“Management Excellence for a Progressive Philippines” is the 2025 theme of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP). In the public sector, Iloilo City shows how MAP’s theme works in practice.
With a 10.5% GDP growth rate, Iloilo City became the 2nd fastest-growing economy in 2023 among all Highly Urbanized Cities in the Philippines. The Philippine Statistics Authority described it as the fastest-growing economy in Western Visayas in 2024. The city is now benchmarked by other local government units (LGUs). How did change leaders move Iloilo City from a state of disrepair to urban excellence?
Good governance is the answer. For Iloilo City, good governance appears in three stages: 1.) commitment to the city’s renewal; 2.) focus on transformative projects; and, 3.) pursuit of continuous improvement. A pre-condition for the rise of good governance in Iloilo City — it must be stressed — is the confluence of change leaders with the moral fiber to put cause and community above personal interests.
STAGE 1. COMMITMENT TO THE CITY’S RENEWALIloilo City was once known as the Queen City of the South. Sugar sweetened its economy. When much of the sugar industry moved elsewhere, decay set in. Many Ilonggos dreamt of what could have been had the city’s prosperous period endured. The dream stayed alive, incubated in the hearts of Ilonggos who treasure their roots.
A primary practice at this stage is the collaboration of change leaders. Franklin Drilon, a senator during the dream’s incubation period, vowed to change the face of the city. His personal mission was to restore the city’s pride of place, to turn it into a future-proof and top-of-mind destination. Jerry Treñas, already the mayor during the city’s take off phase, imagined the city as a beloved place of fiscal, social, and cultural prosperity.
Another primary practice at this initial stage is taking an inventory of assets that can be leveraged to enhance the city’s change effort. For Iloilo City, the inventory includes history, culture, special spaces, creativity, entrepreneurial energy, and talented people.
The city improves its inventory by recruiting competent employees who execute and institutionalize its transformation.
STAGE 2. FOCUS ON TRANSFORMATIVE PROJECTSA primary practice of this second stage is creating infrastructure that elevates mobility and visual order to enviable levels. Iloilo City now boasts of an airport and seaport that are compliant with international standards, expanded old roads, new roads and bridges, flyovers, and attractive esplanades by the river. Drilon sees new infrastructure giving birth to investments, job creation, and livelihoods.
The reliable supply of water and electricity, and the construction of modern facilities augmented the city’s mobility and order. The city stabilized the flow of electricity; raised dams; and attracted developers of mixed-use buildings, subdivisions, and business parks. A new convention center became a standing invitation for the world to see the city’s transformation.
The collaborative nature of the city’s change efforts proved indispensable. Public-Private Partnerships played a large part in the city’s makeover, as did funding coming from the National Government. Also, the pride of people in their city led to heartfelt and widespread cooperation.
Another primary practice involves bringing the city’s dynamic culture to the public consciousness. Culture breathes life into inanimate structures. The city spruced up heritage buildings, landmarks, churches, plazas, and museums; galvanized the Dinagyang Festival, a spectacle of merry making and indigenous culture; and encouraged visitors to sample its local cuisine, food that put Iloilo City in UNESCO’s list of creative cities for gastronomy.
A sense of palangga, a Hilagaynon term that means love and endearment, fuels the third primary practice of caring for people through social services. Relocated informal settlers live in 1,000 units of low-cost housing at the Riverplains Subdivision in Jaro. People find comfort in a P500-million Level 2 Iloilo City Hospital with 200 beds and a Medical Arts Building. Additional dialysis centers are a boon to the ailing. An emergency response center continues to earned recognition for its quick response to calls for help.
The city also organized the tuition-free Iloilo City Community College and the Technical Institute of Iloilo City for those who could least afford to pay for education. In partnership with the private sector, schools received 82 new classrooms built at half the cost of usual government estimates. An USWAG Negosyo Academy, supported by the SM Foundation, was organized to help small entrepreneurs.
STAGE 3. PURSUIT OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENTIn 2019, the city came up with a comprehensive plan called WHEELS (Welfare, Health and Sanitation, Education, Environmental Management, Livelihood, Sustainability) to institutionalize improvements and good governance. In 2023, WHEELS became the city’s roadmap to 2029 when Iloilo City is firmly ensconced as a livable, sustainable, and resilient city.
During his tenure as mayor, Treñas accelerated the city’s momentum by emphasizing good governance, efficiency, transparency, accountability to stakeholders, leading by example, allocation of taxpayer’s money to basic services, infrastructure maintenance, enhancement of public spaces, and preservation of culture and heritage.
Today, Treñas envisions a “city of well-governed and empowered Ilonggos that are conscientious custodians of culture while sustaining a robust, inclusive, and innovative economy.” The city hopes to be among the top three most competitive and highly urbanized cities in the country by 2028.
Gerardo “Jun” Villacorta Cabochan, Jr. is a co-vice chair of the MAP Shared Prosperity Committee. He is the managing director of the Pandayan Bookshop.