Araw Ko With Mayor institutionalized

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (5 May 2015) - Every Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Ronnel Rivera hosts Araw Ko With Mayor.

Jolito Divivar, 44, a resident of Barangay Labangal, is one who has interacted personally with the mayor. 

"He is really humble. Even though he is the mayor, he is still down-to-earth and very approachable. He is just like a close friend or a good neighbor," Divivar said. 

The mayor typically spends time at City Hall mingling with guests and residents during the Araw Ko With Mayor.

For the locals, this is not only a simple “meet-and-greet” occasion as this has become an opportunity for them to personally let the mayor know what they need.

This was developed and implemented by the city government as one of its regular programs.

The Araw Ko With Mayor is the time where the local government can personally extend assistance to the people, especially the displaced individuals and indigents.

It was primarily organized by the Human Resource Management and Development Office and City Social Welfare and Development Office for cash-assistance turnovers and other initiatives to supplement the different needs of the constituents.

Among the beneficiaries of the assistance are those internally-displaced persons whose properties were lost or damaged due to natural disasters; indigent individuals who are in need of health or educational aid; and elderlies who cannot afford to have medical maintenance.

Aside from being a venue of the local government to extend its reach to the constituents, the Araw Ko With Mayor program is also a way of appreciating local government employees through a collective birthday celebration.

Bernie Cortez, a City Environment and Natural Resources Office employee, is one of the many who were delighted by this program.

“In the years I have worked as a public servant, it is my first time to celebrate my birthday with my other co-employees, and of course, the mayor. It is a different feeling; I am actually overjoyed,” Cortez emphasized. Cortez celebrated his birthday last month.

Aside from the Araw Ko With Mayor, the city government also made a systematic approach to bring government services closer to the people. In 2013, Mayor Rivera launched the Barangayan Program which mobilizes the entire City Hall departments to different barangays to operate and deliver services there. (Gensan CPIO/ Ian John Lagare)