Bongat to announce this year’s mayoral awrdees

By Jason B. Neola NAGA CITY --- A total of fifty-one nominees, the biggest haul in years, have been recommended for conferment by the city mayor for this year’s Mayoral Awards. While members of the Awards Committee begged not to reveal the names of the successful nominees because that privilege is reserved for the mayor to public announce the winners in a press conference as one of the much-awaited pre-events of the forthcoming 70th or Platinum anniversary of Naga City’s declaration as a chartered city, clues have leaked to this paper as to who the winners will be. Naga was granted its own charter on June 18, 1948, the first in Bicol and one of the few throughout the country, by virtue of a house bill authored by Rep. Juan Q. Miranda, a Bicolano guerilla leader. It was hinted that a university founded during the Spanish period in Bicol had been picked as among the winners of the major awards, along with three other people and two private institutions for their contributions to Naga’s growth and development, as well as their contribution to society in their respective fields of endeavor. The two major awards are the Juan Q. Miranda Award, or Mayoral Distinguished Award – the highest city award named after the father of the Naga City Charter that only goes to one awardee every year – and the Leon SA Aureus Award that has slots for maximum of 5 awardees, also for their outstanding achievement and service as citizens of the city. Among the awardees in these categories are a youthful animator that has conquered Hollywood, Europe and Singapore in the field of visual effects and film animation and a lady Nagueña lawyer who is making it good in a big law firms in Japan. Still, it was hinted that at least 2 were picked for the Jesse M. Robredo Youth Award and one for the Lt. Delfin Rosales Award. Of the rest of the awardees, 31 will be conferred the mayoral recognition for their excellent performance in sports, in the academe, and in the practice of their profession. They are being recognized for bringing singular honor and positive impact to the city by the award given them in the national or international level. Eleven more awardees are recommended for special community service award. This award is given to Naga citizens whose voluntary act of charity, civic duty, community participation and involvement, and strong support and cooperation have made an impact on the lives of their fellow Nagueños and/or significantly contributed to the development thrusts of the city government. City Mayor John Bongat is reportedly going to announce the names of the awardees on Monday next week. This year’s board of judges for the mayoral awards is chaired by Tito Valiente, chairman of Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino, columnist and writer, professor, and socio-antthropologist.