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Friday, March 29, 2024

Upi town gets Gawad Kalasag award

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THE Office of Civil Defense in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (OCD-ARMM) on Saturday honored the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MDRRMC) of Upi, Maguindanao after it bested other MDRRMCs in the region’s “Search for Gawad Kalasag 2016” under the Best LDRRMC 1st-3rd class municipality category.

Josefino Dabuco, Upi MDRRMO, said the local government unit of Upi was inspired anew as it looked forward for another year of strengthening the disaster risk reduction implementation.

“We are very excited after winning this year’s Gawad Kalasag, and as part of our DRRM endeavor, we are bound to focus more on the Family Based Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (FBDRRM) mechanism,” Dabuco said.

Dabuco said every household from Upi’s 23 barangays must be supported and organized before any disaster strikes.

“We would want to instill in the minds of our communities that they must be self-reliant and should not rely solely in the aid from government as a substitute for self-reliance and sustainability,” Dabuco added.

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He said that a project known as the “Community-Driven Disaster Response and Adaptation Program (CDRAP)” was developed recently to institutionalize a culture of disaster preparedness and response among the families and various Tri-People communities.

“There is ongoing collaboration between the Local Government Unit through the MDRRM Office and 10 identified barangays, the Teduray Day-School Project and the USAID-ENGAGE Project,” Dabuco said.

The CDRAP is in support to the implementation of the disaster risk reduction and management as well as climate change adaptation interventions of the barangay and the municipal LGU.

As part of the CDRAP effort, the Upi MDRRMC has distributed emergency “grab bags” to 250 identified at-risk families from the Barangays of Blensong, Borongotan, Bugabungan, Darugao, Kaba-kaba, Kiga, Kinitaan, Nangi, Nuro and Rempes. 

Meanwhile, OCD-ARMM Assistant Regional Director Leo Alicias praised the initiatives of UPI MDRRMC.

“We sincerely congratulate LGU Upi and the rest of winners in the 2016 Search for Gawad Kalasag. We hope to inspire and encourage more LDRRMCs and others to join the search in the next calendar year,” Alicias said, adding a well-informed communities could save lives when disaster comes. 

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