Manila, October 1 2006 — L-MDGs project made possible the celebration of 2006 World Habitat Day in the Philippines with a country-wide information and advocacy campaign utilizing the country’s national print media network. The messages of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and UN-Habitat Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka was distributed to L-MDGs cities and an editorial on cities and an editorial on the state of urbanization in the Philippines with an accompanying editorial cartoon was published in Bulletin Today (circulation 100,000) on October 2 with the year’s theme, Cities – Magnets of Hope.
Twenty-nine (29) cities dedicated their Monday flag raising ceremonies to the WHD and local articles were publish in regional dailies on the gains of UN-Habitat assistance in localizing the MDGs particularly on improved access to potable water and sanitation and on improving the lives of slum dwellers.
The highlight of this year’s WHD is Pag-ibig Fund winning the prestigious Scroll of Honour Award “for the way its housing programme has ensured excellent public services.” Atty. Romero F. S. Quimbo, Pag-ibig Fund President and Chief Exective Officer, has been invited to receive the award on the occasion of World Habitat Day on 4 October 2006 at the city of Kazan, Russia. This is the second time the Philippines was conferred the honor. The first Philippine recipient was Mayor Mary Jane Ortega of San Fernando, La Union who won the award in 2000.
The Habitat Scroll of Honour award was launched by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme or UN-HABITAT in 1989. It is currently the most prestigious human settlements award in the world. Its aim is to acknowledge initiatives which have made outstanding contributions in various fields such as shelter provision, highlighting the plight of the homeless, leadership in post conflict reconstruction, and developing and improving the human settlements and the quality of urban life.
