THE Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) will strictly enforce next month regulation Ordinance 149, an ordinance which prescribes the penalties for activities inimical to cleanliness and sanitation.

Ordinance 149 prohibits littering on the street, sidewalks, parks, playgrounds and other public places, urinating, defecating or spitting in public places, painting, inscribing or posting graffiti on public places or public buildings, walls, fence and similar places. Read more »

A training needs assessment through a survey questionnaire in early 2007 revealed that government personnel involved in transport planning and traffic management of Iloilo City and neighboring municipalities do not have even the basic knowledge and experience in the said fields. This clearly shows why the issues and problems of traffic hereabouts and around Metro Iloilo have not been resolved with definitive solutions.

The MIGEDC and JICA collaborative project involving the city and nearby towns of Pavia, Leganes, Oton, San Miguel, Sta. Barbara and the Province of Guimaras, will hold a 5-day live-in capacity building seminar-workshop on the “Basics of Transportation Planning, Traffic Management and Engineering, and Traffic Law Enforcement” on September 22-26, 2008 at the Iloilo Grand Hotel. Among other highlights of this Seminar is a fieldwork consisting of traffic survey at some spots along the major streets and avenues of Iloilo City. Read more »

JORDAN, Guimaras The province of Guimaras is now getting more support for its campaign not to allow large mining companies from exploring the island.

Guimaras Gov. Felipe Hilan Nava said the Metro Iloilo Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC) which is a collaboration of the chief executives of the municipalities of Oton, San Miguel, Sta. Barbara, Pavia and Leganes, Iloilo City and the province itself has passed a resolution supporting their stand.

Environment and Natural Resources regional executive director Lormelyn Claudio added that even the Regional Development Council (RDC) during its recent meeting had passed a resolution to upheld the opinion of the province that ‘there would be no mining even exploration in the island. Read more »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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. Read more »