The local government of Manila received the Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award from location technology firm Esri during a ceremony at the Esri User Conference in San Diego.

Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso led a city delegation to accept the honor. Manila was the sole Philippine recipient among 197 organizations selected from more than 700,000 Esri client organizations globally.

Other international recipients included Singapore’s Land Transport Authority, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, Switzerland’s Humanitarian Aid unit, Habitat for Humanity International and Wajima City in Japan.

The annual award recognizes governments and institutions that use geographic information system mapping technology to enhance public service, emergency response and operational efficiency.

“We did not win this award by accident,” Domagoso said during the event. “This is the result of hard work, innovation, and dedication by our disaster risk reduction and GIS teams. I am proud of every single one of them.”

Domagoso credited the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Department, led by Director Arnel Eustacio Angeles, along with local GIS technical teams, for implementing the technology.