Friday, July 25, 2008 3 towns bag 'Green Banner' awards By Ian Ocampo Flora
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The municipal health offices of Guagua, Lubao and Sasmuan will receive the prestigious Green Banner Award at the Benigno Aquino Hall on Friday.
The three towns will be honored during the culmination activity for the Nutrition Month Celebration here.
This year's theme is dubbed "Sa Wastong Nutrisyon ni Mommy, Siguradong Healthy si Baby."
The event will be led by Governor Eddie Panlilio, chairperson of the Provincial Nutrition Council; Lucia Gutierrez, provincial nutrition action officer; and Board Member Edna David, chairperson of the Provincial Board (PB) committee on health.
The Green Banner Award is given to a municipality, city or a province judged to be outstanding in managing its nutrition action plan within the province or region.
This year's ranking placed Guagua in the first place followed by Lubao and Samuan in second and third places, respectively.
Nutrition Green Banner Awardees at the city, provincial and regional levels were being selected by the City/Provincial/Regional Evaluation Teams during a team evaluation.
Other awardees in the program are the towns of Mabalacat and Bacolor, which rank fourth and fifth.
The event will also honor Dr. Isabel Calilung of Guagua as Most Outstanding Municipal Nutrition Action Officer, along with the Most Outstanding Barangay Nutrition Scholar in the person of Rowena Kabiling.
Director Vicenta Magpantay of the Regional Nutrition Committee will be guest speaker for the event.
Those areas given Nutrition Green Banner Award for three consecutive years automatically qualify for the Crown Award, which is given to Green Banner Awardees which maintained good performance in managing nutrition plans for three consecutive years. A Crown awardee receives a trophy and P100,000 in cash.
Areas that have received the Crown Award are monitored by an inter-agency National Evaluation Team for a period of three years to check whether their efforts in maintaining a downward trend of malnutrition are sustained through a well coordinated plan implementation.
