ILOILO – Three villages in the municipality of Miag-ao are recipients of P20-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).
Peace can be achieved if the government is brought closer to the people, stressed Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) – Iloilo director Teodora Sumagaysay during the groundbreaking for a farm-to-market road (FMR) in Barangay San Jose and turnover of non-infrastructure projects at the Justice Ramon B. Britanico Hall in Miag-ao’s poblacion on March 11.
“The P20-million fund allocation answered a lot of concerns faced by the barangays as identified in their development plans, may these be infrastructure or non-infrastructure,” said Sumagaysay.
Barangays San Jose, Banbanan and Wayang in Miag-ao were recipients of a total of six non-infrastructure and eight infrastructure projects.
In addition to the 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 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 a rice drier and rice mill. A tractor and other pre-harvest equipment and facility would also be purchased.
Sumagaysay urged the recipients to continue spreading the message that the government takes care of its people by providing them with projects.
“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.
Provincial Administrator Dennis Ventilacion, who represented Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr., said the province had the biggest allocation of the LGSF-SBDP in the whole country.
The province for 2021 had 165 projects composed of 96 infrastructures and 69 non-infrastructures with an allocation ofP720 million.
Philippine Army’s 61st Infantry Battalion (61IB) commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Harold Garcia said the projects were considered a “breakthrough” because they brought Miag-ao 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 community support programs (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)
