Legazpi City – The Regional Sub-Committee for the Welfare of Children (RSCWC) Bicol will award the Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance (SCFLG) to 100 out of 114 local government units (LGUs) in the region on November 29, 2019 at Legazpi City Convention Center.

“The SCFLG aims to recognize model LGUs that upheld the four (4) core rights of the child: survival, development, protection and participation through planning, budgeting, legislation and delivery of services,” Director Arnel B. Garcia, the RSCWC chairperson.

Furthermore, Naga City in Camarines Sur, Ligao City and Libon in Albay will be the regional finalists for Independent Component City, Component City and 1st – 3rd class municipality categories, respectively for 2018 Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities (PACFMC) on November 28, 2019 at Malacañan Palace, Metro Manila.

The Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) launched the Child-Friendly Philippines framework last 2014 that included the SCFLG, a recognition for LGUs with positive results for children in implementing programs and instituting measures to uplift the welfare status of children.

The SCFLG is complemented by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Memorandum Circular of 2014-80 endorsing the Child-Friendly Local Governance Audit (CFLGA) to all Provincial Governors, City and Municipal Mayors, the ARMM Regional Governor, DILG Regional Directors and other concerned parties.

The annual audit is spearheaded by the Inter-Agency Monitoring Task Force (IMTF) composed of DILG together with DSWD, Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Health (DOH) and National Nutrition Council (NNC).

LGUs that will pass the CFLGA will be conferred by CWC for SCFLG. The LGUs shall be assessed based on the twelve (12) assessment criteria:

  1. Percentage reduction in the deaths among children below five (5) years old
  2. Percentage reduction in children 0-59 months who are underweight
  3. Percentage increase in daycare attendance
  4. Percentage increase in the completion rate of elementary schooling
  5. Absence of child labor or percentage reduction in child labor cases
  6. Percentage reduction in the number of children victims of violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation and trafficking in person
  7. Safety measures for children in the community and schools
  8. Ordinance regulating the seating capacity of tricycles or jeepneys and other modes of public transport
  9. Ordinance prohibiting the selling of firecrackers to children
  10. Mainstreaming of children’s rights to survival, development, protection in the core development agenda of the LGU
  11. Annual Investment Program
  12. Total budget of LGU
  13. Budget allocated for children’s program
  14. Budget utilized for children’s program
  15. Annual State of Children’s Report
  16. Local Code for Children
  17. City/Municipal Council for the Protection of Children (C/MCPC) Functionality
  18. Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) Functionality
  19. Child participation in BCPC
  20. An ordinance or executive order establishing Barangay Violence Against Women and their Children (VAW/C) desks
  21. Philhealth Accreditation in its main health facility or rural health unit for the maternal and primary care services.
  22. A Local School Board (LSB) Plan that is aligned with the School Improvement Plan (SIP)
  23. Completed at least 70% of its LSB Plan for current school year

Conferees of SCFLG are shortlisted and validated for the PACFMC. (with reports from CWC) /ramsertan/