BAGUIO CITY – Four local governments, private and public institutions were adjudged as this year’s regional winners in the Gawad Kalamidad at Sakuna Labanan Sariling Galing ang Kaligtasan (KALASAG) awarding rites that was held at the Baguio Country Club’s Cordillera Convention Hall last December 1, 2017.
Andrew Alex Uy, Regional Director of the Cordillera office of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD-CAR), said all the regional winners were able to qualify for the national Gawad KALASAG awards which will be held in Metro Manila on Monday, December 11, 2017. Concerned agencies remain optimistic that a number of the winners will be able to bring home the coveted national recognition for disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) efforts being implemented by the said winners.
Aside from trophies and plaques of recognition, the regional winners were able to get a cash reward of P50,000 each for excelling in their categories.
Mountain Province, which landed in second place behind Apayao in last year’s awarding rites, emerged as the winner in the provincial category of the Gawad KALASAG search. La Trinidad topped the first to second-class municipality category.
Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan, Jr. and the officials and employees of the Mountain Province Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) received the award from OCD officials, while La Trinidad Mayor Romeo Salda received the town’s award on behalf of his local DRRM team.
On the other hand, University of the Cordilleras topped the best school higher education institutions category in terms of DRRM while Lepanto National High School was adjudged the winner in the best school public rural category.
The OCD-CAR official underscored that there has been a significant improvement of the preparedness of Cordillerans in DRRM, which was due to the numerous interventions from concerned government agencies to make sure people are resilient during the onslaught of natural and man-made calamities that happen anytime.
According to him, Cordillera LGUs had also been compliant in the submission of their updated DRRM plans that serve as one of the criteria in the judging of their compliance to the conditions of the grant of Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG).
Based on the initial report from the OCD-CAR, some 80 of the 83 local governments in the region were able to comply with the timely submission of their DRRM plans for evaluation and assessment by the agency.
Uy expressed confidence there will be sustained awareness of the people in DRRM programs and projects considering the extensive information and education campaign being done by the agency and the local governments to achieve the zero casualties during calamities.
Gawad KALASAG is a program of the OCD which is geared onwards giving recognition to local governments, groups, individuals among others who were able to excel in the implementation of DRRM programs and projects pursuant to the standards imposed by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
By Dexter A. See
