Legazpi City— The Department of Social Welfare and Development recognizes its exemplary partners and implementers of the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) through its Annual Bayani Ka! Awards with four Bicolanos named as the regional winners.

For this year, four Bicolanos were declared as the Bayani Ka! Regional Winners. Albay Gov. Joey Salceda was named as the Best Governor, Mayor Percival Castillo of Mobo, Masbate was recognized as the Best Mayor, Brgy. Capt. Policarpio Baal of Mataoroc, Minalabac as Best Barangay Captain and Abello Frias of Dacu, Mobo, Masbate was the Best Community Volunteer.

The Bayani Ka! Awards acknowledges the significant contributions of the people involved in the implementation of Kalahi-CIDSS who put their own communities (bayan) before their own selves (I). The winners will serve as the spokespersons in their respective arenas by continuing their advocacy in promoting Kalahi-CIDSS.

The selection was based on how the nominee exemplifies the bayanihan spirit, applies the principles of transparency, empowerment, accountability, shares skills and service for the benefit of the community, persuades people to take part in community activities, serves as role models, shows strong motivation to help the community and maintains firm moral principles.

The Regional Bayani Ka! Awarding Ceremonies was done at La Roca, Legazpi City last October 15, 2015. The said regional honorees were the same people nominated at the national level. The announcement of the national winners is scheduled on January 2016.

Kalahi-CIDSS is a DSWD program that seeks to help alleviate poverty through community-driven development (CDD).

The operations of the community-driven development (CDD) approach expanded into a national scale, which was tried and proven effective by Kalahi-CIDSS. 101 poor municipalities in Bicol are under its expansion from 2014 to 2019 with a total of grant of Php4,497,448,178.

Community-driven development (CDD) puts power back in the hands of the people by giving them the opportunity to make informed decisions on locally identified options for development and manage resources to implement sub-projects that address needs identified by communities themselves.