DAVAO City will be among the 12 Philippine cities to participate in the World Expo in Shanghai, China next year.

In Tuesday's City Council session, the country's deputy commissioner for World Expo 2010 Rosario Manalo said the city is at the top of the list of cities encouraged to participate in representing the country in the expo.

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"Twelve cities in the country were chosen to participate and Davao is the top pick. Other cities include Cebu, Calbayog, Naga, Metro Manila, and Makati. These cities were chosen in terms of their performance," said Manalo who is also Ambassador to the United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization.

"The Philippine theme statement is 'Performing Cities'. We'd like to show our country as a thriving country but urbanization with a heart. While other countries think of infrastructure, the Philippines think of human beings, that we may be poor but we love each other," Manalo said.

Councilor Peter Laviña, chair of City Council's committee on trade, commerce, and industry, said preparations are already being made on the city's participation.

"Last year, the World Expo was held in Zaragosa, Spain and it was very expensive for the Philippines to join. Previous to that, the expo was held in Japan and it was also very expensive for Filipinos to go there. This year it's in China, so medyo mura na ito and we have to grab this opportunity to expose ourselves to the world," Laviña said.

"We can raise funds for the city's participation just like we do in raising funds for festivals via the private sector," Laviña said at the City Council Media Hour forum.

"This can be very good for the city because ang laki ng audience na mare-reach natin. We can benefit from showcasing tourism, investment, and the city as a safe destination," Laviña said.

The World Expo 2010 is deemed the biggest world exposition in history spanning from May 1 to October 31 with the theme "Better City, Better Lives."

The exposition area comprises of 538 hectares located at Downtown Shanghai.

Participating countries sums to 192 countries, 48 international organizations signed to participate as of July 10 this year.

With the major message of "Performing Cities," the country's pavilion will showcase that cities themselves create economic growth like music, emphasizing harmony and balance, superb coordination, efficiency, perfect pitch and good vibrations, Manalo said.

Apart from having booths from government and private sectors, the country's pavilion will host performances, he added.