TABUK CITY, Kalinga – As part of Mayor Darwin Estrañero’s visionary agenda to transform Tabuk City into a smart city, city government employees visited Cauayan City to learn about the framework, concept, innovative technologies, and best practices of a smart city in a rural setting recently.
Cauayan City is the ideal model city for Tabuk to emulate, as it is the first rural and agricultural city in the country to go smart.
The delegation team was composed of the City Public Information Office (CPIO), City Information and Communications Technology (CICT), Office of the City Agricultural Services (OCAS), Kalinga State University (KSU), DOST-Kalinga, DTI-Kalinga and DENR-Kalinga.
During their visit, they were provided with an engaging and scholarly experience by the staff of the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Cauayan, DOST Region 2, and Isabela State University. The delegation witnessed firsthand how Cauayan evolved from a poor rural city to the country’s first agricultural smart city and smart city paragon for North Luzon.
The delegation was able to study and scrutinize Cauayan City’s various technological advancements, such as their Cauayan App Connect, which streamlines easier online processing of LGU transactions; drones used for agricultural analysis and aerial spraying; quick disaster monitoring and response through high-end software; smart transportation solutions; renewable energy that reduces carbon footprint through solar panels; and electric vehicle charging stations, among others.
The team also paid a visit to Isabela State University to see how their research and software programming technologies are being integrated into the design and operation of the LGU to provide convenience to Cauayan residents.
Such technologies will serve as the baseline concepts for Tabuk City to assess in order to decide which ones to adopt. The delegates seek to bring back the majority of these innovative ideas and best practices to Tabuk City to improve the quality of life of Tabukeños and make the city more sustainable and livable through these cutting-edge technology and data-driven decision making.
The benchmarking visit is the first step in Tabuk City’s efforts to become the second DOST-recognized smart city in Northern Luzon. By Ruth Cupang
