Central Luzon employment offices big winners in 17th PESO Awards

CI TY OF SAN FERNANDO – All Central Luzon Public Employment Service Office (PESO) entries for the Search for the Best PESO won respective awards at the recently concluded PESO Awards Night Cauayan, Isabela.

The PESO Awards Night was the culminating highlight of the 17th National PESO Congress anchoring the theme “Trabaho, Negosyo, at Kabuhayan–Matatag in na PESO, Kaagapay ng Bawat Pilipino.”

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Central Luzon Director Atty. Ana Dione announced the good news during

a recent management committee meeting at the DOLE regional office.

“I am pleased to inform you that all of our entries to the Search for the Best PESO were hailed winners at this year’s Search for the Best PESO. We salute our PESOs’victory as they continue to champion our employment and welfare programs in the grassroots of Central Luzon, home to PESO Hall of Famers,” Dione said.

Dione also noted that Central Luzon’s entries won in half of the 8 categories set by the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) for this year’s awarding festivities.

The first four categories for Best PESOs are for Fifth and Sixth Class Municipality; Third and Fourth Class Municipality; First and Second Class Municipality; and Second Class Province.

The remaining four are First Class Province; Component City; Highly Urbanized City; and Educational Institution, Non-Government Organization, State Universities, and Colleges.

First award recipient— PESO Masinloc, Zambales, outlasted eight other Municipal PESO nominees to be hailed as winner for the First and Second Class Municipality.

PESO Masinloc, which garnered notable performances on its core services, received the same national citation in 2015 as well as regional and provincial citations in 2016.

Meanwhile, PESO Mabalacat, Pampanga, a firsttime winner, was hailed co-winner for the Best Component City with PESO Panabo City, Davao Del Norte, as both bested four other nominees.

For the Highly Urbanized City, PESO Olongapo City, Zambales, bested four other nominees and was hailed as Best PESO under this category for the first time.

Lastly, the Bulacan State University, along with co-winner Cebu Technological University, outlasted three other nominees to bag Best PESO under the Educational Institution, Non-Government Organization, State Universities and Colleges category.

Just like the PESOs of Olongapo City and Mabalacat City, the Bulacan State University is also a first-time Best PESO Awardee recipient.

Other Best PESO winners, regardless of category are the PESOs from San Juan in Abra, Pila in Laguna, Provinces of Northern Samar and Ilo-Ilo, and Valenzuela City.

National level winners received a trophy and cash prize of P50,000.00 while their respective local chief executives were also given recognition.

The PESO entries from different parts of the country were rated on the following criteria: core services, DOLE programs implemented, institutionalization, awards received, and active involvement.

The Search for the Best PESO is an annual event that recognizes significant contributions and outstanding accomplishments of PESOs in the implementation of DOLE employment and welfare programs.— Jerry Borja/ DOLE-3 LCO