Realizing the need to look beyond the current onslaught of the pandemic and prepare the city and the economy for the long road to recovery, City Mayor Oscar S. Moreno appoints Local Economic and Investment Promotions Officer (LEIPO) Eileen E. San Juan to head the Technical Working Group for Area Response and Recovery Planning (TWG-ARRP) in mid-May 2020.

Counting on longtime partnerships with regional government agencies, the business community, the academe, and the USAID, the Mayor cobbles together a team composed of key people in the city bureaucracy, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Board of Investments (BOI), the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation, Inc. (ORO CHAMBER), Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, and USAID's Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity (SURGE) Project.  

Guided by XU's Director for Institutional Societal Engagement Engr. Dexter S. Lo's Geospatial Risk Database Decision Support Tool (GRiD DST), the team proceeded to conduct focus group discussions with stakeholders in priority sectors: Food, Medical, Tourism, Education, Logistics, Construction, and Business Process.

The TWG secretariat, Cagayan de Oro Trade and Investment Promotions Center (Oro-TIPC), conducted systems mapping and the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Division of the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) plotted hazards, exposure, and vulnerabilities, providing a bird's eye view of the risks and levels thereof in the City of Cagayan de Oro. 

Overlaid with the economic analysis of XU's Economics Department Head Jhon Louie B. Sabal, it became clear what interventions in which sectors were needed, enabling the team to chart a plan of action.

With the Business Response and Recovery Plan (BRRP) in place, Cagayan de Oro City can take confident, evidence-based steps towards recovery, and the evolving normal.