Cagayan de Oro City and 31 other local government units across Northern Mindanao have been honored with gold recognition in the 2026 Gawad Kalasag, the national awards program for excellence in disaster risk reduction and management. The Office of Civil Defense in Northern Mindanao (OCD-10) announced the awardees on Wednesday, September 23.
Cagayan de Oro received its gold award under the Highly Urbanized City category. The rest of the gold list is spread across the region’s provinces: 13 LGUs in Bukidnon, eight in Lanao del Norte, six in Misamis Oriental, and two each in Misamis Occidental and Camiguin.
Bukidnon led the provincial tally. Its awardees are the towns of Cabanglasan, Dangcagan, Don Carlos, Impasug-ong, Kadingilan, Kalilangan, Lantapan, Libona, Malitbog, Maramag, and San Fernando, together with the cities of Malaybalay and Valencia.
Gold is given to LGUs that go beyond the required standards in setting up and running their Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils and Offices. These requirements are laid out in Sections 11 and 12 of Republic Act 10121, the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010. The assessment looks at how well a local government handles preparedness, prevention and mitigation, and emergency response.
“This recognition reflects the LGUs’ continued efforts to strengthen local disaster risk reduction and management systems and to ensure their communities are better prepared to face disasters and emergencies,” OCD-Northern Mindanao said in a statement.
Beyond the gold awardees, the region was well represented in the other tiers. Thirty LGUs received silver recognition, among them Iligan City in the Highly Urbanized City category, while 17 LGUs were given bronze recognition.
For people in Cagayan de Oro, a city that faces risks from flooding, landslides, and severe weather, the gold award speaks to the everyday work behind disaster readiness. This includes early warning and coordination, evacuation planning, and the response teams who are sent out when emergencies happen. The award recognizes systems that, when they work well, protect both lives and property.
The Gawad Kalasag is led by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council through the Office of Civil Defense. It is widely regarded as the country’s premier recognition for innovation and excellence in disaster risk reduction and humanitarian assistance.
The strong showing comes at a useful time for the region. Local governments continue to prepare for a wide range of hazards, from flooding and landslides during the rainy months to longer dry spells. The wide spread of awardees, from Bukidnon’s upland towns to the island province of Camiguin, shows that disaster preparedness work is being recognized across Northern Mindanao, not only in its larger cities.
With the recognition in hand, the awarded LGUs are expected to keep improving their disaster plans and response capabilities, and to share what has worked for them with neighboring towns as the region continues to build safer and more resilient communities.
Source: Philippine News Agency (https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1284716) ; Inquirer.net (https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2311499/13-bukidnon-lgus-bag-gawad-kalasag-awards-for-disaster-resilience)
