Ex-cabbie represents Philippines in Asian leaders summit

Calapan City Mayor Paulino Salvador “Doy” Leachon, a former cab driver, recently represented the Philippines in the Asia Society’s sixth annual Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit in New Delhi.

Leachon took part in the summit, held Nov. 18 to 21, with other Asian leaders under the age of 40.

The summit is part of a larger initiative designed to help emerging Asian leaders, whether in the public or private sector, to adopt common approaches to problems confronting their countries.

“The work that this incredible community of leaders is doing today and will do in the future is laying a strong foundation for regional collaboration for decades to come,” a statement sent by Leachon’s office quoted Jamie Metzl, Asia Society executive vice president, as saying.

Among the issues taken up in the summit were how corruption is stunting the growth of many Asian countries and whether food security should take precedence over civil rights.

Leachon is national vice chair of the League of Cities of the Philippines, where he also leads a group on local disaster risk reduction.

Under his mantle, Calapan was named one of the 12 most friendly cities in the Philippines and received recognition from the Asian Institute of Management as one of the most competitive cities in the country.

It also received the Trailblazer award from the Institute for Solidarity in Asia, a nongovernment organization advocating good governance.