City Planning coordinator finalist in 2025 win DRR Leadership awards
Baguio City Planning Development and Sustainability Office Coordinator Arch. Donna Tabangin has been named one of the finalists for the 2025 Women’s International Network for Disaster Risk Reduction (WIN DRR) Leadership Awards.
Tabangin made the cut for her pioneering work in urban planning, digital innovation and disaster resilience.
Now in its fifth year, the WIN DRR Excellence Award—organized by UNDRR Asia & the Pacific—recognizes women leaders who have made exceptional contributions to creating safer and more resilient communities across the region.Tabangin’s selection highlighted the city’s advancements in risk-informed planning.
She has been at the forefront of developing the Baguio Digital Twin, an innovative tool that consolidates multiple hazard layers—landslides, floods, seismic risks, sinkholes, fire hazards and social vulnerability—into an integrated, easy-to-use platform. This digital system has strengthened the city’s evacuation planning, early warning protocols and barangay-level risk assessments.
Under her leadership, Baguio also introduced the Baguio Livability Index, a homegrown framework that measures urban livability based on the city’s unique topography, density pressures, and carrying capacity.
By grounding the index in local realities and ensuring broad stakeholder participation, Tabangin has helped establish a long-term planning tool that reflects the needs and aspirations of Baguio residents.
Her work has been widely regarded as transformative, reshaping how local governments can harness technology and data for resilience.
The WIN DRR Excellence Award, sponsored by SM Prime, will be presented on 25 November 2025 during the ESCAP Disaster Risk Reduction Week in Bangkok, Thailand.
City officials led by Mayor Benjamin Magalong welcomed Tabangin’s recognition as a significant milestone noting that her work continues to bring international attention to the city’s efforts toward resilience and sustainable urban development. – Aileen P. Refuerzo
