Naga: The Women-Friendliest City

Population: 137,000
Land area: 8,448 hectares
Location: within the heartland of Camarines Sur, 377 km south of Manila

Last March 2004, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the UN Dveleopment Fund for Women (UNIFEM) cited Naga as one of the three gender-responsive cities, the other two were Cebu City and Visakhapatnam City in India. Naga has received over 40 national and international awards.
What clinched it for Naga? Its Women Development Code. A collaboration between the city government and various women's groups, the code seeks to give women the opportunity to trealize their full potential. It wasn't just lip-service recognition for the role that women already played in community development. The city government wanted to make the code work and appropriated budget for gender concerns, allocated seats for female representatives, and created a task force to implement the code.
In January 2002, Naga City adopted the Bantay Familia Movement as a complementary social welfare program of the city. It aims to prevent and lower the incidence of domestic violence and sexual abuses; promote a multisectoral and communty approach to domestic violence; and mainstream gender issues with the corresponding budget (P17 million for 2004), policy and logistic support. All these before Congress recognized domestic violence as a crime against the community, not just against the individual woman.
Close to women's hearts is the issue of children's health. Naga is a hall-of-famer in the Philippine Nutrition Honor Award from 1998 to 2000, after it was able to reduce the malnutrition rate among preschoolers to 6.9 percent of all kids younger than seven, then further down to 5.3 percent in 2000. In other cities, the malnutrition rate among preschoolers stands to 10 to 15 percent. The responsible programs? "Our Nutri-Ataman and Nutri-Nanay initiatives, in partnenrship with the Rotary Clubs of Naga and the provincial chapter of the Philippine Pediatric Society. From feeding only third degree malnourished children and pregnant mothers, we have been able to move to total rehabilitation. The city continues to provide milk and food. But these are coupled with free pre-natal checkup and medical consultation; and free vitamins and medicines provided by our private partners," says Mayor Jesse Robredo, Ramon Magsaysay awardee for government since 2000.
Of course, Naga is more than a great place for women, Naga is now among the country's fastest growing cities with an annual growth rate of 6.5 percent. Among its other achievements:
* A lower unemployment rate of 5.2 percent compared to the 10 percent national rate;
* A per capita gross product which is 115 percent higher than the national average;
* A family income that is comparable to other highly-urbanized areas, 126 percent higher than the average family in Bicol, and 42 percent higher than the national average;
* A lower poverty incidence of 29 percent compared to Bicol's more than 50 percent; and
* Cleaner air (air quality index for 2000 and 2001 showed the highest rating) and cleaner Naga River from 1999 to 2001.
How did it turn Naga around? The secret, says Robredo in his speece before the Philippine Business Council in October 2004, is that his governance is centered on people participation. It starts with "a participative visioning process that crystallized the aspirations of our people, in the process helping build stake-holdership across society." Simply, Robredo asked the people what they wanted and helped each other actualize it: "maogmang lugar (happy place)".

Excerpts from a Special Report by Veronica C. Uy, GH-Phil Jan/Feb 2005