3rd time for Navotas as cleanest, greenest

For the little fishing town of Navotas, it is getting to be quite a habit.

And a very good habit it has turned out to be as Navotas has earned the title of "Cleanest and Greenest Municipality in Metro Manila" for the third time. The town had been previously awarded the same title in 2001 and 2003.

Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco yesterday gave all the credit to the people of Navotas.

"I would like to congratulate you all for your concern about the quality of environment where we live. No clean and green project would ever succeed if the people themselves are not behind it. You deserve this award. Carry on with the good deed," Tiangco said.

The awarding was made at Malacañang under the auspices of the "Gawad Pangulo sa Kapaligiran" with the awards committee composed of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Health, the Department of Tourism (DOT) the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) and REACT Philippines.

Navotas received a trophy from the Office of the President and P100,000 in the form of a community project to be decided by the local government, aside from the special recognition held at the Malacañang Palace.

The awards committee said Navotas deserved the award for conforming to the objectives of the "Gawad Pangulo sa Kapaligiran."

"It is the primary intention of the awards to help inculcate in the minds of the Filipinos the values of discipline, self-reliance, resourcefulness, cooperation, cleanliness and environmental awareness and, at the same time, to help transform rural and urban areas all over the country into clean and green communities that are healthy and pleasant to live in," DILG Secretary Angelo Reyes said. — Jerry Botial