Bacolod City will pursue the Bacolod Youth Home project that it has chosen to implement under the Partnership for Democratic Local Governance in Southeast-Asia, with or without funding from the group, Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said yesterday.

Bacolod is among the participants in this European Union-funded endeavor that replicates the best practices of Asian countries. Bacolod was chosen to replicate the local governance best practice on People Private Public Partnership of Cambodia.

Leonardia said that whether the funding for the project will continue or not, they are thankful to the DELGOSEA because, at least, they started it and showed them windows of opportunities.

“We will now gear towards the involvement of the private sector that involves Virlanie, which is an international foundation and has a track record,” he said.

Leonardia said the proposition of Virlanie is not just to operate the Social Development Center Youth Center in Vista Alegre, Bacolod but the community development of the whole area, because they saw its potential.

BIGGEST RELOCATION

He said they foresee that, in the near future, the Vista Alegre-Granada (Abada-Escay) relocation site which now includes the Arao property, will be the biggest relocation site of the city.

It will have a bigger number of lots, compared to the Handumanan relocation site, Leonardia said. “So they (Virlanie) may have seen that themselves, and that is what we are looking forward to, in the development of the area, with expert intervention,” he said.

FIRST IN THE COUNTRY

Leonardia said that when the project started, they were very happy and proud to announce that Bacolod is the first in the Philippines to have been chosen as pilot city for the DELGOSEA project. Being a pilot city by itself is a distinction, an honor, he said.

“We did not ask for this. They granted this to us on the basis of their independent, objective survey in the Philippines,“ Leonardia said.

Their criteria in choosing Bacolod includes the track record of the local government, among others, and the strong leadership of the top officials, who include the Vice Mayor, he said.

BANGKOK CONFAB

Meanwhile, Leonardia also said that, after the formal meeting during the final conference in Bangkok, Thailand, last week, there was a meeting of mayors involved in the assembly, and they suggested the possible creation of a group, who are basically members of DELGOSEA.

LEAGUE OF CITIES MEET

Considering that in December the League of Cities of the Philippines will have an assembly in Manila, local government associations and their counterpart in other nations, will be invited, so they can form even an informal organization initially, he said.

Leonardia, however, also said that will depend on how the mechanism will work. They are also considering a tie up with the formal body of the ASEAN. But, at the moment, all these are just proposals, he also said.*CGS

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