Some three villages in the municipality of Miagao, Iloilo are recipients of PHP20 million worth of projects each under the Local Government Support Fund-Support to Barangay Development Program (LGSF-SBDP) of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
Interior and Local Government Iloilo Provincial Director Teodora Sumagaysay, in her message following the groundbreaking ceremony of the farm-to-market road (FMR) in Barangay San Jose and turnover of non-infrastructure projects at the Justice Ramon B. Britanico Hall in the town’s poblacion on Friday, said peace can be achieved if the government is brought closer to the people and not by resorting to violence.
“The PHP20 million fund allocation answered a lot of concerns that are being faced by the barangays as identified in their barangay development plans. May it be infrastructure or non-infrastructures as long as it is the menu of the SBDP,” she added.
Barangays San Jose, Banbanan, and Wayang in Miagao are recipients of a total of six non-infrastructure and eight infrastructure projects.
In addition to FMR, San Jose was also a recipient of a hauling vehicle (mini-truck) while its rice processing complex with drier and rice mill is yet to be constructed.
Barangay Banbanan has identified for its projects a rice thresher and other farm equipment, acquisition of electric sewing machines with livelihood facility and amenities, and construction of post-harvest facility composed of rice drier and rice mill with amenities.
Barangay Wayang will have a post-harvest facility composed of rice drier and rice mill and purchase of a tractor and other pre-harvest equipment and facility.
Sumagaysay urged the recipients to continue spreading the message that the government takes care of its people by providing them with projects.
“Sometimes we need to stop and feel the presence of the government. Sometimes we are very busy but we need to stop and smell the roses and feel that our government really cares for us,” she added.
Iloilo Provincial Administrator Lawyer Dennis Ventilacion, who represented Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr., said the province has the biggest allocation of the LGSF-SBDP in the whole country.
The province this 2021 has 165 projects composed of 96 infrastructures and 69 non-infrastructures with an allocation of PHP720 million.
Philippine Army’s 61st Infantry Battalion (61IB) commanding officer Lt. Col. Harold Garcia said the events were considered as a “breakthrough” because they brought Miagao a “step closer in solving a long-standing problem, which is insurgency”.
He said that for at least two months their troops led the conduct of a community support program (CSP) in the recipient-barangays that paved the way for the implementation of the SBDP.
CSP is the tool of the Army that aims to bring peace and development in conflict-affected barangays and an initiative to bring the government closer to the people through an immediate delivery of basic services, especially to grassroots communities.
“With the two months that we stayed we are summing up to validate and confirm that these barangays are indeed cleared from insurgency,” he said.
The groundbreaking ceremony and turnover of non-infrastructure projects were joined by DILG Regional Director Juan Jovian Ingeniero, Engr. Romeo Andig of the Provincial Engineer’s Office, Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) Director Col. Adrian Acollador, Mayor Macario Napulan, and officials of recipient barangays. (PNA)
