The City of San Fernando bagged top awards in the recently concluded 20th Gawad KALASAG Regional Awards, held July 26, 2018, at Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino, Clark Freeport Zone.
One of the aims of Gawad Kalasag, which also stands for “Kalamidad at Sakuna Labanan, Sariling Galing ang Kaligtasan”, is to “recognize outstanding performances of Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils (LDRRMCs) in promoting and implementing significant DRRM-Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) programs and innovations.
CSF’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC) bagged first place for Best City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council for Component City Category, as OCD says, “it shown exemplary performance in sustaining its excellence in implementing the comprehensive DRRM-CCA programs in the City of San Fernando.”
OCD furthered that CDRRMC has fully covered the four (4) thematic areas of DRRM-CCA including Prevention and Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery and Rehabilitation in the previous year.
While, SAFRU, or San Fernando Rescue Unit’s “exemplary performance in the field of search and rescue, through its continuous innovation and acquisition of intensive training and state-of-the-art equipment” made it bag another first place award for the city, under the Best Local Government Emergency Management (GEM) and Response Team.
For his part, Mayor Edwin ‘EdSa’ Santiago said that CSF is thankful to OCD for giving recognitions to all LDRRMCs and rescue units in the region, making them more inspired to achieve excellence in disaster response and preparedness.
He added that more than the plaques and the trophies, it’s the heart of CDRRMC and SAFRU that really push them to do best.
“Hindi ito ang unang pagkakataon na nakatanggap tayo ng rekognisyon mula sa Gawad KALASAG, alam nating marami pang darating, dahil ang puso ng mga miyembro ng CDRRMC at SAFRU para sa kaligtasan ng mga Fernandinos, hindi matatapos,” said Santiago.
Meanwhile, the City of San Fernando is set to represent Central Luzon in the upcoming Gawad KALASAG National Awards which will be held before the year ends.