LGU Kalibo Awarded as Provincial Learning Hub in Volunteerism

By Maria Solita Zaldivar-Guzman

KALIBO, Aklan- The Local Government Unit of Kalibo has been hailed as the National Awardee in the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA) 2025 Search for Outstanding Volunteers – Local Government Unit Category, earning the title of Provincial Learning Hub in Volunteerism for the Visayas Region.

The national awarding ceremony was held on December 16, 2025, at the Ayala Museum in Makati City, where Kalibo stood among the country’s top champions of volunteerism. This recognition is anchored on the passage of Ordinance No. 2024-0057, sponsored by Sangguniang Bayan Member Matt Aaron P. Guzman, which established the KALIBOluntirs Volunteerism Hub, a centralized platform for organizing, training, and coordinating volunteers.

The ordinance was complemented by an executive order issued by Mayor Juris Bautista Sucro, officially creating the Municipal Volunteerism Council to operationalize the hub and oversee volunteer programs across all sectors. What sets Kalibo apart is not simply the presence of volunteers, but the decision to institutionalize volunteerism as a governing framework. Through the hub, disaster response teams, social welfare volunteers, youth organizations, health advocates, cultural workers, environmental groups, and civil society organizations now function cohesively under one system.

Service in Kalibo is no longer sporadic or personality-driven; it is planned, documented, and sustained. The PNVSCA award recognizes Kalibo as a national model for structured volunteer engagement, highlighting how community service can be enhanced through effective policy, leadership, and coordination.

As a designated learning hub, Kalibo is now tasked to mentor other LGUs, sharing its model with municipalities and cities across the Visayas and beyond.

For Kalibo, this milestone is a testament that good governance is measured not only by infrastructure or revenue, but by how a community chooses to serve. And for the volunteers who have dedicatedly worked for years behind the scenes, this national award affirms what they have always lived out—that service, grounded in structure, sincerity, and purpose, has the power to spark inspiration and touch lives, creating change far beyond expectation.

Mabuhay, KALIBOluntirs. Padayon, Kalibo!