To empower the 33 barangays of Valenzuela City to be more responsive to the needs of its constituents and to capacitate them to become more effective partners of the City Government in delivering service to its people, Sen. WIN Gatchalian awards the City with 42 WIN Serbisyo mini dump trucks and 19 animal control trucks on December 5.

As his concern has always been to offer the best service to the people in a timely manner, Sen. WIN shares, “Itong trucks, nakuha namin ‘yung idea noong pandemya. Nagkukumahog dito sa City Hall na mag-distribute ng mga food packs.  That time, gusto namin ma-distribute ‘yung 200K plus food packs in one week. Nakita ko ‘yung truck natin saka pahinante, pila-pila ang pagde-deliver. Kaya napag-usapan namin ni Mayor, kung mayroong ganitong mga sasakyan, ang mga barangay na ang magpi-pick up para mas mabilis, imbes na ‘yung [truck pa ng] City Hall ang magde-deliver.”

On behalf of the Valenzuelanos, Mayor REX Gatchalian thanked Sen. WIN for the vehicles. “The multi-purpose mini dump trucks will be very useful to our barangays. In times of calamities, they can use them to haul relief goods from the ALERT Center to their respective barangays faster. Matutulungan na nila kami. Hindi na made-delay [ang tulong] kasi lahat sa City Hall pa manggagaling. At least, may sarili nang kapasidad ang mga barangay,” he asserts.

Drawing inspiration from Canumay West’s own dog catcher vehicle, Sen. Gatchalian thought of providing all the barangays of Valenzuela with their own animal control trucks. This way, people can just contact their own barangays each time a stray dog or cat needs to be picked up.

Barangay staff in charge of operating the Animal Control trucks must first be vaccinated for anti-rabies prior to being allowed to catch strays. They will also be given training on the proper handling of animals.

Mayor REX takes pride in the fact that, to date, Valenzuela City is the only city in the Philippines that has Animal Control Units in the barangay level. But more importantly, he is extremely pleased with the barangays because they continue to prove that they are real partners of the City Government not only in words, but also in deeds.

To further show his support for the barangays, he adds, “Importante na makakilos ang mga barangay. At para makakilos sila, importante na may gamit sila.”

Back in August, Sen. WIN Gatchalian already gifted each of the 33 barangays with a multi-purpose WIN Serbisyo van.

Also present during the blessing and turnover ceremonies held at the City Hall Grounds were Liga ng mga Barangay President Coun. Bienvenido “Jonjon” Bartolome, District 1 Councilors Rovin Andrew Feliciano and Atty. Walter Magnum “Bimbo” dela Cruz, District 2 Councilor Niña Shiela Lopez, and the 33 Punong Barangays of the City.