By Myds Supnad
SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union -- This province won top slots for its environment programs in the Regional Development Council “performance “awards” held here Feb. 22 at Oasis Country Resort Hotel.
Pangasinan emerged as champion in five areas: Best Practices for its massive river clean-up and dredging operations; Best Local Government Unit; Best Performing LGU Based on Local Governance Performance Monitoring System (LGPMS); Best LGU Poverty Reduction Program Implementer; Best LGU Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Project Implementer; and Best Project Implementor.
Butch Velasco, Pangasinan public information officer, said Pangasinan also bagged the “first runner-up award in the Cleanest, Safest and Greenest LGU search.”
Pangasinan is already in the prestigious Hall of Fame for the Coastal Resources Management Awards and National Statistics Month Celebration Awards, thus, Pangasinan was exempted to join these categories.
‘This is a vindication for us and it gives us inspiration to perform better,” Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. said during a press conference that followed the awarding ceremonies.
Over the last week of January this year, some oppositors accused the governor of destroying the Lingayen coast due to extraction of magnetite sand in the eco-tourism area being developed in the western barangays of Lingayen.
The present administration of Espino aims to establish an 18-hole golf course as part of the master plan to develop an eco-tourism zone in that area to provide thousands of job and livelihood opportunities to local folks and attract tourists and investors.
“The extraction of unwanted material known as black sand was only incidental,” provincial administrator Rafael Baraan said.
Even Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau regional director Carlos Tayag said that black sand can hinder the growth of suitable vegetation intended for the golf course.
Showing his appreciation to the SangguniangPanlalawigan and the rest of provincial government officials, Espino called the recognition as a “wake up call” for the provincial government to aim for the number one spot in areas that can be realized.
Community participation, according to the local chief executive, is a salient ingredient in earning environmental accolades and this includes maintaining cleanliness and orderliness and clearing rivers of illegal structures, among others.
Vice Gov. Jose Ferdinand Calimlim voiced the SP’s full support to the governor while noting that the harmonious working relationship between the executive and legislative branch is something that other local government units may not possess.
Baraan said the awards are concrete recognition of good governance in Pangasinan.
“We are already a Hall of Fame awardee which means the province is consistently outstanding in its performance,” he added.
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