BACOLOD City – The city government launched this year’s edition of the “Ang Banwahanon Awards,” a search for the most outstanding residents of Bacolod.
The awards committee started accepting nominations on Friday. Nominee submission will be until May 21.
Nominees must be a resident of Bacolod for at least 10 years. They must be endorsed by nongovernment organizations, schools, churches, or barangays.
Awards committee chairman George Zulueta said a board of judges will determine the winners in this year’s Ang Banwahanon Awards, which is also a part of Bacolod’s 80th founding anniversary celebration.
The awarding ceremony will be on June 18, Zulueta added.
Johanna Bayoneta, a member of the awards committee, said there are already 149 Bacolodnons who received recognition from the city government since the establishment of the Ang Banwahanon Awards in 1974.
It was only in 2009 that the Ang Banwahanon Awards was institutionalized through City Ordinance No. 494.
A maximum of five awardees are chosen every year, Bayoneta added.
The awardees are chosen based on their “considerable impact for services rendered to the residents of the city, which have immensely contributed to the economic, cultural, sports, social, moral, or educational development of the city” and “exemplary and selfless service achievements that shall serve as an inspiration and a model worthy of emulation.”
Last year, the awardees were Simplicio Palanca, founder of the 250-hectare Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. reclamation project, Conchita Sicangco, philanthropist and founder of the famous Bob’s Restaurant chain, architect Armando Guevarra, who organized and empowered Bacolod painters, and former judge Franklin Demonteverde, who is known for his free legal assistance program. (With PNA/PN)
