IN recognition of their important role in the everyday lives of their citizens, Senator Francis Tolentino on Saturday tipped his hat off to local government units in their initiatives to improve education and health situations and undertake crisis management in their localities.

“If the world is flat, according to book author Thomas L. Friedman, for me, the world is local, everything is local,” Tolentino said.

In providing education to their constituents, the lawmaker was one of the local chief executives who initiated the establishment of the locally-funded colleges and universities when he founded the Tagaytay City College in 2002 when he was still city mayor. 

Tolentino said the number of local colleges and universities when he founded TCT was about 100, and has since grown to 134 at present.

Dr. Raymundo P. Arcega, president of the Association of Local Colleges and Universities, also shared the importance of locally-funded tertiary institutions that respond to the needs of the localities.

Arcega said local colleges and universities are now performing at par with state colleges and universities that the national government funds by topping licensure examinations.

The senator also recognized the initiative of Mayor Alfredo Coro of Del Carmen, Surigao del Norte, to make their community-based health program more responsive and efficient during health crises and calamities. 

The program has been the recipient of the 2023 Galing Pook Award, Seal of Health Governance.

Coro shared that owing to established community-based health program, they were able to mitigate the effects of Category 4 Typhoon Odette when it pummeled their town in December 2021 and efficiently handled the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.