MANKAYAN, Benguet – The Cordillera office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) CAR cited the municipal government for being the Model Local government Unit in the implementation of day care services in the region which is under the Gawad sa Paglilingkod sa Sambayanan Awards category of the Pagkilala sa Natatanging Kontribusyon sa Bayan.
DSWD Secretary formally handed to Mayor Frenzel Ayong the plaque of recognition for the said award during the 69th DSWD anniversary celebration held recently in Baguio city.
Mankayan was among the various local governments that were conferred plaques of recognition by the agency for their outstanding performances in the delivery of social services to their constituents through the years.
“The award is an offshoot of the hardwork and dedication shown by our child-minding workers in providing our children with the needed preparations for their entry to formal education. We were not able to be given the award without the support of concerned stakeholders, especially our child-minding workers who showed their dedication to provide the needed preparations for our youth for their entry to basic education,” Mayor Ayong stressed.
The local chief executive that he will personally meet with the concerned stakeholders to discuss how the local government will provide whatever assistance to improve the operation of child minding or day care centers in the municipality.
At present, there are some 58-day care centers that are operating in the different parts of the municipality wherein the child-minding workers are being compensated through the provision of honoraria by the local government.
Ayong stated that the local government will also try to look into whatever assistance that it could provide for the possible improvement of the compensation of the child minding workers who continue their sacrifice their time, effort and resources just to make sure that the children in the different barangays will be prepared to enter basic education by attending day care classes.
According to him, the award conferred to the local government by the social welfare department will surely serve as an inspiration and motivation not only to the local government but also to the concerned sectors to support the proposed improvements that will be introduced to enhance the state of the child minding or day care centers in the municipality and provide adequate skills development for the workers to be able to cater to the needs of those that are enrolled in the said centers.
He urged concerned sectors in the municipality to provide whatever suggestions and recommendations on how to further improve the operation of day care centers to the concerned offices of the local government so that the same will be discussed during the consultations that will be scheduled with the stakeholders.
Mankayan is one of the five first-class municipalities and one of the three towns relying on mining as their source of income considering the presence of large-scale mining companies that continue to operate within its area of jurisdiction and that agriculture also compliments the local government’s income considering that its upland barangays are vegetable-producing areas in the locality.
By HENT
