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In her speech during the dinner
reception in Malacañang Palace to kick
off the three-day Cities Alliance-Public
Policy Forum (5-7 November) President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the
Philippines praised the “success of the
City Development Strategies (CDS)
program funded by the Cities Alliance
and implemented by the League of Cities
which has already been implemented in
the majority of our cities, with
measurable success, and that it is among
the most successful in the world … for
it strengthens our belief in the power
of the global system to alleviate
poverty and modernize nations.” |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
greets Inga Klevby, deputy
executive director of the
UN-HABITAT after a dinner she
hosted with the Cities
Alliance-Public Policy Forum
delegates Monday night (Nov. 5)
at Malacañang's Rizal Hall.
(Benjamin Basug/OPS-NIB Photo) |
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She hailed the forum – hosted by the
Philippine Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC)
and the League of Cities of the
Philippines, in partnership with the World Bank,
Asian Development Bank (ADB), and UN HABITAT under
the theme, "Leveraging Resources for Livable Cities
- as an important opportunity to share knowledge and
resources among Cities Alliance members and
development partners to address urbanisation,
transform slums into liveable communities, and make
the urban poor become more fulfilled and productive
members of society.
The forum was timely, held against the backdrop of
strong economic growth in the Philippines. The
country, she said, is “enjoying its strongest
macro-economic fundamentals in 20 years.” President
Arroyo also recognised the important role that
cities and other (LGUs) play in nation- building in
a rapidly urbanising world. Cities not only in the
Philippines but also around the world are a force to
reckon with in any country's march to a better
future: "Cities are also at the forefront on
international diplomacy, representing the hubs of
excellence that reach out across the seas to other
lands," she said.
“In a world of rapid urbanisation cities play an
important role in laying the foundations of laws and
regulations, working and coordinating with various
stakeholders and sectors, and leveraging investments
to provide jobs.”
"We have several local government units worth
visiting who have demonstrated that a pro-active
stance in improving the conditions of the urban poor
can yield significant results," the President said.
In tandem with the cities and other LGUs, the
Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council
headed by Vice President Noli de Castro, has
accelerated affordable and sustainable financing for
local slum-upgrading programs, adopted and effective
regulatory and institutional framework, and provided
incentives for private sector participation, she
added.
The President pointed out that over the last six
years, almost 200,000 families on more than 25,000
hectares of land have benefited from more than 100
urban land reform proclamations that provided
security of tenure for urban slum dwellers. In the
first half of this year alone, she said,
certificates of lot allotment were awarded to more
than 10,000 families, bringing the total to almost
30,000 families since the start of her
administration. The President said that more than
Philippine Pesos 4 billion under the Community
Mortgage Program (CMP) were loaned to 85,000 family
beneficiaries to buy the land they were previously
squatting on.
For the full text of the President’s speech, please
visit:
http://www.news.ops.gov.ph/speech2007_nov05.htm
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