CATBALOGAN CITY – SSU TBI-LAMBAT hosted the very first Catbalogan City Hackathon 2021 at the MGrand Royale last October 14-15, 2021 wherein thirteen (13) teams composed of forty-three students and twenty (23) professionals kindle ‘creativity’ in creating viable solutions to the most pressing challenges and problems in the City of Catbalogan through a 24-hour hacking marathon along COVID-19 Management, Waste Management, E-Commerce, Transportation, Climate Change, Education, Centralized Communication System, Health, Smart City, and Agriculture.
Hackers, programmers and other experts from Samar State University (SSU), Samar Colleges Inc. (SC), Eastern Visayas Regionals Science High School (EVRSHS), Saint Mary’s College of Catbalogan (SMCC) and other institutions created a team to develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in the form of mobile applications, IoT, web development, or any software solutions.
Engr. Raven C. Tabiongan, Ms. Teresa H. Enalisan II, Mr. Peter Anthony P. Dacaynos, and Dr. Robert R. Flora served as mentors during the coding marathon.
After 24 hours hacking, teams pitched their products before a panel of judges namely: Hon. City Mayor Dexter M. Uy, Hon. City Councilor Stephany M. Uy-Tan, DTI Provincial Director Meilo C. Macabare, BBCS Software Development Solutions Department Head, Mr. Ray M. Bumanglag and DICT Focal Person, Ms. Claire P. Fernandez.
Winning teams bagged a total of Php200,000.00 cash prize and special prizes from BBCS Data Systems.
An unexpected announcement by our City Mayor Dexter M. Uy after the awarding ceremony made the event momentous. Non-winning teams were given Php10,000.00 each by the LGU of Catbalogan City.
SSU University President Dr. Marilyn D. Cardoso, 2019 Hackathon Winner Rudio M. Cabrillas, Senior Technology Transfer Officer of DOST-PCIEERD Ms. Liezl Sueño, IPTBDO Director Dr. Vivian L. Moya, SSU Vice President for Research and Extension Services Dr. Ronald L. Orale, City Councilor, Hon. Stephany Uy-Tan, DOST Provincial Director Ms. Roselle Gopo represented Regional Director Engr. Ernesto M. Granada, Provincial Director Meilo C. Macabare, BBCS Mr. Ray Bumanglag and Ms. Claire P. Fernandez gave their messages during the event.
The event was made possible by the Local Government of Catbalogan thru Hon. Mayor Dexter M. Uy for a more than 1M fund support extended to SSU TBI-Lambat. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Information, Communication and Technology-Visayas Cluster2, and BBCS Data Systems were also instrumental for the success of the event.