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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Galing Pook Awards sees higher standards

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The application of the best practices in responding to the challenges of the pandemic especially in providing the needs of the people amid the various levels of community quarantines is going to set the bar higher in the search for this year’s ten outstanding programs in local governance or the 2021 Galing Pook Awards.

Mel Senen Sarmiento, the former Interior Secretary and Galing Pook Foundation Chairperson, said the ability of local chief executives to adapt to the “new normal” and implement innovative programs and services that make life easier for their constituents, who are struggling because of the pandemic, will be the primary barometer in determining this year’s top LGUs.

Sarmiento said that Galing Pook Awards took a hiatus last year because of the pandemic. With the theme “GobyerNEW: Magagaling na Programa mula sa Magagaling na Pook,” it was re-launched in June to honor local government units that exemplified adaptiveness, innovation, resiliency, and excellence.

He noted that despite its hiatus, this year’s Galing Pook Awards received 200 nominations, the highest since its inception in 1993. The application was closed last June 30, and the awarding ceremony is set in October.

Sarmiento thanked the officers of the Galing Pook Foundation, SM Prime, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Local Government Academy for supporting the awards, as he noted that the pandemic truly tested the leadership qualities of the country’s local government executives.

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Sarmiento, a 2004 Galing Pook Awardee when he was still mayor of Calbayog City, said local government officials are at the forefront in the global effort to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus and its variants, being the primary implementers of all policies related to pandemic response and management.

“It is the national government that makes the policies, but it is the LGUs that implements them. Our nation’s success and failure in dealing with the pandemic depends largely on the ability and inability of our LGUs to properly respond to various challenges that come with the present health crisis. I’ve seen so many outstanding innovations that made a difference to our people,” Sarmiento said.

Georgina Ann Hernandez-Yang, Galing Pook Executive Director, said that out of all the applications received by the National Selection Committee, only 20 finalists will be selected from which the ten outstanding and innovative local government programs will be recognized in the awards program.

The awarding ceremony will be held in October in line with the 30th year celebration since the enactment of the Local Government Code.

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