3 cities in Cebu bag Rafael M. Salas award

CEBU, Philippines - The Population Commission-7 awarded yesterday local government units, including three cities and one town in Cebu, with outstanding programs in the field of population and development.

Lapu-Lapu City bagged the first prize in the 2014 Rafael M. Salas Population and Development Award (RMSPDA) for the city category.

The award is intended to continue the legacy of Rafael M. Salas, the first Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, who is known as “Mr. Population” in the international community for his efforts to create global awareness and consensus about the importance of population to social and economic development.

Cebu City was awarded first runner-up while Carcar City bagged the second prize in the same category.

For the municipal category, the municipality of Larena, Siquijor won the award. The towns of Compostela, Cebu and Siquijor, Siquijor got the first runner-up and second runner-up, respectively.

Bruce Ragas, POPCOM-7 regional director said criteria for giving the awards included the amount of budget allocated by the local government unit for health services; health facilities with maternity health care package; the number of physicians/nurses/midwives in relation to their population, among others.

The RMSPDA also aims to showcase outstanding population and development  oriented cities and municipalities and recognize excellence and innovation in PopDev programs of the LGUs.

Lapu-Lapu City and Larena, Siquijor will vie for the national award later this year.

“The welfare of the populace should be everyone’s concern much more if you are a person with a mandate to serve,” said Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza in her speech.

Radaza said that the people who elected them into office expect them to deliver what they promised during the election time.

“What is expected of us, elected officials and even government executives is to ensure that our people benefit from the progress and development that we all are working on when we were given the mandate and authority,” Radaza said.

The Rafael M. Salas award, Radaza said, gives them all the reasons to do more.

“This award will encourage us to pursue good governance and give us a stronger motivation to fight for inclusive growth,” Radaza added.

Radaza also thanked her city health officer, Dr. Rodolfo Berame, for his dedication in pursuing the city’s population and development programs with his team going around private and public schools to develop the skills of students on responsible parenthood.

Radaza further said that Berame also instituted programs that would encourage couples to visit the city’s health centers to learn about the different kinds of family planning methods.

Through this, the city has the highest contraceptive prevalence rate in Central Visayas, said Radaza. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/ATO (FREEMAN)