WITH two more weeks left for City Hall to finalize their processing for business registration and permit renewal, Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy said they would continue working with the city’s business owners to streamline their services.

“Again, I thank the city’s business community for their show of confidence in my administration (as evidenced by the increase in the number of businesses registered and renewal of permits)…they have seen for themselves where their taxes go and that our administration took the initiative to provide incentives to them (and to dialogue with them on what they need from City Hall),” Mayor Uy said in Visayan.

Mayor Uy reiterated during his radio program last Friday that the taxes of city residents and the business community are ‘the lifeblood of Cagayan de Oro City’ as the city’s economy continues to recover following the lifting of most health restrictions due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

SENSE OF OPTIMISM. Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy talks to barangay Cogon residents who attended the ‘Love, Music and Dine’ program held at the food cart section of City Hall’s Night Market near the Cogon market area. The activity is a joint activity of the City Tourism Office and the Night Market Management Committee. Photo by Vonette Go of the City Tourism Office

“The government should initiate the first step (towards recovery),” Mayor Uy said in Visayan.

During last Thursday’s roundtable with local media, City Treasurer Jasmin Maagad said their office will work with the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc. in preparing their financial statements after the Feb. 28 deadline for business registration and permit renewal.

“(Specifically) we will help them with their book of accounts after Holy Week (in April),” Maagad said.

By helping them audit their book of accounts, Maagad and Mayor Uy’s political advisor Jordan Apat said their engagements with the business community and other stakeholders will help fast-track the city’s economic recovery.

“(Their general sentiment being that) there is a palpable sense of relief that (there is light at the end of the tunnel),” Apat said.

Both Maagad and Apat said this engagement with the city’s business community would help facilitate the dissemination of the Klarex administration’s economic reforms such as the tax incentive measures it extended to them and the proposed ordinance to streamline the issuance of building permits.

Mayor Uy’s finance advisor Glenn Bañez said consultations on the ordinance are ongoing. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)