ICMA President, Mr. Jeffrey Towery converged with the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) Graduate School of Public and Development Management (GSPDM) to assimilate Valenzuela City’s exemplary projects and best practices. The discussion took place at Valenzuela City Hall, March 13.

“We are here to learn, review, and learn governance challenges, examples of innovation, and good practices that we can apply in our own communities.” Mr. Jeffrey Towery, ICMA President hinted at his introduction speech as he presented ICMA as a professional membership association that advances local government through leadership, management, innovation and ethics.

Valenzuela City is prominent not only for its good governance but also for pioneering excellent and timely solutions designed to organize the city’s existing problems. Therefore, a deal of innovation and digitalization were dreamt up and developed, among these are the Paspas Permit and DotBot. 

The Paspas Permit is an online system that makes business permit applications fast and easy, while DotBot is an Artificial Intelligence chatbot that instantly answers queries and provides the requirements needed on different social welfare services applications. These platforms act as a modern tool in making things accessible and efficient to Valenzuelanos. 

As Valenzuela City continues to provide exceptional public service, the delegates from the City Government of Valenzuela held a Panel Discussion on Innovation in Local Government Service Delivery to Promote Transparency and Accountability to talk about the importance of collaboration among the dedicated people in local government units and the role of community engagement. This is what we call “participatory governance” as mentioned by Dr. Lizan Perante-Calina, Dean of DAP Graduate School.  

The importance of community participation, where partnership and mobility begin in local governance, was also discussed throughout the panel. The significance of enhancing current LGU services and addressing people's daily challenges are also addressed. As stated by ICMA Arizona Representative Dawn Marie Buckland, "Innovation demands us to think differently," a huge responsibility for problem-solving teams to come up with innovative solutions.

Present in the panel discussion were ICMA and DAP delegates headed by ICMA President Mr. Jeff Towery, Executive Director Mr. Marc Ott, DAP-ICMA Chapter Adviser Dr. Lloyd Bautista, Professor Emeritus Dr. Alex B. Brillantes, Jr., ICMA-DAP Student Chapter President Dr. Michville Rivera. 

Joining them were Valenzuela City Management Team led by Mayor WES Gatchalian, City Administrator Atty. Jaime De Veyra, Chief of Staff Arch. Benjie Gamaro, BPLO Head Atty. Ully Gallego, City Treasurer Ms. Adelia Soriano, City Assessor Atty. Celynne Andrade, City Building Official Arch. ED Padilla, Zoning Administrator Engr. Anita Robles, Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) Head Mr. Randy Sison, and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela (PLV) President Dr. Nedeña Torralba.

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