ILOILO City – The head of the Iloilo City government’s Anti-Smoking Task Force will be conferred with the 2019 Presidential Lingkod Bayan Award (regional level) by the Civil Service Commission (CSC).
Executive Director Iñigo Garingalao has also been nominated for the same award for national level honors.
CSC’s Presidential Lingkod Bayan Award honors “an individual or a group of individuals for their exceptional contributions resulting from an idea or performance that had nationwide impact or public interest, security and patrimony.”
Garingalao will receive the award on Sept. 11 during the Philippine Civil Service’s 119th anniversary celebration at a hotel here.
“I feel happy kay gina-recognize indi lang akon effort but also those of others (to keep Iloilo City smoke-free),” said Garingalao.
Garingalao has produced a two-day module that may also be used by anti-smoking enforcers of other local government units.
The module has been recognized and adopted by the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 and nongovernment organizations.
Last year, Garingalao was a recipient of CSC’s Dangal ng Bayan Award.
He had been heading ICAST these past nine years beginning with the administration of then mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog in 2010. He was a regular city government employee holding the plantilla position of Community Affairs Officer III.
With ICAST under Garingalao’s watch, Iloilo City reaped numerous recognitions. The most recent was the “World No Tobacco Day Award” shared with four other areas/groups in the Western Pacific region (Xi’an Municipal People’s Government; Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Guam Non-Communicable Disease Consortium Tobacco Control Action Team; and Niue Ministry of Social Services).
The World Health Organization lauded the Iloilo City government for undertaking a multi-pronged approach against tobacco use.
It cited the intensive “quit campaign” (smoking cessation services) in health centers and stronger measures to protect minors from smoking.
Due to ICAST’s campaign, Iloilo City also became a Red Orchid Hall of Famer from 2012 to 2014.
The Red Orchid is an award given by the Department of Health to local governments, government offices and government hospitals that are 100 percent tobacco-free./PN
