10 Iloilo towns earn citations at SyCip education summit

By Mariela Angella Oladive

Ten municipalities in Iloilo Province were honored for their education performance during the 2026 W. SyCip National Education Summit on Feb. 19 at the Philippine International Convention Center.

The recognition was conferred by the Synergeia Foundation, which cited local government units (LGUs) for achievements in primary school completion, reading proficiency, and education governance.

Recipients of the Seal of Good Education Governance were Ajuy, Barotac Viejo, Igbaras, Lambunao, Lemery, Maasin, Mina, Pavia, Pototan, and Sara.

The seal is granted to LGUs that demonstrate sustained leadership in education, highly performing local school boards, 100 percent retention and cohort survival rates, and measurable progress in reducing the number of poor readers while increasing independent readers.

Other municipalities earned distinguished achievement awards for specific gains in education outcomes.

Janiuay was recognized for ensuring that all students complete primary education, while Concepcion received a citation for the leadership of its local chief executive and local school board in strengthening education governance.

Leganes and San Rafael secured dual distinctions for ensuring primary school completion and for strong executive and school board leadership.

Cabatuan was honored for governance leadership and for ensuring that a majority of its learners achieved reading proficiency.

Batad and New Lucena were cited for ensuring primary completion and for significantly improving reading outcomes.

The recognitions come as Iloilo Province advances efforts to strengthen devolution in basic education through its Proof of Concept (POC) initiative with the Synergeia Foundation.

Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. earlier reported that the initiative had delivered significant gains in early grade reading, with 98 percent of Grade 3 learners in 12 pilot LGUs reading at grade level — up from a baseline of only 28 percent at the start of the intervention.

The POC model included participatory needs assessments, LGU-led reading interventions, one-to-one reproduction of teachers’ modules and learners’ workbooks, and systematic monitoring from the classroom to the provincial level.