MUNTINLUPA has marked its 28th year of cityhood, exceeding expectations of its post-pandemic recovery with P6.033 billion total revenues.
This is more than the income target for 2022, on top of its 101.09 percent tax collection efficiency rate.
As the economy reopened due to the improving health crisis situation, the number of registered businesses in the city reached 12,232 in January 2023, up by 59 percent from a figure of 7,651 in the same period of last year.
In his State of the City Address during the 28th anniversary celebration of Muntinlupa being a first-class city, Mayor Rozzano Rufino B. Biazon looked back at the lessons and realities they learned from the three-year pandemic and bared their vision of a “smart future” with the imminent end of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
“The pandemic has been a true test of our strength, of our faith. It has been—and for some, still is— a difficult time, but the good news is that we are steadily bouncing back. We are steadily recovering from the effects of the crisis caused by the pandemic,” he said.
At the moment, Muntinlupa has achieved 136 percent vaccination rate among its eligible target population, translating to 538,614 individuals, with 80 percent of them have received booster shots.
The city government has Ospital ng Muntinlupa (OsMun) underwent significant upgrade with a new annex building, thereby increasing its bed capacity to 250, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) up to 16 beds, and five new operating room theaters, as well as additional mechanical ventilator, anesthesia, and ultrasound machines.
Recently, malnutrition rate was pegged at 0.36 percent, the lowest since 2018, mainly due to the local government unit’s (LGU) aggressive nutrition program covering 95 percent or 42,220 target children aged zero to 59 months old.
Going back to the face-to-face setup of classes, almost 89,000 students have also returned to schools—thanks to the combined efforts of educators, parents, the LGU, and various other sectors.
Seeing a significant literacy gap brought about by the lost time due to academic shutdown, the city government sought to address this with the “Every Muntinlupeño a Reader” agenda, which aims to develop basic literacy skills like reading, listening and comprehension, especially among early readers.
With these economic indicators, Muntinlupa is among the top five most competitive economies in the Philippines, and this is validated by the 2022 Seal of Good Local Governance that the city received.
Despite such accomplishments, the local chief executive believes that there’s still much to build on moving forward and achieve a “smart future.”
“Our cityhood journey, and now our road to pandemic recovery, underscores the importance of working together, and shows what we can do when we are focused towards a more liveable and more responsive city for Muntinlupeños,” Mayor Biazon said.