LAST Monday, I was fortunate to be among the La Trinidad Local Government Unit (LGU) contingent, led by Mayor Romeo Salda, to receive a special award recognizing La Trinidad LGU programs that works well with the La Trinidad Accredited Community Disaster Volunteers (LT-ACDV). This award was a bit surprising since we know that we never had documents submitted to the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA) until we learned, at the venue of the awarding, that winners of such awards are nominated.
Some informants (also in the venue) told me that the nomination was by the National Economic and Development Authority Cordillera (Neda-CAR), which we still have to confirm. Nevertheless, thank you very much.
The received award is something new for the LGU. It is a program of the PNVSCA to encourage LGUs to support volunteerism in every community in the Philippines.
PNVSCA, by the way, is an attached agency of Neda which is mandated to promote Volunteerism as a strategy for development. They are also tasked to coordinate National Volunteer Service Program in the Philippines. We had been working with them for quite some time now, especially with international volunteers under the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office in La Trinidad.
In the latter part of the awarding ceremonies, the awardees were invited at the Office of the House (of Representatives’) Speaker for a short in-house snack and meet the house speaker Allan Peter Cayetano. It was my first time to personally meet him too.
On his remarks, he personally congratulated everyone and acknowledged the importance of volunteerism. He cited that one of the major contributor of the South East Asian Games success are the volunteers, especially those who assisted the athletes even when they are not asked to do so, on the airports, and maybe along the streets near the sports venues.
Of course, I couldn’t agree with him more because most of the contribution in the realization of the LGU award on that day are the LT-ACD Volunteers too. There are a lot of projects and activities that went well with the help of LT-ACDV.
One example is the “one responder per household” project wherein it is targeted that one member of a household must have a knowledge and training in basic first aid and basic life support. In fact, the LT-ACDVs has already conducted 114 first aid trainings in various barangays of La Trinidad, and even expanding around the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Members of LT-ACDV, Cordillera’s best non-profit volunteer group in 2018, are really a blessing to the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council of La Trinidad. Their skills and dedication in volunteering has positively impacted the Municipality’s programs in DRRM which is now being enjoyed by the Community.
In return, the La Trinidad LGU makes sure of their welfare and takes account of all their contributions, especially in DRRM. They are also involved in the decision making activities of the LGU and are members of the MDRRMC. In receiving the plaques at the House of Representatives, we have asked some of them to join us, and we were accompanied by Ray Jordan Montes and Ruben Balatbat.
Acquiring the Services of the LT-ACDV is possible, especially in the conduct of Trainings. Just submit a request letter addressed to the Mayor of La Trinidad, and if their schedules are okay with yours, they will be happy to share their knowledge with you. Thanks again Neda-CAR, PNVSCA, and LT-ACDV!