USAID/SURGE Project

On June 28, Puerto Princesa City government created a management board, technical working group, and secretariat for its Building and Occupancy Permit One-Stop-Shop (BPOSS). City Mayor Lucilo Bayron signed Executive Order No. 2018-29 which defined the composition of the committees along with their functions, duties, and responsibilities. This includes their compliance with the Department of Interior and Local Government’s Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2018-01 or the Guidelines in Streamlining the Processes for the Issuance of Building Permits and Certificates of Occupancy.

Puerto Princesa City Mayor Lucilo Bayron and the Local Economic Investment Promotions Office, with the support of USAID’s Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity (SURGE) Project, held a business sector meeting on June 19 to discuss the concept of the 2018 Puerto Princesa City Investment Forum. Representatives of the Palawan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Puerto Princesa City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Palawan Banker’s Association, Board of Investments, and government agencies led by the Department of Trade and Industry joined the meeting.

On June 22, USAID’s Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity (SURGE) Project supported Puerto Princesa City government’s 6th Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting on asset management. The TWG discussed the status of the asset inventory and addressed issues. The road assets are already available in the road asset registry, and cadastral information, tax declaration, title, inventory of roads and other improvements, non-spatial data from accounting and legal offices are already integrated in the real property inventory.

With the support of USAID’s Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity (SURGE) Project, Puerto Princesa City through the City Tourism Department organized the second tourism inter-agency coordination meeting on June 14. This was attended by 30 city government department heads, representatives of regional and provincial government line agencies headed by the Department of Tourism, and government-run tourism establishments. The business sector and tourism associations were represented by the Puerto Princesa City Chamber of Commerce and City Tourism Council.

On May 16 to 18, representatives from the Puerto Princesa City Health Office, USAID’s Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity (SURGE) Project and Sea Oil Foundation through Single Drop Consultancy Services conducted a writeshop for the formulation of Puerto Princesa City’s Local Sustainable Sanitation Plan (LSSP). Five pillars of LSSP were highlighted in the workshop, namely: water, solid management, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), wastewater management (septage, sewerage and sewage), with special emphasis on WASH in emergencies.

Volunteer experts of U.S.-based International City/County Association (ICMA) visited the Philippines early this year to share international good practices and experiences with local governments of eight cities in the Philippines.

On April 12 and 20, department heads, key officials and private sector representatives of four USAID Cities Development Initiative (CDI) partner cities participated in workshops conducted by USAID’s Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity (SURGE) Project to improve their cities’ processes on construction permitting and issuance of certificates of occupancy. Local government and private sector representatives of Puerto Princesa City participated in the...