Sarangani governor receives first Jesse Robredo Leadership Award

MANILA, Philippines (March 18, 2013) – The Galing Pook Foundation today honored Sarangani Governor Miguel Rene Dominguez with the first ever Jesse Robredo Leadership Award (JRLA).

 

Named after the late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo, the leadership award is conferred to incumbent mayors or governors who have shown effective, transparent, accountable, participatory, innovative and ethical leadership, according to a Galing Pook Foundation press statement.

 

On hand during the awarding ceremonies at the Diosdado Macapagal Hall of the Landbank Plaza in Manila were DILG Secretary Mar Roxas and Dr. Penny Robredo Bundoc, sister of the former DILG secretary.

 

“Governor Dominguez is only 36 years old, yet he has clearly demonstrated how good governance should be practiced and pursued. Undoubtedly, this is precisely what has endeared him to his constituents and how he has gained the tremendous respect of his peers,” says Galing Pook Foundation Executive Director Eddie Dorotan.

 

Miguel Rene Alcantara Dominguez, or Governor Migs to his constituents, did not originally set out to become governor. He was well on his way toward becoming the top marketing man of their family-owned company, when he was suddenly thrust into the political limelight.

 

While growing up in Davao City, Miguel studied at the Ateneo de Davao University. He later enrolled at the University of the Philippines but midway into his studies, he went to the United States to complete his economics degree from Boston University. After finishing college, he went straight home to Sarangani to start as a mid-level executive of Alsons Aquaculture Corporation. He was successful in selling the company’s milkfish – Sarangani Prime Bangus – to markets in China, Canada, US and some parts of Europe.

 

After five successful years in the aquaculture business, Miguel suddenly found himself as the substitute for his father, who withdrew from the Sarangani gubernatorial elections in 2004. His first time to actually join the political race, Miguel mustered the courage to win the gubernatorial post and is now on his third and final term. Under his tenure, Governor Migs transformed Sarangani from a 4^th class conflict-ridden province into a bastion of good governance.

 

Sarangani’s poverty ranking went down from 11^th poorest province to 17^th between 2003 and 2006, although it ranked 12^th in 2009 due to various factors. Education indices showed that the percentage of Sarangani Schools with National Achievement Test (NAT) scores of 75 and above steadily increased from 0% in 2007 to 35% by 2012. These accomplishments were the result of innovative programs introduced by the Sarangani LGU with his leadership.

 

In 2004, Governor Migs and the Provincial Peace and Development Task Force put together a Comprehensive Peace and Development Plan, which became the technical blueprint for the creation of an innovative peace and development program for Sarangani Province.

 

To hasten the disposition of cases involving indigent litigants whose family member remained a detainee in jail because of the slow legal dispensation, the provincial LGU designed and implemented the Justice Enhancement and Empowerment Program in 2006, which involved the deployment of a mobile court to the hinterlands. This program has led to the speedy resolution of court cases and empowered community leaders to mediate petty disagreements.

 

Convinced that a good education can be a key out of poverty, Governor Migs and the provincial LGU launched the Quality Education for Sarangani Today program in 2007 to improve children’s access to basic elementary and secondary education.

 

All of these abovementioned programs received the Galing Pook Award which is given in recognition of innovation and excellence in local governance. The province’s Indigenous People’s Development Program (IPDP) also became a Galing Pook finalist. The IPDP aims to assist in the acquisition of IP tenurial instruments in ancestral domains and to facilitate the provision of socio-economic and environmental services in indigenous cultural communities.

 

Under Governor Migs’ term, the Sarangani LGU was also awarded the Seal of Good Housekeeping in recognition of its exemplary performance in governance, transparency and accountability. Conferred by the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Seal is given to local government units (LGUs) that have excelled in the areas of planning, budgeting, revenue mobilization, financial management and budget execution, procurement, and resource mobilization.

 

Admitted as a Dwight Eisenhower fellow in 2009, Governor Migs also sits as a member of the Board of Trustees of Synergeia Foundation, a coalition of individuals, organizations and institutions that aims to improve basic education. (Galing Pook Foundation/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)