Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay on Friday ordered her financial team to study the possibility of lowering taxes for the city’s businesses.
“I can assure you that your city government will continue extending quality services by means of good governance, proper fiscal management and efficient collection, without increasing taxes,” said Binay following a meeting with members of the Rotary Club of Makati.
Binay said lowering taxes would be a way of rewarding all businesses that have stayed in and remained loyal to the city. The city’s financial managers were already considering the feasibility of her proposal, she added.
The mayor ran down the reforms her leadership put in place to promote lawful, equitable and clean governance and restore efficient and compassionate public service for the benefit of Makati citizens, including members of the business community.
“As soon as I assumed office, I ordered that no contracts with the city government be extended. All [contracts] should go through a new round of public and transparent biddings. All purchases must be in accordance with procurement laws. All shortages, particularly at the Ospital ng Makati, should be replenished. No excuses, no extensions, no exceptions,” Binay said.
Earlier, the city government uncovered contracts amounting to over half a billion pesos that were merely extended by the administration of former mayor Romulo Peña Jr., without going through public bidding and regular procurement process.
These include medical and laboratory supplies for the city-run hospital, which suffered from shortages in supplies and decline in quality of services under the previous administration, Binay said.
Steps have been taken to address the shortages and repair or replace non-functioning equipment, the mayor added. The new hospital administration has coordinated with her office to ensure that immediate reforms are implemented “to bring back efficiency, professionalism and compassion” at OsMak.
Binay also reported many taxpayers were satisfied with the city’s frontline services, after changes that made transactions more systematic and faster than the previous year.
“Our clients have also noted that there were no fixers roaming freely and offering their illegal services, unlike the past year,” she said.
The mayor said she wanted to push the level of governance and public service in the city, aided by modern technology.
“I am determined to integrate technology, especially information technology, into our systems and processes. We will do so not only to deliver public services faster and more efficiently, but to promote greater transparency and accountability in the city government,” she said.
She cited some steps taken by her administration, such as the posting of live video coverage of regular and special sessions of the City Council on the city’s official Facebook account, My Makati.
Other innovations reported by the mayor in her State of the City Address included the extension of the validity period of the Yellow Card from one year to three years. “This is part of our commitment to lessen the burden on our residents and taxpayers, and put government services within their reach,” she said.