BARANGAY Kauswagan has been hailed as the Most Child-Friendly Sub-Urban Barangay in Cagayan de Oro City again this year during the Oro Kasanag Awards Pasundayag Gabi ng Parangal Thursday, November 29, at the event center of Centrio Ayala Mall.
Barangay Kauswagan won P150, 000 and a trophy as the Most Child-Friendly Sub-Urban Barangay for having the best practices, projects, and programs that uphold the rights of children.
Councilor Peter Jason Balite of Barangay Kauswagan, upon receiving the award, expressed happiness and gratitude, especially since it’s the second time the barangay was awarded the most child-friendly.
He also shared that hard work, unity, and cooperation of the barangay, the community, and the school have been significant factors as to why they were able to sustain their title.
"Ang support sa among community, pagtinabangay namo, especially sa schools namo, nagtabang gyud pag disseminate unsa ang mga rights sa children, ang advocacy namo nga among protektahan gyud sila (The support of our community, especially in schools helped disseminate the rights of the children),” Balite said.
Barangay Canitoan came in second and bagged the cash prize worth P120, 000 and trophy, followed by Barangay Pagatpat which garnered an P80, 000 cash prize and trophy.
Barangays Tablon, Camaman-an, Gusa, Nazareth, Patag, Agusan, and Bulua were also recognized as the fourth to tenth child-friendly sub-urban barangays in the city and received P5,000 and a plaque each.
The top three urban barangays: Barangays 7, 14 and 21 were also awarded with P30, 000, P20, 000 and P15, 000 worth of cash prize, respectively, and a trophy each.
Meanwhile, Bulua Police Station (PS7) was hailed as the Most Child-Friendly Police Station in Cagayan de Oro City and received P100, 000 cash prize.
"I'm very happy, as a station commander, it means a lot to me. Because this is a team effort, it is not only the efforts of the WCPD, but all my personnel help one another to achieve this and I'm very happy," Police Senior Inspector Breccia Deloso Townend of Bulua Police Station said.
According to Townend, one of the reasons why they were able to bag the title is because they were able to sustain their projects.
One of which is a monitoring program that helps the children at risk, those who are victims and in conflict with the law.
"So that they will be given another chance that despite of their circumstances, the choices that they will make will show who they are," Townend said.
Following Bulua police are Lumbia Police Station (PS8), which came in second, Macasandig Police Station (PS9), Cugman Police Station (PS10), and Cogon Police Station (PS2).
According to Mary Kris Gebe, one of the evaluators for the Most Child-Friendly Police Station, noticed the improvement of all the police stations in the city.
"It’s more than just the physical beauty of their police station but yung mga programs nila (they’re programs) and how they connect with the barangay, and how they connect with the schools in implementing the activities for the children," Gebe said.
Oro Kasanag also awarded Agora Police Station (PS3) as a Hall of Famer after maintaining the title of the Most Child-Friendly Police Station for three consecutive years.
"Expected na rin naman namin yung Hall of Famer kay since 2015, 2016, and 2017 na ang Police Station Agora yung nag number 1 always. So this year, hindi na kami nasali sa top dahil nga hall of famer na daw (We expected the Hall of Famer because since 2015 2016, and 2017, Police Station Agora awarded number 1 always. So this year, we are not included in the top because we are hall of famer.)," Jason Sto Domingo, the station commander of Agora Police Station said.
Domingo added that they were able to maintain their title due to the efforts of their Woman and Children Protection Desk (WCPD) officer, Police Officer 3 Cherry Reyes.
"Yung WCPD officer ko dahil sobrang serious sya sa trabaho. Yung lahat ng kailangan i-comply, kino-comply nya. Pag may reklamo sa mga concerning women and children, nandyan siya, talagang tutok siya (The WCPD officer is serious in her job. Anything that needs to be complied, she complied. Whenever there are complaints concerning women and children, she is there)," Domingo said.
Oro Kasanag Award, the official award-giving body for the child-friendly search, aims to acknowledge the best practices of barangays and police stations for the children, who are the most vulnerable sector in the community, according to Oro Kasanag Awards chairman Al Rashide Galaura.
"Para ma push ang atoang mga barangays (So we can push the barangays) and police stations to create projects, services and program that would uphold the four rights of children: survival, developmental, protection and participation," Galaura said.
Galaura added that the Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) and the WCPD are the two main factors that they have to evaluate as they are the primary people that will help in the initiatives and services for the right and protection of children.