterhouse located in Barangay Tacas, Jaro district but it consistently failed to secure a rating (A, AA or AAA) from the National Meat Inspection Service due to various inadequacies in, among others, equipment and operation.
As the main driver of the government’s PPP program, the PPP Center provides technical assistance to local government units, national government agencies, government-owned-and controlled corporations, government financial institutions, state universities and colleges as well as to the private sector to help develop and implement critical infrastructure and other development projects.
Aside from the slaughterhouse, Treñas said he would redevelop public markets in various districts.
With three more weeks to go before finally functioning as mayor, Treñas admitted getting “impatient” to start what he promised voters during the campaign for the May 13 midterm elections. But he reminded Ilonggos that good governance is not the elected officials’ sole responsibility; it is a shared responsibility with everyone, he stressed.
He reiterated his “WHEELS” program which stands for “Welfare, Health, Education, Environment, Livelihood, Sustainability.”
The “W” in “WHEELS” would stress public welfare, safety, emergency response, effective drainage system, housing projects for the poor and traffic management.
“H” for “Health and Sanitation” is aimed at improving access to medical and dental services, properly maintained city toilets, potable water and sustained feeding program especially for children.
“E” is for education that would enhance assistance to public schools and day-care centers, upgrade the Iloilo City Community College (ICCC) and Technical Institute of Iloilo City (TIIC) and provide continuing education.
The other “E” for “Environmental management” would rationalize the Esplanade operation, improvement of all plazas and coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Department of Health (DOH).
“L” for “livelihood” means finding ways and means to provide employment and livelihood opportunities for the poor; and would find ways and means to intensify tourism and investment promotions; promote Iloilo City as meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions (MICE) capital; intensify programs for employment, entrepreneurship and livelihood trainings; and modernize slaughter house and public markets.
“S” is for “Sustainability” or continuous delivery of all government programs, projects, activities and services./PN
