RDC awards 12 Cordillera gov’t units for ‘excellence’

FLAME WINNERS – Mountain Province Gov. Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr. and Board Member Salvador K. Dalang receive the RDC-FLAME award from RDC chairperson and Abra Gov. Joy Bernos and NEDA Cordillera Regional Director Milagrose Rimando.-- Erwin S. Batnag

By Novy R. Afidchao and Erwin S. Batnag

BANGUED, Abra -- Twelve Cordillera local government units were recognized by the Regional Development Council and conferred the Forwarding Local Autonomy Medal of Excellence (FLAME) for 2019 during the first quarter RDC meeting  at Abra Sports Complex here last week.

The FLAME awards body recognizes LGUs that excel based on their “exemplary efforts in achieving good governance and commend participation of LGUs in regional development.”

According to the RDC-FLAME awards committee, the award serves as mechanism to reward valuable contribution of local government units towards advancing socio-economic development of the region and recognize their active participation in activities of RDC-CAR such as pursuit of Cordillera autonomy.

The awards were divided into three categories: province and highly urbanized city, component city and municipalities.

The city government of Baguio was awarded 1^st place under the province and highly urbanized city category while the provincial government of Mountain Province was the only provincial LGU to receive recognition under the same category.

Three municipal LGUs from Mountain Province – Bontoc, Paracelis and Bauko were also awarded under the 1^st to 3^rd class municipalities/ component city and 4^th to 6^th class municipalities categories.

Gov. Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr. and District II Board Member Salvador K. Dalang received the provincial award while Bontoc Mayor Franklin C. Odsey and Bauko Mayor Abraham B. Akilit also received their respective awards.

Meanwhile, other FLAME awardees were La Trinidad, Benguet (1^st place) and Buguias, Benguet for the 1^st to 3^rd class municipality category. Bukay, Abra; Lamut, Ifugao; Lagawe, Ifugao; Tublay, Benguet; Asipulo, Ifugao; and San Juan, Abra were awarded under the 3^rd to 5^th class municipalities category.

According to the RDC, the awardees were chosen by the RDC regional awards committee based on evaluation by regional assessment team technical working group.

Before the latest awarding, the FLAME awarding ceremonies were held in 2015 and 2016. Baguio City, Mountain Province and La Trinidad, Benguet were RDC-FLAME consistent awardees.