By Dominic I. Sanchez
ZAMBOANGA CITY – Twenty-eight municipal and
city local government units in the region were awarded with the Seal for
Child-Friendly Local Governance by the Council for the Welfare of Children
(CWC) in simple ceremonies held at the Grand Astoria Hotel here on Tuesday
(March 31).
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)
Regional Director and chair of the regional council Zenaida Arevalo
congratulated the local government units for their performance in ensuring that
children’s rights and welfare are protected. “The seal illustrates your
dedication to protect the children in your localities,” she said.
Out of the 28 LGUs, Dipolog City was conferred with the number
one spot, and is a qualifier for the Presidential Award. Also qualifiers are
the municipalities of Leon B. Postigo, Zamboanga del Norte and Bayog, Zamboanga
del Sur. These LGUs will be vying for the presidential award to be held in May.
According to CWC’s April Obtinario, the award was started
“during the time of then President Joseph Estrada in 1999 as an audit system to
ensure that LGUs are child-friendly”.
“This was voluntary before, but now the audit is
mandatory, all LGUs are subjected to the audit,” Obtinario emphasized.
Some of the indicators for the seal’s conferment include
the absence or reduction of child labor cases, protection of children from all
forms of abuses and violence, their safety in schools, public utility vehicles
and other places and others.
Obtinario pointed out that all of the awardees have fully
functional Local Councils for the Protection of Children (LCPC), enacted
ordinances for children such as for the establishment of barangay women’s and
children’s desks.
“We should not just stop plans for children, what matters
is implementing them,” Obtinario said.
Meanwhile, Director Arevalo said that the seal is a
testimony of the LGU’s thrust to prioritize children in their programs and
services, however she emphasized that other LGUs here should have the seal.
“We cannot have only a handful of LGUs with the seal since
this means that the other LGUs do not meet the standards in being
child-friendly,” she said. “We want to target the other LGUs for the seal next
year.”