Naga City has been reinventing local governance in the Philippines long before reinventing became a byword among the government’s management thinkers and practitioners. The idea was to provide effective, efficient and adequate services to the public while still maintaining a high rate of revenue generation and growth.

       The success of the Productivity Improvement Program depended largely on its ability to bring out the full potential of various departments and offices of the entire city government. Guided by the vision of a greater Naga by 1998 when the city marks its 50th anniversary, the program focused on four main thrusts; (1) providing sufficient services to meet requirements of the population; (2) getting optimum outputs with minimum expenditures; (3) producing quality results as desired and planned; and (4) making services accessible and acceptable based on the principle of “the greatest good for the greatest number.”

      Following Naga’s reorganization, it has emerged from being a third-class city with a measly annual income of P19 mllion to a first-class urban center, with revenues of more than P160 million. Businesses were put up as more and more businessmen grew confident about Naga’s economic prospects. The number of new businesses established in the city grew by a record 91%, and an average of 1,470 new jobs were created annually. Residents enjoyed a better standard of living as average monthly income increased by 62%.

      While a lot of effort went to attracting investments and revenue generation, social issues such as child welfare and development were also given top priority. In fact, due to the outstanding programs of the local government in advancing child welfare, Naga was cited as the most consistent top performer among 62 cities in the country based on a 1994 progress report of UNICEF and the League of Cities of the Philippines.