Bacolod mayoral aspirant Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez on Saturday, January 5, stressed the need for Bacolod City to have inclusive economic and social growth.
Benitez, who joined a virtual forum of the University of Saint La Salle Masters of Business Administration organizational development class, said when you go around Bacolod, the biggest problem you see are informal settlers living below par of settlements.
“If you look at it from that angle it’s kind of hard to say that there is inclusive growth in the city”, he said.
Benitez said the economic drivers of Bacolod are government, BPOs, the sugar industry, overseas Filipino workers remittances that have decreased significantly since COVID-19, and tourism before the pandemic.
“So we are really left with government as our primary economic driver,” he said, and Bacolod is still much dependent on national government subsidies and support.
If we want to be strong economically and have sustainable growth we should look at our internal revenues and assess how to increase that, we have to get our acts together in trying to stand up, he said.
He said malls and real estate development do not bring new money in.
Benitez stressed the need to increase the money in circulation in Bacolod and for the money to stay in the city, to ensure inclusive economic development.
He also said the top three areas in Bacolod City that need development are health, education and livelihood.
Bacolodnons are often seen in long lines at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital or seeking help at the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City because of the scarcity of city government health programs, he said.
There is a need to maximize health programs available to Bacolod residents, he said.
To improve education, Benitez said teachers should be given more tools to teach using technology.
We need to embrace modern technology to bring our classrooms to the future, which will definitely increase the quality of education, Benitez said.
To boost livelihood and keep money in circulation in Bacolod, Benitez said the city also needs to expand in the technology industry and focus on renewable energy as a power source.
If Google, Amazon and the like set up data centers in Bacolod, the city’s economic growth would be tremendous, he said.
Benitez said he is the type of person who gets the consensus of the people.
“If we can be transparent in our vision and plans and present this to Bacolodnons,” he said implementation will be more effective.
Benitez also said he wants to tap the community to help ensure that no corruption happens in government offices and in the implementation of projects.*