THE Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Development Council (MIGEDC) expressed gratitude to various Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) agency-partners for helping the council with some of its crucial projects.

One donor group which significantly helped is the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).

Aside from these ODA partners, projects are also funded by annual fund contributions from its members. Read more »

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FOUR Iloilo City Hall department heads were awarded the Centennial Model Iskolar ng Bayan Awards during the University of the Philippines’ centennial celebration July 25.

The government service awardees are city veterinarian Tomas J. Forteza Jr. (UP High School Class ’77); Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer Noel Z. Hechanova (Master in Management (MM)-Business Management ’86); city tourism officer Benito T. Jimena (MM-Business Management’86); and city planning and development coordinator Jose Roni S.J. Peñalosa (MM – Business Management ’93).

Forteza joined the city government in 1995. He earned his degree in doctor of veterinary medicine also at UP. He now handles the operation of the new double A slaughterhouse at Brgy. Tacas, Jaro. Read more »

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By Jeehan V. Fernandez

THE business community here is optimistic that the P8-billion new Iloilo Airport at Sta. Barbara-Cabatuan towns will spawn booming industries nearby.

For one, giant real property developer Fil-Estate Land Inc. chair and CEO Robert John Sobrepeña announced the launching of the 153-hectare Sta. Barbara Heights at the hills of Barangay Inangayan on August 29.

Situated near the airport and just beside the century-old Iloilo Golf and Country Club, the P500-million new town development will host 500 housing units, recreational facilities, hotel and business district for office spaces that are expected to rise in two years time.

Iloilo Business Club executive director Lea Lara said they have identified the airport site as the next thriving investment haven. Read more »

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METRO Iloilo and Guimaras will strengthen its partnership on the Clean Cities Coalition (MIGCCC) with a ceremonial launch on Friday at Robinsons’ Place Movieworld.

The launching will mark a pledge of support and commitment of new coalition members to be followed by signing of a poster-sized MIGCCC pledge of support.

Mayor Jerry Treñas will deliver the welcome remarks while Guimaras Gov. Felipe Hilan Nava, a USAID representative and Director Mario Marasigan of the Department of Energy will deliver their messages in support of the coalition. Read more »

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By Ian Malczewski

EARLY every morning, after the roosters’ shrill call, a creature rises in Metro Iloilo, snarling, burping, and chewing the earth as its crawls. With a skeleton of steel and a heart that pumps oil, it carries people in its belly, shaking them from side to side. This creature is the jeepney, a mode of public transportation, and at times it seems to outnumber all the other creatures in the region, even the people.

Public transportation is a key feature of the public realm. It not only transports people across the region, but it also ties them together within it, forging a sense of shared identity. Transit is a mobile architecture, a moving landmark that defines a sense of place, like London’s Underground, Toronto’s Red Rocket streetcars, or Thailand’s countless tuk-tuks. Read more »

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ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Two award-winning journalists lead a list of resource persons in a recent three-day Business and Interpretive Reporting Workshop organized for members of the Iloilo City Hall Press Corps and information officers of local government units under the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC).

Yvonne Chua, former training director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and Lala Rimando, business editor of Newsbreak Magazine, shared their knowledge with 18 participants in a workshop co-sponsored by the Iloilo City government and the Canadian Urban Institute, with funding support from the Canadian International Development Agency.

Chua, one of the only three people in the Hall of Fame of the Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Investigative Journalism, taught reporters and information officers how to interpret facts and providing analytical context to their stories for deeper public understanding. The Jaime V. Ongpin is the highest journalism honor in the Philippines.

Rimando, resource person for business reporting, won a 2002 Siemens IT and Telecommunications award for an article on the wireless business ventures of the telecom duopoly in the Philippines. She has been a three-time finalist in the Jaime V. Ongpin Journalism Award.

Held last 15-17 June 2007 with venues in Iloilo City and Guimaras, the workshop was organized to develop the media and information officers’ competence in spotting and writing interesting stories affecting urban areas.

Francis Gentoral, CUI regional manager, says the workshop aimed to equip journalists and information officers with the reporting skills they need to cope with the fast changing economic climate in the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras region.

Participants were asked to write reports from information they found in the 2004 MIGEDC State of Local Governance Report (SLGR), which were shared to them by Fe Salcedo, CUI Capacity Development Advisor. The SLGR is the result of the Local Government Performance Management System developed by the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Sessions in the workshop were held in separate venues, starting at the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) in Iloilo City to the Guimaras Trade and Information Center (GTIC) in Jordan Guimaras. Participants were lodged at the Villa Igang Resort in Nueva Valencia during the course of their training. Read more »

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THE GERMAN Technical Cooperation (GTZ) extended a P4.7 million grant, under its Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA), to boost Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Economic Development Council’s (MIGEDC) urban management capabilities. Read more »

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ILOILO CITY has availed a P4.7 million grant from the Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) to be used in conducting pre-feasibility study of infrastructure projects to include an eco-port and revitalization of central business district (CBD) in line with the proposed developments under the Metro Iloilo Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC).

The CDIA represented by its program coordinator Dr. Emiel Wegelin said the proposal of the city met the requirements and came ahead of the schedule after the AusAID funded grant for Iloilo lapsed. The grant given to the city is the first in Asia. Read more »

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Iloilo City, Philippines — An American diplomat said that local government officials need to resolve the energy problem without damaging the environment.

US Counselor for Economic Affairs Larry Memmott said the problem on power supply is one of the “bottlenecks” that hinders further development of the city. Read more »

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Iloilo City, Philippines — United States Counselor for Economic Affairs Larry Memmott said Iloilo and its neighboring island-province of Guimaras has the potential to emerge as attractive alternative popular tourist destination in the region other than Boracay island.

Memmott, in an interview Tuesday, said China is the next major overseas tourism market for the Philippines including Iloilo and Guimaras provided it puts the right infrastructure and additional flights to Iloilo City. Read more »

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