FPRRD sleeps through storm in teapot
“Since the Duterte brand of leadership took the helm of the Davao City government, life and business in the city have been blissful and ‘bless-full.’
Daily Tribune“Since the Duterte brand of leadership took the helm of the Davao City government, life and business in the city have been blissful and ‘bless-full.’
Former Cabinet secretary and spokesperson Karlo Nograles is wasting no time on the hustings. He has been vocal about his plans for Davao City which would focus on digitalization.
Nice idea. Karlo, however, has been away from Davao City for quite a while as he had spent most of his time in Malacañang with erstwhile President Rodrigo R. Duterte with whom he is now at loggerheads.
Karlo is not aware that the city government started a digitalization program way back in 2018 in accordance with the ease of doing business and efficient government programs.
If I remember right, the Davao City government was awarded a Certificate of Commendation by the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) for its implementation of a fully automated electronic Business One-Stop Shop (e-BOSS) system. The digitalization project is one significant legacy that Mayor Baste Duterte can take pride in.
In brief, business transactions with the Davao City government can be done online as the system is now fully automated. Mayor Baste has created a City Information Technology Center that supervises the system.
The next chapter in the digitalization program is the creation of a local area network (LAN) of the city barangays with the city hall as the hub.
With the advancements in the internet of things and the availability of hardware, it is not far-fetched that this plan of Mayor Baste will come to fruition. His boys at the CITC are quite savvy, working on this challenging task is a cinch.
The prospects are limitless. Even far-flung schools will soon have access to vital information and data hubs which will make students competitive with those in the urban centers.
Significantly, the collection of fees from various transactions has dramatically increased. It helps that Davao City enjoys a healthy business climate; moreover, its digitalization program propelled it to land among the top 10 richest cities in the country.
With former President Duterte running for city mayor and his son, the incumbent Mayor Baste, for vice mayor, you have a combination of one who champions peace and order and one who can manage the city’s affairs and enterprises. Their agendas are in the works. Just recently, Davao City was given the distinction of being the second “Safest” and the “Cleanest” City in Southeast Asia.
There is a dictum which says, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Since the Duterte brand of leadership took the helm of the Davao City government, life and business in the city have been blissful and “bless-full.”
Davaowenyos have seen how the Nograleses performed as politicians. I don’t think there is any prospect of change in leadership in the city. Not for now and not for billions of reasons. Karlo’s mayoral expedition will create nothing but a storm in a teapot.
Last Wednesday afternoon I tried to reach out to Mayor-President Duterte. I was advised he was still asleep. I don’t blame him. While Ilocos Norte is being pounded by rain, Davao weather remains to be soporific. The coming election will be a picnic. His friend, Donald Trump, is on his way back to the White House.