LGU visits Naga City, benchmarks good governance practices

By Christine Kim Villafuerte

In pursuit of empowering its people through good governance, the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Infanta, Quezon—a first-class municipality—visited Naga City to learn from its 30-year experience in people empowerment.

Recognizing Naga City as his “leadership heaven,” Infanta Mayor L.A. Ruanto expressed his desire to share his learnings and experiences with Infanta’s new set of officials and People’s Council members through a benchmarking activity held on October 14, 2025.

The visit focused on adopting the best practices of the Naga City People’s Council (NCPC), a mechanism that allows Nagueños to directly engage in the city’s decision-making processes. The Infanta People’s Council aims to adopt similar policies that promote citizen participation and strengthen transparency in governance.

The LGU also observed systems that ensure accountability among elected officials. Mayor L.A. noted Naga City’s practice of holding live sessions to make legislative work more transparent to the public, along with the representation of the NCPC at the Sanggunian level.

Aside from people’s participation, Naga’s digital governance initiatives—such as the MyNaga App and the i-Governance program—were also among the practices reviewed during the benchmarking activity.

With a mutual commitment to good governance, Infanta, Quezon, plans to establish a sisterhood agreement with the City Government of Naga.