Valenzuela is a city of innovative practices. From being a quaint and small town of Bulacan, Valenzuela has emerged to becoming one of the fast progressing cities in the country. The local government has launched programs that have significantly improved the lives of Valenzuelanos. From decent housing to quality education system, Valenzuela City has changed the way local government units practice transparency and excellence in local governance.
Valenzuela City invested heavily in the implementation of projects that moved the city to a higher pedestal. These projects are anchored to the city’s Five Pillars of Good Governance which banks on Education, Health, Housing, Liveability, and Economy. With the welfare and well-being of the Valenzuelanos in mind, the city government commits itself in developing more projects and programs that boosts the morale and enhances the capability of every citizen in the city.
The city government puts premium to the education of young Valenzuelanos. During the 1st term of Mayor REX Gatchalian in 2013, he trail blazed the city’s education plan. The revolutionary Education 360° Investment Program continues to address the perennial education problems the city is facing. The program is a holistic approach to uplifting the quality of local basic education. With this program, the city government focuses on all aspects of student’s learning. It adapts a “cover-all-fronts” strategy and invests in every vital aspect of basic education- school supplies, curriculum, nutrition, teacher competency, parental involvement, and infrastructure. Through its holistic and systematic approach in educating the youth, the city government endeavors to produce a globally competitive citizenry.
Each component is geared towards the development and advancement of every student in the city. The massive construction of classrooms and school buildings in Valenzuela provided the students the best learning environment. The facility build-up in the city gave the students a more secured and conducive place for learning. The Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science, the city’s education crown jewel, is considered to be one of the best science and mathematics school in the country. With the additional facilities provided by the local government, each Valenzuelano student will have more developed skills and abilities.
Parents and teachers are both significant contributors to the child’s full growth and potential. This is why the city government aims to engage more parents on the learning and development of their children through the city-wide Nanay-Teacher Parenting Camp. This capacity building activity helps the parents understand and nurture their children’s academic progress. On the other hand, teachers are given proper training to better equip them teaching their students. Teachers undergo comprehensive and intensive training as a preparation for the annual reading and math camp every summer. The Reading Camp gathers the frustrated and non-readers in the city and engage them in an extensive 20-day remedial summer reading lessons. Aside from the teachers, student-aide teachers from Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela also help in the reading and math camp.
Valenzuela City also prioritizes the health and nutrition of the students. Together with the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED), the city government designed a city-wide feeding program that caters to the underweight school children of the city. Parent-volunteers prepare meal boxes for over 16,000 students in all day care and elementary schools.
Other significant components of the Education 360 are the “Katok Para sa Magandang Bukas”, a program designed to encourage the Out-of-School-Youths (OSYs) to attend the community based school program; and the Little League, a sports development program enhancing the physique, camaraderie, discipline, and critical thinking of the students.
In compliance with the national mandate of the fight against illegal drugs, the Valenzuela City government launched its comprehensive, responsive, complete, and sustainable rehabilitation program that guarantees full moral and economic support to identified drug suspects from the moment they surrender- the Valenzuela City Cares Plus or more known as the VC Cares Plus.
Launched in August 2016, the program caters to the surrendered drug users and pushers. The city, through the Valenzuela Anti-Drugs Abuse Council (VADAC), implemented the drug dependents care program. Under this program, a surrendered drug offender will undergo assessment by local medical doctors for appropriate treatment or rehabilitation. Based on the assessment, the surrenderees will either go to the six-month long rehabilitation program in Central Luzon Rehabilitation Center in Magalang, Pampanga, or they will join the six-month long Community Based Wellness Program set up by the LGU in their respective barangays. After the six-month rehabilitation, drug surrenderees will be re-integrated in the community through the 18-month After Care Program. The city government will closely monitor the surrenderees to make sure that they won’t use illegal drugs again. The Public Employment and Services Office is tasked to create jobs and offer livelihood packages after they finish the rehabilitation program. Recently, 142 surrendered drug offenders finished the first phase of their center-based rehabilitation program in Magalang, Pampanga.
This April 2017, the city government and the Philippine National Police-Valenzuela launched the first mobile drug testing in the Philippines, the Tokhang-on-Wheels one-stop-shop. The mobile one-stop shop aims to encourage more suspected drug offenders to submit themselves to authorities and undergo the necessary rehabilitation program for them.
Another innovative practice of the city government of Valenzuela is the streamlining of business permits and licenses. Then-Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian spearheaded the 3S in Public Service which stands for Simple, Speed and Service Excellence, the city government’s anti-graft and corruption platform that guarantees transparency and good governance. This innovation was further developed under the new administration of Mayor REX Gatchalian in 2013. The 3S Program evolved into what is now called the 3S Plus. Plus is the innovation in the efficient use of technology. This program aims to minimize graft and corruption to a zero level through the use of communication and information technology to minimize direct contact between the city government employees and its customers thereby reducing the probability of graft and corruption among local civil servants.
The 3S+ program has changed the way citizens transact their businesses in the city hall. Normally, customers would have to endure long and tedious processes to get their permits and licenses, but with the now simplified program, government transactions are made much faster and efficient.
In 2014, Valenzuela made another milestone by launching the Philippine’s first fully automated building and construction permit application system- the 3S Plus Electronic Terminal. This is the product of the enhanced 3S Plus which banked further on the element of technology. Installed at the 3rd floor of the Finance Building in Valenzuela City Hall, the electronic terminal is a well-planned mix of anti-graft and corruption technologies that includes a touch screen registration booths, barcode system and scanner, randomizer, in-house fire marshal, holistic evaluation reports, and application status display screens. With this new technology, the usual two-month application period for construction permits has been drastically reduced to one or two days.
The city government is also the first city in the country to adopt an online real property tax application and payment system using credit card, ATM, and mobile payment. It serves as the model for other cities.
In 2015, Valenzuela City was bestowed the Hall of Fame Award in the Most Business Friendly-Highly Urbanized City of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry because of its dedication in delivering the best results for its citizens, especially in the business community.
Valenzuela is a liveable City. In 2014, the city government’s design proposal for a liveable and disaster resilient city has been judged second best at the government/evacuation center category of the Liveable Cities Design Challenge.
The city’s “Tayo Na, Valenzuela! The Comprehensive Disaster Preparedness Plan’ is Valenzuela’s inclusive and wide-ranging disaster plan that addresses the city’s vulnerability and highlights the city government’s efficient execution of disaster plans coupled with effective governance.
As Valenzuela City readies for worst, the local government inaugurated on May 2016 the Allied Local Evaluation and Emergency Response Teams Center or ALERT Center, the city’s disaster response complex that sits just across the city hall. The Disaster Preparedness Office (DPO) at the ALERT Center houses the Valenzuela City Risk Reduction and Management Office, Valenzuela City Command and Coordinating Office, and the Relief Operation unit of the City Social Welfare and Development Office. The City Public Information Office and the Office of the Mayor also have satellite offices here.
The ALERT Center is said to be the “the last building standing” in the aftermath of the disaster. This government facility serves as the city’s emergency operations center functioning round the clock as all essential disaster response offices are located here. It is also regarded as the “brain” of the city’s disaster response infrastructures, with the 3S Centers as the “peripheral nerves”. Located in strategic areas in the city, the 3S Centers, also called as City Hall Annex buildings, are smaller buildings that provide quick response to emergencies in the communities with their own disaster response facilities. The 13 3S centers around the city houses satellite offices of the City Social Welfare and Development Office, a health station, day care center, police community precinct, fire substation, and a multipurpose hall. Some 3S Centers have Serbisyo Centers that include the satellite payment and service centers for the Local Civil Registry, City Treasurer, and Business Permit and Licensing Office.
The City Government of Valenzuela envisions a city free from informal settler families (ISFs) living in danger zones. It is also committed in addressing poverty and restoring human dignity by implementing sustainable housing project which can provide safer and more decent homes and basic services to families living in danger zones in Valenzuela, thus the rise of Disiplina Village in Barangay Bignay and Ugong.
The onslaught of Typhoon Ondoy in September 2009 prompted the local government to ultimately solve the problem of ISFs in the city. As an immediate response, the local government called on the private sector to help in providing them with better and safer living condition in a community they can call their own. This has paved way for the construction of the only LGU-initiated housing project for the typhoon Ondoy victims, the Disiplina Village Ugong. The Valenzuela City Government donated the 1.9 hectare property while the private sector helped build the units. The implementation of this project has accorded some 890 ISFs with safer and more decent homes, quality basic services, values formation and other programs to restore human dignity.
But the city government of Valenzuela wanted to ensure a more dignified housing project for the remaining ISFs in the city. This has spawned the second Disiplina Village Bignay.
The local government of Valenzuela takes pride in building the biggest in-city medium-rise public rental housing project in the country. With a total of 11 hectares, it can house 3,834 ISFs in the city. DVB is a new, comprehensive and completely integrated community to make sure that the families will live comfortable and safer lives. The Sentro ng Sama-Samang Serbisyo (3S Center) or a satellite city hall is inside the village. It has a barangay health station, Police Community Precinct, Fire Substation, Barangay Hall and Daycare Center (aside from other four day care centers scattered among the clusters of buildings). It is complete with basic education facilities with the inclusion of the Disiplina Village Bignay Elementary and High School. The Activity Center/Covered Court and the mini park can be found at its heart. The construction of the Disiplina Village Transport Terminal, public market, and chapel are underway. The residents are also training for the community vegetable farm for additional income and family consumption.
True to its name, the two Disiplina Villages aim to instill the value of discipline among the families living there. The local government is well-aware that to make the project sustainable and long-lasting, the participation of each and every beneficiary is vital. The success of this program lies not only on the local government but also on the active participation of private sector and most specially, the beneficiaries themselves. Through these, the city has able to build more disaster-resilient communities with families that are well aware and prepared from impacts of natural calamities.