BAGUIO CITY(PIA) – The Regional Search Committee for the Search for Outstanding Volunteers (SOV) and Bayanihan Media Awards has endorsed the list of the 2023 regional nominees to the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency(PNVSA).
The SOV is an annual search that aims to spotlight outstanding Filipino volunteers and volunteer organizations for their exemplary performance and achievements to spark inspiration and encourage others to replicate their volunteering activities. It is the centerpiece activity of the National Volunteer Month observed every December. It bolsters the advocacy for promoting volunteerism as a tool for national development.
For the SOV Individual Youth category, the regional nominee is Clienteast Van B. Totanes of Tadian, Mountain Province. He is engaged in various activities such as youth empowerment, Basic Life Support and First Aid Training, Furbabies for a cause, outreach programs, and tree planting activities.
Totanes is a member of the Federated Youth Mobile Force as Vice-President; Kabataan Kontra Droga at Terorismo -Municipal Chapter President; Tadian Sayangdan Cultural Heritage Guild – Vice-Chairperson; Tadian Emergency Response Team _member; and Special Basic Military – Reservist.
The regional nominee for the SOV-Individual-Adult Category is Maria C. Aplaten, an advocate of Indigenous Peoples Rights and Education, environment protection, health and well-being, culture and arts promotion, and education.
Aplaten’s greatest accomplishment as a community volunteer is founding the Hapiyoh Mi Culture and Arts Center, Inc. in 2000.Though this organization, hundreds of Igorot youth were able to pursue university studies as cultural scholars. It also served as a vehicle to forward pressing issues and concerns of the Cordillera Region and other indigenous peoples communities in the Philippines.
For the Organization-Non-Profit Category, regional nominee is a the Links-Building Bridges for Children, Inc. The Hooked on Books (HOB) Library and Reading Program is the flagship program of the organization. The main goal of HOB project is for children to initially develop the genuine love for reading, learn the basic skills of reading, and later on, become engaged, independent readers with critical thinking skills.
Meanwhile, the PNVSCA in collaboration with the Philippine Information Agency, the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges , and Mariano Marcos State University launched the 1st Bayanihan Media Awards in August of this year which aims to recognize media practitioners and organizations who have been instrumental in fostering a culture of volunteerism.
The BMA will honor media practitioners and organizations that have exhibited exemplary reporting on volunteerism across print, television, radio, and online media.
There were few nominees submitted to the RSC-CAR. The nominee for the Best in Print Media Reporting organization category is the Baguio Midland Courier.
The RSC-CAR is chaired by the National Economic and Development Authority, PIA, Civil Service Commission, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and Department of Social Welfare and Development. (JDP/MAWC-PIA-CAR)
Members of the Regional Search Committee for the Search for Outstanding Volunteer and Bayanihan Media Awards during the final evaluation of nominees. (Photo by PIA-CAR)
