28 April 2021, Cagayan de Oro City—In a bid to put itself on the map as a food innovation hub, to connect with potential adopters, and to showcase the uniqueness and abundance of raw materials in Cagayan de Oro and the region, the Northern Mindanao Food Innovation Center (NMFIC) of the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP) today unveiled eight (8) new technologies in a Virtual Food Innovation Showcase.

The event was organized by the university’s Technology Promotions and Commercialization Office (TPCO), in partnership with the Departments of Trade and Industry (DTI), and Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the City Government of Cagayan de Oro, the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation, Inc., and USAID Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for Development (STRIDE).

Pitched by an all-women crew of food technologists at the landmark event were the following transfer-ready technologies ripe for licensing:

Composition of Polvoron with Green Mango and Yam Bean	Composition of Soy (Glycine max L.) Singkamas (Pachyrhizus erosus) Cookies
Composition of Chayote (Sechium edule) Cookies	Composition of Chayote (Sechium edule) Calamansi Concentrate
Composition of Ready-to-Cook Mixed Fruit with Coconut Milk (Composition and Process of Preparing)	Composition of Instant Fish Viand Pack
Composition of Sibujing Powder	Composition of Chili Garlic in Oil with Color Retention

Cagayan de Oro City, 30 March 2021—Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar S. Moreno sits down with former Health Secretary and Dean of the Ateneo University School of Medicine and Public Health Dr. Manuel Dayrit, and three (3) other City Mayors to discuss their plans for large-scale vaccinations.

The Fireside Chat hosted by Livable Cities Philippines and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), titled “Vaccine Ready Cities: The Road to 500K Daily Vaccinations,” brings together healthcare facility heads Dr. Gap Legaspi of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), and Dr. Saturnino P. Javier of the Makati Medical Center in the first segment on “Inoculations at Primary Care Facilities” moderated by BCG Managing Director and Senior Partner Anthony Oundjian.

The second half moderated by Dr. Dayrit will focus on citywide vaccination rollouts with City Mayors Moreno, Beng Climaco of Zamboanga, Emmanuel Maliksi of Imus, and Rex Gatchalian of Valenzuela.

The Mayors will discuss the availability of supply, communication challenges and solutions, data management innovations, and the logistics nitty gritty of the heretofore historically unprecedented undertaking.

Livable Cities PH Chairman Guillermo "Bill" Luz is set to open and close the proceedings, just one in a series of Livable Cities Labs, a platform and venue for cities and institutions to share good practices and solutions and forge new partnerships presented by Livable Cities PH with the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), in partnership with Globe Telecom and Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Cagayan de Oro, 26 March 2021—Cagayan de Oro’s Local Economic and Investment Promotions Officer, Eileen San Juan, delivered a presentation at the 2021 Regional Conference of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) today, March 26.

LEIPO San Juan was featured in the Asia Global Session on Economic Recovery during Covid-19 (March 26, 10am-11:45am Beijing/ Manila Time / March 25, 10:00 -10:45pm Eastern US Time) along with Dongfang (Linda) Wong, Executive Director, ICMA China Center, China.

Her presentation, titled, Cagayan de Oro City: Growing Back Better, Leading Regional Economic Recovery, started with an overview of the regional economy and the role of Cagayan de Oro in Region X and Metropolitan Cagayan de Oro, briefly touching on the economic impact of the pandemic, before going in depth into the city’s recovery programs, particularly for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which comprise 99% of all business registered.

From baby steps to leaps of faith

She ended her presentation by sharing two success stories.

First, the launch of the W Blend, coffee made from beans grown by women farmers from different parts of the Philippines, first brought together through The Coffee Project initiative of the Cagayan de Oro Trade and Investment Promotions Center (Oro-TIPC) with the USAID Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity (SURGE) Project, the U.S. government’s Women-Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative, and the Philippine Coffee Board (PCB).

The flagship brew grew out of value-chain analysis (VCA) conducted by Oro-TIPC with local coffee growers in early 2020, and snowballed into training webinars on cupping, Q-grading, coffee processing, and flavor development. The W Blend is now being served in women-owned coffee shops in key cities in the country, capping the celebration of women’s month.

Second, LEIPO San Juan featured the pivot managed by Oro Handmade Innovations, Inc., a local company founded and run by Ms. Lolita Cabanlet, that specializes in handmade paper. With virtual courses and mentoring under city’s response programs for MSMEs, her company transitioned to digital marketing, increased its online presence, and participated in in international virtual trade shows like the Paris Maison et Objet and Manila FAME. thereby capturing new markets.

The simplified module and application filing assistance also enabled Oro Handmade Innovations, Inc. to prepare a Business Recovery Plan that clinched much-needed financing for the company.

As a way of giving back, Ms. Cabanlet now shares her experience as one of Cagayan de Oro’s mentors for the courses: Joining Virtual Trade Fair and Exhibits, and How to Become an Exporter.

City managers’ converge in cyberspace

Members, like LEIPO San Juan, and nonmembers of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) share lessons learned and explore strategies and best practices in local governance at the annual ICMA Regional Conferences.

The yearly event, which gives local government professionals an opportunity to connect and learn from each other as well as to gain or hone city/county management skills with their peers in the international community, went totally virtual this year in response to pandemic restrictions.

This year, the conference focused on tools, processes, and practices for the equitable recovery and transformation of local government management and communities.

The session in which LEIPO San Juan was featured, showcased the economic recovery plans of local governments in China and Philippines during and post-COVID-19 and how they have supported their local businesses.

9 March 2021, Cagayan de Oro City—Local Economic and Investment Promotions Officer (LEIPO) Eileen E. San Juan, presents to the officials of the City of Manila how the City of Cagayan de Oro successfully integrated the application for and issuance of barangay business clearances into its business permit and licensing system.

The University of the Philippines Public Administration Research and Extension Services Foundation, Inc. (UPPAF) invited Cagayan de Oro to present along with the cities of Valenzuela, Quezon, and Parañaque. UPPAF, through the USAID funded Regulatory Reform and Support Project (RESPOND), is currently assisting the City of Manila in streamlining its business permitting system.

This is the second time that Cagayan de Oro has been asked to share how it managed what is perceived as a thorny process. The first time was in a peer-to-peer session with the cities of Tagbilaran and Puerto Princesa, which was facilitated by the USAID Strengthening Urban Resilience through Growth with Equity (SURGE) Project—a five-year effort ending this year that assisted second-tier cities like the aforementioned three, as well as the cities of Batangas, Iloilo, and Zamboanga, in cultivating and maintaining conditions for inclusive, resilient economic growth.

Barangay governments have customarily dictated the cost of obtaining barangay clearances for business. This changed when the Departments of Finance (DOF) and the Interior and Local Government (DILG) jointly issued guidelines for standardizing the computation based on direct costs incurred in providing the service.

Cagayan de Oro’s road to integrating barangay business clearance fees in its BPLS was far from smooth. But the path was paved, as LEIPO San Juan recounts, by:

1. Gradually immersing the barangay governments in the process, starting with an onsite workshop in the last quarter 2019, transitioning into regular virtual consultations and webinars throughout 2020;

2. Supporting the integration with automation. The city’s Management Information Systems (CMIS) Office developed in-house a Barangay Clearance Approval System (BCAS), enabling barangays to remotely monitor and approve applications; and

3. Continuing the conversation among all barangays, city and national offices concerned, including the City Council.

Cagayan de Oro has long blazed the trail in automating business and building permit processes, launching its online application and payment systems in 2017, and originally developing its BPLS and realty tax payment system (RPTS) as early as the late 1990s, even making the system available to neighboring local government units (LGUs).n

SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SM Prime) signs a memorandum of understanding with Cagayan de Oro City (CDO) and the National Resilience Council (NRC), as part of NRC's new Adopt-A-City campaign. By supporting NRC's 3-year program, corporations can directly invest in reducing the city's risk to old and new hazards and in the partnership's long-term resilience. It implements a whole-of-society approach towards co-creating science and technology-based solutions and capacity building for evidence-informed risk governance. This program can include structural interventions and projects to address specific social, economic, and environmental exposure and vulnerability. This campaign enables the city not just to bounce back after a hazard strikes, but to also prepare for and prevent a disaster so as to “bounce forward” together in ways to reduce future risk. The NRC is co-chaired by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana representing the government, and sole Filipino ARISE Global board member Hans Sy representing the private sector. Witnessing the MOU signing was SM Supermalls Chief Operating Officer Steven Tan.

Hon. Mayor Oscar Moreno and Local Economic and Investment Promotions Officer (LEIPO)  Eileen San Juan  takes part in visioning workshop for a Master Plan of Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Development for Metro CDO with mayors, consultants, city planners, the academe and the private sector.