A local business leader said on Friday Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio’s State of the City Address (SOCA) on Thursday was impressive and left a good mark specially on fiscal management.
“We laud Mayor Sara for her fiscal prudence and making the right investment decisions in building and upgrading the city’s infrastructure to meet the growing needs of its population. This has led to pump priming measures that she adopted to steer the economy even during the difficult time of the pandemic,” Tony Peralta, chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines-Southern Mindanao Business Council (SMBC), told Edge Davao.
In her SOCA, Mayor Sara reported that Davao City became the 8th richest city in the country in 2020 with total assets amounting to P23 billion, according to the 2020 Annual Financial Report released by the COA on December 22, 2021.
The mayor added that for 2021, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Davao City had a total combined revenue of P10,434,193,222.19, which is 39.8 percent higher than its pre-pandemic revenues. Of this amount, P4,420,991,524.63 was generated by local sources.
She also reported that this year, the city government of Davao has allocated P46,706,000 in the 2022 budget to cover the remaining loan balance and that by the end of the first half of Calendar Year 2022, Davao City will be debt-free.
“The same report attributed Davao City under her stewardship has the city ranked 8th in the country’s richest city. With the decline in the city’s poverty incidence based on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data, indicates the city’s focus on improving employment conditions and social serviced to its constituents. This has produced good results for the city’s business and economic environment,” Peralta said.
Based on data from PSA 11, Davao City’s poverty incidence declined from 11.3 percent in the first quarter of 2018 to 8.9 percent in the first quarter of 2021 and according to the mayor this is because the city government of Davao sought to address first the problem of poverty and unemployment plus good governance, peace and order, stable utilities and a strong partnership with the private sector, bigger investments soon came and businesses flourished in the city.
Peralta also cited that the amendment of the Davao Investment Incentive Code of the Davao City Investment Promotion Center (DCIPC) has resulted to a resurgence of interest among foreign investors as four more new European Union-based embassies that are opening their consulates In Davao City.
In 2019, the city government of Davao has amended its Investment Incentive Code by adding new perks including tax breaks for projects outside the city center and for hiring indigenous peoples (IPs) and persons with disabilities (PWDs) and also the new ordinance “aims to provide a favorable and stable business climate consistent with the development needs of the city and will encourage new investments and will provide employment opportunities.”
“The strong partnership of DCIPC with the European Chamber will continue to result to an increased foreign business presence in Davao and Mindanao. The investments have increased growth in the real estate sector are also due to the investments coming from the service sector,” he said.
Peralta is optimistic that the business perception of doing business and investing in Davao City will continue to grow because of the strong economic and financial legacy that Mayor Sara has left behind.
