E-Gwen program renamed to ‘Our Cebu’

A CAPITOL program named after Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has been renamed from “E-Gwen” to “Our Sustainable Cebu”  following yesterday’s session of  the Provincial Board (PB).

The change was contained in an ordinance approved on second reading to insitutionalize  the program once known as the Expanded Green and Wholesome Environment that Nurtures (E-Gwen).

PB Member Thadeo Ouano, the main author,  told Cebu Daily News the  ordinance was  “good as approved.”

Ouano was a former ally of Garcia in her One Cebu party until he shifted last year to the Liberal Party.

The program was established by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.  in 2008 in partnernship with the Capitol with the vision  of making  Cebu an ideal place to live, work, play, invest and do business.

Towns and cities  were encouraged to develop and were rated using a scorecard system  that used  as criteria cleanliness, sanitation and health; environment protection, creativity, heritage and culture, and good governance.

The RAFI program was originally called “Our Cebu” but it was later changed to E-Gwen.

The PB intends to continue the program to “capacitate each town and city” in Cebu province, but under the new name “Our Sustainable Cebu”.

Voluntary

The program  has its own grading system for each town and barangay, where the best performers receive a prize.

In the  ordinance, the program will have a special councilof 19 members including the sitting governor and vice governor as chair and vice chairman.

Other members include chairpersons of the Provincial Board (PB) committees on heritage, arts, culture, tourism. League presidents of mayors and barangay councils are also members of the program.

An executive committee  will oversee  the management  of the program including the Governor, the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. as co-program manager and a secretariat to be appointed by the governor.

Ouano said the program is now voluntary, not mandatory but all towns and barangays will still be rated with scorecards based on  the seven pillars of sustainable development, the United Nations Sustainable development framework, scorecard from Liveable Cebu, and vision and aspirations of the province and its component cities and towns.

The towns, cities and barangays will be graded three times a year or about every two months.

The evaluation team will have an exit conference with the local government unit per evaluation period.

The awards included “The Green Champion Award”, The Model Town Award, the Good Neighbor Award, and the Emerging Model in Good Governance Award.

The ordinance didn’t mention the exact cash prize amounts to be given to the winners of the Our Sustainable Cebu Program.

The ordinance said appropriation of the funds will be incorporated in the annual budgets of the provincial government.  Senior Reporter Dale G. Israel