ILOILO CITY BEACONS AS BENCHMARK HUB

Iloilo City continues to draw inspiration from other cities that have made the metropolis a venue for study tours.

At least five cities have signified through letter to Mayor Jose Espinosa III their intentions to visit the city as part of their benchmarking activities.

Espinosa welcomed the good news about Iloilo City getting a lot of attention and citations because of outstanding governance and continued developments being actively participated and supported by stakeholders.

Officials and employees of Carcar City, Cebu will be visiting on Nov. 3-6 to “listen to a short talk about replicable practices.”

The City Council of General Santos, South Cotabato has chosen Iloilo City for a visit on Nov. 5 “as one of the places we need to conduct critical benchmarking and environmental scanning of cities which excellent policies on the protection and preservation of the environment before the City finally enacts its Environment Code.”

“Specifically, the city would be grateful to be informed on the measures and initiatives that your city had undertaken towards the protection and development of Iloilo estuary and esplanade and other sound environmental and economic policies,” they stated.

Tagbilaran City, Bohol sets Nov. 8 visit “to learn best practices in heritage conservation from leading and established sites such as your beautiful city through a short briefing on guidelines and strategies that you had successfully implemented.”

The Iloilo River Development Project as Galing Pook 2018 Awardee has earned praises following the feat received recently.

The City Government of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan will be learning on Nov. 8 the strategies of River Esplanade Project and Economic Zone Development, “as we understand its positive impacts on the environment, tourist attraction, economic growth, and job generation.”

“We are inspired by your city for being conferred of the prestigious Galing Pook Awards. In addition, we are also amazed and encouraged to know that your city is the home of Special Economic Zones in Iloilo,” they wrote Espinosa.

They were referring to IT parks including Ayala Technohub and SM City Iloilo, and tourism hub Megaworld Iloilo Business Park, all in Mandurriao district, as accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).

The learning will be “for the purpose of gaining valuable knowledge on your experience with the establishment of Esplanade and for making your city investment-friendly as proven for being the preferred destination.”

Officials and department heads of Malaybalay City, Bukidnon scheduled a trip on Nov. 16-19.

SOURCE: Iloilo City Government

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