Tarlac City, Philippines – 2014 was an auspicious year for the Province of Tarlac as it was awarded two of the most prestigious awards namely: the Galing Pook Award and the Most Business Friendly-LGU Hall of Famer Award.
The Galing Pook Awards Program of the Galing Pook Foundation recognizes innovation and excellence in local governance through best practices that improve the delivery of services to the community, while the Most Business Friendly Award of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a recognition which aims to hail LGUs that excel in trade and investments, transparency, and efficiency in delivering business services to fuel up inclusive growth in the locality.
The Galing Pook was conferred to Tarlac’s Linaw Tingin (Clear Vision) Program which targets the provision of affordable eye-care services to the community through the leadership of Tarlac Governor Victor A. Yap and Dr. Shelley Anne M. Mangahas, OIC- TPH Eye Center.
Meanwhile, the Wireless Access for Health (WAH) Program of the Province of Tarlac, the first e-Governance Awardee, was one of the finalists in the Galing Pook Awards. WAH pushes for paperless transactions in Rural Health Units and other government hospitals in Tarlac.
The Galing Pook awarding ceremonies was held at the EDSA Shangri-la Hotel on October 21, 2014, which was graced by government luminaries such as SILG Mar Roxas, Hon. Camarines Sur 3rd District Representative Leni G. Robredo, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, and the delegates from the LGU-awardees that excelled in their respective local governance programs.
The PCCI Hall of Fame award on the other hand, is a recognition given to the Province of Tarlac for being accorded the Most Business Friendly Award for three consecutive years (2012-2014) thereby proving that investors are right on the money in locating their businesses in Tarlac. The awarding ceremony was held during the PCCI Business Conference at the Manila Hotel on October 24, 2014.
In addition to the these awards, the Tarlac Provincial Hospital – Information Management System also became a finalist to the e-Governance Best in Customer Empowerment Awards for LGUs which is an annual search for best practices of LGUs in utilizing information and communications technology (ICT) to effectively deliver public service directly to its constituents and business stakeholders. The e-Gov acknowledged the said program for three reasons: increased office productivity, a user-friendly software, and faster and more accurate data retrieval. The said award was received by DILG Tarlac Provincial Director Araceli A. San Jose and Tarlac Provincial Health Officer Resurreccion T. Quiambao at Davao SMX Convention Center, October 24, 2014.
The recognitions accorded to the Province is a manifestation of Governor Yap’s bias to human development through his 4-pillars of government focusing mainly on education, food security, health, and employment.
