AHEAD of his State of the City Address (SOCA), Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy thanked the City Hall bureaucracy and 20th City Council for support saying this will be crucial in his administration’s development agenda.
“I will deliver my first State of the City address at the Cagayan de Oro International Convention Center and I hope that those in charge of transporting (City Hall officials and employees) to attend the event will provide enough vehicles for them. I hope you can attend so you can see for yourself our convention center,” Mayor Uy said in Visayan during Monday’s flag-raising program.
The Cagayan de Oro International Convention Center (CICC) in Barangay Indahag was conceptualized by the late Senate president and former Cagayan de Oro City mayor Aquilino Pimentel Jr. The project began on June 30, 2001, and the main building was completed on Sept. 8, 2021. During his last visit to the CICC, the elder Pimentel proposed that the center be named after the late mayor Pablo Magtajas.
Despite voicing his reluctance to deliver his first State of the City address — at one time asking if there would be someone else he could designate to do so — Mayor Uy indicated that he will deliver his address in order to outline his administration’s achievements in his first year of office. During his monthly flag-raising message, Mayor Uy also cited some of his priority programs for the next few years.
In particular, Mayor Uy thanked the 20th City Council for approving the ordinance establishing the City College in Barangay Dansolihon.
“As I said before, the City College will not compete with the city’s private schools…my intention is to provide education to children living in the city’s upland areas so that they will be encouraged to finish schooling,” Mayor Uy said.
Mayor Uy said the City College will provide education to those who were unable to qualify for City Hall’s scholarship program which his administration expanded to include medical and law courses.
“This is the first time (I believe) that any local government provided medical and law courses to their constituents,” Mayor Uy said.
Last year, Mayor Uy outlined his administration’s goals during his first 100 days report that he delivered at the City Hall quadrangle. Some of his administration’s goals were to establish order in the city’s public markets, rejuvenate the city’s economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, expand the city’s education program, re-establish the city’s operation Kahusay og Kalinaw (OKK) center and build ties with the Misamis Oriental provincial government, among others. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)
