Cebu City awards its outstanding barangay officials

Serving the farmers in the mountain barangay of Adlawon for more than 15 years earned barangay councilor Ma. Elena Arijola this year’s most outstanding barangay kagawad award.

Arijola received her plaque of appreciation and P20,000 cash prize from Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama in an award ceremony held at the Sinulog Hall of the Rizal Library yesterday.

Love for her work, said Arijola, was her reason for devoting time with farmers.

Arijola started her community service in 1989 as leader of a DOLE accredited organization of tenant farmers who were tilling land in Adlawon.

With her appointment as chairperson of the Barangay Agrarian Reform Council from 2003 to the present, Arijola helped arrange the transfer of land titles to farmer beneficiaries.

As a barangay kagawad, she chairs the agriculture committee and completed the farmers-scientist training program of the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB) and availed of a P150,000 grant from the Singapore Management University (SMU) for the barangay’s goat raiding project.

Like Arijola, Budlaan barangay captain Nerissa Antolihao started many firsts in her northern mountain barangay. For this, she was awarded the most outstanding barangay captain for 2011.

Antolihao worked with the Fellowship for Organizing Endeavors (Forge) to institutionalize participatory development planning. She helped establish their barangay development council, which crafted a five-year development plan.

Since her election on October 2010, Antolihao started trainings and seminars on livelihood, gender and development, leadership, community development for effective governance, garbage disposal and recycling and purchased equipment to support their livelihood projects.

As the head of a cluster of eight mountain barangays in the north district, Antolihao was also active in the campaign against gambling and illegal drugs.

Other awardees of The Outstanding Barangay Officials of the Year (TOBOY) are Clarence Jacques Lim (Tinago) as most outstanding SK president, Emmalind Gay Pleños (Cogon Ramos) as most outstanding barangay secretary and Susana Salazar (Tinago) as most outstanding barangay treasurer.

Interior and Local Government (DILG) city director Patricio Gabuya said the selection of TOBOY awardees was made from December 2010 to December 2011.

Councilor Leah Japson said the recognition of the city’s 21st TOBOY awardees was supposed to be one of the activities in the city’s 75th Charter Day celebration last Feb. 24.

But they decided to move the recognition ceremonies yesterday because the Charter Day schedule was already filled with activities.