MALACAÑANG — President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Tuesday, December 5, awarded five top-performing local government units (LGUs) as winners of the 2017 Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities (PACFMC) at the Heroes Hall.
The PACFMC is awarded to LGUs in recognition of their vital role in promoting children’s rights to survival, development, protection, and participation as well as ensuring child-friendly governance.
The 2017 PACFMC’s were awarded to the Municipality of Santa Fe in Nueva Vizcaya (Region III), the Municipality of Salay in Misamis Oriental (Region X), Tagaytay City in the province of Cavite (CALABARZON), Dagupan City in the province of Pangasinan (Region I), and Mandaluyong City (NCR).
The PACFMC is an annual undertaking of the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC), in accordance to Executive Order No. 184 entitled “Establishing the Presidential Award for the Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities” issued on December 13, 1999.
In his remarks during the ceremony, the Chief Executive made an assurance that the administration will do its best to protect the Filipino children.
He then called upon all partners of the government to further strengthen their ties and build new alliances in order to create a safe, enabling, and child-friendly environment for the succeeding generations of Filipinos.
“As our children are the country’s future, be assured that this administration will do everything to protect them from violence, abuse, criminality, illegal drugs, and other threats to their safety and well-being,” President Duterte said.
President Duterte also discussed the country’s weakness in terms of health care for Filipinos, particularly for our children, noting that the administration is doing its part to find a solution to counter this present challenge.
“One of the biggest drawbacks of this country is that we were not able to provide proper healthcare for our children, much less for everybody, actually for lack of funds,” he said.
“But we endeavored to pass a law that would give them free medical attention and hospitalization. We have established the ‘Malasakit’ centers all over the country to give priority to those who are urgently in need of medical attention.” he added.
During the awarding ceremony, President Duterte was accompanied by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año, and Council for the Welfare of Children Executive Director Mary Mitzi “Mitch” Cajayon-Uy. ###PND
