Thursday, 25 October 2012

GRAND SLAM: Albay wins DILG top awards




LEGAZPI CITY: Albay province received another grand slam honors  during the Gawad Pamana ng Lahi and Seal of Good Housekeeping Awarding ceremonies  held here recently.

Along with Albay which was named the best province in Bicol, Ligao City  was given the best city award and Tiwi as the best municipal local government unit by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) during the awarding rites.

At least 10 local government units throughout Bicol were declared finalists in the Gawad Pamana ng Lahi Awards, which include: Albay, Camarines Norte, and Sorsogon for the provincial category; city category Ligao, Naga and Legazpi for the city category; and the towns of Tiwi and Sto Domingo in Albay, and Ragay and Calabanga in Camarines Sur for the municipal category.

Albay Gov Joey Salceda, together with city and town chief executives of Ligao, Legazpi, Tiwi, amd Sto Domingo received their respective awards from DILG Director Manny Gotis of the Bureau of Local Government Development.

The awardees were qualified to avail of the Performance Challenge Fund (PCF) where they can acquire financial support for the development of their respective municipalities.

Albay won the award for carrying out sustainable local governance thru environmental integrity, social transformation, and economic viability.

Salceda focused his efforts on education with the following two major projects: Albay Higher Education Contribution Scheme (AHECS), and the Education Quality for Albayanos (EQUAL), the biggest funded scholarship program granted by an LGU in the country with 34,000 scholars. 

He said with these programs the province hopes to achieve  a “college graduate in every family”; and a more improved rating in the National Achievement Test (NAT) with Albay targeted to become one of the top 20 provinces with high NAT ratings in 2016.

The province is also intensifying school-based feeding programs to address malnutrition in far-flung villages of Albay.

Tiwi, Albay was cited for its successful implementation of the Tiwi Upland Management Area for Nature Based Agriculture.
Mayor Linda Gonzalez of Ligao City spearheaded the Ligao Participatory Governance for Social Economic Enterprise Development.

Noel Rosal, former Legazpi City Mayor and City Administrator underscored the significance of the city’s award-winning Ecological Waste Management Program.
While Naga City was cited for its i-Governance: Application of ICT in Local Governance.

Blandino Maceda, DILG regional director, said the Gawad Pamana ng Lahi Award and the Seal of Good Housekeeping Award are given yearly to local government units which have shown their exemplary   performance, particularly in the promotion, of transparency and accountability in governance.

The two governance awards were introduced during the incumbency of the late Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse M Robredo, a champion of good local governance. – Bicol Mail

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