NAGA CITY – Highlighting 2006 as a year of trials, triumphs and time-tested gains of Naga as model city for local governance and efficient public service, Naga City Mayor Jesse M. Robredo at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 12, will deliver his State of the City Report before a large crowd of fellow Nagueños at Plaza Quezon here

        Adopting the theme, “Putting our People First: Development that Matters”, the city mayor will share with his fellow Nagueños the comparative indicators that measure the various dimensions of poverty alleviation on one hand, and service efficiency on the other.

        “Today, much to the commendation of many, we have restored normalcy throughout the city so quickly (after the two successive supertyphoons that hit Bicol) that it only strengthened our confidence that the best is yet come. As in the past years, Naga City reaped more of the usual recognition that come our way, affirming once more that our path to development is sound, solid and sustainable,” the mayor stated in his letters of invitations sent to the different sectors of the community, including representatives and members of the urban poor federation, business, religious and the academe, professional and civic organizations, government workers, youth, women, transport, stallholders, and the general public.

        “We will celebrate these triumphs by finding out why our city has so much to be thankful for, and yet so much more to do,” the city mayor added.

        In his report, Robredo is expected to outline the city government’s targets for 2007 indicating that this year would be another banner year for Naga City with the influx of more new investments, the ongoing expansion of local trade and commerce, more tourist arrivals, jobs and livelihood programs, as well as aggressive programs on educational development and social welfare and health.

        Underscoring the city’s time-tested gains, Mayor Robredo is also expected to make a progress report on the city’s meeting of targets of the UN-backed Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which is a global challenge for all urban centers to better the lives of its people. The question would be asked and answered: Over the last 18 years since the Robredo administration earned its mandate, during which time Naga embarked on the path of inclusive and participative urban governance, did such administration make a difference in the lives of the people?