THE Davao City Social Services and Development Office head Maria Luisa Bermudo is hopeful that the city will once again bag the most child-friendly award.
"We hope and we are very positive so far, and at the same time [the validation] has been a learning experience to the city in the barangay level especially on how they run their Barangay Council for the Protection of Children and also the process of their documentation," she said.
Last Friday, the national validators from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine National Police and the National Council for the Protection of Children each gave their assessment on the programs for children in the city and have also provided recommendation.
Bermudo said the primary recommendation of the validating team is for the city to sustain the programs on health, education, social welfare and environment, after they conducted the validation within a week in selected barangays of Matina Biao, Calinan, Salaysay, Datu Salumay, Sasa, Buhangin, and Mintal.
"Part also of the suggestion is for the barangays to strengthen the documentation when it comes to good practices and success stories," she said.
Participation of the children in crafting laws within the city and the barangay level was also pushed.
"Isa diay sa mga nakita nila for us to continue to sustain children's participation in Davao City sa pagplano ug pagmugna sa mga baload even sa monitoring sa projects nga naa tung mga bata (One of the findings is for us to continue the children's participation in Davao City in crafting laws and even in monitoring of the projects where children are involved)," she added.
Bermudo said the awarding is expected in November to December this year.
"Hopefully if we will win again this year, we will be able to make it to the hall of fame," Bermudo said.
Davao City won the same award in 1998, 1999, 2013, 2014, and 2015.