Davao City Mayor Sebastian Baste Duterte, during his third State of the City Address delivered on August 6, 2024 at the Sangguniang Panlungsod Session Hall, highlighted the services that the city government extended to the people in terms of social services, livelihood, and medical services.
The mayor highlighted the conduct of the Caravan of Government Services and Barangayan Serbisyo Publiko and how these events enabled city officials to directly hear the concerns of the people.
“This is our way of directly interacting with Dabawenyos at the grassroots level to identify and find solutions to your problems and concerns,” the mayor said.
He said that they have covered Marilog and Paquibato Districts and are eyeing to cover the lowland barangays before his term ends.
From July 2023 to June 2024, the city government conducted 124 Barangay Caravans and 14 Barangayan Serbisyo Publiko events and served 24,166 clients.
“We have provided assistance on 1,526 helpdesk concerns from infrastructure, road rehabilitation, school requests, employment, and medical assistance,” the mayor said.
As for livelihood, the city government, through the Public Employment Services Office, conducted a total of 30 job fairs in partnership with private schools and government and non-government partners. The Davao City Special Program for the Employment of Students from July 2023 to May 2024 has a total of 492 beneficiaries.
The mayor also said that the Department of Labor and Employment, in partnership with PESO Davao City, awarded Php 1 million for the livelihood project of the Ata Women’s Association in Pandaitan, Paquibato District. The grant included a skills-training program on Bread and Pastry Products for the 25 IP women beneficiaries, as well as raw materials and equipment needed for the bakeshop that the association will eventually be setting up. This is also in partnership with TESDA XI and the Barangay Council of Pandaitan.
“We are happy to announce that from July 2023 to May 2024, through the efforts of the CSWDO, one thousand individual beneficiaries from the Women, Solo Parents, Senior Citizens, PWDs, LGBTQ+, OFWs, and Recovering Persons who Use Drugs (RPWUD) sectors have received livelihood assistance under this program. Aside from the financial assistance, they also received starter kits, underwent skills training sessions, and attended general assemblies,” he said.
Meanwhile, he also mentioned that the OFW Families’ Welfare and Crisis Center under the CSWDO provided psychosocial support services to a total of 138 distressed OFWS and left-behind family members who were catered to through the hotline, online platforms, and walk-in services.
The mayor also highlighted that from July 2023 to May 2024, the Lingap Program has granted assistance to 198,804 clients, with an expenditure of over Php548 million utilized as payment for apparatus and prosthetics, dialysis, hospitalization, laboratory procedures, maintenance medicines, and funeral bills of Dabawenyos.
The first Botika opened in 2018 up to June 2024, and more than 1.3 million clients have been served by the 11 Botika ng Bayan located across the city. CIO
