ILOILO City – Three local government units (LGU) in Western Visayas were named national finalists in the 2017 Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities (PACFMC).
Raji Alvarado of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region 6 and Secretariat of the Regional Sub-Committee for the Welfare of Children said these LGUs were endorsed to the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) being the top-performing and child-friendly LGUs per income category in the region per result of the 2017 Child-Friendly Local Governance Audit (CFLGA).
The region’s LGU national finalists are the following:
* Iloilo City for the Highly Urbanized City category
* Escalante City, Negros Occidental for the component city category
* Lambunao, Iloilo for the 1st to 3rd class municipality category
Alvarado said members of the CWC National Awards Committee will conduct a field validation on the LGU qualifiers.
They are expected in Escalante City on Aug. 28 to 31, 2018 and in Lambunao and Iloilo City on Sept. 24 to 28, 2018, he said.
LGU qualifiers will be rated according to their child-friendliness on the aspect of planning and policy formulation, resource allocation and utilization, service delivery, institution building / capacity building, child participation, and community participation and resource mobilization.
The PACFMC was initiated by the CWC pursuant to Executive Order No. 184 entitled “Establishing the Presidential Award for the Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities” issued on Dec. 13, 1999.
“It is given to deserving local government units in recognition of their vital roles in the sustained promotion of children’s rights to survival, development, protection and participation as well as in ensuring child-friendly governance,” said Alvarado.
Awarding ceremony to winning LGUs will be held at Malacañan Palace later this year.
Alvarado said the 2017 Seal of Child-friendly local governance shall be conferred to LGU passers of the CFLGA on November this year. (PIA-6/PN)
