Himamaylan City named NegOcc’s top child-friendly LGU

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD CITY – Himamaylan City has been recognized as Negros Occidental’s top Child-Friendly Local Government Unit, according to the recent Department of the Interior and Local Government Child-Friendly Local Governance Audit.

Himamaylan City received a 98.97 percent rating, the highest among the 19 municipalities and 13 cities in the province, a press statement from the LGU revealed Wednesday.

Joining Himamaylan in the top 10 Child-Friendly LGUs in the province are Bago City (95.8%), La Castellana (95.50%), Hinoba-an (94.45%), Victorias City (90.50%), Silay City (89.25%), Cadiz City (88.95%), Talisay City (88.23%), Manapla (87.50%), La Carlota City (87.46%), and Murcia (86.83%).

In line with its achievement, the Himamaylan City Government has established the Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC).

Through city-wide training with barangay officials and personnel held on July 15-16, 2024, at Acacia Hotel in Bacolod City, Himamaylan demonstrated its commitment to providing a safe and conducive environment for children across all 19 barangays.

“Child protection is one of our top priorities to develop, source out, and strengthen in Himamaylan,” said Mayor Raymund Tongson in his speech. “We are not conducting this training for the sake of accolades; we are here to work for a better Himamaylan for our children and youth.”

“With your plans of action, we can hopefully provide a better quality of life for our children and youth. A conducive environment promoted by our barangay and city governments will positively impact their physical, mental, and emotional development,” Tongson added after listening to the workshop outputs of the participants.

Organized by the Himamaylan City Social Welfare and Development Office, participants were introduced to the BCPC Framework along with its functionality and indicators.

Day one of the training included presentations on the Child-Friendly Local Governance Audit, Local Council for the Protection of Children (LCPC) Audit, and BCPC 2022.

The training also reviewed the Database on Children, Situational Analysis on Children, State of the Children Report (LSCR), and Annual Work and Financial Plan (AWFP).

Listening to the outputs of the barangays, Tongson emphasized that capacity-building workshops like these enable local officials and officers to be more competent in implementing plans aimed at serving Himamaylanons. He also led the Pledge of Commitment.

The first day concluded with a review of the framework for the City/Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (C/BDRMM) Plan for Children.

The second day highlighted the presentation of outputs for the C/BDRMM Plan for Children.

To conclude the two-day training, Vice Mayor Justin Gatuslao shared his takeaways and congratulated the participants for delivering the expected outputs.

Meanwhile, Gatuslao awarded Mayor Tongson the Sangguniang Panlungsod Resolution No. 2024-128, commending him for graduating Magna Cum Laude in his Master’s in Public Administration and Governance at the University of Negros Occidental.