Pnoy confers Galing Pook Award to Bohol

President Simeon Benigno Aquino III will confer to the province of Bohol the Galing Pook Award on January 30, Monday,  at the Rizal Hall in Malacañang.

Gov. Edgar M. Chatto will lead Bohol’s delegation together Vice Governor Concepcion Lim, Board Members Abeleon Damalerio and Cesar Tomas Lopez, Provincial Administrator Alfonso Damalerio II, Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Stella Marie Lapiz, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Reymoses Cabagnot and other members of Bohol Rabies Prevention and Elimination Council.

The Galing Pook Foundation awarded the provincial government’s multi-sectoral, integrated, and two-pronged approach in the elimination and control of rabies called the Bohol Rabies Prevention and Elimination Program (BRPEP).

The Award recognizes best practices in Philippine local governance, especially in innovations and practical approaches to common local development challenges that actually work.

The province’s two-pronged approach adopts a community-led program implementation in its aim for the intensive control of canine rabies through elimination of stray dogs and massive immunization of the dog population in the province through the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian and the prevention and control of human rabies via immunization of dog bite cases as well as immunization of vulnerable population through the Provincial Health Office.

As an integrated approach, the program also enlists the participation of other sectors, such as the education sector through a secondary school curriculum developed to integrate information on rabies and its control.  The BRPEP has taken the province from among the top ten provinces nationwide in rabies incidence in 2007 to a zero incidence for a two-year period.

President Aquino will also confer the same award to the municipality of Maribojoc under municipality category for its best practices.

The province has already been previously distinguished by the Galing Pook Foundation for its Cultural Renaissance Program, Coastal Law Enforcement Councils, Ecotourism Development Plan, among several other outstanding or trailblazing programs, and has received recognition for continuing excellence.