“Cavi”, a road safety advocate character for Bayani ng Kalsada or “Bayani Ka” created by the Metro Pacific Tollways South (MPT South), took home a Silver Anvil Award, the company’s 4th trophy for the country’s “Oscars of Public Relations”.
On the 58th Anvil Awards Gabi ng Parangal held at Newport City on Wednesday, March 8, the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) recognized MPT South’s ‘Bayani Ka Activity Book’ as an outstanding PR program under the category of PR Tools: Publication in creating a venue among children to impart knowledge on road safety, mitigating incidents of the Limited Access Facility Act (R.A. 2000) along its toll road network Manila-Cavite Expressway (CAVITEX), its C5 Link Segment, and Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX).
MPT South introduced “Cavi”, a 7-year-old grade school student and the main character of the comic-inspired book, who learned road safety practices and went as far as sharing the practices with his friends in school, thus equipping them with tools on how to better navigate the roads.
The book also comprises of activity pages like quizzes, coloring pages, word searches, and others that will help boost children’s developmental skills. MPT South was able to produce 2,500 copies and over 740 physical copies were distributed to different public schools in MPT South’s neighboring communities in Metro Manila (Paranaque, Pasay, and Taguig), Cavite (Kawit, Silang, Bacoor), and Laguna (Santa Rosa and Binan). To date, the company continues to circulate and partner with children’s centers and public libraries in CAVITEX and CALAX communities.
“Children ages 5 to 12 years old are one of the more vulnerable segments in the topic of roadway safety so we develop the Bayani Ka activity book to emphasize their group. It is an honor to take home another award from the country’s most prestigious award-giving body for us Public Relations practitioners. This inspires us to continue and to produce more compelling campaigns to address social and safety issues in our expressway,” said Ms. Arlette Capistrano, MPT South’s Vice President for Communication and Stakeholder Management Division.
Through the years, MPT South has bagged the following Anvil Awards: Silver Anvil for Drayberks (2019), a social advocacy promoting road safety; Silver Anvil for Sights of South (2020), a corporate calendar promoting tourism in MPT South’s toll road network; Silver Anvil for the Silang East Interchange Opening PR Campaign (2021); and now for 2022, Silver Anvil for the Bayani Ka Activity Book.
Presented annually by the PRSP, the Anvil Awards is considered as the symbol of excellence in Public Relations in the Philippines. This year, almost 400 entries from about 800 participants from the private sector, government, academe, and other industry, vied for the recognition.