Iloilo aims to become a disaster-resilient ‘Smart City’

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

As Iloilo City positions itself to become a “smart city”, a collaboration between the local government, national and foreign partners, and private sectors will ensure that the city will not only be smart but also sustainable and safe.

On Saturday, Iloilo City made history as the first local government in the country that has been tapped by the National Resilience Council (NRC) to become a model of resilience through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between NRC, city government, and the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV).

Mayor Jerry Treñas, NRC President Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga and UPV Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Dr. Gay De Fiesta inked the MOU on Saturday at La Paz Maternity Center in La Paz district, Iloilo.

Loyzaga said they chose Iloilo City as the city is constantly exposed to many hazards such as typhoons, earthquakes, floods, severe rain and previous disasters like the Typhoon Frank in 2009 and the Iloilo Strait tragedy last August 3, 2019.

Loyzaga said that they saw that the city has a very good foundation in terms of leadership and collaboration from all members of the society.

“What we are trying to do is identify cities wherein the leadership is already enlightened and willing to cooperate with multiple sectors. The NRC approached Iloilo City because we are aware that the leadership is open to both the collaboration with the private sector and the science and technology community. Iloilo has very good foundation for how evident-based risk governance can actually be part of the sustainability of the city,” she emphasized.

The NRC president also lauded the mayor for acknowledging what the science and technology community can contribute to the smart decisions of the city as well as the strong support from the private sectors like SM Group, Megaworld Corp. through Iloilo Business Park (IBP), and educational institutions.

Treñas said the partnership is very helpful for the city as it was recently adjudged as the 2019 Most Business–Friendly Highly Urbanized City (HUC) by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) last October 17, 2019.

“We need to be resilient. This support coming from the Manila Observatory, NRC, and Taiwan will go a long way to make sure that our people will be safe and not only our people but investors who will be investing in many other businesses here will be safe,” he said.

He added that the collaboration between the institutions and private sectors will provide Iloilo City with the capacity to meet several challenges already that come with the climate change.

“This is something that the city government acknowledges. We are very happy with this arrangement. For all the Ilonggos, the NRC together with Megaworld, SM, and all the other schools are making sure that Iloilo City will be disaster resilient, para gid ni sa inyo tanan,” he said.

During the signing, the mayor announced that Megaworld Corp. has already committed to improve the city government resilience capacity with the amount of P8 million.

As part of its partnership, Iloilo City also received disaster risk reduction (DRR) devices coming from the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) in Taiwan.

The city government received 20 sets of P-alert and rain gauges from Taiwan where it will be installed in the 20 identified locations in the city.

City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Officer Donna Magno explained that the rain gauges will be used in measuring the rainfall amount as well as take note of the precipitation patterns while the P-alert can detect the first movement before the main wave of an earthquake hits by releasing warnings.

“The devices will be connected to internet and will share data to the server based in Manila Observatory and NCDR where they will analyze and interpret the data for Iloilo City,” Magno explained.

With the two kinds of sensors combined with the existing automated weather stations (AWS) of the Manila Observatory, Loyzaga said the system can form the scientific basis for decision making and resilience of the city.

“These data sensor network is collaboration between the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) based in Taiwan, Manila Observatory, the NCR partners and local universities as well where we hope will host some of the sensors,” Loyzaga said.

The installation of the two sensors has already started with its first successful installation at La Paz Maternity Center while the existing AWS in the city will also undergo pre-positioning.

“We hope that by the end of October or early November, installation is complete and we would now work with connectivity with the office of the mayor so that the data can come,” Loyzaga furthered.

Meanwhile, universities present during the signing such as University of San Agustin (USA), John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University (JBLFMU), West Visayas State University (WVSU), Iloilo Science and Technology University (ISAT-U), and UPV will be the partners of the NRC in its research aspect and programs that will be rolled out towards disaster resilience.

The signing of the MOU will pave the way for the improvement of resilience outcomes including the fulfillment of the local government unit resilience score card; conduct of community level risk assessment; and establishment of public private partnership (PPP) among target LGUs and local private sectors.

The expected outcomes of the partnership will be an integrated risk assessment; leadership for resilient LGUs programs; resilience roadmap and integrated multi-stakeholder plan among others.