BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO – Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO) chief Dr. Ildefonso Toledo maintained there was nothing irregular in the implementation of the Rice Development Program of the province.
There were only simple lapses in the documentation, he insisted.
Toledo and program coordinator Carmelo Oren had been charged with neglect of duty and grave misconduct, respectively.
The provincial agriculturist does not believe that stocks of rice and fertilizers bought by the provincial government were not distributed to farmers.
He claimed to have talked to farmer leaders himself and confirmed from them that they had received the stocks.
“I never cast doubt on my personnel. We have been together for a long time and I have not seen them committing irregularity,” Toledo said.
“Sa akon lang ya, I accept and with all honestly, kulang lang gid sa documentation. For whatever reason, natabu ina. I could not speak on behalf of Mr. Oren,” he added.
RISK OF A MANAGER
As he respected the decision of the governor that they be charged administratively, Toledo surmised that it is normal perhaps for a manager like him to take responsibility for the actions of his personnel.
“I understand kon ano matabu sa program implementation, as program head, malamita ka gid ya. You could not escape from the responsibility,” he intoned.
Toledo considered this as a lesson learned – that he should improve.
For him, this eventuality is a test of time for him to mature as a leader.
ADJUSTMENT
Toledo disclosed that he had made some adjustments in terms of organization, system and monitoring in the implementation of the programs and projects such as the rice programs.
He said he himself will be hands-on, like he did in previous program implementations, especially now that they will have another distribution of stocks for the rehabilitation assistance in the province.
This is also to make sure that documentation is intact, he added
Toledo said there is also a need for such adjustment because from June to December, the Provincial Agriculture Office will be one of the pilot departments for the result-based management called Strategic Performance Management System which will monitor every target and performance of each individual personnel under his office.
Toledo said every personnel will be most aware that every single contribution they have really counts and contributes to the solution of the problem./PN
