2 Philippine mayors nominated in 2012 World Mayor award

MANILA, Philippines – Two Philippine city mayors are among the initial candidates for the World Mayor award this year.

The World Mayor award is given every two years to a mayor “who has made outstanding contributions to his/her community and has developed a vision for urban living and working that is relevant to towns and cities across the world.”

For the 2012 edition of the awards, 88 mayors around the world are included as initial nominees. Among them are 2 city officials from the Philippines:

• Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan of Angeles City, Pampanga
• Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio of Davao City, Davao

The initial list of 88 nominees may still increase, as nominations from the public will still be accepted until May. The nominees will be trimmed down to 25 finalists in June.

The nomination is done by accomplishing an online nomination form, in which a person has to state the reasons for nominating the city official of his or her choice.

The winner will be determined and announced by the City Mayors Foundation, an international think tank on urban affairs, in December.

Since the establishment of the awards in 2004, five nominated city mayors from the Philippines made it among the finalists, with three of them ranking among the top 10:

• 2005: Oscar Rodriguez of San Fernando, Pampanga (still incumbent mayor)  – ranked 4th
• 2006: Jejomar Binay of Makati City (now Philippine vice president)  – ranked 4th
• 2006: Carmelo Lazatin of Angeles City, Pampanga (now Pampanga representative) – finalist  
• 2008: Marides Fernando of Marikina City (former mayor) – ranked 7th
• 2010: Jesse Robredo of Naga City, Camarines Sur (now Interior and Local Government secretary) – finalist

Previous World Mayor awardees are:

• 2004: Edi Rama (Tirana, Albania)
• 2005: Dora Bakoyannis (Athens, Greece)
• 2006: John So (Melbourne, Australia)
• 2008: Helen Zille (Cape Town, South Africa)
• 2010: Marcelo Ebrard (Mexico City, Mexico)

According to the Foundation, the award honors “mayors with the vision, passion and skills to make their cities incredible places to live in, work in and visit, and aims to “show what outstanding mayors can achieve.” – Rappler.com