(Let me give you Jack Gadaingan's report which appears in today's edition of the Manila Bulletin)
CALBAYOG CITY — Some P368 million worth of economic infrastructure projects will be implemented soon in this city as an offshoot of an investment forum held at Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Manila last week.
The biggest finance taker during the investment forum was the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), which signified willingness to finance all the four major projects presented by the city of Calbayog.
The presentations of projects were also attended by corporate executives from San Miguel Corporation, Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and Pag-IBIG Fund.
The four major Calbayog projects amounting to P368.8 million are the Bangon Falls Mini-Hydro Power Development Project in the amount of P129 million; the New Calbayog City Public Market, P121.8 million; the medium-rise housing project for government employees, P68 million; and the rehabilitation of Ton-ok mini-hydropower plant, P50 million.
It was learned that aside from the DBP, Land Bank also aired its interest to finance the Calbayog projects.
Calbayog City Mayor Mel Sarmiento, who led the panel of presenters, said he was happy how the investment forum turned out in favor of his city.
“With more than one financing institution interested to partner with us in the implementation of the projects, the Calbayog City government is in the right position to choose which among them could offer more lucrative terms for the city,” he said.
The projects will be the biggest break for Calbayog City to have major economic infrastructures never experienced by the city before, he added.
Joseph Lim, financial analyst for Institute for Solidarity-Asia (ISA), said that with the current local revenue collection and Internal Revenue Allocation (IRA) of Calbayog from the national government, the city is eligible for even higher investment borrowings than what the four major projects require. (JACK C. GADAINGAN)
For related blog posts, please check these: link 1, link2.
Showing posts with label national dailies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label national dailies. Show all posts
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
LGUs push dev’t programs for cities to counter downturn
(This report was taken from the Manila Bulletin website)
Philippine cities are moving forward with development plans despite the impact of the economic crisis on local communities, according to the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA). In January, Balanga, Bataan – in only its ninth year as a city – designated an 80-hectare site as a university town. Plans call for developing a world-class educational center on the site by 2020 to support the city’s business development goals.
Balanga is confident, according to ISA officials, of meeting its goal of becoming a premier educational and business center. Its efforts towards that end have already been recognized. Last year, Balanga was named the most business-friendly local government unit in the Philippines by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
ISA conducted a Public Governance Forum on March 11-12.
Other cities represented included
Bayawan, Negros, which is pursuing efforts to become an agricultural center. The city government distributed 1,446 thousand cavans of rice seeds worth P1.16 million to farmers in the city in 2008. Bayawan is consistently one of the top rice producers in Negros.
Last year, the CAO produced 20,508 packs of Bio-N, an organic fertilizer, which was distributed to 4,100 farmers in the city. The city has vast economic potential, with 140 hectares available for agricultural development and production.
Iloilo City is also improving its infrastructure this year to support tourism. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently declared the city’s 10.6% annual average growth in tourism as the best performance for the country in the tourism industry. Noteworthy projects include the new Iloilo airport. Iloilo City plans to improve other transport infrastructure with the construction of its second mega-flyover this year, following the construction of the Gen. Luna-Infante flyover in 2008. The city is the site of major foreign investment targeting the tourism sector.
Another city investing in local projects despite the downturn is Calbayog, Samar. Calbayog is developing into an agro-industrial community and is leading efforts to coordinate development programs for the region by championing a unification initiative with the theme “One Visayas, One People, One Destiny.” The local government supports local and international celebrations, such as Women’s Month this March, which can support women’s rights while fostering increased tourism.
The Calbayog city government also offers free medical, legal, and counseling care for women. Regina Rabuya, chairperson of the local Women and Family institution says these programs are an acknowledgement of the contributions of local women to the progress of the city.
Philippine cities are moving forward with development plans despite the impact of the economic crisis on local communities, according to the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA). In January, Balanga, Bataan – in only its ninth year as a city – designated an 80-hectare site as a university town. Plans call for developing a world-class educational center on the site by 2020 to support the city’s business development goals.
Balanga is confident, according to ISA officials, of meeting its goal of becoming a premier educational and business center. Its efforts towards that end have already been recognized. Last year, Balanga was named the most business-friendly local government unit in the Philippines by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
ISA conducted a Public Governance Forum on March 11-12.
Other cities represented included
Bayawan, Negros, which is pursuing efforts to become an agricultural center. The city government distributed 1,446 thousand cavans of rice seeds worth P1.16 million to farmers in the city in 2008. Bayawan is consistently one of the top rice producers in Negros.
Last year, the CAO produced 20,508 packs of Bio-N, an organic fertilizer, which was distributed to 4,100 farmers in the city. The city has vast economic potential, with 140 hectares available for agricultural development and production.
Iloilo City is also improving its infrastructure this year to support tourism. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently declared the city’s 10.6% annual average growth in tourism as the best performance for the country in the tourism industry. Noteworthy projects include the new Iloilo airport. Iloilo City plans to improve other transport infrastructure with the construction of its second mega-flyover this year, following the construction of the Gen. Luna-Infante flyover in 2008. The city is the site of major foreign investment targeting the tourism sector.
Another city investing in local projects despite the downturn is Calbayog, Samar. Calbayog is developing into an agro-industrial community and is leading efforts to coordinate development programs for the region by championing a unification initiative with the theme “One Visayas, One People, One Destiny.” The local government supports local and international celebrations, such as Women’s Month this March, which can support women’s rights while fostering increased tourism.
The Calbayog city government also offers free medical, legal, and counseling care for women. Regina Rabuya, chairperson of the local Women and Family institution says these programs are an acknowledgement of the contributions of local women to the progress of the city.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sen. Kiko Pangilinan on Calbayog (a little bit of it)
Today's edition of the Manila Bulletin contained a feature on Sen. Kiko Pangilinan. The two-page article entitled 'Mr. Independent' was an interview conducted by Rachel Barawid, Angelo Garcia, Ina Malipot, Ronald Lim, Jaser Marasigan and Ma. Theresa Arriza. When asked about how he instill discipline on his kids, he cited something about Calbayog:
"... There’s a study that shows that the quality sleep of a child is 8 p.m. to 11. Kaya yung maliliit maliliit. Yung matatatangkad, matatatangkad. Hindi, hindi. (Smiles) I review them for class and I even attend Parents-Teachers conferences. Even with KC. Sabi nga ni Sharon nun, ‘o ikaw naman, maghabol ka…’ In Poveda, up to IS (International School), up to Paris, I met with her academic adviser.
And the truth is, and this is another experience in Calbayog city. In Calbayog city, 2002, the mayor of the city Mayor Sarmiento decided to look into the performance of the Calbayog city high school students in terms of test scores. Local government provided resource materials, PTAs came in also and got involved. They put in place programs, mandatory tutorials on weekends and mock exams for the tests. Three years later, Calbayog City High School was not yet a national high school because there were certain requirements. But then they were already outperforming Cebu national high schools and Manila national high schools. Calbayog High School. So napuwersa yung DepEd naku eto hindi pa national high school pero mas maganda ang grade sa mga national high school. Kakahiya. National high school ka na rin, diba! So they became Calbayog City National High School.
What’s the moral of the story there, when the community, when parents are directly involved in the education of your children, the quality of the education and the performance of the students are much, much better. So there’s no rocket science to it . . . "
For the complete article, you may check this link.
"... There’s a study that shows that the quality sleep of a child is 8 p.m. to 11. Kaya yung maliliit maliliit. Yung matatatangkad, matatatangkad. Hindi, hindi. (Smiles) I review them for class and I even attend Parents-Teachers conferences. Even with KC. Sabi nga ni Sharon nun, ‘o ikaw naman, maghabol ka…’ In Poveda, up to IS (International School), up to Paris, I met with her academic adviser.
And the truth is, and this is another experience in Calbayog city. In Calbayog city, 2002, the mayor of the city Mayor Sarmiento decided to look into the performance of the Calbayog city high school students in terms of test scores. Local government provided resource materials, PTAs came in also and got involved. They put in place programs, mandatory tutorials on weekends and mock exams for the tests. Three years later, Calbayog City High School was not yet a national high school because there were certain requirements. But then they were already outperforming Cebu national high schools and Manila national high schools. Calbayog High School. So napuwersa yung DepEd naku eto hindi pa national high school pero mas maganda ang grade sa mga national high school. Kakahiya. National high school ka na rin, diba! So they became Calbayog City National High School.
What’s the moral of the story there, when the community, when parents are directly involved in the education of your children, the quality of the education and the performance of the students are much, much better. So there’s no rocket science to it . . . "
For the complete article, you may check this link.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Delayed Flights
(Mr. Eli Cinco wrote about Calbayog in his column for yesterday's edition of the Manila Bulletin. Please Chech this link. I have also featured the whole article in today's blog update)
CALBAYOG CITY – This metropolis of almost 200,000 inhabitants is sort of a blessed place. It faces the calm Samar Sea to the west which is abundant in marine life, and to the east are low-lying hills and fruitful fields fertile to every variety of rice, coconut, and vegetables.
(I’m here on my semi-annual visit to the place of my birth.)
"Who cares about shortage of NFA rice, we don’t eat it anyway," says Ricardo Sagrado, gentle and healthy-looking peddler of variety of plastic toys, hawking his wares round the periphery of tree-adorned Nijaga Park. Popular Manila fast-food chain outlets are just across the park.
Calbayog is the birth place of many exceptionally talented people who have achieved national prominence in virtually all fields of professions and vocations, earning it a catchphrase, the Talent Bank City. I will mention some of them in subsequent columns. The late playwright Wilfredo Ma. Guerrero who taught English and drama during summer classes at the revered Colegio de San Vicente de Paul in the mid-1950s, complimented: "Calbayognons are such gifted people. They are so talented."
Back to present-day realities: The most persistent complaints are those coming from traders, employees, and visitors who take round-trip flights on board the recently opened PAL Express and the mainstay Asian Spirit. Passengers are aghast over the airlines’ abrupt cancellation of flights, as well as delayed flights.
"We’ve lost business opportunities, mainly because of those irritants which the airline companies seem to take lightly," says Gertie Capistrano who owns a manning firm in Manila.
I sympathize with those businessmen. I myself was a victim of those erratic scheduling of PAL Express. My flight coming here last September 4 was supposed to take off from the new NAIA Terminal-3 at 5:50 a.m.
Following their expressed instructions where domestic passengers are to check-in 2 ½ hours before scheduled departure, I did so even earlier – at 3:15 a.m. But the problem was there was nobody from PAL Express to appreciate my punctuality. All counters were devoid of personnel, compared to those of Cebu Pacific across which were a beehive of activities.
Then at exctly 4:15 a.m., three still-sleepy check-in counter clerks, one was a cashier, took their places. They were 55 minutes late.
My boarding pass said my departure gate was No. 131, another foul-up. Calbayog- bound passengers, said a voice from the PA system, were to wait at Gate No. 132. Okay at this point. Then a girl at a movable counter who also came in late said our plane would be delayed for 30 minutes because "they are still servicing the plane." Servicing? Not a few yawning passengers asked.
Finally, we were bussed to a nearby apron where other PAL Express planes were parked awaiting irrate passengers. Our flight No. PR 91 took off at 7:08 a.m., a delay of one hour and 18 minutes.
Arriving in Calbayog Sabang Airport at 8:20 a.m., I missed a jeepney to the town of Gandara which I would have taken, but it left earlier, to visit an aging maternal uncle.
The irony of it all was, that delayed flight on September 4 to Calbayog had PAL VIPs on board.
Plane Always Late? Back to the old sarcastic derision of the PAL acronym? There’s a newer interpretation – "Pirme Atrasado an Lupad." One does not have to be a Waray to understand what this means.
CALBAYOG CITY – This metropolis of almost 200,000 inhabitants is sort of a blessed place. It faces the calm Samar Sea to the west which is abundant in marine life, and to the east are low-lying hills and fruitful fields fertile to every variety of rice, coconut, and vegetables.
(I’m here on my semi-annual visit to the place of my birth.)
"Who cares about shortage of NFA rice, we don’t eat it anyway," says Ricardo Sagrado, gentle and healthy-looking peddler of variety of plastic toys, hawking his wares round the periphery of tree-adorned Nijaga Park. Popular Manila fast-food chain outlets are just across the park.
Calbayog is the birth place of many exceptionally talented people who have achieved national prominence in virtually all fields of professions and vocations, earning it a catchphrase, the Talent Bank City. I will mention some of them in subsequent columns. The late playwright Wilfredo Ma. Guerrero who taught English and drama during summer classes at the revered Colegio de San Vicente de Paul in the mid-1950s, complimented: "Calbayognons are such gifted people. They are so talented."
Back to present-day realities: The most persistent complaints are those coming from traders, employees, and visitors who take round-trip flights on board the recently opened PAL Express and the mainstay Asian Spirit. Passengers are aghast over the airlines’ abrupt cancellation of flights, as well as delayed flights.
"We’ve lost business opportunities, mainly because of those irritants which the airline companies seem to take lightly," says Gertie Capistrano who owns a manning firm in Manila.
I sympathize with those businessmen. I myself was a victim of those erratic scheduling of PAL Express. My flight coming here last September 4 was supposed to take off from the new NAIA Terminal-3 at 5:50 a.m.
Following their expressed instructions where domestic passengers are to check-in 2 ½ hours before scheduled departure, I did so even earlier – at 3:15 a.m. But the problem was there was nobody from PAL Express to appreciate my punctuality. All counters were devoid of personnel, compared to those of Cebu Pacific across which were a beehive of activities.
Then at exctly 4:15 a.m., three still-sleepy check-in counter clerks, one was a cashier, took their places. They were 55 minutes late.
My boarding pass said my departure gate was No. 131, another foul-up. Calbayog- bound passengers, said a voice from the PA system, were to wait at Gate No. 132. Okay at this point. Then a girl at a movable counter who also came in late said our plane would be delayed for 30 minutes because "they are still servicing the plane." Servicing? Not a few yawning passengers asked.
Finally, we were bussed to a nearby apron where other PAL Express planes were parked awaiting irrate passengers. Our flight No. PR 91 took off at 7:08 a.m., a delay of one hour and 18 minutes.
Arriving in Calbayog Sabang Airport at 8:20 a.m., I missed a jeepney to the town of Gandara which I would have taken, but it left earlier, to visit an aging maternal uncle.
The irony of it all was, that delayed flight on September 4 to Calbayog had PAL VIPs on board.
Plane Always Late? Back to the old sarcastic derision of the PAL acronym? There’s a newer interpretation – "Pirme Atrasado an Lupad." One does not have to be a Waray to understand what this means.
Monday, September 8, 2008
‘Our Lady’s Nativity’
(Mr. Eli Cinco wrote devoted his column for today's edition of the Manila Bulletin to the Calbayog fiesta celebration. He gave me permission to feature the said column in this blog. Check this link. If it doesn't work, do read the whole article featured below)
CALBAYOG CITY – The Parish of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, patroness of this city, is celebrating the 316th annual observance of "Our Lady’s Nativity" today. This religious event is the centerpoint of the feast day that is commemorated by one of the earliest parishes in Eastern Visayas or what is administratively known as Region 8.
A fiesta event like today's basically a religious event. So all the major activities starting with the nine-day novena last August 30 which ended yesterday, and the feast day proper today are spearheaded by parish clergy officials and supported by the parish pastoral council composed of lay people.
The highlight of the commemoration is the concelebrated High Mass at 9 this morning, with Most Reverend Isabelo C. Abarquez, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Calbayog as main celebrant and homilist. His con-celebrants are diocesan, religious clergy and visiting priests which normally number around 20. The mass itself ordinarily lasts one hour and forty-five minutes, incorporating the homily, sermon proper, offering of sponsors and city officials, and other relevant hymnal ceremonies.
Rev. Fr. Julio Gaddi and Fr. Anthony Mahinay are masters of ceremonies.
The concelebrated high mass is always looked up to by parishioners, visitors from Manila, balikbayans, and guests from various parishes and dioceses of Region 8.
It is held at the cavernous St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral, a huge cathedral with five altars (its main altar with a high retablo easily measuring 50 feet in height) cross-designed that can easily accommodate more than two thousand sitting worshippers. Its interiors have been given a fresh coat of paint by the feast day sponsors.
This year’s feast day sponsors are cousins and normally they share all expenses incurred during the fortnight celebration, the snacks for novena reciters, flower decoration of altars, the wherewithals during the procession, and concededly the most lavished of all is the dinner and entertainment for "hermanas pasadas" (past sponsors), visiting Calbayognons from Manila and abroad. It is said that expenses for all these activities could easily run up to half-a-million pesos.
Sponsors are prepared to shoulder all the costs, not only because they are financially capable, but because of their "saad" (pledge or "panata" to Tagalogs) to the Blessed Patroness. It is tacitly confirmed that the patroness reciprocates by helping the sponsors with spiritual upliftment, peace of mind and enhanced family relationships.
On the other hand, the city government is just as enthusiastic staging the civic participation in the celebration. Civic and corporate establishments do their share in enlivening up the two-week celebrations.
Focal point of the civic affairs is the staging of the famous "Sarakiki" festival and parade. This costumed and choreographed presentation with a cast of more than 100, has been winning accolades and prizes in street dancing competitions in Manila, Cebu and Tacloban. It is one of the native cultural achievements of City Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento who has a number of citations and acknowledgements given him by the Department of Tourism.
Other cultural fronts that attract hundreds of onlookers are the Hadang 2008, a potpourri of musical and stage productions. It was staged last Friday at the fastidiously decorated Nijaga Park.
Already an institution, in one way or the other, is the holding of Anyag beauty and brains competition annually undertaken by civic clubs. Anyag is an old Calbayog waray term for beauty or radiance. Pretty young girls from various high schools and colleges in Samar (Western) eagerly vie for the title the grand-winner of which receives cash prize, trophy and other valuable rewards. Runners-up also receive cash and worthy items.
Proclaimed as this year’s Miss Anyag Friday night was a college girl of 18-years from Catbalogan, the capital town of the province.
Calbayog has a population of almost 198,000, but for the past week that figure has doubled, what with the influx of well-wishers, visitors, guests from everywhere, including nearby island towns, highway towns and even from the southern areas of Masbate.
CALBAYOG CITY – The Parish of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, patroness of this city, is celebrating the 316th annual observance of "Our Lady’s Nativity" today. This religious event is the centerpoint of the feast day that is commemorated by one of the earliest parishes in Eastern Visayas or what is administratively known as Region 8.
A fiesta event like today's basically a religious event. So all the major activities starting with the nine-day novena last August 30 which ended yesterday, and the feast day proper today are spearheaded by parish clergy officials and supported by the parish pastoral council composed of lay people.
The highlight of the commemoration is the concelebrated High Mass at 9 this morning, with Most Reverend Isabelo C. Abarquez, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Calbayog as main celebrant and homilist. His con-celebrants are diocesan, religious clergy and visiting priests which normally number around 20. The mass itself ordinarily lasts one hour and forty-five minutes, incorporating the homily, sermon proper, offering of sponsors and city officials, and other relevant hymnal ceremonies.
Rev. Fr. Julio Gaddi and Fr. Anthony Mahinay are masters of ceremonies.
The concelebrated high mass is always looked up to by parishioners, visitors from Manila, balikbayans, and guests from various parishes and dioceses of Region 8.
It is held at the cavernous St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral, a huge cathedral with five altars (its main altar with a high retablo easily measuring 50 feet in height) cross-designed that can easily accommodate more than two thousand sitting worshippers. Its interiors have been given a fresh coat of paint by the feast day sponsors.
This year’s feast day sponsors are cousins and normally they share all expenses incurred during the fortnight celebration, the snacks for novena reciters, flower decoration of altars, the wherewithals during the procession, and concededly the most lavished of all is the dinner and entertainment for "hermanas pasadas" (past sponsors), visiting Calbayognons from Manila and abroad. It is said that expenses for all these activities could easily run up to half-a-million pesos.
Sponsors are prepared to shoulder all the costs, not only because they are financially capable, but because of their "saad" (pledge or "panata" to Tagalogs) to the Blessed Patroness. It is tacitly confirmed that the patroness reciprocates by helping the sponsors with spiritual upliftment, peace of mind and enhanced family relationships.
On the other hand, the city government is just as enthusiastic staging the civic participation in the celebration. Civic and corporate establishments do their share in enlivening up the two-week celebrations.
Focal point of the civic affairs is the staging of the famous "Sarakiki" festival and parade. This costumed and choreographed presentation with a cast of more than 100, has been winning accolades and prizes in street dancing competitions in Manila, Cebu and Tacloban. It is one of the native cultural achievements of City Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento who has a number of citations and acknowledgements given him by the Department of Tourism.
Other cultural fronts that attract hundreds of onlookers are the Hadang 2008, a potpourri of musical and stage productions. It was staged last Friday at the fastidiously decorated Nijaga Park.
Already an institution, in one way or the other, is the holding of Anyag beauty and brains competition annually undertaken by civic clubs. Anyag is an old Calbayog waray term for beauty or radiance. Pretty young girls from various high schools and colleges in Samar (Western) eagerly vie for the title the grand-winner of which receives cash prize, trophy and other valuable rewards. Runners-up also receive cash and worthy items.
Proclaimed as this year’s Miss Anyag Friday night was a college girl of 18-years from Catbalogan, the capital town of the province.
Calbayog has a population of almost 198,000, but for the past week that figure has doubled, what with the influx of well-wishers, visitors, guests from everywhere, including nearby island towns, highway towns and even from the southern areas of Masbate.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
re-post: Manila Bulletin's Eli Cinco on Calbayog City
(Last Wednesday, I featured in this blog Mr. Eli Cinco's column in the August 20, 2008 issue of the Manila Bulletin. I received a good number of emails and a phone call. It turned out that a good number of blog viewers were not able to access the links I have provided. I am posting the whole column, or the part about Calbayog. Try checking this link, in case does not work, do read what I have posted)
Calbayog gets PCCRP ‘Top Performing City’ Award
By Elinando B. Cinco
NOW Calbayog City has all the reasons to attract investors and draw visitors after it has been awarded last July 4, the much-coveted Top Performing Metropolis Award – Small-sized Category – by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center, in conjunction with its biennial Philippine Cities Competitive Ranking Project.
Only 12 cities, out of 45 covered by that category, made it to the ranking, Calbayog among them.
Launched in 1999, the PCCRP is a two-year independent study conducted throughout the archipelago "to rank cities on the basis of economic performance and responsiveness to business enterprise."
There are two other categories – Metro Cities and Medium-sized Cities – involving the Philippines’ 90 cities surveyed nationwide.
Rating of the contending cities was based on such factors as (1) dynamism of the local economy, (2) cost of doing business, (3) infrastructure, (4) human resources and training, (5) responsiveness of local government units to business needs, and (6) quality of life.
In a front-page news story in the Manila Bulletin last July 5, to project the importance of the biennial awards, Dr. Federico Macaranas said city competitiveness is vital in national development.
The AIM Policy Center has this study and its goals "to promote national competitiveness by encouraging healthy competition among highly urbanized and emerging cities."
"By gathering and compiling strategic data and providing focused analyses of the results, the PCCRP also seeks to cultivate competitive industries, promote healthy communities and maximize the economic performance and responsiveness to business enterprise,"Macaranas emphasized.
Since the first city awardees were bestowed almost 10 years ago, results of the PCCRP research and evaluation have benefited those local government units. They came in the form of accurate and workable city planning, realistic and, therefore, attainable development objectives, all combining to make intelligent implementation effortless.
Now, what does this ‘Top Performing City’ Award mean to Calbayog? A bagful, if you ask me. One is that the place is now in a position to engage in many revenue-generating projects, independent of the national government. Revenues make a city in-step with progress, and the multi-faceted effects redound to the development of private enterprises, and improved income of the city residents.
The award will also be seal of quality for Calbayog to become a top priority in foreign-assisted projects. Just as it is an attestation of its viability when securing financing for its people-centered ventures and tourism-attraction undertakings.
Furthermore, to my reading, the recognition means Calbayog itself and the inhabitants are a fertile market even for non-traditional goods and services. An asset of a small metropolis that trumpets to the outside world that it is now in business!
I take my hat off to City Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento who personifies a dynamic local government executive, always on his toes looking for avenues and opportunities to position his city in vying for 21st century enterprise and technology.
Similarly, kudos to the city council and its presiding officer, Vice Mayor Onald Aquino, the heads of different departments of the city administration who must also share the credit in attaining the enviable recognition.
Calbayog gets PCCRP ‘Top Performing City’ Award
By Elinando B. Cinco
NOW Calbayog City has all the reasons to attract investors and draw visitors after it has been awarded last July 4, the much-coveted Top Performing Metropolis Award – Small-sized Category – by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center, in conjunction with its biennial Philippine Cities Competitive Ranking Project.
Only 12 cities, out of 45 covered by that category, made it to the ranking, Calbayog among them.
Launched in 1999, the PCCRP is a two-year independent study conducted throughout the archipelago "to rank cities on the basis of economic performance and responsiveness to business enterprise."
There are two other categories – Metro Cities and Medium-sized Cities – involving the Philippines’ 90 cities surveyed nationwide.
Rating of the contending cities was based on such factors as (1) dynamism of the local economy, (2) cost of doing business, (3) infrastructure, (4) human resources and training, (5) responsiveness of local government units to business needs, and (6) quality of life.
In a front-page news story in the Manila Bulletin last July 5, to project the importance of the biennial awards, Dr. Federico Macaranas said city competitiveness is vital in national development.
The AIM Policy Center has this study and its goals "to promote national competitiveness by encouraging healthy competition among highly urbanized and emerging cities."
"By gathering and compiling strategic data and providing focused analyses of the results, the PCCRP also seeks to cultivate competitive industries, promote healthy communities and maximize the economic performance and responsiveness to business enterprise,"Macaranas emphasized.
Since the first city awardees were bestowed almost 10 years ago, results of the PCCRP research and evaluation have benefited those local government units. They came in the form of accurate and workable city planning, realistic and, therefore, attainable development objectives, all combining to make intelligent implementation effortless.
Now, what does this ‘Top Performing City’ Award mean to Calbayog? A bagful, if you ask me. One is that the place is now in a position to engage in many revenue-generating projects, independent of the national government. Revenues make a city in-step with progress, and the multi-faceted effects redound to the development of private enterprises, and improved income of the city residents.
The award will also be seal of quality for Calbayog to become a top priority in foreign-assisted projects. Just as it is an attestation of its viability when securing financing for its people-centered ventures and tourism-attraction undertakings.
Furthermore, to my reading, the recognition means Calbayog itself and the inhabitants are a fertile market even for non-traditional goods and services. An asset of a small metropolis that trumpets to the outside world that it is now in business!
I take my hat off to City Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento who personifies a dynamic local government executive, always on his toes looking for avenues and opportunities to position his city in vying for 21st century enterprise and technology.
Similarly, kudos to the city council and its presiding officer, Vice Mayor Onald Aquino, the heads of different departments of the city administration who must also share the credit in attaining the enviable recognition.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Manila Bulletin's Eli Cinco on Calbayog
Mr. Eli Cinco, one of Calbayog's sucessful journalists featured Cabayog in his column for today's edition of the Manila Bulletin.
With the author's permission, I am featuring a link to that column in my blog.
"NOW Calbayog City has all the reasons to attract investors and draw visitors after it has been awarded last July 4, the much-coveted Top Performing Metropolis Award – Small-sized Category – by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center, in conjunction with its biennial Philippine Cities Competitive Ranking Project.
Only 12 cities, out of 45 covered by that category, made it to the ranking, Calbayog among them."
(to read the rest of the article, please check this link)
With the author's permission, I am featuring a link to that column in my blog.
"NOW Calbayog City has all the reasons to attract investors and draw visitors after it has been awarded last July 4, the much-coveted Top Performing Metropolis Award – Small-sized Category – by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center, in conjunction with its biennial Philippine Cities Competitive Ranking Project.
Only 12 cities, out of 45 covered by that category, made it to the ranking, Calbayog among them."
(to read the rest of the article, please check this link)
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