Essay writing contest on autonomy winner bared

By Maritess B. Beñas

BANGUED, Abra – Gov. Eustaquio P. Bersamin gave out prizes in cash and in kind to winners of the essay writing contest on autonomy early last week.

Inspired by the big number of participants in the essay writing contest on autonomy in the Cordillera, the governor gave away P5,000.00 each to the eight winners plus a laptop computer to the grand winner.

The board of judges declared Bernadette Fidelina C. Gonzales, a nursing student of the Abra Valley Colleges the grand winner.

The laptop computer is a bonus prize to the Gonzales, which the governor said will be used by everyone in the Nursing Department who needs it.

The essay writing contest on regional autonomy is one of the activities of the provincial government of Abra in celebration of the Civil Service Month celebration for September.

The winning write-ups were chosen by the selection committee tasked review the entries and segregate them into two categories, the first on pro-autonomy, and the second on Anti-Autonomy.

Aside from the usual criteria in selecting the winning entries which includes among others, the organization and content, grammar and composition, relevance and originality, the committee took particular note on the independent concepts, views and ideas of the contestant as a student and not from the ideas and concepts of professionals, the adults and the government employees.

Since the start of the information dissemination and consultation on the 3rd draft of the proposed Organic Act on regional autonomy for the Cordilleras, Bersamin has been encouraging students to actively participate in the deliberations through debates and writing contests such as this essay writing contest.

The governor sponsored this event in order to elicit popular views and opinions on the benefits and disadvantages of regional autonomy so that the people will be educated and be able to decide intelligently before voting during the plebiscite when the time to make the final decision comes.

Aside from AVC, the contestants came from the different colleges in Bangued namely the Abra State Institute of Sciences and Technology (ASIST) – Bangued and Lagangilang campuses; the Data Center College of the Philippines and the Divine Word College of Bangued.