Garcia goes on leave to attend governance program at Netherlands

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Vice Mayor Raymond Garcia will take a leave anew, this time for the second leg of the Adaptive Governance and Innovation for Local Executives (AGILE) program in The Hague, the Netherlands.

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), through its regional office, gave the go signal on Garcia’s latest travel request abroad from February 3 to 11, 2024.

As stated in DILG’s letter obtained by The Freeman, Garcia is set to participate in a foreign study mission on Local Governance and Innovation for Economic Development.

With DILG’s approval, part of Garcia’s travel expenses  may be charged against the funds of the city government, subject to the availability, but no funds are being used for this travel accordingly.

This as the tuition fee, travel to and from The Hague, accommodation and all other related costs will be covered by the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP)

Garcia is said to be the only vice mayor in the country that made it to program.

This came after the Vice Mayor completed the course of Championing Agriculture Leadership held last December 4-7, 2023 in Las Piñas City under the AGILE Program.

With that, Garcia is expected by DAP to participate in the second leg of the AGILE shuttle course, specifically, the Foreign Study Mission (FSM) in partnership with The Hague Academy for Local Governance (THALG).

THALG itself is a non-profit, non-goverment organization that aims to strengthen good local governance, public service delivery, and socio-economic development in developing and transitional countries through practice-oriented training programmes

The foreign study mission, which Garcia is participating in, is an opportunity to enrich their global perspective and understand areas that help propel local economic development.

It will also serve as a forum for information exchange where they can discuss and share best practices, while building and strengthening networks for possible international collaboration.

With Garcia out, the city’s first councilor and also former vice-mayor Donaldo “Dondon” Hontiveros will return as acting vice-mayor anew until the former’s return to the city next week.