Interaksyon.com reports that on Monday, January 30, the Galing Pook Foundation "recognized 10 local government units (LGUs) for innovative programs."According to its website, Galing Pook Foundation, which was set up in 1993, was a joint initiative of the Department of the Interior and Local Government's Local Government Academy, the Ford Foundation, and other advocates of good governance.
The report noted that the awarding ceremony was held in Malacañang, with President Benigno Aquino III handing out the awards. As the report revealed, the following winners were chosen from among 137 entries submitted this year: 55 from Luzon, 33 from Visayas and 49 from Mindanao:
- Albay Province: The LGU implemented a health strategy to achieve the Millenium Development Goals.
- Real, Gen. Nakar, Infanta, and Panukulan in Quezon Province: They set up a community-based mental health management program to give proper mental health care to residents.
- Limasawa, Southern Leyte: A program vs. malnutrition was set instituted.
- Alimodian, Iloilo: Bringing high schools closer to where students live to reduce school expenses.
- Bohol Province: They focused on rabies prevention and elimination.
- Maribojoc, Bohol: Their cadastral survey (mapping project) reduced land-grabbing cases and increased land valuation.
- Sarangani Province: They backed Justice on Wheels, a program wherein buses are set up like mobile courtrooms so judges can travel to far-flung areas and serve the residents there.
- Misamis Oriental: Former "war zones" were converted to agricultural areas, where residents can plant crops that would guarantee that they had a livelihood.
- Upi, Maguindanao: A rural community e-center allowed residents to "get wired."
- Zamboanga del Norte: A program was conceptualized to empower the members of the Subanen tribe, in order to ensure that they know their rights.
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