THE 21st City Council has passed a resolution recognizing the winners of the 2025 Lunhaw Awards for their outstanding environmental initiatives.
Councilor Temujin “Tek” Ocampo, chairperson of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, said this year’s Lunhaw Awards highlighted diverse solutions to urgent ecological challenges, from waste reduction and renewable energy to organic farming, marine conservation, and youth-led advocacy.
“Each awardee represents innovation, resilience, and an unyielding spirit of stewardship that our city needs in the face of climate change,” Ocampo said during his privilege speech on Tuesday, October 7, 2025, at the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
He said that the awardees are not just honorees but living proof that sustainability is possible when communities act with creativity, accountability, and purpose.
“Let us be reminded that sustainability thrives only when matched with integrity. Just as circular systems prevent waste and maximize value, so too must our governance ensure that public resources are used transparently and responsibly,” he said.
Ocampo added that the Lunhaw Awards are held every September through Executive Order No. 29, Series of 2018, issued by then-Mayor and now Vice President Sara Duterte, which also declared September as Lunhaw Month and institutionalized the Lunhaw Awards Committee.
Plastic pitch-in
Marycon C. Delos Reyes, Director of the Center for Service-Learning & Community Engagement and Institute for Global Sustainability (CSCE-IGS) of Mapúa Malayan Colleges Mindanao (MMCM), said their Plastic Pitch-in project began in 2018 as part of the school’s NSTP program and has since evolved into a campus-wide sustainability drive.
“We were surprised during the awarding that there was a new category, circular economy,” she said after winning two categories.
The initiative now involves college, high school, and elementary students, as well as school employees. It has produced picnic tables and benches from recycled plastics and donated 100 armchairs to Matina Aplaya Elementary School in 2019.
MMCM also recently installed solar rooftop panels to cut energy use and adopted a riverbank in the Panigan Cluster for tree-planting activities.
Lunhaw Awardees 2025
Pollution Control: Marites Z. Ronquillo for Himo ni Nanay: Crafting Hope from Waste (individual) and the Plastic Pitch-in Project of MMCM.
Urban and Rural Organic Farming: Nancy Masicampo’s Sustainable and Diversified Farming System; Barangay Biao Guianga’s Rural Improvement Club; St. Francis of Assisi-Laverna’s Urban Container Gardening; Gulayan sa Tugkaran; and Barangay Tawantawan’s Ma. Christina P. Belcar, Agricultural High School.
Energy Conservation: San Pablo Parish Faithful Stewards of God’s Creation.
Marine Resource Management: Project A.S.Y.A. (Sustainable Youth Advocacy) of Francisco Bangoy National High School.
Education and Advocacy: Wangan National High School’s Gulayan sa Paaralan; Assumption College of Davao’s Adbokasiyang Assumptionista; and the Students’ Environmental Alliance of Davao.
Green Champions: Enp. Moises Torrentira, Anita Morales, and Deniso Jamir Amad. RGP