Inspirational
QC wins 4th 'Galing Pook' award
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Nov 28, 2009 - 9:02:57 AM

MANILA, Nov. 29 (PNA) -- Quezon City is again one of the recipients of the prestigious "Galing Pook" award, a yearly search for outstanding local governance programs.

The city had already won three times the prestigious award in ceremonies at Malacañang. The award this year is the fourth for Quezon City and it is expected to be presented to city officials by President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo before the year ends.

The city first cornered the award for its program Fiscal Management in 2003 of the City Treasurer’s Office headed by Dr. Victor Endriga, followed by the Molave Youth Home in 2005 of the Social Service Development Department (SSDD) headed by Teresa Mariano, and the Biogas Emission Project in Payatas 2007 of the Payatas Operation Group (POG) headed by retired Col. Jameel Jaymalin under QC Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department chief Frederika Rentoy.

For this year, QC bagged the award for its “Public-Private Partnership in Developing City Parks” program, an entry from the Parks Development and Administration Department headed by Engineer Zaldy de la Rosa.

Under the program, 111 or almost 50 percent of the city's 243 existing parks were developed or rehabilitated as “SB” Parks during the administration of Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

With this development, every community cluster now has one park and the residents of the city’s 142 barangays are the partners in maintaining the said parks.

The La Mesa Eco Park in Novaliches is the most popular park that is being rehabilitated by the city government under its parks development program. To sustain and save the La Mesa Watershed Project, the city government signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Bantay Kalikasan/ABS-CBN Foundation and the Manila Water Sewerage System (MWSS) for the rehabilitation of a 33-hectare public park located right outside the natural boundaries of the watershed and 40 meters below the reservoir.