Provincial Board fetes Sun.Star scribe
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Provincial Board (PB) recently honored and congratulated Sun.Star Pampanga senior reporter and columnist Ian Ocampo Flora for his outstanding feat in the 7th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards 2013 held last November 22 at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in Manila.
In Resolution 3115, the PB en banc led by Vice Governor Dennis Pineda congratulated and recognized the achievement of Flora, particularly for "bringing attention to the pro-environment programs in the City of San Fernando."
The PB citation came as it acknowledged in the resolution that the "Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards is the premier competition that seeks out the most important agriculture stories of our time and honors the journalists behind them. It is a competition for published stories, radio segments, television features, and photographs, which created awareness on the most current agricultural issues and the best farming practices on environmental care, safety, and crop sustainability."
Flora's entry, "Urban village takes initiative on adaptive climate change farming," chronicled the efforts of the residents and government officials of Barangay Del Pilar of the City of San Fernando in adapting to the challenges of climate change and prevailing local conditions. The entry was adjudged Best Agriculture Feature Story from a pool of over a hundred others from top writers across the country.
The PB noted that the story has exceeded standards in the Bright Leaf category and has passed through rigorous judging process of the award for its detailed presentation of how Barangay Del Pilar launched the first-ever floating garden in Pampanga using water hyacinths as rafts for garden and vegetable cultivation in an area that has been perennially flooded each year, eventually to the recognition of the local village initiative and sparking other pro-environment programs.
Aside from the PB citation, Flora was also given a similar recognition by the Municipal Council of Sta. Rita for his outstanding feat.