Regl Gawad KALASAG Awarding Ceremony held in
Butuan City
By Jennifer P. Gaitano
BUTUAN CITY, Aug. 19 (PIA) -- Awardees of this
year’s Regional Gawad KALASAG received cash prize and plaque of appreciation on
Friday at the Almont Hotel’s Inland Resort here.
The Gawad KALASAG stands for KAlamidad at Sakuna
LAbanan SAriling Galing ang Kaligtasan or Fight for Calamity and Accidents,
Self Excellence for safety.
The activity is spearheaded by the Regional
Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) chaired by Office of
Civil Defense (OCD) Caraga Regional Director Blanche Gobenciong.
In her speech, Dir. Gobenciong congratulated all
the winners and encouraged other schools and LGUs in the region to actively
participate and take part in this campaign by establishing their own best
practices on DRRM.
For the Highly Urbanized City Category, the
local government of Butuan City was awarded as Best City Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Council. City Mayor Ferdinand Amante Jr., received the
cash prize of P50,000 with a plaque of appreciation.
Winners for the 1st to 3rd Class Municipalities
Category are as follows: 1st Place – MDRRMC Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur; 2nd
Place – MDRRMC Esperanza, Agusan del Sur; and 3rd Place – MDRRMC Sibagat,
Agusan del Sur. All winners received cash prize with plaque of appreciation.
Mr. Victor Manpatilan of Esperanza, Agusan del
Sur received the award as Best in Heroic Act on Humanitarian Assistance.
For Urban Secondary School Category, Agusan
National High School of Butuan City awarded the 1st place, and 2nd place to Surigao
City National High School in Surigao City, Surigao del Norte.
Two winners from the province of Surigao del
Norte were awarded for the Rural Secondary School Category: 1st place – Placer
National High School, and 2nd place – Ipil National High School, both in
Surigao City.
Surigao City Pilot Central School in Surigao
City, province of Surigao ddel Norte was the lone winner for the Urban Complete
Elementary School Category.
Also, for the Rural Multi-grade Elementary
School Category, the 1st place was awarded to Hinimbangan Elementary School in
Kitcharao, Agusan del Norte; and 2nd place to Arturo Borja Elementary School in
Surigao City, Surigao del Norte.
Finally, the Mat-I Elementary School in Surigao
City, Surigao del Norte was the lone winner for the Rural Complete Elementary
School Category.
Along with the awarding of the said winners,
government agencies which participated during the month-long celebration of the
National Disaster Consciousness Month last July were also given certificate of
appreciation.
Meanwhile, Department of the Interior and Local
Government (DILG)-Caraga Regional Dir. Lilibeth Famacion, one of the vice
chairpersons of DRRMC cited the importance of being prepared at all times
'since it is the best way to survival in times of disasters'. She also
commended the efforts of the LGUs and schools that are constantly practicing
DRRM.
Gawad Kalasag is the recognition scheme of OCD
in its search for excellence on disaster risk management and humanitarian
assistance. It aims to recognize the outstanding performance of Local Disaster
Coordinating Centers (LDCC's), private volunteer organizations, non-government
organizations, donor agencies, and other stakeholders, in providing
humanitarian response and assistance to affected communities. (JPG/PIA-Caraga)
Reg’l Police slams rebels for the ambush of 3
tribal chieftain guards
BUTUAN CITY, Aug. 19 (PIA) -- The regional
police strongly condemned the rebels for staging an ambush against the three
guards of an ancestral domain claim of a tribal chieftain located at the
hinterlands of a southern province in the region, noontime Tuesday.
In a press statement signed by PSupt Martin M.
Gamba, Caraga Police regional information officer quoted the new police acting
regional director Chief Supt Carmelo E. Valmoria as saying that “The whole
force of Police Regional Office 13 slams the recent atrocity of the CPP-NPA-NDF
(CNN) as it create an atmosphere of fear to the populace and put their lives at
risk.”
The same statement quoted the newly-assumed
police regional director as calling the human rights advocates to conduct an
investigation on the incident and to condemn also such acts of treachery.
Police reports said the guards of tribal
chieftain Calpito Egua also known in the locality as Datu Calpit in Brgy.
Purisima, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, identified as Dodoy R. Perez, Lating R.
Brital and Erpe Bucales were on board a Honda TMX Motorcycle and were traveling
on their way to Brgy. Sta. Irene, when a group of rebels under Guerilla Front
19A of the Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee (NEMRC) set up an ambush by
placing an improvised explosive device (IED) along the guards’ route, blasted it
and subsequently fired high-caliber firearms at their direction.
The guards who were then thrown out off their
motorcycle due to the impact of the blast, were still able to regroup and to
fight back. The firefight according to police reports lasted for over an hour
until the rebels withdrew back towards their mountain lairs.
Perez who was wounded during the firefight was
rushed to D.O. Plaza Memorial Hospital at Patin-ay, Prosperidad, Agusan del
Sur. His companions were said to be unharmed. (Noel B. Najarro/NCLM/PIA-Caraga)
