In line with Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte’s commitment to fast-track the city’s economic recovery from the COvid-19 pandemic, the City Economic Enterprise (CEE) Office is expanding its revenue-generation avenues to further stimulate the local economy by intensifying operations of city-owned enterprises.
New CEE officer-in-charge Maximo P. Macalipes said, in an interview with the City Information Office Tuesday, that the approved target revenues for all revenue-generating units of the city are expected to be achieved this year with a significant surplus; this, after two years of low revenues due to the pandemic. He said that “compared to the first and second quarters of 2020 and 2021, there is a more upward trend in 2022.”
The CEE recorded a total revenue of P89,891,551.71 for the first half of 2022 which is a stark improvement from 2020’s revenue during the same period of P58,806,645.7. This figure is also significantly higher than the P72, 511,438.36 income in the first half of 2021.
Macalipes said that the 2020 and 2021 revenues were significantly lower because city-owned and operated enterprises such as “public markets had to implement strict health protocols where non-essential stalls were closed.”
“Market vendors suffered low sales mainly because people avoid going to public places and resorted to alternative modes of purchase, such as online sellers and food, grocery and products delivery services,” he added.
The bulk of the collected revenues comes from the city’s public markets. Macalipes said that revenues from public markets have only sharply gone up this year despite concerns of food supply deficit and production costs. The CEE tallied an income of P62,811,832.32 from the city’s public markets for the first half of 2022; which is significantly higher than the revenue from the first half of 2021 recorded at P46, 971, 633.95, and almost double that of the P35, 219,667.4 recorded in 2020 for the same period.
It is expected that the total revenue for 2022 will exceed the P140 million recorded last year and may even approach the level of the P180 million revenue recorded in 2019.
Other revenue-generating units in the city include the Davao City Recreational Center (DCRC), the Magsaysay Park, public markets, slaughterhouses, ports and depots, public cemeteries, the pasalubong center, and other revenue-generating units under “special projects” such as the Roxas Night Market.
On the other hand, the office is also set to amend the Revenue Code this year. Macalipes said that it is high time to update the code, which was last amended in 2017, to sync the city’s charges on leases and fees from services and facilities with the new developments in the city-owned enterprises.
“Actually i-revisit namo ang ordinances, kadtong sa among Revenue Code, kay naa man pu’y uban didto na dapat namo i-amend to be timely and ma-address ang current na needs … Gina-revisit namo kadtong atong mga rates, including also our public markets, kay naa man pu’y additional na mga sections na wala pud sa atong revenue code. Then, atong slaughterhouse fees ato pud i-revisit. (Actually, we will be revisiting the ordinances, the Revenue Code, because there are some provisions there that we have to amend to be timely and to address the current needs … We revisit the rates, including our public markets, because there are additional sections that are not included in the revenue code. Then, we will also revisit our slaughterhouse fees),” he said.
The new Agdao Public Market (now 85% complete), in particular, has new facilities that are not included in the Revenue Code. Macalipes added that income from the city enterprises will be used to fund social welfare services, emergency relief, and supplement the funding of other offices in the city government.
More city-owned enterprises will be generating income for the city as the Davao Food Complex Terminal and the City Library coffee shop are slated to operate this year. The CEE is also formulating proposals for another night market and a city-operated Oxygen Plant. CIO
