Gov. Imee R. Marcos has been honored as one of the Outstanding Governorship Awardees of the Philippines for 2015.
The award, conferred by the Superbrands Marketing International Inc., was received by the province’s Vice Gov. Angelo Marcos-Barba on behalf of Gov. Marcos during a ceremony held last Oct. 28, 2015 at The City Club, Alpha Land Building, Makati City.
In his acceptance speech, Vice Gov. Marcos-Barba highlighted the various achievements of Gov. Marcos in transforming Ilocos Norte into a progressive and sustainable province since the beginning of her administration in 2010.
“Under the leadership of Governor Marcos, Ilocos Norte is now one of the few provinces to achieve the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations Development Programme this year, successfully reducing the provincial poverty rate from 28 percent to 8.4 percent,” said Vice Gov. Marcos-Barba.
Harry Tambuatco, president and CEO of SMI, said that “a thorough research about [the impact] of the achievement and projects [of the awardees] were done…and that’s how we have chosen them.”
SMI credited Marcos for “ensuring the rapid and inclusive development of the province” by launching in 2010 the provincial vision of “Pasingkedan ti Kinatan-ok ni Ilocano: Together, we can make Ilocos Norte great again!”
Ilocos Norte has been recognized by the International Organization for Standardization as the first full top-to-bottom ISO-certified province in the Philippines.
Ilocos Norte was also cited as one of the 10 Galing Pook 2015 awardees for its flagship youth program “Sirib Express.”
Marcos has said that the provincial government will remain committed in upholding the spirit of ‘timpuyog’ or unity as well as excellence in governance towards a bright and sustainable future for the province.
“Now on its second year, the Outstanding Governorship Award is given to the governors who highly deserve it and we have embarked on this endeavor to acknowledge the efforts of our government officials for their extraordinary role in nation building,” added Tambuatco.