With efforts of the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to build empowered communities, about a
million individuals from 553 barangays received various projects
through the region’s flagship program dubbed ARMM’s Health, Education,
Livelihood, Peace and Governance, and Synergy (ARMM-HELPS).
Since the program’s implementation in 2014, the regional government
has earmarked P6.2 billion for high-impact projects. ARMM Governor Mujiv
Hataman reiterated that the regional government continues to make
greater progress in improving the quality of the peoples’ lives, improve
their living environment, and create more development opportunities in
beneficiary communities.
Official data from ARMM-HELPS showed a total of 1,062 of 1,713
infrastructure projects targeted for construction were completed, 374 of
563 cooperatives were served, and 257 of 530 barangay halls were built.
“Projects for 2018 are on-going and we hope to implement all of these
before the transition to the new Bangsamoro entity,” Anwar Upahm,
ARMM-HELPS program manager said.
ARMM-HELPS is a convergence initiative of the regional government and
is regarded as the centerpiece of the Hataman administration. It was
established to achieve a more coordinated and focused intervention at
the barangay level and eventually to create maximum impact of services
delivered to the community.
Projects include provision of essential medicines, setting up of
birthing facilities, construction of barangay health stations and water
and sanitation projects, construction of community learning centers,
support to standard madrasah development program, and delivery of basic
livelihood and enterprising projects, among others.
Gov. Hataman said he is confident that before the new Bangsamoro
political entity comes in, the ARMM government has already helped
improve the lives of at least a million Bangsamoro people and has
strengthened local governance in the region.
“Ito naman talaga ang goal natin na maramdaman ng mga kababayan natin
na may gobyernong handang tumulong sa kanila,” Gov. Hataman added. The
projects that have not been completed since 2014, will be finished
within this year, said Upahm of ARMM-HELPS.
(Source: Bureau of Public Information-ARMM website)
Three hundred twenty one barangays in Bohol were recently declared
drug-cleared by the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA),
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and other members
of the Regional Oversight Committee (ROC).
Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) chairman Catalino Cuy and Bohol Governor
Edgar Chatto led the awarding of certificates to the chairmen of the
drug-cleared communities yesterday at the Bohol Cultural Center.
Chatto told the Manila Bulletin that the province originally
recommended 556 barangays as drug-cleared, but only 321 as of press time
were approved since the other barangays lacked the required
documentation for final endorsement.
“We will pursue and do some follow-up on the remaining 200 plus
barangays for the next batch of declaration of drug-cleared barangays,”
Chatto said.
Thorough monitoring
Chatto thanked the PDEA, DILG and ROC for painstakingly engaging and monitoring the barangays down to the ‘purok’ level.
The ROC is made up of the Central Visayas heads of the PDEA, DILG,
Philippine National Police (PNP) and Department of Health (DOH).
Chatto added that the challenge now is for the other barangays to be
cleared as well, while those already cleared have to maintain their
status.
DILG-Central Visayas OIC-Regional Director Loisella Lucino said that Bohol’s monitoring is done down to the ‘purok’ level.
She said the reporting includes all ‘puroks’ to identify and report drug users, even if the subject only used drug once.
“Our number of cleared barangays showed how serious we are in our
anti-drug programs involving our puroks and even at the
households,” Lucino said.
Multi-sectoral support
“Bohol is now the best-performing province in terms of barangay drug
clearing and, by percentage, has now the least drug affectation,” Chatto
declared.
Chatto cited the multi sector involvement in the province’s anti-drug program.
He lauded the Center for Drug Education and Counselling program
headed by Dr. Cesar Lopez and the Community-Based Drug Rehabilitation
Program-Without Walls (CBRP-WoW) that involves the church/religious
sector.
Galing Pook Award candidate
In a related development, the national Galing Pook Award evaluators
over the weekend assessed Bohol’s “Kontra Druga Para sa Pamilya” program
through the Countryside oDevelopment Program – Purok Power Movement
(CDP-PPM).
“ The Galling Pook Award has recognized our noteworthy
accomplishment, that’s why they came over to inspect and validate our
CDP-PPM, the CEDEC and the CBRP-WoW, said CEDEC head Dr. Cesar Lopez. (Minerva BC Newman)
(Source: Manila Bulletin). Photo credit loboc river bohol: www.panglao-bohol.com
Newly elected barangay officials in this city have
started their training/orientation on governance under the Department of
the Interior and Local Government.
The close to 2,000 trainees include Sangguniang Kabataan chairpersons from 180 barangays.
They will be trained by batch. In a three-day training/orientation, they will be taught on the following, among others:
* barangay legislation
* functions of the Peace and Order Council and the Anti-Drug Abuse Council
* procurement
* Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees
* planning
* budgeting
The
first batch including 140 trainees were trained from Wednesday to
Friday last week, according to DILG-Iloilo City director Ferdinand
Panes.
Panes said they hope to cover all 15 batches of trainees by October.
“We could not just give them advice piecemeal,” the DILG official said of the importance of the training.
The
DILG-Iloilo City coordinated with the Liga ng mga Barangay and the
Iloilo City government in coming up with the training design based on a
module from the DILG regional office.
Meanwhile Panes warned barangay officials about unauthorized organizations offering trainings on legislation.
There
was one that coordinated with the DILG central office but did not wait
for the guidelines before conducting the training, Panes said without
naming the organization.
Panes warned about faulty information
that may be discussed during such trainings. “Only accredited
institutions are allowed to conduct trainings,” he stressed. (With PNA)
Source: Panay News. Photo credit: DILG-Iloilo City
