Tagum named as emerging Asian city

TAGUM CITY—This city has been named by a prestigious Singapore-based institute of public policy as one of the emerging secondary cities in Asia, according to Mayor Allan L. Rellon who joined other local chief executives in a capability-building seminar in the city-state recently.

Speaking before city hall employees in their monthly convocation program last April 7, 2014, Mayor Rellon said he is elated by the fact that Tagum has been chosen by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy as one of the cities to look for in Asia, along with other Philippine cities like Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Iloilo, Bacolod, Naga and Angeles City.

“At the end of the day, our direction and plans are going towards the betterment of our city as a resilient city in Asia,” said Mayor Rellon as he posed a challenge to the whole working force to maximize their potential to become incubators of transformative and ground-breaking ideas and innovation.

As such, the training gave local chief executives insights on effective governance and capability to build their resilience in responding to the different challenges and opportunities that would develop their competitiveness and strengthen their position to contribute extensively to their country’s economic, political and social targets.

Jointly organized by Oxfam and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, this conference brought together 40 mayors coming from the emerging cities in 4 ASEAN nations (Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) who jointly discussed the challenges faced in building resilience capacities and ensuring effective governance.

According to Mayor Rellon, his ten-point EAGLE WINGS development thrust is geared towards integrating Tagum to fulfill the ideals of a resilient city, with local focus on housing, health, sanitation, information technology and disaster management.

He thanked the cooperation of everyone, most especially the leadership of the 6^th City Council for being a staunch ally in his administration’s journey towards continuous progress and development. | Louie Lapat of CIO Tagum