What sets him apart from the other candidates? Mayoral canidate Yogi Filemon Ruiz lays out his priorities, vision, and strategies for the city. Watch his interview and get to know his stand on key issues.
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00:00Okay. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, DJ. Good afternoon, everyone. And welcome to Sunstars
00:20Beyond the Ballot, an interview series for all the mayoralty candidates of Cebu City.
00:27I'm Mildred Galarpe. And I'm DJ Moises. As we approach the 2025 midterm elections, this
00:33program offers both an in-depth look at the candidates vying for the mayoral seat in Cebu
00:40City through a series of one-on-one interviews. And each episode will feature an interview.
00:47The first 30 minutes, we will be asking the candidates about who they are, what they stand
00:52for, and their vision for Cebu City. And then for the remaining time, they will answer five
00:58core questions in two minutes and 30 seconds. And to give us a better understanding of how
01:04this will unfold, let's take a look at the mechanics.
01:08Hello, viewers. Welcome to Sunstar Cebu's Beyond the Ballot series. This program is
01:14divided into two segments, the candidates' profile and the five core questions. Here
01:20are the mechanics. For candidate profile, each mayoral candidate will be interviewed
01:25for 30 minutes, during which they will discuss their past work, advocacies, and reasons for
01:30running. For five core questions, each candidate will have two minutes and 30 seconds to answer
01:36five key questions. This time limit ensures equal opportunity for all candidates while
01:41keeping responses concise and focused. Now, let's head back to the studio.
01:47To ensure fairness, we have provided our candidates the set of questions one day before the interview.
01:54And we're excited to announce that all five mayoral candidates have accepted our invitation
02:00to join us in this interview series. And now, here are the candidates for mayor
02:05of Cebu City.
02:06Today, we are joined by Cebu City's candidate for mayoral to post, Mr. Yogi Filimon Ruiz.
02:24Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Ma'am Mildred.
02:28Good afternoon, Sir DJ. And good afternoon to your viewers.
02:31Okay, DJ, we have another exciting and interesting afternoon. So, Sir Yogi has been in government
02:42for 18 years. So, 18 years. Now, sir, can you give us, in those 18 years, what do you
02:50consider as milestone as a government employee? Thank you so much, Ma'am. I consider all my
02:59assignments as milestones. In my 18 years in government, I have been Director of PDEA for 12
03:08years. I have been Director of Enforcement of the Bureau of Customs for five years, and Commissioner
03:16of Customs for seven months appointed by President Marcos. So, I consider all my assignments as
03:22milestones because each assignment taught me a different perspective, a different approach to
03:29how each government agency works. Yes. In those three assignments, those are three different
03:37categories. You know, like PDEA, it's solving the drug problem. It's kind of also different from
03:43the enforcement of our customs, custom laws. In PDEA, in the 12 years you're in PDEA,
03:52your thoughts about the country's drug problem? Yes, Ma'am. When I got my
04:01assignment in PDEA as a drug enforcer, I was assigned to the different communities.
04:08I was assigned to the different regions. So, I got to see the problem, the drug problem.
04:13From a whole of nation perspective. So, from each region that I was assigned, I got to see that
04:22the drug problem is more or less, we are approaching the drug problem from a one-sided
04:30approach. So, from my experience, I got to see that the drug problem right now that we have in
04:35the city, in the different cities, is more or less a societal problem. And that is one thing that we
04:42should be looking at. And I hope we can, we will be given one more chance to bring about changes
04:53and to bring about solutions to the drug problems that we are facing right now.
04:58What specifically the solutions that you're thinking of, Sir?
05:05Yes, Sir DJ. I got to see that the drug problem right now is being approached from a
05:10law enforcement perspective. When, in fact, the drug problem should be approached from a
05:19two-sided approach. One should be, we should look at the drug problem as a societal, as a
05:29medical problem. And the other perspective from a law enforcement perspective.
05:36Why societal and why medical? Because the drug users right now, they are being treated as
05:41criminals. When, in fact, they should be treated as patients. Because we have seen that most of the
05:51drug users can be easily, if we can just approach them from a perspective of a social
06:02worker's perspective. The drug users can be given one more chance to be
06:10much better members of our society. It's more like if they are patients,
06:15then there's a chance for rehabilitation. But in the drug scenario, there's a drug user and
06:23there's the drug suppliers. So the drug suppliers is more of a police.
06:28It should be, that should be the case, Ma'am. The drug problem should be approached, again,
06:32as I have said, from a two-pronged approach. One to be supply reduction and one for demand reduction.
06:38How do we approach it like that? Demand reduction should be given an important role. Because
06:47if there are no users, if there are no buyers, then there will be no sellers. So
06:54the law enforcement perspective should also be strengthened. Because if there are no sellers,
07:00then there will be no supply going to the market. If we approach this like this way,
07:05I tell you, the drug problem can be solved in one year alone.
07:09Okay. I'm worried that in one year alone, because look what happened to the former
07:14president, right? In his drug war, maybe that was more of an enforcement thing.
07:18Yes, yes.
07:19So maybe it's not a one-side approach on drugs. Some people resort to drugs because of family
07:31problems, because of rejection from the society. In what you saw as PDEA chief,
07:38your enforcement was not thorough. The contribution to society should be from the local governments,
07:46from the church, and even from the community, the family good, the very core.
07:50So how will their contribution help, sir?
07:56You saw this, ma'am, the drug problem right now, especially if we look at it from our city's
08:02perspective. The drug problem that we have right now, it is being approached as like the drug
08:11users are being approached as like sort of criminals, when in fact, we should give them
08:21the proper care, the proper, how would we say it? Because as I have seen in my 12 years in PDEA,
08:34the best way to approach in any situation is to understand all the perspectives. We have seen that
08:43there are the city right now, take the case of Cebu City. We are a highly urbanized city, but
08:50we do not have a drug rehabilitation, we do not have an alcohol rehabilitation centers.
08:58Which are not managed by the local government.
09:01We do not have a city-owned drug rehabilitation centers. So what we have right now, the families
09:09that, family members that have become victims of this, they do not have a way to approach this
09:19from a scientific perspective. Especially if they cannot afford. Yes, so it has come to the point
09:24that you have to shell out money. It has come to the point that we should approach this problem
09:30from a multi-pronged approach. The way we have been approaching this problem before is from a
09:36law enforcers perspective, which is, that's only one side of the problem. You cannot solve,
09:43you cannot bring a chainsaw to an operating room.
09:50If you analyze it and if you translate it to more simpler terms, you cannot bring
10:00a chisel to operate on a brain tumor. So use the proper tool for the right patient,
10:10the right problem. Okay, on the side, because you're in your 12 years, you're on the side of
10:17the law enforcement. What were the challenges? We wanted to understand, what were the challenges of
10:22the law enforcement? It never stops. But the next thing you know, there's another 10 kilos more.
10:38So how is the law enforcement solving these challenges?
10:48Number one, ma'am, we have to look at our situation right now. The Philippines has the second
10:54biggest coastline in the world. We are only second to Indonesia. We have so many islands
11:02that can become potential entry points for these dangerous drugs. So the approach that
11:09I saw that was more or less very effective was when I became Commissioner of Customs.
11:15We procured so many speedboats. We procured so many x-ray machines. And in that way,
11:23the speedboats alone can become a deterrent for the drop-off points for the
11:32vessels that will be potentially bringing in the contraband into our country. But again,
11:39we can only do so much if the government cannot be approaching this from a whole-of-government
11:47approach. For me, if given the chance to contribute, it should be an equal approach
11:59from the law enforcers' perspective, from a law enforcement perspective, and another approach from
12:06the social welfare perspective wherein one side is approaching the patients and treating them,
12:17and one side is approaching them as the pushers and going after them with the full force of the
12:27law. With the full force of the law. We cannot fight it if one,
12:34so it should be a two-handed approach. Now we move still related, but this time on the
12:43context of your role at the Bureau of Customs. In your turnover ceremony, you said that you had
12:52seven priority programs, and two of these are digitalization, and then the second is
13:00eradicating corruption. So can you elaborate first on the progress in terms of digitalizing
13:06our Bureau of Customs? Before I assumed my role as the Commissioner of Customs,
13:16I was summoned to Malacanang, and one of the instructions of the President was, his first
13:24instruction was to stop drug smuggling. That was his first instruction to me. The second instruction
13:31that he had was to eradicate corruption and to go full digitalization, and I more or less was
13:38able to comply when I was Commissioner of Customs. I am proud to say I never encountered any instance
13:45of drug smuggling under my watch. And regarding digitalization, we had to look at it from a
13:53perspective where the Bureau of Customs has been implementing these systems for so long.
13:58So it was like I was a disruptor. I have to disrupt some systems, we have to change some
14:05systems. And for us to solve the problem, we have to look at what are the problems. So number one,
14:14the customs had so many processes. We identified 155 customs processes, and we were able to
14:22digitalize 144 of those 155 customs processes. And because of that, the target revenue that was
14:30given to me was P725 billion. I was able to bring it to P857 billion. So that is a result of
14:39digitalization. And a lot of people also would say that digitalization would also be a deterrent
14:49to corruption. So how do you see the result of the digitalization of those 144 processes
14:57in the context of eradicating corruption at the Bureau of Customs?
15:03So more or less, the result speaks for itself. We were collecting so much revenue for
15:12the Republic of the Philippines. So that goes to show that corruption has been lowered. Again,
15:21we could have done much more if given more resources. But again, there is no perfect world.
15:32We can only aspire, we can only dream that we bring down, we eradicate corruption. But with
15:41the tools that have been given to us, more or less, we were able to accomplish our mission.
15:48You mentioned drug smuggling to our ports. What are these all kinds of drugs?
16:02There are so many modes of concealment, ma'am. We call them modes of concealment.
16:09Some of them use the balikbayan boxes. Some of them use false compartments. Some of them use
16:18outright smuggling wherein it is being loaded into vessels, bring it to a private port,
16:25and then it is being offloaded. Before actually going to the regular
16:30government ports. That is one dilemma that we have right now, ma'am. As I have said,
16:35the Philippines has an extensive coastline. We are second only to Indonesia. We have so many
16:42private ports. It should be declared, it should be more or less the penalty for a foreign vessel,
16:52like small vessel speedboats or yachts, to dock into a private port without passing through the
16:58Bureau of Customs and through the relevant agencies. The penalty should be, for me,
17:04we should introduce a much heavier penalty. Because if it docks to a private port,
17:12because it's privately owned, there's no government intervention there. But all
17:20foreign vessels have to go through the government agencies. Which one is the Bureau of Customs?
17:25But we are how many islands? 7,000 plus, depending on the tide?
17:31Yes. Well, when I was a reporter, I heard that some of the vessels
17:38they just have to drop off the contraband and proceed to the port. But I don't know if it's
17:42still happening now. Well, you don't know. They can find another alternative.
17:47They're the best innovators, I tell you. They're the best innovators. That's why
17:53the business is progressing. Okay. I'm also curious, moving towards the topic on the
18:03election, because you are running for Partido Familia Cebuano. Yes, sir. But I've also read
18:12that you are also part of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas of President Ferdinand Mike Cross Jr.
18:20So what's the setup? Thank you for the question, sir, so that I can have an opportunity to
18:27clarify things. My national party is KBL, Kilusang Bagong Lipunan. And my local party
18:35is the Partido Familia Cebuano, or Partido Cebuano for Brevity. I was endorsed by the
18:44President of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas in the person of Governor Jun Tamayo. I did not ask for
18:51the endorsement. I did not apply for the Partido Federal, which is, they already have a candidate.
19:01I was surprised why I was endorsed. But for me, it is a big honor to be endorsed by another
19:08political party, of which I do believe that maybe our advocacy, our mission, our vision,
19:16our dream for the city of Cebu is aligned with the vision of the Partido Federal.
19:25And I also noticed, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you are also running without a vice mayor
19:32and a congressional slate. Do you think that will also
19:36impact your success if ever you will be elected as mayor of Cebu City?
19:44Right now, sir, I have to explain why I run without a vice mayor and without congressional
19:52representatives for the North and the South District. Before I officially announced my
19:59candidacy for mayor of the city of Cebu, I did different barangay visitations. It was me asking
20:07the people, what are their problems? What are the lacking services that the government needs
20:14to provide to them? We also did, in those visitations, we also did our informal surveys,
20:23and it came out there is one candidate that has been topping the surveys in the different
20:30barangays. So the rating that he had was so high that if you convert it to votes,
20:38it will already be redounded to a landslide win for the vice mayorship. So I said, why will I
20:44fill a vice mayor when in fact there is already that overwhelming support for that candidate?
20:52There seems to be a sure winner already. If the survey will be the determinant of the election.
20:59Because our surveys, ma'am, were done on an honest-to-goodness basis, where we want to
21:06get the pulse of the people. So I said, we decided I will not fill a candidate for vice mayor.
21:14I will let the people decide on who they will have, because right now we have three
21:21candidates for vice mayor, and looking at those three candidates, they are all very qualified.
21:29So if the people will speak that we will choose this guy, then being the mayor, I will be
21:41working on a different capacity, because the mayor is more on executive and administrative functions.
21:48Before we move to the light questions, you mentioned in one of the interviews that we don't
21:59recycle, we only recycle garbage, not politicians. That's a very strong statement.
22:07So what made you believe that you are really the alternative among the candidates that we have for
22:15among the candidates that we have for mayor?
22:18Thank you so much, Sir DJ. I do recall I mentioned that statement, that we should be recycling
22:27garbage, not politicians. Because garbage, after you recycle them, we can have some more use.
22:36But politicians, if you recycle them, they will be very detrimental to the society,
22:42very detrimental to the community. For me, I do believe that I am the newcomer here.
22:49I have been in government for 18 years. I have never been into elected office. My perspective
22:55will be from a non-traditional point of view. I will bring my 18 years of experience in government
23:03to the table, to the office of the city mayor. I am a career executive service officer.
23:12I have been trained by, I graduated from Asian Institute of Management, Strategic Disaster Risk
23:20Reduction Management Leadership Program. I have been trained by Development Academy of the
23:24Philippines. I graduated from International Law Enforcement Academy in Bangkok, Thailand.
23:30I am one of four Filipinos that got the chance to be trained in the People's Republic of China
23:36in Yunnan Police Officer Academy. I will bring this perspective to the table that what I have
23:42learned in these different learning institutions is that there is a better option to the way,
23:49better alternative to the way we are approaching in solving the problems in the city right now.
23:54So I will bring a professional perspective, being a doctor of philosophy, major in organization
24:03leadership. So my experience in solving problems from an executive point of view
24:11will be very beneficial in solving the problems of the city.
24:17Sir, I am interested in your career. How do you call that career?
24:23Political career or government service?
24:24Government service career. You've been trained abroad. You've studied abroad.
24:30But we know politics in the Philippines. Why gamble your good career path
24:37and shift to politics which is very uncertain, very muddy.
25:07Bring a good in government service, but you're just one. Yes, you're on top,
25:12but the tentacles here are pretty, looks like beyond repair. Sorry to be negative about it,
25:23but that system has been there even before I was born.
25:26I agree. I agree. Deeply embedded.
25:28Deeply embedded. So they say that,
25:31sige lang, toluram na sila katuig. If they want to enforce change,
25:34toluram na sila katuig. After that, kami nanami diri sa una pa.
25:38So kaya na siyang klase nga mindset mo. Why gamble your good career to join politics?
25:46Thank you so much for the question, Ma'am Mildred. Because for me, Ma'am, I have seen
25:51when Manila elected Isko Moreno, Manila prospered. When Pasig City elected Vico Soto,
25:58Pasig City prospered. When Baguio City elected Benji Magalong, Baguio City prospered.
26:04Again, what is common about these three personalities? They are all new to their jobs.
26:11Baguio City elected Benji Magalong, a police general. He brought in a new perspective of
26:16governance, a new perspective of leadership. And right now, if you go to Baguio City,
26:22maingan ka nga Tagasibu City ka, maulawan ka. Because Baguio City is, the streets are so clean,
26:28the roads are so well-lit, wakay maagian nga daan nga libaongon. Because they have a specific
26:37unit that will focus only on repairing battered roads. Kaya nga mga libaongon nga dalan.
26:43So I have seen when our city kept electing the same set of politicians, our city deteriorated.
26:50I want to bring a better, a fresh perspective, a better option of leading our people,
26:56of leading our city. Ato mga kagsunan, nangitaan na og bagpo nga pagdumala sa itong siyudad. And
27:04that is what I have seen. And with my vast experience in government, I do believe I can
27:09bring the changes that the city needs. So, Kanye, this is the light question for us to
27:17get to know the person who's running for mayor. If you're not into government service,
27:25and if you are not running as mayor of Cebu City, what would you be doing right now?
27:34What would I be doing right now, sir? I will be farming. I have been a farmer. I grew up in a
27:42barangay. I graduated from a barangay high school. I walked three kilometers to school.
27:47I walked three kilometers going back every day, rain or shine.
27:58So I will be in my farm farming, just like my hands right now. They are full of calluses.
28:05Because I love farming. I like to nurture things and see things grow to their full potential.
28:13Right now, that is what we'll be doing. We'll be bringing Cebu City to its full potential.
28:20My last question. Who is Yogi Filimon Ruiz?
28:26Yogi Filimon Lasala Ruiz. I am a doctor of philosophy. I am a doctor in management. I
28:31am a doctor in organizational leadership. I am a father of four beautiful children,
28:37three daughters and one son. I have been married for 27 years. I celebrated my 27th
28:45year wedding anniversary last February 23, together with my lovely wife, who always keeps
28:53me happy. I am happy because every time she stops talking, I am happy.
29:00Happy wife is happy life.
29:07I am an ordinary guy. I have never been into politics. I have always been a professional
29:16enforcer all my life. I have seen the different perspectives in the different communities.
29:22And that is what I do believe that Cebu City needs right now. A perspective from
29:30a person who has never been tainted with politics, whether it be bad or whatever politics it is.
29:38I will be bringing a perspective to Cebu City that will solve the problems from a scientific
29:44point of view. No politics, everything for the people. I may be strict, but I will be fair.
29:51I may be friendly, but I will be firm. Again, no politics, everything for the people.
29:56Okay. Thank you. Thank you, sir. But we're still not done yet.
30:03We will be right back with the very essence of this interview,
30:08of the stand on the five core questions. So, see you in a bit.
30:12Okay. We're down to the second half of our interview series here at Beyond the Ballot.
30:27A week ago, we asked our Cebuanos through our Facebook page, what are the top five issues
30:34that matter to them? And these issues are traffic congestion and infrastructure challenges,
30:40flooding and drainage problems, solid waste management and pollution, housing and urban
30:47development, and crime and public safety. So, all these questions we asked our guest,
30:52and he has to answer in two minutes and 30 seconds. So, are you ready, sir?
30:59Ready, sir.
31:00So, if you are elected as mayor, how will you address the first issue, traffic congestion
31:07and infrastructure challenges?
31:10Yes, sir. First and foremost, I have seen when in the visits that I have done to our different
31:15barangays, and in the constant going around the city, I have seen that our traffic congestion
31:26is brought about by, number one, we have outdated traffic light system. Take the case of this
31:34stretch of road from New Imus Road up to Imol. So, if we will have more or less, because we are
31:51still using the manual traffic light system, wherein the traffic lights, you have to set
31:57manually the timer for each traffic light. And are we checking if after any power fluctuation,
32:04the traffic lights go back to their original programming? So, you have to look into that.
32:10We have to go into an artificial intelligence traffic light system for the whole city of Cebu.
32:19One city has solved the problem, and take the case of Canggahar in India.
32:25They solved their traffic problem by investing in the latest state-of-the-art traffic light system,
32:33wherein it is a machine learning. You cannot have only one AI traffic light. It should be
32:40a citywide artificial intelligence traffic system. It should be machine learning.
32:48Different times of the day, we know that this stretch of the road is susceptible to
32:55traffic. So, the machine, the traffic light system has to be programmed to the different
33:07times of the different peak hours of traffic for those different stretches of road. So,
33:14we have to, again, we have to invest in the latest technology. It might be painful
33:21for the city because we have to do away with the old traffic system, but it will be beneficial
33:29after we spend for it. For our second question, poor drainage systems and clogged waterways
33:39worsen flash floods and even in light rains. The city's low-lying areas such as downtown Cebu are
33:45highly flood-prone. If elected as mayor, how will you address the flooding and drainage problems?
33:52Number one, first and foremost, we have to do a drainage inventory. Right now, our drainage
34:00system is, if I can look at it from my perspective, our solution that we are doing right now is a
34:07patchwork solution. It's more or less, if someone falls into the city hall, they will be immured.
34:13So, take the case, if this barangay is, the barangay captain is very near to
34:22the one in power, then his drainage system gets to have a big, he will be immured.
34:28And if the next barangay falls into the city hall, he will be immured. So, that will result into
34:35flooding. So, what we do, we do a citywide inventory of our drainage system.
34:44We must come up with a drainage master plan. It should be a long-term
35:01drainage master plan. After that, we must have a unit that will be in charge of
35:09looking at the maintenance of the drainage that we have.
35:12So, again, it's a painful solution,
35:41but it will be beneficial to the city in the long term. Citywide drainage master plan.
35:51And number two, we should have a dedicated unit to look at the different drainage
35:57projects that we have implemented.
36:00So, again, this will be implemented if we will have a much holistic approach to the
36:20flooding problem that we have. Now, we have the third major concern,
36:26uncollected garbage, illegal dumping, and the lack of proper waste segregation
36:32remain to be major concerns. The Inayawan landfill was closed,
36:37raising issues on where to properly dispose of waste. Coastal pollution is also affecting tourism
36:45and marine biodiversity. So, if elected as mayor, how will you solve the third major concern,
36:52which is solid waste management and pollution? First and foremost, we must analyze what is
37:02the problem. From my analysis, again, from an outsider's perspective or from an ordinary
37:09citizen's perspective, I have seen that the problem that we have right now in the city,
37:15it is not the dumping sites. It is not the landfills that we have. We already have the
37:21landfills. We have one in Binayo and we have one in other areas. So, what we have right now
37:27is we have a problem in collection. Collection in the sense, take the case of our barangay,
37:37take the case of Mabolo. We have one garbage truck, the brand is Ho'o. We have another garbage
37:43truck, the brand is Isuzu. We have another garbage truck, the brand is Fuso. If one truck will break
37:48down, the barangay does not have a budget for that. The barangay does not have a fund to maintain
37:54those for the upkeep of those garbage trucks. So, what we do? What does the barangay do?
38:00The barangay chairman will immediately draft a letter addressed to the mayor requesting for
38:05additional funds to repair the equipment. So, the drafting of the letter alone will take one day.
38:13The transmittal of the letter alone going to the office of the mayor will take another day.
38:20We'll take another decision cycle, we'll take another day. That's three days. If three days
38:25alone, our garbage will not be collected. It will be thrown away. So, what do we do?
38:33We must purchase through capital outlay. We must purchase five garbage trucks for every barangay.
38:40Five garbage trucks. But again, there are barangays like mountain barangays that do not need
38:45so much garbage trucks. Again, it can be deployed to the different barangays that need
38:51these garbage trucks. So, if we will have 400 garbage trucks with the same brand,
38:58and we have 40 spare parts for those garbage trucks, if one garbage truck breaks down,
39:04we will have a reserve in our motor pool. So, that is what we'll be doing. Common sense.
39:23Simple solution for a complex problem. Okay. Now, informal settlements and rising
39:30housing costs make affordable housing scarce. Relocation sites for urban poor communities lack
39:36basic utilities and job opportunities. How will you address housing and urban development if
39:43elected as mayor? I have always been repeating it to the different barangays that I have been
39:51in my seven priority programs. My seventh priority program is to provide socialized housing to our
40:01fellow Cebuanos. And how will we do that? We have so much government-owned lots in the different
40:08parts of the city. We include them in our socialized housing program. I am averse to
40:18condominiums. I am a sailor. I like projects that have condominiums. For me, the first thing alone
40:29is that in condominiums alone, you cannot have chickens and ducks in a condominium.
40:40You cannot have pigs in a condominium. If I am the same, I cannot pay my electricity bill.
40:46Your electricity bill is low. Butane and LPG are prohibited in condominiums.
40:51So, I am more biased to on-site development. We have so many pieces of land owned by the city.
41:08We have so many pieces of land owned by the city. So, on-site development will be, for me,
41:25it will be more sustainable in the long term. It will redound to more economic activity.
41:34So, they can focus their energies, their abilities into
41:45business. Again, this plan is on-site development for solving the housing crisis that we have right
41:57now. Here's our final concern. Cases of theft, illegal drugs, and gang-related violence are
42:08concerns in some barangays. Cebu City has seen efforts to boost police visibility, but some
42:15areas remain high risk. Cybercrime and online scams are also on the rise, targeting residents
42:23and businesses. How will you solve the concern on crime and public safety?
42:31First and foremost, we have to do a more or less from the ground-up approach.
42:41Look at the situation right now. We are having so much crime being committed in our different areas
42:47in the different barangays because the criminals can get away with it.
42:57First and foremost, we need to invest in the latest technologies.
43:05Our city does not even have a single facial recognition camera. We do not have a plate
43:12number recognition camera. By investing in these technologies, we can have a city that will be a
43:19smart city, that will have a command center integrated with the different CCTV systems in
43:24each barangay. So, if there is a crime, rest assured, it will be covered within three days
43:33because we have systems already in place that can identify the person and we have a system in place
43:38that can identify the vehicle if they will be using a vehicle. And number two,
43:51you will be given a chance to
43:5810 p.m to 5 a.m, 17 years old and below,
44:02in the entire city. No questions asked.
44:32Again, the barangays can issue to those families
44:57exemption passes so that their children can do their assignments.
45:04Thank you, sir, for answering those five core questions.
45:10Before we end, sir, we will give you time to address our audience.
45:17First of all, thank you so much, Sir DJ, Ma'am Mildred, and thank you to
45:20StanStar Cebu for this opportunity that you have given me today to speak to our
46:21leader. Cebu City needs to keep with the other cities.
46:33We must give to Cebu City the best service that the city needs and that is what
46:39Dr. Yogi Filimon Ruiz will be bringing to the city.
46:43Okay, so thank you once again, Sir Yogi Filimon Ruiz for joining us today.
46:51And to all our viewers, be sure to stay tuned for our next episode,
46:56where we'll be interviewing another Cebu City mayoral candidate.
47:01So this is DJ Moises.
47:03And I'm Mildred Galarpe.
47:04Thank you and good afternoon.