SABANGAN, Mountain Province – Alongside the nine municipalities of Mountain Province, Sabangan represented by Barangay Namatec made it to the national search for Barangays with Best Sanitation Practices, which was in collaboration with the advocacy of the Department of Health (DOH) to uphold health consciousness among citizens.
A Gawad Kalusugan Award (Barangays with Best Sanitation Practices) and an amount of P25,625.00 was recently awarded by the DOH-Cordillera Regional Office to Barangay Namatec in this town on November 17, 2017 at Country Club, Baguio City. Namatec Punong Barangay William Malamion received a certificate of recognition and the cash incentive in acknowledgment for their outstanding performance to maintain standard sanitation practices.
The search was rated by the appointed DOH technical working groups (Municipal Technical Working Group, City Technical Working Group, Provincial Technical Working Group, and Regional Technical Working Group).
The barangay qualified since it successfully passed the criteria needed, as such it has 100% functional toilet facilities of all its households, 100% improvement in toilet coverage from 2013 up to present, safe water supply of all households at Level III, 30% approved barangay budget for water and sanitation projects and programs for the last two years, 100% washing practices in public establishments and schools in the barangay, and 100% other local sanitation initiatives such as solid waste management and wastewater management.
Malamion reiterated it was a solid community participation that helped them to the national level. He stated, “I think the prime reason that we were able to acquire the award was due to the oneness and unity of all the residents. Everyone actively involve themselves in general community cleaning activities which we quarterly do.” He said it is in fact the prime duty of the general populace to maintain cleanliness in their surroundings for health reasons.
In addition, he cited they have several ordinances related to health and sanitation that the barangay officials are strictly implementing in the place like allocation of funds for Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), formulation of community solid waste management programs and plans, residents’ accountability to segregations and collections of solid wastes, and street coordinators’ responsibility to conduct trainings on segregation, composting, recycling and monitoring enforcement.
It could be remembered that Barangay Namatec was recently lauded in the province for having 100% households with sanitary toilets for four consecutive years from 2012 to 2015. It is also a Hall of Fame awardee for being the cleanest and greenest barangay in the municipality. Malamion stressed that by 2018, they are looking forward on participating in the national search again.
By Hermilita Lagmay
