MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 18, 2014) – The Department of the Interior and Local Government has awarded a respected town mayor in Maguindanao province in southern Philippines the prestigious Seal of Good Housekeeping.
Shariff Aguak Mayor Zahara Upam-Ampatuan, who was cited for her outstanding accomplishment and remarkable governance, received the Public Service Excellence award through the Civil Service Commission.
The award is a government project which recognizes local government units with good performance in internal housekeeping, particularly in the areas of local legislation, development planning, resource generation, resource allocation and utilization, customer service, and human resource management and development, as well as, in valuing the fundamental of good governance and it advances the primacy of performance, accountability, transparency and participation.
The mayor has managed to get back the trust and confidence of the business sector in her town and nearby neighboring municipalities and at the same time strengthens the investment condition in Shariff Aguak.
She has also transformed Shariff Aguak into a tourism hub with the participation of the community and support from the locals to make the town more peaceful and tranquil to all.
The town mayor, a known peace advocate, envisions Shariff Aguak to be a “gun-free” area that would signal a new beginning for the whole province which is part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao that peace and development can be achieved if all would exert effort for a better future to all inhabitants of the province.
The mayor is also a staunch supporter of the government peace process in Mindanao and in the past helped organized a peace gathering known as Kanduli that drew thousands of people in Shariff Aguak town.
She is also active in children’s advocacy campaign and has been greatly helping orphaned and indigent children in the town through her various programs. (Mark Navales)
20