Champions of the sea

STANDING ovation is in order for the municipalities of Bolinao and Mangaldan.

Bolinao, which more than once in the pastmade headlines for major fish kill incidents, has gotten its act together to bag the Tambuyog Award, a recognition for having the cleanest coastal environment among 14 coastal towns in Pangasinan. Mangaldan, meanwhile, won the Pakar Award for being the “Cleanest Municipality with the Cleanest River”. Other winners bear mentioning: Burgos (2nd place), Binmaley (3rd place), and Agno (special recognition).

The administration of Gov. Amado Espino Jr. also deserves loud cheers for initiating the competitions aimed at establishing a collective action among all local government units in the province for the protection of Pangasinan’s environment, particularly its coast along the Lingayen Gulf as well as all rivers and riverbanks.

Alaminos City, a regional awardee in Coastal Resource Management, and Bani, considered a hall of fame awardee, were exempted from joining the competition. Still, their continued exemplary environmental management, rewarded the two with special awards: Alaminos as Model LGU in CRM Program Implementation and Bani as Model LGU for Sustained Coastal Resource Management Program.

Dagupan City, meanwhile, is the Model LGU in Water Quality Monitoring and Information Dissemination System while Infanta was chosen Model LGU in Upland Watershed Management. Not to be overlooked are the awardees at the barangay level: the Imbo Multi-Sectoral Brgy. Organization in Anda as Model Barangay Organization in Livelihood and Community Mobilization for Environmental Protection; the Bangrin Federation in Bani as Model Fisherfolk Organization in Marine Protected Area; the Sual Multi-Purpose Cooperative as Model Cooperative in Institutional Linkaging for Environmental Protection; the Barangay Councils of Laois, Labrador , Patar, Bolinao and Osmeña in Dasol have also been cited as Model Barangay in Solid Waste Collection Practice, Model Barangay Implementor in Solid Waste Management and Model Barangay in Coastal Law Enforcement respectively.

Now that the revelry for the Pista’y Dayat and the applause for the winners have died down, our champions of the sea have an even bigger task ahead of them as the honor they received is tied with funding prizes for more and continued CRM projects.

More than the glory of the Tambuyog and the Pakar trophies, what is even more important now is keeping up with the shared responsibility called on by the awards to care for the environment so that it may continue to provide the province with its bounty.

The LGUs, particularly the elected leaders, of the other coastal towns that did not win anything this year, there is another year ahead to prove their worth. And that could very well be one of the best criteria when voters cast their ballots in the 2010 polls.

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