Continuous efforts to protect the child from the many faces of abuse and to ensure that services and advocacy remain unhampered even during these trying times paved the way for the City Government of Valenzuela to be hailed as the 2022 Most Valuable Partner of the Child Protection Network, Inc. The awarding was held during the culminating activity of  14^th AKO PARA SA BATA hybrid session at Ramon Magsaysay Center, November 24.

In the City where welfare and security of women and children is an utmost priority, Valenzuela City has been committed in serving the Valenzuelano by building its Child Protection Center (CPC) in 2017. It was constructed through the partnership of the local government with Consuelo Alger Foundation through its program, the Child Abuse Prevention and Intervention Network (CAPIN) in June 2014.

 The CAPIN program is a community-based child protection advocacy which promotes child-sensitive systems in the management of child-abuse cases. Its end goal is the establishment of systematic collaboration of various stakeholders who are involved in child prevention and intervention through a series of trainings including the course on Woman and Child Protection Specialty conducted by Child Protection Network, Inc. in cooperation with UP-PGH Child Protection Unit, the first Child Protection Center in the country.

The Valenzuela City Child Protection Center is the first LGU-run of such center in the National Capital Region and third in the Philippines.  The CPC is currently manned by multi-disciplinary team of Social Workers, Doctor, Police Investigators, Psychometrician, among others, and has served about 4,000 clients since its establishment.

Valenzuela City strengthens its advocacy through  the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children (GPEVAC) when the City became the 1^st Pathfinding City in the world to end the violence against children in 2019.

Also In 2019, the City Government partnered with UNICEF in its 8^th Country Program for Children. The two worked together through the Technical Assistance Plan designed by the City to strengthen the City’s capacity to deliver and achieve results for children. They signed a five-year partnership to foster Valenzuelano children’s right and protection.

Since then, the City Government of Valenzuela certainly has made various efforts and initiatives that focus on fostering the well-being of the Valenzuelano Children.

Valenzuela City Mayor WES Gatchalian in a video message accepting the accolade acknowledged the Child Protection Network and commits to continue the advocacy as the new City Mayor of Valenzuela City, “Bilang Ama ng Bayan at bagong halal na Punong Lungsod, patuloy nating mahalin at kupkupin ang mga nangangailangan, ipagtatanggol natin ang mga batang walang laban at naaabuso.
(As the newly elected Mayor, we will continue to love and embrace those in need, we will defend the helpless and abused children.)”

Present in the awarding were the Chair on the Committee on Women, Family, and Gender Equality, Councilor Niña Lopez, City Social Welfare and Development Office Head, Ms. Dorothy Go Evangelista, City Child Protection Center Head, Ms. Kristina Ramos, RSW, National Network of Women and Children Protection Units Director, Katrina Legarda, and the recent recipient of 2022 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Valenzuela City Child Protection Consultant, and the Director of Child Protection Network, Dr. Bernadette J. Madrid, MD.

Valenzuela City was recently awarded with Highly Functional Rating in the Local Council on Anti-Trafficking & Violence Against Women & Their Children (LCAT-VAWC) in the 2022 Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Urban Governance Awards, and the 2019 Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance from Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

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