Saturday, November 03, 2007
ISA gives San Fernando 'business friendly' tag
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA), an independent non-profit institution that seeks to improve public governance through citizens' participation, has named this city as one of the eight "business-friendly" cities in the country.
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ISA, headed by former finance secretary Jesus Estanislao, aligned this city with other "Dream Cities" like San Fernando in La Union province, Marikina in Metro Manila, Naga in Camarines Sur, Sorsogon in Sorsogon province, Calbayog in Samar, Iloilo in Iloilo province, and Tagbilaran in Bohol that have adopted the Public Governance System (PGS), making them "good places in which to live, work and do business."
Twelve other cities nationwide have joined the ISA program: Tuguegarao, Dagupan, Tagaytay, Iriga, Cebu, Dumaguete, Ligao, Panabo, Tacurong, Tangub, Toledo and
Samal.
The PGS system is a management system that enables management and stakeholders to pull the organization in the same direction. It channels the entire community's energies, abilities, and special knowledge towards achieving long-term strategic goals.
It has been adopted from the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), a revolutionary measurement and management system used in business and developed at the Harvard Business School.
Due to its success, the BSC has been used in improving the governance of many public institutions worldwide.
The ISA has initiated the application of the BSC in Philippine public governance.
Recently, this city has achieved the category of "compliant" with the PGS program. It has applied the system in its year 2015 goal of becoming the gateway to North Philippines.
Relevant to this, the City Government, led by Mayor Oscar Rodriguez, earlier received recognition from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (PCCI) as the Most Business-Friendly City in North Philippines.
This city is home to two public markets, 39 banks, 48 lending institutions, 38 pawnshops, 17 gasoline stations, three movie houses, 39 public and private schools, seven hospitals, 13 dental offices, nine hotels, 28 drug stores, seven disco clubs, six foreign exchange firms, 15 garment factories, 24 groceries, seven supermarkets, 42 insurance companies, 16 security agencies and 70 restaurants and fast food chains. (ABL)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (November 3, 2007 issue)
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