The City Government of Davao bronze award during the 21st International Awards for Livable Communities by LivCom. The awarding was held on June 2 in Valletta, Malta.
City Planning Coordinator Ivan Chin Cortez on June 8, said Davao ranked number 22 among 232 cities from all over the world,
The city received the bronze award under Category 8 or those with more than 400,000 population, along with Eskisehir Turkey, and Narayanganj, Bangladesh. For that category, the 1st gold was given to Abu Dhabi UAE, the 2nd gold to Xinyang, P.R. China, and the 3rd gold to Cankaya District, Ankara Turkey.
Two silver awards were also given to Katowice Poland, and Avcilar, Turkey. The award was given through a hybrid awarding setup, where City Environment and Natural Resources Office Head Engr. Marivic Reyes was also given the opportunity to present the city’s greening efforts.
During the city government-sponsored media forum I-Speak Cortez said that the award reflects the city’s effort in maintaining and sustaining the city’s programs such as parks development, peace and security, and also our efforts in protecting our remaining forest in line with the city ordinances and national laws.
Cortez said that the city is lucky to have a green advocate leadership through the city mayor, who pushes and takes further these initiatives. “We have a standing order from the mayor to improve further the greening efforts of the city, we are introducing greening efforts in our sidewalks and our center islands. We want to lessen the urban heat effect, especially in our downtown areas which turn humid, especially at noon.”
He added that they are now finalizing the design for sidewalk greening projects to allow pedestrians to walk instead of riding jeepneys. “We are trying to enhance this zone in our arcaded zone. The arcaded zone is from our City Hall all the way to Mental Hospital. So that is our arcaded zone, we will enhance the features of our sidewalks in those areas,” he said.
As for the ordinances, Cortez also said during the forum that with the recent approval of the 2019-2028 City Land Use Plan by the Department of Settlements and Urban Development (DSHUD), which is only awaiting publication to be enforced, more agricultural areas have been reverted to forest classification and expanding the city’s forestlands.
This developed as the city is set to open another green park, the 1.2-hectare Doña Vicente Park, it features a playground, the second biggest park owned by the city next to People’s Park.
Engr. Juancho Dagasohan, the chief of parks and playground of the City Environment and Natural Resources revealed, the park will open within the month.
The Park is located at the back of the Davao City National High School which is just at the city center and will open this month.
The park will be open 24/7, similar to the other open parks in the city.
As it is now, the city owns 21 operations parks and the Doña Vicente Park will be the 22nd. He said the city has actually 26 parks but four (4) is still undergoing renovations.
Dagasohan said the people need a space to go for recreation and for fun, the city plans to establish more parks “It is in the pipeline,” he added.
The City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) is looking for lots outside the downtown area, especially in the second and third districts.
He said that the city targets to have 34 parks in 2026. As the population increases more parks will be needed in the future.
All of the parks in Davao are monitored by security personnel and are currently maintained by the 298 personnel of the CENRO Parks and Playgrounds Division.
