THE winning villages in the different categories of the first Oro Kalimpyo Awards 2017 were named Thursday, January 25, in a ceremony held at the activity center of Centio Mall-Ayala.
Barangays 22, Canitoan and Tuburan won the first place awards in the competition's Urban, Sub-Urban and Hinterland categories, respectively.
The aforementioned three barangays also won special awards: Best Material Recovery Facility award to Barangay 22; Best Eco-warriors to Barangay Canitoan; and Best Household Engagement award to Barangay Tuburan.
Coming in the second place under the Urban category was Barangay 24 that also won the Best Ecological Livelihood award; third place - Barangay 23; fourth place - Barangay 25; and fifth place - Barangay 27.
In the Sub-Urban category, the second place and the Best Innovation were awarded to Barangay Gusa; third place to Barangay Tablon; fourth place to Barangay Kauswagan; and the fifth place and Best Recycling Program were awarded to Barangay Bugo.
Barangay Mambuaya, meanwhile, won second place under the Hinterland category; Barangay Baikingon in the third place; and both Barangays Indahag and Balubal got fourth place, the latter also winning the Best Organic Gardening award.
Barangay Lumbia also received the Best Street Beautification award.
Kagawad Hester Lee Sumanpan of Barangay Canitoan, for his part, said their barangay won because of their collaborative effort in educating their community on how to recycle, segregate, dispose the garbage properly.
Sumanpan added that he was glad that the City Government initiated this kind of recognition.
"Maayo ni siya na effort sa city because kung ma recognize man gud ka, the more ka ma challenge to do more (This is a good effort of the City because if you will be recognized, the more you are challenge to do more)," Sumanpan said.
Oro Kalimpyo, according to Oliver Egypto, the head of the Solid Waste Management Task Force, is an initiative of the City Government to search for outstanding barangay on ecological solid waste management.
"Ang Oro Kalimpyo gituyo man jud ni siya for purposes na sila tanan, matabangan pud ang city in terms of bisan pagsugod lang from minimum unsa ang ecological solid waste management (The Oro Kalimpyo was created for the purpose of making all these barangays help the city in terms of ecological solid waste management, even from a minimum)," Egypto said.
The Oro Kalimpyo Awards started with 80 barangays as its participants, with each submitting their profile and how they complied with the solid waste management program of the city government..
After validation and evaluation, 15 barangays were named as finalists.
Each of the winning barangay received a trophy and cash prize which amounted to P150,000, for the first placer under Urban and Hinterland categories, and P200,000 for the first placer under Sub-Urban category. (With reports from Mary Ross Odchigue and Crystel Ann Perpetua, USTP interns)