By Cathy Apelacio

MAITUM, Sarangani (5 January) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo conferred the Gawad Galing Pook award to the municipality of Maitum for its sustained advocacy in "promoting child rights."

The National Selection Committee cited Maitum's promotion of child rights as one of the Top Ten Outstanding Programs in the Philippines. The Gawad Galing Pook is the highest award that a local government could ever have.

Aside from wining the most-coveted award, Maitum also received a Special Citation for Child Rights Responsive Local Governance.

Mayor George Yabes, who received the award at the Heroes Hall, Malacanang on December 21, 2005, said the award manifested the Maitumians' spirit and commitment to realize "our vision to make Maitum a child-friendly municipality with responsible, educated, healthy, and happy children living in a peaceful and ecologically sound environment."

More than the award, Yabes was proud to note of Maitum's winning despite its being a "first-timer" in the competition.

In 2003, Maitum also won the national competition for the Most Child-Friendly Municipality with a cash prize of P1million.

The Gawad Galing Pook started in 1993 "as a pioneering awards program on innovation and excellence in local governance." It has already conferred recognitions to "more than 200 outstanding and trailblazing local governance programs from 1994 to 2004."

The 2005 competition had 165 entries of local government units all over the country. They were "sifted through a multi-level rigorous screening process" by a 15-member selection committee who later downsized the entries to 29 and conducted validation on-site.

Twenty out of 29 were summoned to Manila to present their local governance programs. From the 20 finalists came the Top Ten Outstanding Programs and the Ten Trailblazing Programs by LGUs.

"For the past 12 years, Galing Pook has been awed with the capability of local governments to make good governance work," Gawad Galing Pook Chairperson Dr. Milwida Guevara, said in a statement.

Other Gawad Galing Pook awardees for Outstanding Programs were Bulacan, Capoocan, Leyte, Concepcion, Iloilo, Dauin, Oriental Negros, Marikina City, Misamis Occidental, Oriental Negros, Quezon City, and Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.

For the Trailblazing Programs, the awardees were Bani, Pangasinan, Bohol, Bgy Calag-itan, Hinunangan, Southern Leyte, Goa, Camarines Sur, Kabacan, North Cotabato, Ligao City, Albay, Los Banos, Laguna, Magsaysay, Davao del Sur, Naawan, Misamis Oriental, and Zamboanga City.

"Our challenges are to bring these cases of inspiration to a greater audience and consolidate these experiences so that they become part of local government systems," Guevara further stated.