Albay bags 3rd Galing Pook Award

For the third time, the province of Albay bagged the award for excellence in local governance at the prestigious Galing Pook Awards.

“Albay wins its 3rd Galing Pook Award for Good Governance. Albayano unity – intrinsic goodness in action for others. Albayano constant kindness,” said Governor Joey Salceda on his Facebook page.

The governor credited his province’s victory to Team Albay which stands for four essentials — giving back, equality, unity and constant kindness.

He said that in 2006, the Filipino nation did not abandon Albay when almost half of its economy was destroyed by climate change. “Sa tulong nila, natuto tayo kung papano bumangon at maging mas mabuti pa kesa dati (With their help, we learned how to rise and become better than before). Therefore, Team Albay is about giving back and sharing what we have learned,” Salceda said.

He added that Team Albay believes the suffering of the poor is not God’s will who blessed everyone with human dignity and equality. “It is our duty, thus, it is within our powers to correct the historical and structural injustices especially those manifested so brazenly in the impacts of climate change.”

Stressing that Team Albay is also about teamwork and unity of purpose, Salceda said each person can make a difference in the lives of the vulnerable.

“Thus, we believe in the ecosystem approach – whole of government, whole of economy, whole of society and whole of environment in delivering solutions to rescue, relief, early recovery, reconstruction and risk reduction,” he said.