00:00The bravery, the resilience, the ingenuity, and compassion of the Filipinos always prevails,
00:08especially in times of crises.
00:11We are proud of these qualities, though sometimes born out of harsh necessity.
00:18We already know that the Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the
00:22world.
00:23The Philippines has frequently been visited by typhoons, exacerbated now by climate change,
00:30and is situated in the Pacific Ring of Fire, as evidenced now by what we are experiencing
00:37with the Canaon eruption.
00:40And we are known, therefore, for volcanic and seismic activities.
00:45During the first half of the year, the first crisis that we faced was El Niño, where we
00:52had six months, there was no rain that came down to the Philippines from November of last
01:01year, extending into the second, even the third quarter of this year.
01:08Now we have the typhoons that have come with the anticipation of La Niña.
01:16In mid-November, now the eruption and continuing unrest of Canaon has covered its neighboring
01:21places with ashfall.
01:23And all of this compels us to establish a culture of preparedness and institutionalized
01:29disaster risk reduction and management practices across all sectors.
01:35Today, we honor and give recognition to individuals, LGUs, academic institutions, medical facilities,
01:46NGOs, and other organizations who have demonstrated the unwavering commitment towards achieving
01:52resilience.
01:54Thank you, and congratulations to all of you.
01:56They are our awardees for today.
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