KALIBO, Aklan -- The town of Numancia has been adjudged as the country’s Best Local Government Unit (LGU) (One Town, One Product OTOP) implementer.

Numancia will be awarded today during the National OTOP Congress at the Philippine Trade Training Center in Pasay City, Manila.

Numancia Mayor Elverita Templonuevo said she will receive the award together with her husband, former Mayor Ernesto I. Templonuevo who initiated the town’s OTOP project, the Vermicast Organic Fertilizer.

Cooperative President Razel Gomez, Municipal Agriculturist Brenda Marte and Philomena Valencia of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Aklan will also attend the awarding.

Mayor Templonuevo said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will personally hand the award.

The OTOP is a program of Arroyo which is patterned from the One Village, One Product (OVOP) of Japan.

Under this program, towns will identify a product which they could develop as their common product or enterprise.

In Aklan, all towns have their identified OTOPs. Kalibo has the loom-woven piña cloth; Banga has its fruits; Nabas has its bariw products; and Lezo its pottery.

Mayor Templonuevo said the town’s OTOP, Vermicast Organic Fertilizer, has a great impact on poverty alleviation, the people’s livelihood and the environment.

“We can already see the effects of El Niño. Every Numanciahanon could benefit from this program, the town being an agricultural area. I challenge every Numanciahanon – we need this organic fertilizer to help Mother Earth, to improve our quality of life by eating organically-produced vegetables, fruits and rice,” Mayor Templonuevo said.

The vermicast method, which utilizes earthworms, also helps much in the municipality’s waste management program.

Before bagging the prestigious national award, Numancia bested other provincial entries in Region 6, emerging the regional winner.

The three Visayan regions - Central, Eastern and Western - were then clustered.
Numancia also emerged as the Island Winner in the Visayas.(Venus G. Villanueva/PIA/PN)