A VETERAN newsman, a world-class artist, a volunteer fire brigade, an honest tricycle driver, a singing priest, and a topnotcher in medical licensure exams are among this year’s Mayoral Awardees as Naga celebrates its 58th City Charter anniversary this weekend.
The fields of service covered by this year’s awardees include community service, visual arts, media, technology, music, urban poor service, medicine, sports, academe, business, entrepreneurship/employees’ welfare, religious service (international), and business.
Confirmation of the awards will be held at Don Mariano Hall, Villa Caceres Hotel, at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 17, on the eve of the Naga City Charter Day celebration.
Based on the recommendation submitted by Rev. Msgr. Romulo Vergara, chair of this year’s awards committee, for the mayor’s confirmation, the following individuals and groups (with the accompanying citations) are this year’s awardees:
Special Mayoral Award:
Raul C. Alcomendas (Visual Arts): “His power of the brush has invaluably contributed to the preservation of Naga’s history, culture and heritage; his art exhibits and one-man shows here and abroad have earned the rave reviews from art lovers.”
Ramon S. Tolaram (Media): As publisher, editor, elder statesman and mentor of the Naga-based media, Tolaram has preserved his integrity through five decades of dedicated and honest toil as purveyor of truth and freedom.”
Chin Po Tong (Community Service): “This volunteer fire brigade has been the city’s ever-reliable partner in responding to emergencies that even go beyond the city’s boundaries, recording 1,568 responses since 1980.”
Mayoral Recognition:
Alfredo B. Bermas (Community Service): “Despite the harshness of the times, where basic values have become a blur, this humble tricycle driver went out of his way to return the black bag containing large sum of money which its owner unmindfully left in his tricycle’s passenger seat.”
Cesar and Alex B. Bermundo (Technology): “These brothers collaborated to come up with the softwares, “Simplified Statisctics for Beginners” and “Test Checker and Analyzer” which are now being adapted by the Meralco Foundation and Metro Manila schools.”
Salve A. Cadag (Urban Poor Service): “Her exemplary leadership, dedication and pro-people organizing skills and techniques have significantly contributed to the empowerment of the city’s urban poor.”
Klarenz D. Chavez (Sports): “This young swimmer’s unmatched feat in 200m butterfly made the city proud by clinching Bicol’s first gold medal on the first day of the 2006 Palarong Pambansa’s highly-charged, tightly-fought swimming competitions.”
Mary Joy Perez Coner (Medicine): “A consistent honor student, she was the topnotcher in the 2006 Licensure Examination for Physicians, her latest achievement after having placed Third in the Licensure Examination for Chemists in 1999.”
Rev. Fr. Lorenzo Juan B. Jarcia (Music): “A faithful patron and scholar of Church music and Bicol songs, this talented Servant of God is a model of productivity, originality and industry for young Nagueños; he has conducted singing engagements in America and presented new musical arrangements through CDs, and operettas.”
Orfelina O. Tuy (Education): “From a teacher to a teacher of teachers, this multi-awarded educator who is now the Director of the National educators Academy of the Philippines has co-authored the highly-acclaimed Three-Act Play on Bicol epic, “Handiong, the Legendary Hero of Ibalong.”
Most Rev. Adolfo Tito C. Yllana (Government/Religious Service): “This Naga-born Archbishop is the only Bicolano in the Diplomatic Corps of the Holy See; his recent appointment as Apostolic Nuncio is a papal recognition of the shining jewels of the Bicol clergy.”
Group Mayoral Recognition:
Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Business): “Hailed as the ‘Voice of Business in Bicolandia’, this multi-awarded business chamber is being cited for its dedication and strong drive to turn Naga City, and by extension Bicol, into an engine of growth through the enhancement of enterprise development, trade and investment promotion, advocacy for fair trade and commerce, and productive collaboration between the private sector and the government.”
Casureco II Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Employees’ Welfare): “Organized in 1983, this employees’ cooperative now boasts of P19M in total assets with P11.4M as members’ shared capital, with no record losses, which are worth emulating by other cooperatives especially in these times of scarce resources.”
The Mayoral Awards is given annually during the city’s charter anniversary celebrations. It is given in recognition of the city’s outstanding sons and daughters, as well as deserving groups or individuals, who have distinguished themselves in their chosen fields of endeavor and thus brought honor and pride to the city of their birth.
Monsignor Vergara said the criteria considered in the selection of deserving awardees include, among others, the nominee’s (a) personal qualifications, (b) moral integrity, (c) community involvement, (d) degree of commitment, and (e) positive contribution to the city’s growth, honor and glory.
The other members of the awards committee who evaluated and validated all the documents, pertinent records, and personal circumstances of the nominees and finally submitted their recommendation for the mayor’s confirmation were: Dr. Lourdes S. Anonas, Ms. Amelita Zaens, J. Antonio A. Amparado, and Sieg B. Bulaong who was ex-officio member being the chair of the search committee that screened out and pre-evaluated all the nominations received.
Members of the search committee were: Joe Obias, himself a 2005 Mayoral Awardee, Abet Bercasio, City Planning Officer Chito Villegas, and Gil de la Torre of the Sangguniang Panglunsod. Bicol Mail Editor Joe Perez acted as project coordinator and spokesman.
Log On to www.naga.gov.ph for more list of awards.
