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BAGUIO
CITY - Just as typhoon "Egay" made her exit from
the Philippine area last Sunday, we dare thread the Northern
Luzon Expressway en route to the Pines City last Sunday to
attend the sub-sector network meeting of the Asian Institute
of Technology at Camp John Hay.
Despite
the prevailing inclement weather, we find the country's summer
capital as a perfect place for a brief respite from the rigors
of our town sorties in Bohol as the race for PLC presidency
heats up.
But
what the heck, Tagbilaran stood up as among the strongest
advocates as far as the Southeast Asian Urban Environmental
Management Project (SEA-UEMP) is concerned with yours truly
as its network member.
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The
sub-sector gathering ended up here yesterday afternoon with
the paper of the Asian Management Institute (AIM) as the center
of plenary discussions on the state of Philippine competitiveness.
We
shall amplify this point alongside with the accreditation
of Tagbilaran City into the third level of the Public Governance
System (PGS) scorecard of the Institute for Solidarity in
Asia (ISA) in the next issues.
Another
round of presentation is set next week. In the meantime, kudos
to the people of Tagbilaran and the city government for making
it into the third level accreditation even before the formal
presentation is made on Aug. 30.
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During
the light moments of the sub-sector meeting here, we learned
on how excited is China to hold the 2008 Olympics that a countdown
was done in Tiananmen Square last Aug. 8 as shared by an AIT
network member who was also among the participants.
Today,
the Bangkok International Fashion Fair will start at the Bangkok
Trade and Exhibition Center in Krung Thep which we had the
opportunity to visit last December together with other city
officials on our way to Singapore.
The
Vietnamese network member also bragged of their Saigon Handicraft
Trade Fair which will also start today at Ho Chi Minh City
International Exhibition and Convention Center.
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When
it was our turn to share, we thought of discussing the forthcoming
Panglao fiesta. Joke. We sincerely discussed the evolution
of the Sandugo festival. To our surprise, most network member
expressed having heard of the annual festivities. That led
to a very long discussion.
At
any rate, the sub-sector gab ends with a high note coming
from the AIT top honchos especially on the call to come up
with sustainable mechanisms to cushion the impact of fast-phased
development in the Asian region particularly through urban
environmental management.
Well,
we have to pause here in the meantime, lest we fail to catch
up the shuttle bus on our back to Manila en route to the regular
session of the 10th Sangguniang Panlungsod this morning. Whew!
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