Bontoc, Mountain Province – The Provincial Government of Mountain Province is a recipient of the Gawad Kalasag Award for the year 2015 making it the only province in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) to qualify in the national level awards under the same program.

KALASAG stands for Kalamidad at Sakuna, Labanan, Sariling Galing ang Kaligtasan. The Gawad Kalasag Award recognizes excellence in disaster risk reduction and management and humanitarian assistance.

In a meeting of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) on June 30, 2015, Anacleto Tangilag of the PDRRM Office announced that Mountain Province passed the four priority areas when a regional evaluation committee visited the province in June.

The four disaster priority areas include Preservation and Mitigation, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Response, and Recovery and Rehabilitation.

Elated by this recent award, Governor Leonard G. Mayaen assured all constituents that the provincial government will staunchly ensure and improve the disaster preparedness situation in the province. In partnership with other stakeholders, the governor also believes in strengthening civic involvement. The governor is also thankful that the province has not faced a challenging calamity ever since the Kayan tragedy in 2009. “However we still make sure the PDRRRMO is always on alert in case of any emergency,” Mayaen said.

The regional validation team was headed by Engr. Joseph Valera, Assistant Regional Director of the Office of Civil Defense-CAR. Other members of the team compose representatives from the Department of Education (DepEd), Police Regional Office – Cordillera (PRO-Cor), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) – CAR, Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and Philip¬pine Information Agency (PIA).