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Naga City

Naga City Facts

♣Naga formally became a chartered city in December 15, 1948 by virtue of Republic Act No. 305 sponsored by Representative Juan Q. Miranda.

♣In 1868, Colegio de Sta. Isabel was established in Naga and became the first normal school for women. Each parish in Bikol was required to send at least one pensionada to study there that they might be trained to run the parochial school in their own home place.

♣ The University of Nueva Caceres is the first university in southern Luzon.

♣The Holy Rosary Seminary is one of the oldest schools in the country. It educated literally thousands of the sons of all the leading families from as far north as Mauban, Quezon, and as far south as Leyte.

♣In 1925, the laymen's department was separated from the seminary and became the Camarines Sur Catholic Academy, which in turn, in 1940 became the Ateneo de Naga. Naga Parochial School took over the training of the elementary boys in 1948.

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NAGA CITY: A PROFILE

by Lauro A. Lleno

The Land

Location

Naga City is located at the heart of Camarines Sur. It lies between 13 to 14 degrees North Latitude and between 123 to 124 degrees East Longitude. It is bounded on the north by the municipalities of Canaman and Magarao; on the east by Mt Isarog and the municipality of Pili; on the south by the municipality of Milaor; and on the west by the municipality of Camaligan (Figure 1).

Terrain

The city's terrain is generally flat from the west to the east or from the city proper to the foot of Mt. Isarog. Nearly three fifths of the land area (58%) is classified as almost level (0-3%) to slightly sloping (3-8%). The principal waterway, the Naga river, intersects the poblacion. To the east, Yabo, Caromatig and Langon creeks cut across several barangays. Mt. Isarog, a dormant volcano, dominates the horizon of the city. It is the highest forested peak in Southern Luzon.

Land Areas and Utilization

The total land area of Naga City is 8,448 hectares or 84.48 square kilometers. Of the total land area, 75 percent was used for agriculture, 13 percent for residential purposes, 7 percent for forest and park reserves, 2 percent for commercial use, 2 percent for institutional functions and 1.2 percent for other purposes.

Climate

The climatic condition of Naga City is classified as Type II. This type is characterized by a definite absence of dry season and a very pronounced maximum rain period from November to January.

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THE PEOPLE

Population Size and Growth

As of May 2000, the total population of Naga City stood at 137,810. This count rose by 10,838 over the 1995 population count; and by 22,481 over the 1990 population count (Table 1). The annual growth rate of the city population actually decelerated from 1.94 percent in the 1990-95 period to 1.65 percent in the 1995-2000 period.

Population Distribution

Of the 27 barangays of the city, the most populous barangay was Concepcion Pequeña with 12.2 percent of the total population, followed by Concepcion Grande (6.2%) and Cararayan (5.3%) (Table 2). The least populous barangay was Dinaga with only 0.3 percent of the city population.

Age-Sex Composition

In 1995, females (51.1%) exceeded males (48.9%). The sex ratio of Naga City population was 95 males for every 100 females. Naga City has a fairly young population. More than a third of the population (38%) were aged below 15 years. The rest of the population are aged 15 to 64 years (58%) and over 65 years (4%). The dependency ratio for 1995 was calculated at 71 dependent persons (0-14 years and 65 years and over) per 100 productive persons (15-64 years) (Figure 2).

Marital Status

Among the 94,461 total household population aged 10 years and over, 49 percent were single or never married and 44 percent were married (Figure 3). The rest of the population were widowed (4.2%), living in (1.4%) and separated or divorced (0.6%).

Language

Bicol is the most prevalent language in the city. The bulk of the household population spoke Bicol (94%) (Figure 4). The second ranking language, Tagalog, was spoken by only 4.5 percent of the households.

Education

Of the 109,634 household population aged 5 years and older, 23 percent were elementary school age (5 years to 12 years old), 12 percent were high school age (13 years to 16 years old) and 19 years were college or post college age (17 years to 24 years old) (Figure 5).

A substantial majority of the household population aged 5 years and over (95%) acquired formal education (Table 3). Of the total, 34 percent attended elementary school, 31 percent went to high school, 26 percent entered college and only 4 percent had preschool.

Health Status

Health status of a population is often measured in terms of mortality statistics such as crude death rate, infant mortality rate, under 5 child mortality, maternal mortality rate, and causes of morbidity and mortality (Table 4).

As reported by the City Health Office, the crude death rate, a summary measure of mortality, was 6 deaths per 1,000 population; the infant mortality rate, an important indicator of socioeconomic condition, was 10 infant deaths (less than 1 year old) per 1,000 livebirths; under 5 mortality, an indicator of malnutrition, was 2 child deaths per 1,000 population; and the maternal mortality rate, indicator of prenatal and postnatal maternal care was 0.46 (i.e. only two cases of maternal deaths were reported).

In 1998, the top five causes of morbidity were primarily acute infectious diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia, influenza, dengue fever and tuberculosis. The top five causes of mortality were chronic degenerative diseases (heart diseases, hypertension and cancer) and at the same time, acute infectious diseases (Table 5).

Employment

Among the 84,583 gainfully employed persons 15 years and older, 50 percent were service, shop, market and sales workers, 13 percent clerical workers, 11.5 percent were professional workers, 9.4 percent were corporate managers or executives, and the remaining workers were managing proprietors, technicians, farmers and craftsmen (Figure 6).

Migration Status

In 1990, among the 98,692 household population 5 years and older of Naga City, 23 percent were intra-provincial migrants, 15 percent were inter-provincial migrants and only 0.1 percent migrants from other countries (Figure 7).

Self-Rated Poverty

Poverty can be assessed in relation to the subjective assessment of the community. This approach is called the self-rated poverty (utilized notably by the Social Weather Station). Specifically, in a survey, household heads are asked to assess their situation in terms of poor, not poor and on a line in between.

Based on three rounds of a public opinion poll conducted by the ASSRC among 150 respondents (sampling error = 8%) in Naga City, the self-rated poverty incidence was relatively high but at varying levels. It rose from 49 percent in 1996 to 59 percent in 1998 and then declined to 44 percent in 1999 (Figure 8). These figures were basically supported by another survey conducted in 1998 by the ASSRC among 215 members of the urban poor federation in the city. Using the 1998 official poverty threshold of P10,497, the computed poverty incidence among the surveyed urban poor families was 40 percent.

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THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Economic infrastructure includes business establishments, electricity, water and sanitation, roads and public transport, and communications.

Business Establishments

As of December 1998, the total number of business establishments reached 4,912 (Table 6). This number increased by 4.3 percent higher than the 1996 total. The most spectacular expansion of business establishments occurred several years before the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Of the total number of business establishments, one half were engaged in wholesale and retail trade, 13 percent in personal and social services, 8 percent in hotel and restaurants, 7.4 percent in real estate, renting and business activities, 7.2 percent in manufacturing, 6 percent in construction, 5 percent in transport, storage and communication (Table 7).

Electricity

The Camarines Sur Electric Cooperative (CASURECO) II distributes electric power sourced from the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR) to households in 27 barangays of the city. Of the 26,491 households, 89.4 percent were served by the CASURECO II (Figure 9).

Water and Sanitation

The Metro Naga Water District (MNWD) supplies water to most of the households in the city. The main source of water comes from two (2) springs in Pili and 13 deep well pumping stations in various barangays within and outside the city (Table 8).

In 1990, of the 18,126 households of Naga City, nearly three-fourths obtained their drinking water from faucets provided by the community water system, 19 percent from tubed or piped deep wells, 2.4 percent from tubed or piped shallow wells, and the remaining household got their drinking water from unsafe sources such as dug wells (2.6%), spring, lake, river, rain (1.8%) and peddlers (0.8%) (Figure 10).

As of December 1999, the City Government operated 16 garbage compactors, dump trucks and mini-dump trucks to collect solid wastes on a daily basis (Table 9). These vehicles took at least two (2) trip to gather garbage. The collected garbage has been disposed at the 3.5 hectare dumpsite in Barangay Balatas (Table 9).

In 1998, of the 20,632 households, 52.3 percent burned their garbage, 26 percent disposed their solid wastes through government dump trucks and 13 percent dumped their garbage in an open pit (Figure 11). The rest of the households disposed their solid wastes by composting (2.2%), burying (2.2%), feeding to animals (1.4%) and others (2.6%).

Roads and Public Transport

Of the city's 164.2805 kilometers road length, 67 percent were concreted, 23 percent were asphalted, 9 percent were gravel surfaced and 2 percent were still unpaved (Figure 12).

A total of 16,790 vehicles were registered in Naga City. Motorcycles comprised 41 percent of the total registered vehicles, or 6,975 units, and utility vehicles, notably jeepneys, constituted 37 percent or 6,172 units (Table 10). On the other hand, privately-owned vehicles constituted nearly three-fourths of all registered vehicles (71%) and a fifth of the total were public utility or for hire vehicles.

A bus terminal and three jeepney terminals were constructed by the city government to serve passengers from and to Naga City. They are Central Bus Terminal, Naga Northbound Jeepney Terminal, Naga Southbound Jeepney Terminal Naga Southbound Jeepney Terminal and Naga Eastbound Jeepney Terminal (Table 11).

Naga City has an airport 12 kilometers away from the poblacion. As of December 2001, only the Philippine Airlines (PAL) had a regular flight to and from Manila (Table 12).

Naga City is part of the Mainline South of the Philippine National Railways. Manila to Naga train ride takes about 10 to 12 hours. As of December 2000, the PNR has two regular trips to Manila (Table 13).

Communication

Mail services are provided by thePhilippine Postal Corporation (PHILPOST). It has three (3) post offices, six (6) barangay post offices, and one (1) mail distribution center in the city.

Telephone services are offered by BAYANTEL and DIGITEL. On the other hand, cellular phone services are provided by GLOBE, SMART and PILTEL.

Telegraphy services in the city are extended by two private companies, RCPI and PT & T, and BUTEL, a government-owned entity.

Internet access is offered by seven internet service providers (ISPs), namely, ATHENA, DIGITELONE, MOSCOM, ZOOM, I-NEXT, ADNET and PHILWEB.

Seven (7) companies deliver messengerial services. They include Johnny Air Cargo, JRS Express, LBC Air Cargo, DHL, Daily Overland Express, EXCEL, Kabayan Forwarders, and Aboitiz Air Cargo.

Four (4) television networks beam their signal to the city. They are PBN Channel 5, GMA Channel 7, PTV Channel 8 and ABS-CBN Channel 11.

Four (4) cable operators supply cable television programming – Sky Cable, Caceres Cable, Naga Cable and Sun Cable.

There are five (5) AM radio stations (DZNG, DWRN, DZGE, DWAR and DWRP) and eight (8) FM stations (DWST, DWMY, DWNX, DWAC, DZRB, DWOK, DWYN, and DWEB).

In 2000, there were 16 local newspapers available to the reading public in the city (Table 14). The local newspapers with higher circulation include Aniningal, Bikol Reporter and Naga Newsday. Ten (10) national dailies from Metro Manila are also available.

Social infrastructure consists of schools, health facilities, housing, and sports and recreation, including tourism facilities.

Health Facilities

Naga City has six hospital, two (2) are government-owned and four (4) are private (Table 15). In 2000, the total number of hospital beds stands at 943.

The City Health Office (CHO) serves 27 barangays of the city. 1997, health services were delivered by a doctor, five (5) nurses, a medical technologist, a dental aide, three (3) dentists, 28 midwives, seven (7) sanitary inspectors, 172 active barangay health workers (BHWs), and 1,177 trained birth attendants (Table 16).

In addition, the city boasted of 67 medical and 35 dental clinics. There were 189 private physicians and 67 dentists (CPDO 2000).

Housing

In 2000, there were 54 existing subdivisions with a combined areas of 531.2 hectares and 19,223 lots in the city (Table 17).

In 1990, among 14,813 households, 44.3 percent owned the lot they were occupying, 22.3 percent were renting, while 29.1 percent were occupying the lots with consent from the owners and 3.3 percent were occupying the lots without consent from the owners (Figure 13).

To address the housing needs of the rapidly growing urban poor population, the city government implemented the Naga Kaantabay sa Kauswagan project to assist urban poor families in acquiring their own homelots. As of December 2000, there were 11 on-site projects for a total area of 25 hectares and 1,954 beneficiaries, 12 completed onsite projects with a combined area of 10 hectares and 1,088 beneficicaries and 15 completed off-site projects for a total area of 53 hectares and 3,491 beneficiaries (Table 18).

Sports and Recreation

Sports facilities include the Metro Naga Sports Complex (with an Olympic sized pool, a 400-meter rubberized track oval, a 15,000 eater grandstand, basketball courts, a volleyball court and an air-conditioned conference room, Naga City Youth Center (with a playground, a gym, a swimming pool, a skating rink, slides, see-saws, chinning bar, horizontal ladder, mini-park and a convention area), 21 multipurpose courts (located in various barangays), Caceres Sports Arena (2,000 seater cockfighting arena) and gymnasia (in various schools and universities) (Table 19).

There are six (6) resorts namely, Kayumanggi Resort, Peñafrancia Resort, Casa Catalina Resort, Jimenez Resort, Rock Valley Resort, and Isabelita Resort (Table 20).

Public plazas include Plaza Rizal, Plaza Quezon, Plaza Quince Martires and Plaza Barlin.

School and universities such as Ateneo de Naga University, Universidad de Sta. Isabel, and ten (10) others have their own auditoriums for theater performances and other cultural events.

Moviehouses include Emily, Bichara 1 and 2, Advent, El Rey and Vic.

Videoke bars are also available like Powerstrip, San Diego, Bistro Roberto, CNN, Lucky Fortune, Grand Imperial Plaza's Blackhole and many more within the city proper.

Several health fitness gyms operate to cater to the physical health buffs. They are He-man's Fitness gym, Villa Caceres gym, Naga College gym, Carezza gym, Gener's gym, Olympus gym, Body Slimmers, among others.

For ballroom dancing enthusiasts, a number of ballroom studios are open, the most prominent of which are Flames, Oasis and Bistro Antonio.

There are two malls, namely, LCC Mall and Robertson Mall.

Tourism

A total of 17 hotels, inns and pension houses provide visitor billeting and accommodation (Table 21).

There are two ecotourism parks, namely, Mt. Isarog National Park and Naga City Ecology Park.

Naga City also holds two annual festivals. The Peñafrancia Fiesta is celebrated every third week of September to honor Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia, the Patroness of Bicol. The city government also sponsors the Kamundagan Festival to celebrate Christmas and commemorate the city's charter anniversary.

Education

In 2000, a total of 146 educational institutions operated in Naga City. Out of this, 88 were government schools and 58 were private schools. By level of education, there were 80 Day Care Centers or preschools, 32 elementary schools, 14 high schools, 12 tertiary schools (including three universities - Ateneo de Naga University, University of Nueva Caceres and Universidad de Sta. Isabel ) and 8 vocational schools (Table 22).

The educational institutions are complimented by the Naga City Library, the Book Mobile, Bicol Science and Technology Centrum (BSTC) and the musems. As of December 2000, the Naga City Library catered to 428,467 readers; the Book Mobile to 7,801 persons; and the BSTC to 79,580 visitors.

There are three notable museums in the city. The University of Nueva Caceres/ Naga City Museum houses historical artifacts of ancient Bicolanos. The Museo Conciliar Seminario features also ancient relics as well as local history of the Roman Catholic church. The Peñafrancia Museum contains sacred vestiges related to Marian devotion to the regional Patroness, Our Lady of Peñafrancia.

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THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Organization

Naga formally became a chartered city in December 15, 1948 by virtue of Republic Act No. 305 sponsored by Representative Juan Q. Miranda.

The Naga City Government has 25 existing departments (Table 23a), 12 quasi-government bodies (Table 23b) and seven (7) special bodies (Table 23c).

The incumbent mayor, vice-mayor and councilors are as follows:

Mayor:   Jesse M. Robredo

Vice-mayor:   Esteban R. Abonal.

City Councilors:

Jose C. Ranola

Lourdes V. Asence

Simeon F. Adan

John G. Bongat

William M. Kalaw

Jose L. Grageda

Cecilia V. De Asis

William G. Del Rosario

Julian C. Lavadia, Jr.

Gabriel H. Bordado, Jr.

Mila S. Raquid-Arroyo

Yelanie R. Bautista

Financial Management

In 2000, the city government was able to generate PhP 307,806,139.77 as revenues. This amount rose by 27 percent from the previous year. On the other hand, the city government expended PhP 312,209,930.48, representing a 27 percent increase from the past year.

The city government's fiscal management and priorities are revealed by the sectoral or itemized decomposition of its revenue and expenditure Of the total revenues, 49.9 percent were derived from the national government mostly in the form of internal revenue allotment, 38.7 percent from local funds, primarily real estate and business taxes, 10 percent from previous year's operations (Figure 14).

Of the total cash outflow, 21 percent were spent on engineering services, 20 percent on general public services, 19 percent on economic services, 9.7 percent on housing and community services, 7.4 percent on health services, 6.9 percent on education, culture and sports, 1.7 percent on social security and welfare, 8 percent on other purposes and 3.5 percent on other community and social services (Figure 15).

Protective Services

In 1998, the Naga City Police Station, under the operational and supervision of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Provincial command was manned by 156 police officers. This brought a policeman to the city population ratio of 1:862. The peace and order situation was enhanced by presence of 19 police aides hired by the city government and 16 private security agencies.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) provides fire protection services in Naga City. In 1999, 64 personnel comprised the local firefighting force. The BFP was complemented by 146 volunteers from Progressive Mason Club (Chin Po Tong) Fire Brigade. The firemen to the city population ratio was 1:2,802.

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References

Ateneo Social Science Research Center. Socioeconomic Profile of the Urban Poor in Naga City, 1998.

Ateneo Social Science Research Center. Presentation of Results February 2000 Local Government Performance Indicators Measurement ARD/GOLD Project.

City Planning and Development Office. 2000 Naga City Statistical Profile.

Department of Health Regional Field Office No. 5. The 1997 Annual Report.

National Statistical Office. 1995 Census of Population Report No. 2-25 Socioeconomic and Demographic Characteristics Camarines Sur.

Naga City Government. Annual Budget CY 1997 Naga City.

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