Recognizing unsung pillars of food security, the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office 8 (DA-8) honored Eastern Visayasโ Gawad Saka Regional Winners during the An Pagrayhak: Farmers and Fisherfolk Month Celebration Closing Ceremonies on May 26, 2026, in Palo, Leyte.
Gawad Saka Awards is the highest recognition conferred by the Department of Agriculture to individuals, groups, and institutions that have made exemplary contributions to agriculture and fisheries development. The award aims to honor excellence, innovation, resilience, and dedication among agricultural stakeholders who continue to help secure food production and rural development in the country.
In his opening message, Regional Executive Director Rodel G. Macapanas, underscored the vital role of farmers and fisherfolk in sustaining both lives and livelihoods.
โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ข๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต,โ he emphasized.
The event gathered agricultural workers, local government representatives, partner agencies, and farmer organizations in a celebration that highlighted how agriculture remains the bedrock of rural communities and an inviolable driver of economic progress.
The regional winners recognized were:
โข Calaguise Agriculture Cooperative of Leyte โ Outstanding High Value Crops Cluster
โข Jessie S. Lauron of Ormoc โ Outstanding Agricultural Extension Worker (Corn)
โข Herminigildo Serafica of Ormoc โ Outstanding Corn-Based Farmer
โข Albert C. Pamanian of Carigara โ Outstanding Coconut Farmer
โข Eduardo Combinido of Carigara โ Outstanding Agri-Entrepreneur (Micro-enterprise)
โข Castulo Parena of Carigara โ Outstanding Dairy Carabao Raiser
โข Tacloban National Agricultural School โ Outstanding Urban and Peri-Urban Agricultural Garden (MacroGarden)
โข Gulayan sa Home for Girls Otso โ Outstanding Urban and Peri-Urban Agricultural Garden (MicroGarden)
In his heartfelt message delivered, Albert Pamanian, Outstanding Coconut Farmer stressed that recognition must go beyond trophies and titles, urging awardees to continue becoming instruments of service for food security.
โ๐๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐จ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข ๐ถ๐ด๐ข ๐ญ๐ข ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐จ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ข. ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ต๐ข ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ข๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐บ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ต๐ข ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ญ-๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐บ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ต๐ข ๐ช๐จ-๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข ๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ฅ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ข๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐จ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐จ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ด๐ช ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐จ-๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข, ๐ฑ๐ข๐จ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐จ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐จ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ต๐ข ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐จ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐จ๐ข ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐บ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ฃ๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐จ ๐ฉ๐ข ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ,โ he expressed.
[Recognition does not end with a single award. It is a continuing responsibility to demonstrate, through our actions and sustained commitment, that we remain worthy of the honor bestowed upon usโespecially as we work to secure a better future for the next generation. We are called to uphold our duty of solidarity with fellow farmers and to extend assistance to those in need, ensuring continuous and sustainable food production for all. We likewise extend our sincere gratitude to the government agencies whose support has been instrumental to our work and accomplishments.]
All individual and organizational awardees, except the urban garden category winners, received โฑ70,000 worth of agricultural interventions. Meanwhile, Calaguise Agriculture Cooperative, Tacloban National Agricultural School, and Gulayan sa Home for Girls Otso received โฑ100,000 worth of agricultural interventions.
Indeed, the celebration went beyond a recognition ceremonyโit was a reminder that farmers and fisherfolk not only feed the nation but also fuel its future. While they till the land and tame the tides, they cultivate courage, carry communities, and keep the economy moving. Beyond food security, we must also foster, favor, and fully care for the very hands that make it possible. In the end, agriculture is not just about harvestsโit is about honoring the hearts behind every harvest.