Who can beat him?

Egay Uy .

DATA from the City Finance Office show a wide difference between the number of businesses registered from 2008 to 2012 (65,481) and from 2014 to 2018 (90,623).  I excluded the year 2013 because the first semester of that year was under the administration before The Oscar, Mayor Oscar Moreno, assumed office; only half of the year was under his administration.

On the average, prior to 2013, there were only 13,099 registered businesses on record per year.  From 2014 to 2019 the number ballooned to 18,125 registered businesses per year.  New business registrations in these groups of years on the other hand had a yearly average of 3,156 and 4,000, respectively.

Specifically, there were 14,537 registered businesses in 2013, posting a slight increase from 2012 of 200 businesses.  This however pales in comparison to 2014 which had 16,078 businesses registered or an increase of 1,541.  New business registrations in 2013 also slightly increased from 2012 by only 167 businesses which again pales in comparison to new businesses registered in 2014 of 5,055 or an increase of 1,656 new businesses.

I will not venture a guess as to what these figures will tell us beyond what a layman like me could see, except that these are positive indicators of a favorable business climate under the baton of The Oscar.  I will leave the deeper analysis of these figures to the experts.

The improved business climate and the ease of doing business as a result of the inclusive leadership of The Oscar have undoubtedly attracted new investors to do business in Cagayan de Oro.

The Oscar has made it clear.  Cagayan de Oro City plays a major role in the development of this part of the country.  Gains attained by the city will benefit the region and those of the region will redound to the betterment of life in the city.  This is because Cagayan de Oro is envisioned to be the strategic and prime development hub of the South.

Proof of the pudding is in the eating?  The City of Cagayan de Oro boasts of several awards conferred by the National Government.  The city is the fifth most competitive city in the highly-urbanized category, and was a finalist in 2018 in the Most Business Friendly Local Government Unit category.

Also in 2018, Cagayan de Oro was the Most Resilient Highly Urbanized City, and was a recipient of Jury’s Award – Asian Townscape Awards for the “Hapsay Sapa: Surging Towards Resilience” project.  Of course, everybody knows that Cagayan de Oro City was a recipient of Galing Pook awards in 2017 and 2018 for Empowering People After Sendong [2017] and “No Vote Ibot No More” [2018].

CdeO is also a recipient of the Seal of Good Education Governance in 2017 and 2018.  These are just a few of the achievements of the city with The Oscar at the helm.

Who can beat that?  No one can.

(Egay Uy is a lawyer. He chairs the City’s Regulatory and Complaint Board, co-chairs with the city mayor the City Price Coordinating Council, and chairs the city’s Joint Inspection Team.  He retired as a vice president of Cepalco.)