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 4th class conflict-ridden province into
a bastion of good governance.
Sarangani’s poverty ranking went down from
11th poorest province to 17th between 2003 and 2006,
although it ranked 12th 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)
