And Mayor Madelaine Alfelor Gazmen is very proud about the city’s title.

"Iriga City has its own character which differs greatly from other cities or urbanized capitals and towns," Mayor Gazmen told us when we finally met her at her office in the newly built City Hall.

"When I took over as the city’s chief executive (she is now in her second term), I adopted a 12-core character values which I started to teach to the city government officials, the employees, and then to the barangays. These 12-core character values are what we are now spreading to the students and citizenry in general."

"It is a revolution from within," Mayor Gazmen said. "And when we achieve it successfully, and I know we will succeed, we will have a city that is truly a ‘character.’"

In the local dialect, Bicol, the 12-core character values are:

1. Kalinigan (cleanliness), 2. Kabuutan (generosity. Kindness), 3. Pagka-mapagpaunod (patience, tolerance), 4. Pagka-sugsug (decisiveness, persistence), 5. Pagigin-matanos (truthfulness, justness), 6. Pagka-magalang (respectful), 7. Pagka-maurot (industrious), 8. Kapakumbabaan (humility), 9. Pagkamasarigan (dependability, initiative), 10. Pagka-adimuwanon (resourcefulness), 11. Pagka-oyamut (thriftiness), and 12. Pagka-mapagmakulog (compassion).

"When you internalize the 12-core character values, you become more productive and creative," Mayor Gazmen said.

To have these core values easily adopted by the citizenry, one core character value is observed each month.

Mayor Gazmen, who reports to her office in simple attire, like blue jeans and loud-color T-shirt, succeeded in resolving the differences between the feuding politicians in the city, and they are now united to work for the city’s growth. Her campaign slogan is: Mag kausad kita! (Let us get together).

A very significant project of the city government is the Iriga Gawad Kalinga (GK).

Mayor Gazmen led the construction of the houses which were judiciously assigned to 104 homeless families.

The city government started with 20 units which it also funded, and later, donations come from various businesses, politicians and other concerned parties.

The GK project has even now become a tourist attraction because of its location on the base of a hill facing Mt. Iriga.

Another initiative of the mayor is the city’s Barangay Day, in which the city’s chief executive, the councilors, and other city government officials visit the barangays regularly and conduct dialogues with the people to identify problems and formulate the immediate solutions.