CEBU, Philippines - Valenzuela City Mayor Sherwin “WIN” T. Gatchalian was conferred of the coveted 2011 The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Award for Public Service by President Aquino at Malacañang yesterday.
Gatchalian is also an awardee of the Department of Interior and Local Government’s 2010 No. 1 City Mayor in Governance that was bestowed upon him last September.
Gatchalian, 37, a bachelor, runs his city as a corporate manager and not as politician. He is a graduate of Business Administration in Boston University, Massachusetts, USA and has finished Advance Studies in Corporate Finance at the Euromoney Institute of Finance in New York, USA.
With his outstanding “WIN ang Edukasyon Program,” Gatchalian has repeatedly placed Valenzuela City No. 1 in the National Capital Region (NCR) in the National Achievement Test (NAT) for School Years 2009-2011 and 2010-2011.
Gatchalian was the first to fight for the in-city relocation for the families displaced by the Northrail Project. He also established the “Disiplina Village”, the only housing project in the country built by a Local Government Unit for its residents who were victimized by destructive “Typhoon Ondoy” last October 2009.
Also for his determined efforts in transparency and good governance, Gatchalian also made Valenzuela City as one of Business-Friendly Cities in the country for the year 2011 with its award given by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation.
The city placed fourth in the category for Ease of Starting a Business; sixth in the Ease of Dealing with Construction Permits; and first in the Ease of Registering Property – out of competing 25 cities and 183 economies.
Gatchalian is currently the vice president for the National Capitol Region of the League of Cities of the Philippines and chair of Sectoral Committee on Infrastructure Development of the Metro Manila Development Authority. (FREEMAN)