Domogan leaves for South Korea confab

MAYOR Mauricio Domogan takes a leave from city functions for a few days to guest, renew sister-city ties and inspect an engineered sanitary landfill in South Korea.

Domogan through Administrative Order 104 designated Vice Mayor Daniel Fariñas as acting mayor until September 22 while he is on official duty and travel.

He was one of the speakers at the Andong International Waterfront City Summit at Andong City, South Korea, discussing sustainable water integrated management in governance, particularly Baguio City’s initiatives for water security.

The summit was attended by mayors from other countries, which included Spain, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, China, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Turkey, Jordan and Brazil.

Representatives inked the Andong Declaration committing to find ways to address water issues brought about by climate change.

The mayors attested climate change and water insufficiency are critical life determining challenges to humans and ecosystems and committed to take the initiative in building a more sustainable society.

Participants also pledged to find ways to effectively manage water resources, conduct a waterfront city summit and for the conduct of the 7th World Water Forum in Daegu City in 2015.

The city mayor is also set to renew sisterhood ties with Gonju City and expected to visit an engineered sanitary landfill in the nation’s capital Seoul.

Last week, Fariñas was also in Jeju, South Korea for another international conference and last month for a disaster risk reduction and climate change mitigation conference in Indonesia.

He said international conferences give inputs to local officials in applying these new innovations and best practices in other countries to the city.

As of now, he said the city is still far behind when it comes to disaster, environment and climate change programs which needs improvements in the months to come.