Randy heads Datu Bago awardees

By Henrylito D. Tacio
More than a hundred individuals have been given the Datu Bago Awards since its inception in 1969, pointed out Dr. Guillermo P. Torres, Jr, the chairman of Datu Bago Awardees Organization, Inc. during the conferment of 8 more recipients last Saturday.
The eight awardees were cited for their outstanding service that has contributed to the growth and development of the city. They have served as a model of excellence and an inspiration to the Dabawenyos and for demonstrating exemplary competence and dedication and for their invaluable contribution to the preservation of the city’s cultural heritage.
The conferment of Datu Bago award, touted to be the highest recognition given by the city government to its residents, was among the highlights of the 78th celebration of Araw ng Dabaw.
Randy Hamili Halasan, the only Filipino to be recognized the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award last year, headed the list of awardees this year. He is cited for “his dedication as a teacher assigned in the hinterland of Marilog District to teach at Pegalongan Elementary School in barangay Malampas — a place devoid of electricity, transport service and other basic amenities.”
According to the press statement, Halasan has to travel seven hours — two hours by bus, one hour over extremely rough roads by motorcycle, and four hours walking and crossing two treacherous rivers — to reach Pegalongan.
“I never expected that my humble work to teach the children of our faraway place would be recognized by the government,” said Halasan in an exclusive interview. “I love teaching and I am happy that these children will also learn what children in the city learn.”
US-born Darrell Dean Blatchley is the only foreigner to be recognized this year’s batch of awardees. Married to a Filipina and has been a Davao resident for 20 years, he is cited “for his work as bone collector through his D’Bone Collector Museum located at Bucana, the only museum of its kind in the entire Mindanao and the country.”
The museum has been compared to that of the Smithsonian Museums in the United States. It has collections of bones of animals (land, sea, and air), which “are preserved as a way to appreciate Mother Earth and its creatures.”
Only it has existed only in the last three years, the museum has now become a tourist and educational hub of Davao City. “(It) is recognized as a treasure hub for natural sciences,” the citation said. “He himself does the tour/lecture in the museum.”
“It’s a very high honor,” Blatchley says of Datu Bago Award. “Even if I was not given the award, I will still be doing what I do. But it helps when people and organization recognize the value of what you have done and that it was and is for the greater good. All the heartaches are worth it.”
Dr. Mae Concepcion J. Dolendo, who actually hailed from Iloilo but now lives in the city with her Dabawenyo husband, is cited for “her outstanding work in pediatric oncology.” The citation added that she has placed Davao City in the world map of pediatric oncology “due to her international linkages.”
“I am deeply honored and truly humbled,” she says of the recognition. “It means I have contributed something significant to Davao City, my home. It means a bigger voice, hope and inspiration for the children I advocate for and the people who tirelessly work for these children.”
Dr. Dolendo is the driving force behind the House of Hope, which is located inside the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC). She heads the Children’s Cancer and Blood Diseases Unit.
On why she founded House of Hope, she says, “Treatment for child cancer is long term and requires repeated visits to the hospital. The children and their families need a place to stay which is clean, wholesome and conveniently near the hospital. House of Hope served as a transient home for these patients for the duration of their outpatient treatment.”
Dr. Virginia S. Montenegro is cited for having initiated the Cancer Detection Clinic (CADET), which gives free pap smear and breast cancer examination to indigent women. Actually, CADET is a project of Soroptimist International – Davao in partnership with the Philippine Cancer Society and the Department of Health.
“Many times, going out of her comfort zone, she braved the heat and the rain to deliver free medical services to the poor people in the barangays of Davao City,” the citation added.
The last male recipient of the 8 awardees is John Ryan Largo. He is cited for his work and advocacy in saving the mountains of the world. “Through his initiative in 2002, he organized the Call to Save the Mountains, a historic call that has become a global movement as it gained the support of the United Nations and the world leaders.”
The two remaining awardees were Amelia B. Bonifacio and Lydia J. Canson. Bonifacio is cited “for her work in education and development” while Canson is recognized for her “work in uplifting the status of women.”
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte bestowed the honor to the 8 laureates at the Lantawan Hall in The Royal Mandaya Hotel. In his inspirational message, he thanked them for helping the city through their respective endeavors.
The Datu Bago Awards — named after Datu Bago, who held his settlement at the banks of Davao River, and considered the most powerful datu in the area during that time — is the highest award that the city government of Davao bestows to its constituents.
The recent awarding ceremony was the 45th. The first recipients of Datu Bago awards were Antonio O. Floirendo, Father Maurice Michaud, Tomas D. Monteverde, Guillermo E. Torres, Antonio T. Uy, and Francisco Villa-Abrille.
Other famous personalities who clinched the recognition include former Press Secretary Jesus G. Dureza, 1972 Miss Universe Margarita Moran-Floirendo, National Artist Victorio C. Edades, businessman-industrialist Jesus V. Ayala, and theater-artist and author Aida Rivera-Ford.