Argao barangay Galing Pook Award finalist

CEBU, Philippines — Barangay Taloot in Argao, Cebu made it to the final 17 of the Galing Pook Award 2023 and hopes to make it to the top 10 when the awarding takes place today.

The barangay made it to the final panel presentation and interview yesterday for its Barangay Taloot Community-Based Integrated Approach.

Whatever the results, Taloot already felt like a winner being the only one from Cebu island that passed the preliminary securities.

Bayawan City, Negros Oriental was chosen for its “Fish From The Mountains: Bayawan Inland Aquaculture while Bago City of Negros Occidental gets the nod for "Reviving the Majestic Diversity of Bago Watershed" (Ridge to Reef Environmental Management/ Integrated Ecosystem Management Approach).

Ormoc City, Leyte’s Saving Kan: A Love Story in Ormoc Bay (Marine Mammal and Reptile Rehabilitation Center) is also a finalist for the Galing Pook.

The Ilonggos, for their part, also hope to make good grades with Iloilo City’s Sorts Academy (ICSA): A Grassroots Sports Program for the Ilonggo Youth and the Iloilo Province for Zero to Limpyo Iloilo: Movement for a Province-wide ZOD.

Like Iloilo, Quezon City led by mayor Joy Belmonte also has two best practices that made it to the finals including its iRISE UP (Intelligent, Resilient, and Integrated Systems for the Urban Population) and its Birth Registration Online (QC BRO): Online Birth Registration Portal of the Quezon City Civil Registry Department.

Other finalists from Luzon include Bataan Province for the 1Bataan Seal of Healthy Barangay, vite Province’s LINKod Beyond Bars: An ICT-based Social Inclusion Program of Cavite Provincial Jail, Ligao City, Albay’s ntegrated Coastal Resource Management Program, Makati City’s Virtual Queuing Management System, Mexico, Pampanga’s Community Hospital: Caring is Our Calling and Pasig City’s pre-hospital Care and Emergency Medical Services Medical Control Program.

From Mindanao, there are three LGUs in the final cast—Davao Oriental Province’s Happy Home: Integrated and Holistic Rebel Reintegration; Del Carmen, Surigao del Norte’s Seal of Health Governance: Local Health Leadership Approach as Response from Pandemic to Super Typhoon "Odette;" and General Santos City’s Shari’a Atas Bitiara: The Comprehensive and Balanced Conflict Resolution Mechanism for Muslims.

The final panel deliberation of the final 10 was done yesterday but the awarding of winners will be known today.

The Galing Pook Awards was launched in October 21, 1993 as a pioneering program that searches and recognizes innovative practices by local government units.

Aside from the awards, winning programs are made as models of good governance promoted for adoption in other communities.

Awardees are expected to provide useful insights and strategies to find innovative solutions to common problems. —/LPM (FREEMAN)