Mayor Treñas: Galing Pook award belongs to every Ilonggo

ICARe earns national honors for faster emergency response, stronger community resilience

ILOILO CITY — For Mayor Raisa Treñas, resilience is measured not by awards received but by lives protected, communities prepared, and emergency assistance delivered when every second counts. Dedicating Iloilo City’s Galing Pook Award to every Ilonggo, she said the recognition affirms the city’s commitment to building safer, stronger, and more disaster-resilient communities.

Iloilo City earned the 2026 Galing Pook Award after its Iloilo City Action and Resilience (ICARe) Centers: Decentralizing Risk Governance program was named one of the Ten Outstanding Local Governance Programs in the country. Mayor Treñas received the award from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. during the ceremony at Malacañang on Oct. 21.

The city also received the first-ever Resilience Award from the National Resilience Council for the initiative, recognizing its efforts to embed climate and disaster risk reduction into local governance and strengthen community resilience.

“This award belongs to the Ilonggos. But more than the recognition, what matters most is that our people receive faster emergency assistance and are better prepared when disasters happen,” Treñas said.

Iloilo City and Baguio City were the only local government units to receive the special resilience citation among 19 national finalists.

“Kag para guid ini sa kada Ilonggo,” Treñas said, underscoring that the city’s investments in disaster preparedness and emergency response ultimately serve one purpose: protecting the lives, families, and livelihoods of every Ilonggo.

President Marcos, for his part, described the initiative during the ceremony as a program that improves disaster preparedness and speeds up emergency response.

Established to address delays associated with centralized emergency response operations, ICARe brings emergency services closer to communities through strategically located centers and stronger coordination among government agencies, barangays, volunteers, and private-sector partners.

Nine ICARe Centers are now operational across Iloilo City, helping emergency responders achieve an average response time of four to eight minutes. The centers facilitate closer coordination among the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and barangay officials.

Beyond emergency response, ICARe serves as a platform for community education, collaboration, and capacity building. The initiative has trained 91,000 individuals, engaged more than 100 resilience partners, and mobilized 27 volunteer groups to strengthen community readiness for disasters.

Public-private partnerships have also played a key role in expanding the program. Six ICARe Centers were secured through property donations from private partners, with an estimated combined market value of at least PHP 916 million.

The program’s approach extends to climate resilience, environmental initiatives, and sustainable community development. Its decentralized framework also promotes operational redundancy, ensuring that emergency response can continue without relying on a single location.

To sustain these gains, ICARe has been integrated into the city’s plans, budget, ordinances, and agreements. The initiative previously received the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s Excellence in Disaster Preparedness Governance Award in 2025.

Its growing recognition has also drawn interest from other local governments, with the program recording 60 benchmarking activities, welcoming about 1,000 guests, and attracting interest from 17 local government units seeking to learn from Iloilo City’s experience.

During her Galing Pook presentation, Treñas stressed that ICARe’s success should not be measured solely by its facilities and equipment but by the lives protected, communities empowered, and disaster risks reduced.

She emphasized that resilience begins in individual homes, grows within barangays, and becomes a citywide responsibility when institutions and citizens work together before disasters happen.

The latest recognition adds to Iloilo City’s record of Galing Pook award-winning initiatives, following the Dinagyang Festival in 2012, the Iloilo-Batiano River Development Project in 2018, and the I-BIKE Program in 2022.

Treñas thanked the Galing Pook Foundation, CDRRMO, ICARe personnel, police and fire personnel, barangay officials, volunteers, private-sector partners, and other stakeholders who contributed to the program’s implementation.

Mayor Treñas was joined by CDRRMO head Donna Magno, ICPO Director Wilbert Parilla, BFP-Iloilo City Fire Marshal Fire Superintendent Kim M. Celisio, Iloilo City Public Information Officer Ma. Lucy Sinay, and CDRRMO personnel Jude Tiope and April Rose Galera during the ceremony.

She reaffirmed the city’s commitment to improving ICARe Centers through enhanced facilities, equipment, training, and coordination to further strengthen emergency response and disaster preparedness.

“Padayon naton nga pasangkaron ang aton ICARe Centers through improved facilities, equipment, training, and coordination para mas mapadasig pa ang aton emergency response kag mas mapangapinan ang kabuhi sang mga Ilonggo,” Treñas said.

“Because every second counts and every Ilonggo matters!” (Press Release)