Baguio mayor: Health programs a priority

By Jojo Lamaria

BAGUIO CITY -- Mayor and congressional candidate Peter Rey Bautista said one of main priorities was well-being of city folks, reason why his administration is 100 percent supportive of health programs of line agencies in the city.

“Since being elected into the government service in 1998, it has been my pledge to take care of the people’s health no matter who and no matter how old they are,” Bautista said.

Under Bautista’s administration, Baguio city became a recipient of the “Lingkod Bayan Awards for Reproductive Health” in 2008.

This award pertains to the education of young couples, mothers and would be mothers on family planning and other aspects of a family health.

This all started upon his assumption of office as Baguio City Mayor in 2007 as Bautista allocated 10 percent of the executive budget to health, one of the highest if not the only one.

The allocation paved the way for the “Zero dengue-death” record in 2009 when on the same year, Baguio City became the recipient of a P6 million grant from the Asian Development Bank for attaining such a record in health development.

“When I was the vice-mayor, we really experienced a slump in tourism when at that time, Baguio City was struck by the dreaded “meningococcemia” and an official statement that says “Do not come to Baguio,” Bauista recalled.

“In the 2007 election, only about 70 percent went out and voted because of the meningo scare, this was a wake up call and I felt it was my responsibility to rally the people back from this slump in tourism and business.”

Bautista, as the mayor spearheaded the conduct of preventive measures in and around the city. “This was a big turn-around, a success for the people of Baguio and once again, our city was on its way to a Beautiful Baguio”, Bautista added.

In continuing with his dream, Baguio City achieved a record in the number vaccinated children aged 1 to 9 in both the public and private schools. 90,000 children were vaccinated with anti-measles for free and this is the first in the country.

“I never imagined we have so many children in Baguio City and we haven’t finished vaccinating, yet, and I know we have more children in the city,” Bautista said.