Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto has been named one of the 24 global winners of Bloomberg Philanthropies 2025 Mayors Challenge, a competition that aims to develop bold and innovative solutions to improve residents' lives in different cities around the world.
The competition pushed participating cities to go beyond the usual, encouraging leaders to rethink how core public services can be delivered more effectively with real, people-centered impact.
As part of the win, each city, including Pasig, will receive a $1 million grant, along with operational support and additional funding for dedicated teams tasked with scaling their innovations and turning ideas into lasting solutions.
The journey was far from easy.
More than 630 cities from 33 countries joined the challenge, with only 50 making it to the final round.
From there, shortlisted cities developed and tested their ideas directly with residents to ensure that their proposals were not just innovative, but practical and responsive to real community needs.
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NOMINEES FROM THE PHILIPPINES
In the Philippines, three cities reached the final phase—Pasig, Butuan, and Manila.
Only Pasig emerged as one of the 24 winning cities from 20 countries.
Pasig’s winning concept focuses on creating more open public spaces by transforming barges into floating parks along the Pasig River.
To ensure community involvement, residents will take part in co-designing, building, and managing the parks, giving them a sense of ownership over the project.
The concept was first brought to life in late 2025 through a prototype called “Hope Float,” developed by four barangays working together.
All winning cities later gathered at Bloomberg CityLab in Madrid on April 29, 2026, to discuss how these innovations will be implemented.
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