The Government delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, presided today in the Throne Room of the headquarters of the Delegation in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria the act of imposing decorations of the Order of Isabel la Católica and the Order of Civil Merit, the highest recognitions that the Government of Spain grants on behalf of the King.
In the presence of civil and military authorities, among them the Subdelegate of the Government in Las Palmas, Teresa Mayans, the councilor for Public Administrations, Justice and Security of the Canary Islands Government, Julio Pérez, the mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Augusto Hidalgo, the nurse of the Canary Health Service (SCS) Pino González, and the pastor of the Modern Christian Mission in Fuerteventura, Ángel Manuel Hernández, have received awards.
The government delegate has valued the vocation of public service of the four decorated people, “without caring that all this dedication brings with it a personal sacrifice” and has recognized them as “a model of social commitment and effort to help those who need it most, whether in places near or beyond our borders.”
“Thank you for your efforts, especially in the recent history of our archipelago, where we have experienced unimaginable and complex situations,” said Anselmo Pestana, addressing the decorated people.
“Spain is a host country, with exemplary citizens who fight every day to defend values of tolerance, respect and protection for the most vulnerable people. We are also a society that shows its recognition to those who develop civic values during their life and professional career. And we show gratitude to those who struggle, with their effort and dedication, to achieve a better world,” he added.
Commendation of the Order of Isabella the Catholic
The Minister of Public Administration, Justice and Security of the Government of the Canary Islands has received the Order of Isabel la Católica, which recognizes people who exercise extraordinary behaviour of a civil nature.
The government delegate in the Canary Islands stressed that Julio Pérez has shown that he has “the attitude and capacity necessary to assume all the deployment of human and technical resources necessary to respond to the most uncontrolled force of Mother Nature, as was the volcanic eruption of the island of La Palma”.
Civil Merit Order Number Assignment
The Mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has received the Order of Civil Merit Number Award, which recognizes people who carry out their respective activities with excellence and civic virtues, whose laboriousness or ability have demonstrated for the sake of the general interest.
Anselmo Pestana stressed that this recognition comes from the “initiative, humanity and courage of the mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, when it comes to facilitating municipal public spaces before the arrival of migrants to the Canary Islands who came looking for a better quality of life and a dignified future, for them and their families”.
Official Cross of the Order of Civil Merit
The nurse of the Canary Health Service (SCS) Pino González, who since March 2020 is coordinator of the Covid-19 Intervention Team of the Primary Care Management of the Health Area of the island of Gran Canaria, has received the Official Cross of the Order of Civil Merit.
The government delegate has indicated that this decoration comes from the promotion by Pino González of “values such as respect for human rights and concern for the life and suffering of people, prioritizing the protection of the health of his patients above his own, responding to the suffering of others with the appropriate treatment according to the circumstances, promoting multiprofessional teams in the face of epidemiological crises that remind us how fragile we are, as we have seen in our recent history.”
The same decoration has been imposed on Ángel Manuel Hernández, who, in the words of Anselmo Pestana, moves for “an inclusive credo and welcome to people who are in a situation of social exclusion, a hand extended to those who come from outside without shelter, without food, without economic resources”.
The government delegate in the Canary Islands has described the attention of migrants at risk of exclusion carried out by Ángel Manuel Hernández and his Modern Christian Mission as a “display of selfless altruism.”