communities across the region.
Beyond its breathtaking landscapes, Eastern Visayas is laden with exceptional leaders and changemakers who create opportunities, inspire others, and leave their communities stronger than ever. To recognize the exemplary individuals whose work have made a lasting impact across the region, the Department of Tourism Region VIII, in partnership with Tingog Partylist, held the inaugural Ten Outstanding Eastern Visayan Awards last July 31.
This first feature spotlights five Outstanding Eastern Visayans in Arts, Tourism and Cultural Heritage; Environmental Advocacy; Faith, Religion and Philanthropy; Public Service and Governance; and Youth Leadership and Community Development who have uplifted lives and inspired future generations across the region.
Keeping Heritage Alive Through Music
For Outstanding Eastern Visayan for Arts, Tourism, and Cultural Heritage, Dr. Stephen Q. Lagarde, preserving and promoting Eastern Visayan culture is about more than safeguarding traditions. It is about bringing communities together through the stories and songs that define their shared identity.
A cultural worker, educator, author, and choral musician from Tacloban City, Dr. Lagarde has spent decades championing the region’s musical heritage. In 2021, he established Project Kanta Binisayá, an initiative that has grown into a movement celebrating Eastern Visayan music. Through instructional books, original choral arrangements, and the Kanta Binisayá Choral Collection found on the Singapore-based Muziksea, he has helped introduce Eastern Visayan music to audiences beyond the region and preserve the region’s cultural heritage.
His collaborations with the Philippine Madrigal Singers, along with regional choral festivals and competitions, have further elevated the region’s musical traditions on both the national and international stage. A recording of Kanta Binisayá heritage songs is found on Spotify as one of the recording albums of the Madz.
Saving Seas, Sustaining Lives
Outstanding Eastern Visayan for Environmental Protection and Sustainability, Ms. Margarita T. de la Cruz, proved that caring for the environment also means caring for the people whose lives depend on it.
A fisheries expert and environmental advocate from Northern Samar, Ms. de la Cruz founded the Guiuan Development Foundation, Inc. (GDFI) in 1988 to advance marine conservation and promote sustainable livelihood across Eastern Visayas. Through more than 30 marine sanctuaries, community-based coastal resource management, along with local government and community partnerships, she empowered coastal communities to become active stewards of their natural resources. After Typhoon Yolanda, she helped families rebuild their livelihoods through sustainable means by introducing seaweed farming initiatives.
Beyond conservation, Ms. de la Cruz has played a role in shaping future environmental leaders as a professor, later a dean, at the University of the Philippines Tacloban. To this day, her work on mangrove mapping and blue carbon assessments continues to strengthen climate resilience planning for vulnerable coastal municipalities. Throughout her career, she has shown that lasting environmental progress begins with empowered communities.
From Hardship to Hope: How a Leader Builds Progress with Compassion
The son of a mangagawil sa sapa, Outstanding Eastern Visayan for Public Service and Governance, Honorable Mayor Atty. Norman D. Sabdao turned personal hardship into a blueprint for compassionate leadership. Now in his third term as mayor of San Miguel, Leyte, Atty. Sabdao led the municipality’s transformation from a fourth-class to a third-class municipality through disciplined, inclusive governance. But beyond economic growth, his greatest milestones lie in the lives he has improved.
He redefined disaster response and provided dignified shelter for evacuees through the pioneering Family Hub Evacuation Center. His administration brought clean water to over 7,000 households and established a 15-bed municipal hospital with no balance billing. He provided scholarships to over 3,000 students to ensure that young people would not have to struggle for education as he once did. Mayor Norman has received multiple recognitions, including the Seal of Good Financial Housekeeping, the National Award of the Seal of Good Local Governance, and the National Award for Gawad KALASAG.
Mayor Norman reminds us that compassion is the foundation of progress and hope for an entire community.
Beyond Resilience: Putting Advocacy into Action
A survivor of Typhoon Yolanda, Outstanding Eastern Visayan for Youth Leadership and Community Development, Aron Sedrick C. Caminong witnessed the devastation of disaster and the quiet heroism of communities rebuilding from the ground up.
Recognized as the 2025 Most Outstanding Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Chairperson of Tacloban City, Caminong transformed those lived experiences into a lifelong commitment to public service and youth empowerment. Becoming a staunch advocate of access to education, he turned an unused storage space into a community learning center and established the Paglaum Youth Hub. The space offered students free access to tools and educational resources, removing the barriers that stood in the way of learning. What began as a local initiative has since been recognized for its approach to youth empowerment, becoming a finalist in the Ten Outstanding UN SDG Awards 2026.
In 2023, he launched Project Urostorya, an ongoing youth education and dialogue initiative that empowers young people through conversations on health and well-being, climate action, leadership, civic engagement, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. As a champion of disaster resilience, environmental stewardship, and humanitarian service, he spearheaded the Urban Bayanihan Earth Month Summit. The initiative brought together Eastern Visayan youth leaders to strengthen climate action, disaster preparedness, and community resilience.
He also revived community pride through the Pasundayag Syete Kwatro festival, providing hundreds of young athletes and artists with a platform to showcase their talents each year. Humble, dedicated, and a visionary, Caminong’s leadership is grounded on a simple conviction: communities become stronger when young people are given the chance to learn, serve, and lead.
Faithfully Serving the Place He Calls Home
Raised in Maripipi, Biliran, Outstanding Eastern Visayan for Faith, Religion, and Philanthropy Aldrin C. Norio’s success was measured by how much he could give back to the island he calls home. A nursing graduate and social worker, Norio has led multiple humanitarian programs—from Typhoon Yolanda response and recovery efforts in Western Leyte to providing strategic support for multi-donor-funded early recovery projects in Ukraine, where he now resides.
Driven by a profound sense of social responsibility, Norio leveraged his professional expertise into life-changing local initiatives for the people of Maripipi. There, he supported the local government’s home-based care program for vulnerable senior citizens, who were sick, living alone, or abandoned. He organized a community medical mission that brought volunteer doctors and healthcare professionals from Manila to the island, providing safe, free medical circumcision to dozens of young boys. He also lent his expertise by facilitating a capacity-building program on sustainable supplemental feeding and giving talks to local youth, encouraging them to take active roles in the community.
For Norio, his greatest calling was to serve the island that raised him. By generously sharing his gifts, knowledge, and compassion to uplift others, he became a living testament that the truest measure of success is the impact you leave on the community.
Outstanding in Service, Rooted in Community
Though their paths are different, these five Outstanding Eastern Visayans are united by a common purpose: to serve beyond themselves. Each of them has transformed conviction into meaningful action, proving that true community building is forged by resilience, compassion, and dedication.
Their stories remind us that the true wealth of the region lies in the fierce, unyielding grace of its people. Through their leadership and unwavering service, these changemakers continue to shape communities that are more resilient, inclusive, and hopeful.
