MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Friday urged mayors to prepare for emerging challenges and threats faced by local governance and stressed the importance of partnerships with other stakeholders.

• Marcos: Reviewing devolution to LGUs not an alternative to charter change
• Palace to review additional functions given to LGUs under Mandanas ruling

Speaking during the first-ever Mayors' Forum organized by the Department of the Interior Local Government and the United Nations (UN), Marcos said the Mandanas ruling and the Local Government Code of 1991 aimed to make localities "more efficient, more empowered, and more self-sustained."

But "there are new challenges in both local and national levels" which were not anticipated when the local government code was created some 30 years ago, said Marcos.

While the President did not specify what these challenges were, he urged mayors to "discover, explore, to employ better ways of capacitating our localities."

"So I welcome this forum which seeks to harness the power of innovation, digital governance, resiliency building, to ensure that the government can better respond to the demands of the times and when I speak of government, I speak of government at every level," Marcos said.

"Let me challenge our mayors to not only make the most out of this forum, let us make good use of this forum. It is going to be a very effective multiplier in terms of the efforts that we bring," he said.

"To include that now into the plan (Mandanas ruling), what we are going to do is to have a very potent weapon in facing the challenges of climate change, digitalization, and sustainability."

• Marcos Jr.: New order on Mandanas ruling out by year-end

UN's support in the forum will also allow to boost the capacity building of local government units, he said, and the exchange of ideas and issues must be maximized to help mayors prepare for the future.

"We [should] take full advantage of the knowledge, of the training... and apply it to our own constituencies and capacitate ourselves, make ourselves more competent, make ourselves more knowledgable, make ourselves more learned when it comes to the problems that we are all facing," he said.

"In that way, we are able to achieve more. We must also explore international partnerships such as that with your counterparts not only in the Philippines but also other countries. In that way, we will learn the best practices in improving public service delivery," he said.

The inaugural forum aims to tackle the best strategies in attaining sustainable development goals, said Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos.

Gustavo Gonzales, UN's resident coordinator to the Philippines, said most of the sustainable development goals should have direct impact to cities and towns.

This is important since local chief executives are considered "first responders" in emergency situations and natural calamities, said Gonzales.

"Local governments are closer to the level where actions are most likely to produce tangible results and an even more responsive and inclusive process," he said.

Attaining the UN's sustainable development goals, however, must be achieved with the help of national government, he said.

Video from RTVM