ILOILO CITY, Feb. 3 (PNA) -– Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog landed in the Top 5 of the World Mayor 2014 search conducted annually by the City Mayors Foundation.
In his statement released through the city government’s public information office (PIO), Mabilog expressed his gratitude to city residents for their “trust and overwhelming support.”
“To be named among the world’s top 5 is a huge honor for me, for my family, for my country, the Philippines and my city,” stressed Mabilog.
The prestigious award honors city mayors with the vision, passion and skills to make their cities sustainable urban centers and innovative laboratories that produce concrete solutions to various metropolitan issues like transportation, shelter education and employment.
The City Mayors Foundation is an international think tank dedicated to promoting strong and prosperous cities as well as good local governance, according to the PIO statement.
In its official website www.worldmayor.com, the organizer defines an outstanding mayor as “having possess qualities such as honesty, leadership and vision, good management abilities, social and economic awareness, ability to provide security and to protect the environment as well as having the skill to cultivate good relations between communities with different cultural, racial and social backgrounds.”
Meanwhile, the 2014 World Mayor prize was won by Naheed Nenshi, mayor of Calgary, Canada. The commendation for services to European cities will be given to mayor Daniel Termont of Ghent, Belgium while mayor Tri Rismaharini will receive the commendation for services to the city of Surabaya, Indonesia.
Other mayors in the Top 10 are Carlos Ocariz of Sucre, Venezuela; Albrecht Schroter of Jena, Germany; Annise Parker of Houston, USA; Yiannis Boutaris of Thessaloniki, Greece; Giusy Nicolini of Lampedusa, Italy and Aziz Kocaoglu of Izmir, Turkey. (PNA)