Tubigon Bags Child-Friendly Award

The Municipality of Tubigon, Bohol recently received from the Council for the Welfare of Children or CWC, the Seal of Community of Practice for Child-Friendly Local Government (CoP-CFLG).

The CoP-CFLG centers on the establishment of a peer-to-peer learning experience that banks on the existing child-friendly practices of CoP-LGUs and on the potential of other LGUs to replicate such effort.

It primarily aims to capacitate LGUs to implement policies and programs that protect the rights and welfare of children.

Ms. Grace Yana, focal person for children’s sector said the CoP-CFLG is the result of an in-depth analysis commissioned by the Council for the Welfare of Children in partnership with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on the functionality of Local Councils for the Protection of Children (LCPC) entitled “Towards More Effective Local Councils for the Protection of Children in Child Rights Responsive Governance in the Philippines.

Yana added that the CoP-CFLG is in response to one of the recommendations of the Local Councils for the Protection of Children Study to establish a replication strategy for Mainstreaming Child Rights in the Rationalized Local Planning System (RPS).

In a simple ceremony, DSWD-7 Regional Director and Chairperson of the Regional Council for the Welfare of Children (RCWC), Ma. Evelyn B. Macapobre, handed the award to Mayor William Jao at Golden Prince Hotel, Cebu City. Tubigon is the first local government in Region 7 to receive such national award.

After having recited the Pledge of Community of Practice Commitment, Mayor Jao said the LGU will continue to support the children of Tubigon and the advocacies for children’s welfare.

“Tubigon has been recognized as child-friendly municipality since 2008. And this year, the LGU bagged the Seal of Community of Practice for Child-Friendly Local Government (CoP-CFLG), the first of its kind in the region. We should be proud of Tubigon and let us encourage those who are planning to visit a child-friendly LGU to go to Tubigon,” said Macapobre.

The CWC is the focal inter-agency body of the Philippine Government for children. It is mandated to coordinate the implementation and enforcement of all laws; formulate, monitor and evaluate policies, programs and measures for children.