The provincial government is twice a winner when the Pampanga Public Employment Service Office (PESO) recently won the best PESO award in Region 3, in effect making the governor as Outstanding Local Chief Executive (LCE).
Governor Lilia G. Pineda, barely eight months in office, was hesitant to claim credit for the award, and eventually shared it with her predecessor, former Governor Eddie T. Panlilio.
“Ang award na ito ay hindi po sa akin lamang kundi sa PESO at kay former Gov. Panlilio at sa lahat ng nagtrabaho para makamit ang mga natatanging accomplishments na nagdulot ng panalo.”
Luningning Vergara, Pampanga PESO manager, said that the lady governor deserves the outstanding LCE award because, “without her support, we would not have been able to do what we have done to get the award”.
Vergara explained that the Search for the Best PESO covers all existing and operational PESOs and respective LCEs as confirmed by the Department of Labor and Employment Regional Office. She added that Pampanga PESO and LCE belong to the first class province category.
It will be recalled that the Pampanga PESO also won the Best PESO award in 2009, both in the regional and national levels of the competition.
“We are now preparing our documentation for submission to the national level, and the pressure is there especially since we won the award last year, but our accomplishments could stand on their own merit,” Vergara declared.
She expressed elation that the Pampanga PESO has been consistently on top of the ranking because of what the DOLE Regional Office says is “its successful innovation of projects which other provinces try to replicate”.
Vergara refers to such projects as Korean Language Test (KLT), a test conducted on those who want to work in Korea to better prepare them for employment there, and the Kabaryu Ku, Tutor Ku, a strategy under the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES), where students act as tutors to schoolchildren in their barangays and get paid for it.
“The core of our efforts is that we bind the whole process of providing various services to the people through the municipalities which we push to the forefront of all our efforts.”
After all, she added, it is the municipal officials that know their constituents and their needs and are in the best position to help them, through the provincial PESO’s guidance and support.
The PESO’s array of services include employment, skills training for livelihood generation, linkages with various agencies and groups to address other needs of constituents, educational and health requirements, and other preparations for their employability.
The governor expressed her continuing support for PESO services and said that the award should serve as an inspiration to help more people conquer poverty and improve the quality of their lives. (Pampanga PIO)
