DAGUPAN CITY (PIA) – The provincial government of Pangasinan is on its way of putting up a Provincial Volunteers Office.
This was announced by Governor Ramon Guico III in his First 100 Days report on Friday at the Pangasinan Training and Development Center in Lingayen town.
Guico said “The goal of which is to revive and strengthen the spirit of volunteerism and to instill patriotism and nationalism in the community.”
“The National Economic and Development Authority, through Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA), has also chosen Pangasinan as the host of National Volunteer Month,” he added.
The PNVSCA website states that the Philippine government has designated the month of December as the National Volunteer Month.
The National Volunteer Month aims to build nationwide public awareness and appreciation of volunteerism, create the environment for voluntary action, and recognize volunteers as partners in development.
Since its declaration in 1998, National Volunteer Month is a fitting recognition of the volunteers – modern-day heroes whose work is exemplified by commitment and service to others.
Meanwhile, in a statement, the United States (US) Peace Corps and the PNVSCA said it trained leaders from 79 local government units (LGUs) across 12 provinces over the last two months to strengthen volunteerism as a tool to meet local development priorities.
The series of training held from August to September equipped participants with knowledge and skills to mainstream volunteerism by adopting local laws and establishing provincial volunteerism councils, among other actions.
Some LGU participants are already in the final stages of passing a provincial volunteerism ordinance and establishing a volunteerism center of excellence.
The Australian Volunteers Program, Voluntary Service Overseas, France Volunteers, the Global Initiative for Exchange and Development, and the Korean International Cooperation Agency also joined the training alongside LGU representatives from Luzon and Visayas.
“Volunteerism is alive and well in the Philippines. With the leadership and know-how of LGUs, it can be a powerful tool for achieving community-level development,” said US Peace Corps Country Director Jenner Edelman during one of the workshops.
“Volunteerism is a way of life, and it is the government’s role to create an enabling environment for volunteerism and institutionalize it as a development strategy for both provincial-level development and nation-building,” added PNVSCA Executive Director Donald James Gawe, the driving force behind the trainings and the agency’s strategic focus on strengthening national volunteerism.
The US Peace Corps is an American volunteer organization that has deployed more than 9,300 volunteers to requesting host communities in the country since 1961.
Peace Corps volunteers will be returning to the Philippines in January 2023 to support PNVSCA and LGU partners in mainstreaming volunteerism in Filipino communities, among other locally identified priorities. (JCR/AMB/PIA Pangasinan)
