LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines – This province reaped major awards in the Regional Development Council (RDC-Region 1) Performance Awards held last Wednesday in San Fernando, La Union.
Pangasinan bagged the following awards: Best Local Government Unit (LGU) Best Practices for its massive river clean-up and dredging operations; Best Performing LGU Based on Local Governance Performance Monitoring System; Best LGU Poverty Reduction Program Implementer; Best LGU Millennium Development Goal Project Implementer; and Best Project Implementer.
The province also placed first runner-up in the Cleanest, Safest and Greenest LGU search.
On top of this, Pangasinan is already in the Hall of Fame in the Coastal Resources Management Awards and National Statistics Month Celebration Awards.
Gov. Amado Espino Jr. said the awards serve “as an inspiration for us to do something more for our constituents.”
The awards, he added, “(are) a vindication for us and give us inspiration to perform better.”
Recently, some sectors criticized Espino over the extraction of magnetite sand in the eco-tourism zone being developed in the western barangays of Lingayen.
The Espino administration aims to establish an 18-hole golf course as part of the eco-tourism zone master plan to provide jobs and livelihood opportunities to local folk and attract tourists and investors.
For his part, Vice Gov. Jose Ferdinand Calimlim Jr. reiterated the provincial board’s full support to Espino.