City Mayors Are Making a Difference

SOMETHING SMELLS

NEGROS DAILY BULLETIN

By Carmen Rossello 

Most city mayors in the world today want their cities to be first class. Many of them even compete to be awarded as World Mayors or Best Mayors in the world. “The World Mayor Project seeks out mayors who have the vision, passion and skills to make their cities amazing places to live in, work, and visit. It honors those who have served their communities selflessly and courageously.” 

We might be surprised to find out that in Asia, Karachi’s Mayor Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal has been chosen by The Foreign Policy magazine as the second among the best three mayors in the world in 2008. He came in after the mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit. Pakistan is known for its religious violence and political killings, corruption, poor infrastructure, over crowdedness, daily brownouts, poor sanitation and waste management systems and vast tracks of squatters. Mayor Kamal was able to turn around Karachi for instilling ownership of the city among residents, spur up volunteerism and putting into the residents’ hands the maintenance, upkeep and uplifting of restored and improved infrastructure in the city.

He came out with tree planting activities, built parks, made bus stops, repaired and widened roads and built infrastructures. Karachi has seen a metamorphosis where investments are starting to pour in. Malaysian investors have started construction of a multi-million rupee corporate tower, and Dubai development firms making investments in the local scene. 

Mr. Kamal’s “cut and paste” leadership has made wonders in solving problems in the city where 15-18 million people reside, half of whom live in destitute areas. Kamal says he wants Karachi to be the next Dubai, a model for development. By taking hands-on approach in leadership, he studied storm drains in London or the way garbage is collected in Shanghai, and applied the same in Karachi. Mr. Kamal has obtained serious gains for his city; Karachi now generates 25% of Pakistan’s gross domestic product, controls 60% of cargo movement and its Stock Exchange has surged as one of the most active markets in Asia. Chapeau to Mayor Kamal for all his efforts in trying to reshape Karachi! 

Back home, we have Mayor Marides Fernando of Marikina who looks up to Singapore as her model city. Marikina used to be drawn to a brink of residential housing pandemonium. Marikina was transformed into the country’s best Local Government Units (LGUs) and Hall of Famer for being Clean and Green since 1996. From turning a clogged, dirty and easily flooded city by the riverbanks of Pasig, the administrators of the city has transformed the city into a “little Singapore” in terms of cleanliness, orderliness, health and sanitation, flood control and waste management projects, and discipline of its citizenry. 

Mayor Fernando has created discipline among its citizens with policies and programs that benefit the city, and promote action toward respect of law and order. They were able to inculcate discipline through its clean and green programs, waste collection, and respect for city laws and barangay ordinances. Surprisingly, for an area close to the river, shanty structures are absent. The air is fresh. Garbage is nowhere to be found. Streets are clean. Traffic jams non-existent. Rules obeyed. For a land area so small, but large in terms of population, it makes me think how one person can institute discipline, participation and respect for law and keep it sustained. Mayor Fernando has truly made a name for leadership and excellence. 

The next city of excellence is Davao. Previously known for vigilante style lawlessness during the 1980’s, Davao has been transformed into a city of peace, order and investment under the rule of its mayor Rodrigo Duterte. Davao now boasts of being the Most Livable City in the Philippines, the Most Competitive Metro City in the Philippines for four times, (2001, 2003, 2005, 2008), considered among the 20 most livable cities in Asia (besting Metro Manila and Metro Cebu), and adjudged the 10th Asian City of the Future by the Foreign Direct Investment magazine. 

Mr. Duterte started his vision for Davao by curbing lawlessness and criminality. He imposed the respect of law and instilled law and order among its citizenry. With people rallying on his battle cry plus a hands-on approach in providing solutions for productivity and development, he was able to rally support and eventually spur programs to improve lives in Davao. 

Mayor Duterte was able to pave the way for investments - breaking down monopolistic tendencies, dismantling protection for “infant industries” and encouraging competition. He also enticed foreign participation in the economy with tariff reductions and loosening restriction on inward foreign investments. With love, peace and progress as its vision, the city has remained to be the best and safest investment havens in the country. 

Why do we recognize and immortalize such leaders? Why do we need to make awards and give out laurels, trophies and stuff like these? Accolades were created to recognize people for a job well done. We acknowledge the efforts, their talents, their skills and their abilities in making our world a better place to live in. These heroes so to speak have contributed intangibles and these intangibles ought to be worth living (and dying for). They should inspire people like us to emulate what they have done and perhaps inspire others to do more so we can finally rid of everything that SMELLS!*