Albay scores 5 awards in Gawad Kalasag Hall of Fame

Albay has scored five awards in the government’s Gawad Kalasag Hall of Fame since 2011.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said Albay’s latest addition to its win list is the 2015 Kalasag Hall of Fame, which included wins for Legazpi City, for Independent Component City; Barangay Oro Site in Legazpi City, for Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM); and Simon of Cyrene in Daraga town, for Civil Society Organization.

The province won its first two Kalasag Hall of Fame awards in 2011 and another one in 2013 for Sto. Domingo town for best disaster management.

The Gawad Kalasag ( Kalamidad at Sakuna Labanan, Sariling Galing ang Kaligtasan) Award is a recognition conferred by the National Disaster Risk and Reduction Management Council on local government units (LGUs), institutions and organizations for exemplary performance and initiatives in disaster reduction and humanitarian action

To earn a Gawad Kalasag Hall of Fame niche, an LGU should be adjudged as best in disaster risk reduction (DRR) nationwide for three successive years. Albay is the first LGU to earn such niche, Salceda said.

“Albayanos now fully understand and appreciate the value of disaster preparedness as a way of life, and zero casualty as a daily goal,” he said.

Two more Albay-based DRR institutions made it to winners’ row of the 2015 Gawad Kalasag Awards – the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital, as best hospital, and Buragwis Learning Center for Early Learning Center (urban category).

Albay’s climate change adaptation (CCA) and DRR programs and strategies have earned awards and recognitions from both national and international institutions.

The United Nations has declared the province as a Global DRR-CCA Model.