The Municipality of E. B. Magalona won three more major awards during the 2nd Awarding Ceremony of the Provincial Environment and Management Office (PEMO) at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City Thursday, November 24.
E. B. Magalona was adjudged 2nd Best Managed Local Conservation Area (LCA), a major category of the Negros Occidental Governor’s Conservation Achievement Award (NOGCAA), a press release from EB Magalona said..
The award, which came with a plaque and P30,000 in cash prize, was in recognition of the municipality’s “exemplary contribution in environmental conservation, protection, and rehabilitation” of its LCA called the E. B. Magalona Blue Crab and Bird Sanctuaries and Mangrove Reserve.
This LCA, encompassing 209 hectares of protected area, has 20 hectares of Strict Protection Zone (SPZ) or No-Take-Zone. Part of this LCA is the Tomongtong Mangrove Eco-Trail, an eco-tourism site in the coastal barangay of Tomongtong.
E. B. Magalona was also one of the six LGU-recipients of the Abanse Negrense Good Environmental Governance Award (ANGEGA)- Sustainability Level 2. The award came with a plaque and P25,000 in cash prize.
The Municipality was also one of the recipients of the 2022 Best Localized Environmental Thematic Events Celebration, in recognition of its various events and activities in line with environmental protection and sustainability.
Representing Mayor Marvin Malacon at the awarding ceremony was Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Officer (MENRO)- designate Jojo Vargas. He was accompanied by MENRO – Solid Waste Management Program focal person Archie Derick Diel and MENRO staff Don Salvador Salcedo.
Presenting the awards were Board Member Andrew Montelibano, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II, PEMO head Julie Ann Bedrio, and Executive Assistant to the Governor and Provincial Gender and Development Focal Point System Action Officer Marie June Pavillar Castro.
On Tuesday two residents of E. B. Magalona also won environment awards from PEMO.
Glecenda Sacun, president of the Tomongtong Women Workers’ Association in Barangay Tomongtong, where the Tomongtong Mangrove Eco-Trail is situated, was one of the recipients of the Abanse Babaye sa Dunang Manggad Award (ABDMA).
Rosario Dinaga, a Master Teacher II of E. B. Magalona Elementary School, was also one of the recipients of the Negros Occidental Governor Conservationist Achievement Award (NOGCAA)- Individual Category. She is the adviser of their school’s Nature’s Keepers Club.
Also on Nov. 22, the Municipality, represented by Teatro Laragway, the theater company of E. B. Magalona National High School, was declared champion in the 1st Provincial SayAwit Para sa Kalikasan.
The group, trained by EBMNHS teacher Raffy Berina, is set to receive P10,000 in cash prize for besting five other groups that represented their respective LGUs in the province-wide competition that was part of the ongoing celebration of the 18th Provincial Wildlife Month.*