Sarangani gov is first Robredo leadership awardee

The Late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo. FILE PHOTO

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines–Outgoing Sarangani Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez bagged the first ever Jesse Robredo Leadership Award (JRLA) given by the Galing Pook Foundation.

Dominguez, who decided to retire from politics after the end of his third and final term on June 30, received the award during conferment rites at the Diosdado Macapagal Hall of the Landbank Plaza in Manila on Monday.

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II and Dr. Penny Robredo-Bundoc, sister of the late Jesse Robredo, graced the awarding ceremonies.

Jesse Robredo, Roxas’ predecessor, served as secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government under the Aquino administration until his death in a plane crash off Masbate on Aug. 21, 2012. The leadership award named in his honor is conferred to incumbent mayors or governors who have shown effective, transparent, accountable, participatory, innovative and ethical leadership.

Galing Pook Foundation executive director Eddie Dorotan said: “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.”

Dominguez’s decision to join politics was not planned. In 2004, he was tossed up as a last minute substitute to his father Paul Dominguez, whose residency status as gubernatorial candidate of Sarangani was questioned by his opponent before the local office of the Commission on Elections.

Right after earning an economics degree from Boston University in 1998, Dominguez went home to Sarangani to run the family-owned Alsons Aquaculture Corp.

Before joining politics, he was credited for making the family’s aquaculture business a multi-billion industry–the biggest business venture in Sarangani–in just a span of five years. Its main product, The Sarangani Prime Bangus, is now being exported to China, Canada, US and some parts of Europe.

Under his watch, Dominguez transformed Sarangani from a 4th class graft-ridden and conflict-torn province into a second-class, peaceful and multi-awarded locality.

Sarangani had been recipient of Gawad Galing Pook awards for its high-impact social programs like the “Justice on Wheels, Kalinaw-Sarangani and Quality Education for Sarangani Today (Quest).

The province, under his term, was also awarded the Seal of Good Housekeeping in recognition of its exemplary performance in governance, transparency and accountability.

The recognition is given to local government units which excelled in the areas of planning, budgeting, revenue mobilization, financial management and budget execution, procurement, and resource mobilization.