Phuket City Best Practice Transfer Concept Development Workshop

Phuket City Best Practice Transfer Concept Development Workshop

A REPORT ON THE

PHUKET CITY BEST PRACTICE TRANSFER CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

OF THE

MANLUNA AND BINKISU CLUSTERS

14-15 February 2011

Hotel Conchita, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines

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A REPORT ON THE PHUKET CITY BEST PRACTICE TRANSFER CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP WITH THE MANLUNA AND BINKISU CLUSTERS

14-15 February 2011

Hotel Conchita, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines

Executive Summary

The Partnership for Democratic Local Governance in Southeast Asia (DELGOSEA) is a network of local government associations, local authorities, non-government organizations and academic institutions focusing on transnational exchange of sustainable good governance practices in four main thematic areas: People’s Participation in Planning and Decision-Making, Institutional Governance, Urban Environment, and Fiscal Management and Investment Promotions. Co-funded by the European Commission and the German Ministry for Development Cooperation with partners in Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, the project commenced on March 2010 and ends in August 2012.

DELGOSEA project design was developed by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung(KAS), in close cooperation with the following partners: Association of Cities of Vietnam (ACVN), Local Government Development Foundation (LOGODEF)-Philippines, National League of Communes/Sangkats of the Kingdom of Cambodia (NLC/S), Thailand Environment Institute (TEI), United Cities and Local Governments for Asia Pacific (UCLG-ASPAC), Indonesia, and the Association of Indonesian Regency (APKASI).

DELGOSEA has selected 16 good governance Best Practices from partner countries and would facilitate the transnational transfer and replication activities of selected Best Practice by pilot cities. A team of local governance experts and facilitators will assist pilot cities in the Best Practice transfer and replication process and monitoring. The experts and facilitators who have been capacitated and trained in Pattaya, Thailand on Nov. 18-25, 2010 for the replication and transfer of BPs in the Philippines are coming from the different LGAs which include the Union of Local Authorities (ULAP), League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), League of Cities of the Philippines(LCP). They will assist in the transfer of selected BPs in the pilot cities, namely: Bacolod City, Misamis Oriental (ManLuNa and BinKiSu), and One Pangasinan Alliance of LGUs.

As an offshoot of the Coaches’ Training in Pattaya, Thailand, the MANLUNA (Manticao, Lugait, Naawan) and BINKISU (Binuangan, Kinoguitan, Sugbongcogon) Clusters of Misamis Oriental- one of the identified pilot places, conducted their first Workshop on the Development of Transfer Concepts on February 14-15, 2011 at the Hotel Conchita, Cagayan de Oro City. The workshop served as a venue to review and analyze the content and implementation of Phuket City’s Best Practice on Preserving Old Town Architecture and Reviving Traditions as Tourist Attraction and Economic Driver, the BP model selected by ManLuNa and BinKiSuClusters. The analyses of the innovative elements of the Phuket City Best Practice thus served asbases for theformulation of action plans for replication and adapting the BP model to the host municipalities’ local condition.

To help facilitate the Workshop on Phuket BP Transfer Concept Development in Misamis Oriental, DELGOSEA requested the technical assistance of Dir. Hilda I. Corpuz, Consultant of the Union of Local Authorities (ULAP) after serving as Executive Director of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) for more than two years. Dir. Corpuz was among the participants of the Training of Trainers in Pattaya, Thailand who joined the group assigned to review and analyze the Phuket City Best Practice Model that fall under the Fiscal Management and Investment Promotion thematic area.

In the workshop, the participants were expected to craft the transfer concepts and action plans for the replication of the Phuket BP model in their respective clusters for immediate implementation in the next six months, taking into consideration their vision, mission, objectives, past accomplishments vis-à-vis the current realities. The specific objectives of the workshop included: (1) a review of the past accomplishments, tasks that need to be completed and the new challenges of the LGUs to guide the two clusters in planning for the replication of the BP Model; (2) a review of the LGUs vision, mission and environment to be able to craft each Cluster’s rallying battle cry and vision, well-defined and accepted mission, targeted objectives, and doable strategies; and (3) prepare their respective action plans for the next 6 months to operationalize the BP replication strategies.

Team-building activities were done during the duration of the workshop to foster camaraderie among the participants.

DAY 01: 14 FEBRUARY 2011, Monday, 9:00AM-6:00PM

Opening Program

Mr. Cresencio “Boboy” Doma, Jr., National Coordinator, DELGOSEA Philippine Coordination Office, formally opened the two-day Phuket City Best Practice Concept Development Workshop for the ManLuNa and BinKiSu Clusters, Misamis Oriental.The prayer and the community singing of the national anthem were led by Ms. Rowena B. Bade and Ms. Guanalyn E. Guibone, both of the DILG, Province ofMisamis Oriental, respectively. The workshop was held on 14-15 February, 2011 at the Hotel Conchita, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. The Program of Activities, Attachment “A,” served as guide for the two-day session.

Welcome Remarks

Director Ponciano D. Caberte, Provincial Director, DILG-Misamis Oriental, welcomed the participants from ManLuna and BinKiSu Clusters. He expressed his gratitude to the Local Government Units, referring to Manticao , Lugait and Naawan (ManLuNa- Cluster ), and Binuangan, Kinuguitan and Sugbong Cogon (BinKiSu –Cluster ), for giving their full support to the project. He likewise thanked the national agencies- the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the representatives from the academe and other implementing organizations – LOGODEF and DELGOSEA, for their advocacy of the programs of Misamis Oriental. On the whole, Dir. Caberte stressed that the project, once adopted and implemented in the two clusters, will spur economic activity that will generate more revenues for the municipalities of the two clusters so that they will not be totally dependent on the IRA, thereby paving the way for their conversion into component cities once they reach the income requirement for be legally converted into cities.

Video-Recorded Messages

Presented to the body was the video clip showing Prof. Edmund Tayao, Executive Director of the LOGODEF and Ms. Susanne Stephan, Project Manager, DELGOSEA Project, delivering their messages to the participants.

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LOGODEF Executive Director Ed Tayao extended his congratulations to the pilot area highlighting the essence of a local government unit which is able to figure out the best way to go about development work.

He said that LOGODEF as partner is quite pleased with witnessing howpartner localcommunitiesnot only advocate for good governance but secure that good governance will further be improved. With this in mind, he stressed that LOGODEF and DELGOSEA are quite positive that something substantial will be accomplished in the pilot area.

Ms. Susanne Stephan affirmed the professionalism of the BinKiSu and ManLuNa Clusters which are firm grounds for the overall success of the transfer concept development workshop.

The Clusters were also reminded that the workshop is a very crucial project milestone as this would outline all the succeeding activities and action plan in the replication phase. She likewise explained that this roadmap will not only guide pilot communities in the process of replication but will also be documented and be made available in the future for other local communities interested in improving their localities through learning from experiences of the best practice models in local governance.

Both crossed their fingers for a successful workshop. It was also stressed that LOGODEF as a partner organization, although based in Manila,will always be open for the pilot areas.

Introduction of Participants

Mr. Doma briefly introduced Dir. Hilda I. Corpuz who facilitated the two-day workshop and then asked the participants to introduce themselves, an activity which lasted for at least thirty minutes.

Attachment “B provides the list of the actual participants from the ManLuNa and BinKiSu Clusters including those coming from the academe and officials from the concerned national agencies of the government.

Expectation Setting

Dir. Corpuz facilitated the leveling of expectations exercise with the use of meta cards to encourage participation by the representatives from the two Clusters. Distributed to the participants were colored felt tip pens and rectangular pieces of cards. They were instructed to complete the sentence:

“In this Phuket City BP Transfer Concept Development Workshop, I expect…….”

C Documents and Settings Admin Local Settings Temp wz09be IMG 4839 JPGThe participants were asked to write as many expectations as they want by providing one idea per card. The cards were collected and taped on the board for all to see, grouped and clustered under appropriate headings. The participants’ expectations of the BP Transfer Concept Development Workshop included the call for the resolution of issues and concerns of both Clusters in general (in relation to their external environment), those specific to each Cluster (internal problems), and individual LGU concerns/issues, among other things.

The consolidated list of expectations derived from the meta cards are the following:

1. To learn the concept development of

Phuket, Thailand and use this in our

cluster

2. To be able to define the practical steps

in the successful implementation of PhuketBP

3. To identify practices for development

4. To develop plans/steps on how to promote Misamis Oriental in the next months to

come

5. To know the nitty-gritty of the application of Phuket experience in our municipality

6. To help develop a simple, clear and user-friendly module

7. To learn skills in promotional writing

8. To identify my future participation in the project (I don’t have any idea

WHY I am invited to attend)

9. To discover tourism potential of existing tourism sites

10. To learn how to promote our area thru powerful presentation

11. To learn how we will be able to help improve our Municipality

12. To market tourism destination in BinKiSu and ManLuNa Clusters

Clarifications were made on the listed expectations after the participants expounded on what they expect from the two-day workshop. Dir. Corpuz then presented the following objectives of the two-day workshop by elucidating the reasons why they were selected and invited as participants and what would be their expected outputs at the end of the workshop:

Overall Objective:

To develop a Phuket City Best Practice transfer concept and management of the BP replication in MANLUNA and BINKISU clusters.

Specific Objectives:

1. Participants are able to understand the basic concept of Phuket City Best Practice.

2. Participants are able to explain the objective, approach and main activities of the transfer concept.

3. Participants have developed the draft strategy and approach to transfer the BP concept to MANLUNA and BINKISU.

4. Participants have prepared their action plans to operationalize their strategies.

Overview of the DELGOSEA Project

Mr. Doma briefly gave the background and status of the Delgosea Project . He said that that one of the major assignments given to the participants in the Training of Trainers(ToT) held in Pattaya before they returned to their respective countries was the formulation of the Action Plans necessary in preparing for the Transfer Concept andthe Module needed during the replication stage of the project.

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He informed the body that the National Coordination Office had already conducted coordination visits for each Pilot City to introduce the project to all concerned LGU officials and representatives to ensure that activities are accomplished as planned like the requirement to submit their Action Plans covering a period of six months.

He also expressed his thanks to those who supported the January 17, 2011 coordination meeting for the project held in Naawan. He said that Ms. Susanne Stephan, DELGOSEA Project Manager, was impressed by the participation of other sectors aside from the LGU officials, thus making the coordination meeting fruitful.

Mr. Doma mentioned that Mr. Slavador Almine, participant in the ToT at Pattaya presented in the Naawan coordination meeting the action plan of ManLuNa in relation to the replication of the Phuket BP Model which is primarily focused on tourism.

The BinKiSu Cluster, he said, requested another round of meeting in their area since they felt they needed more information about the Old Phuket Town BP Model. He then explained to the BinKiSu participants that the Phuket City BP Model will be discussed thoroughly during thetwo-day workshop and assured them that Dir. Hilda Corpuz, the Facilitator, will help in the analysis of the BP Phuket Model and they will be guided on how to prepare their own transfer concepts and action plans like what ManLuNa did as presented by Mr. Almine in Naawan.

Ms. Sheryll Bayan of the Delgosea Project introduced Dir. Corpuz to the participants to discuss the next activity in the program for the two-day workshop which is the analysis of the Phuket City BP Model.

THE PHUKET CITY BP MODEL: Preserving Old Town Architecture and Reviving Traditions as Tourist Attraction and Economic Driver

  • The BP Model Background

Dir. Corpuz gave a brief background of the Phuket City BP Model as she presumed that the participants had already read the documents distributed to them before the workshop.

She primarily discussed the salient features of the Phuket City focusing on its history, architectural heritage and economic activities before and after its transformation into what it is today. She pointed out that the Phuket Province is an island in Southern Island famous for its beautiful beaches with large number of resorts, hotels and other facilities, thus attracting the influx of tourists in the area. The tourists, she continued on saying, would just go directly to Phuket beaches from the airport and vice versa. The Phuket administration took cognizance of this situation and thought of encouraging tourists to have other activities but the administrative center of the city which was densely populated by local people was distant from the beaches, hence the absence of tourist activity in the area.

She continued on describing that the streets in the old town Phuket City looked old due to its unique building style. They saw the potential to invest in restoring the old town area to promote it for cultural tourism by means of preserving old buildings’ unique architectural style (Sino-Portuguese) and the old tradition of Peranakan (the Malay-Chinese) and to promote local participation, people’s awareness, and local economic boost.

Dir. Corpuz emphasized that the Phuket City was guided by its rallying vision for development: “Phuket City will always be a happiness-filled city and remain livable in asustainable way.” She said that this resulted in the promotion of better grass-root economy, developed tourism and related business by using its genuine identity, i.e. unique architecture, way of life, local recipe, people’s generosity as its selling point.

At this point, she summarized the objectives of the Phuket BP Model to the participants:

1. To boost economy in the old Phuket town

2. To conserve architectural environment

3. To conserve the old way of life, tradition, culture and livelihood of the genuine Phuket

4. To build awareness on cultural conservation issue

  • Analysis of the Phuket City BP Model (Workshop)

Dir. Corpuz reiterated that the analysis of the Phuket BP Model is the first major part of the activities to be undertaken in the two-day session. She said that it is necessary for the participants to examine the content and innovative elements of the Model as well as the methodology in the design and implementation of the BP Model. Given a brief background on the Phuket BP Model, the participants were encouraged to actively involve themselves and give inputs and answers to the questions that will be asked by filling up the meta cards.

Before going further, Dir. Corpuz brought in the matter on one viable mechanism applied in the Phuket BP Model which is the “Public-Private Partnership”. In some parts of the design and implementation of the BP Model, she said that private institutions were greatly involved in mobilizing their resources and expertise for local development initiatives. At this point, she then asked the body a question that would help gauge their understanding of Public-Partnership mechanism and the opportunities and limitations of such arrangement as employed in development efforts in the country or specifically in their LGUs. This exercise was followed by series of questions that will draw out their understandingof the Phuket BP Model, to wit:

QUESTIONS and ANSWERS FOR THE BP PHUKET ANALYSIS DURING THE WORKSHOP

Q.1 Question (on PPP) / Answer
What types of public services in our country could be amenable to public-private management arrangement? / 1. Operation of water system
2. Municipal enterprise operations
3. Coastal resource management and
development
4. Solid waste management
5. Market operation
6. Water resource development
7. Transportation
8. Tour operators
9. Human resources / services (skills)
Q.2 Question / Answer
What was the situation before the start of the project? / 1. New generation leaving the town to
study/work outside
2. Little growth in tourism aspect although
there is an existing tourism industry
3. Presence of the architectural heritage
(Sino-Portuguese)
4. Collapse of the tin industry
5. City tourism attraction was overlooked by
the visitors
6. Densely populated
7. Abandoned houses/structures
8. Old town has been the center of commerce
9. Large number of hotels and other tourist
Facilities
Q.3 Question / Answer
Analyze the situation in the City of Origin of the BP:
Q3a. What is the socio-economic,
political, ecological, cultural,
technological, governance,
etc. situation in the city of
origin of the BP? / 1. Peranakan vibrant culture
2. Balanced eco-tourism development
3. Sino-Portuguese architectural heritage
4. Multi-sectoral partnership in conservation
and development programs
5. Community participation
6. Good governance; active and supportive
government
7. Active partnership among local and
national government, academe, GTZ
8. Traditional/old architectural structure
Q3b. What local problems did the
BP try to address? / 1. Regain trust and confidence of the constituents
2. Demoralization and hopelessness of the local
citizens
3. Deterioration of architectural structure
4. Global Village (being connected with the outside
world)rescued the economic downturn into
growth thru tourism
5. Problem of physical development/landscape
6. Removal of the obstruction to the five-footway
sect in front oftheir houses
7. Abandoned buildings and houses
8. Economic decline
9. Identification of cultural tradition
Q.4 Question / Answer
Analyze the project approach:
Q4.a. Who are the stakeholders in the
BP model? / 1. Phuket municipality
2. Experts from King Mongkut University
Ladkrabang
3. Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment
4. German Technical Cooperation
5. Department of Public Administration
6. Ministry of Interior
7. Old Town Foundation, Peranakan Foundation
8. Tourism Authority of Thailand
9. Old Town community and tenants
10. Thai Wah’s Alumni Association
11. Siamese Architect Association
12. National Government Agencies
13. The volunteer local residents
14. Local government
Q4.b. What are the objectives of the
project? / 1. Conserve architectural environment
2. Boost economy
3. Conserve the old way of life, tradition, culture
and livelihood
4. Build awareness on cultural conservation issue
Q4.c. Project approach: What are the
main elements of the project? / 1. Strong participation from residents
2. Collaboration of different sectors
Q.5 Question / Answer
How was the project
implemented? / 1. Database development approach
2. Raising awareness
3. Forming administrative bodies
4. Public relation or media production
Q.6 Question / Answer
What were the results of the project? / 1. Old Phuket town finally became attractive to
visitors
2. Proactive community members
3. Return of young generation
4. Increased number of visitors or tourists
5. Increased income from tourism industry
Q.7 Question / Answer
Identify opportunities and challenges. / 1. Mindset of the community (opportunity)
2. Convincing people to participate in
implementation (challenge)
3.Sustainability of projects (challenge)
Q.8 Question / Answer
Identify the facilitating and hindering factors of the BP model in the origin
City. / 1. Political will of the mayor (facilitating)
2. The mayor set a good example thereby
influencing thepeople/constituency
(facilitating)
3. Lack of funds to pursue projects (hindering)

CLUSTER SITUATION ANALYSIS