BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) has become a “haven” of outstanding civil servants as more of its government workers earn citations during the annual Presidential Award for Outstanding Public Service, a regional Civil Service Commission (CSC) official said Tuesday.
In an interview in this city, lawyer Kathy Olaño, chief of the CSC-CAR Public Assistance and Liaison Division, said close to 100 individuals and groups from the region have been recognized by the commission through the years.
“Cordillera is a haven for national awardees in the three categories, with 77 individuals and 20 groups of the total awardees nationwide being public servants in the Cordillera,” Olaño said.
The three categories under the Presidential Award for Outstanding Public Service are “Gawad Lingkod Bayan ng Pangulo,” “Gawad Dangal ng Bayan,” and “Gawad Pagasa.”
For the past two years alone, six individuals and one group in CAR received national awards: three individuals in 2023 and three individuals and a group in 2024.
For this year, five of the 50 semifinalists for national awards are from CAR, according to Olaño.
Winners for this year will be awarded in a national ceremony in October.
Olaño said the CSC gives the awards annually to honor dedicated public servants who excel in the performance of their duties.
“It is important that we recognize their accomplishment because of course we know that our government personnel are working hard, they are devoted, they are committed to their regular functions and other functions on top of their regular ones,” she said.
She also stressed the need to inform the public that good, hardworking civil servants far outnumber the “bad eggs” in the government.
“It is for us to let them (public) see that we are working, that your government is working for them,” Olaño said. “Let the people see that there are more good public servants than the bad eggs.”
The Presidential Award for Outstanding Public Service was instituted in 1988. **Liza Agoot
