The Island Garden City of Samal in Davao del Norte is among the eight local government units (LGUs) chosen by the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) as pilot-test area of the enhanced Presidential Award for Child-friendly Municipalities and Cities (PACFMC).
CWC picked Samal to represent the Component City category along with Vigan City of Ilocos Sur in Region I. Samal was the only local government unit in Davao Region, where the revised PACFMC search criteria and guidelines were pilot tested.
Other PACFMC pilot-test areas are Sto. Tomas, La Union in Region I; Buenavista, Guimaras in Region VI representing the 1st to 3rd Class Municipality Category; Sagada of Mountain Province in the Cordillera Autonomous Region, 4th to 6th Class Municipality Category; Cotabato City of the Bangsamoro Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Independent Component City; Cebu City in Region VII and Zamboanga City in Region IX, Highly Urbanized City Category.
During the provincial orientation with members of the Provincial Local Council for the Welfare of Children (PCPC), CWC Planning Officer Joanne Yap of the Monitoring and Evaluation Division explained that the series of reviews and assessment processes on 2013-2014, in 2016 and in 2021 led to revisions necessary to enhance the search indicators, guidelines, and tools.
The PACFMC was established through Executive Order No. 184 series of 1999 issued on December 13, 1999 as a response of the Philippine Government to its commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
CWC has used this Presidential Award as one of its monitoring monitoring strategies to make sure that LGUs become child-friendly. It has also become a way by which the advocacy on child rights has been strengthened. (JMDA/PIA Davao del Norte)
