By Ven rebo Arigo
Misleading issues by those obviously wanting him out in 2013 have strengthened Gov. Edgar Chatto’s resolve to keep capitol’s purok power prosperity teams (ProTeams) where they are needed---and needed most.
The governor said he is committed to serve the people and no politically-charged or -misguided opposing moves can rock his public vow.
Barangay leaders in Carmen, a Third District town, maintained that development interventions brought to their place by the ProTeams are useful even if they were pulled out at the whim of their mayor.
They believed that Mayor Conchita de los Reyes has been made to mistake the province’s peace and development program for something that can affect her politics.
During his weekly Kita ug Ang Gobernador live broadcast on Friday, the Bohol leader declared his constant promotion of understanding, not division.
But this cannot prevent him from correcting misconceptions, intentional or not, because the province’s Countryside Development Program: Purok Power Movement (CDP-PPM) is founded in good faith, aimed at people’s good.
Of the province’s 1,109 barangays, 56 have been targeted as pilot areas for CDP-PPM interventions by the ProTeams based on criteria that include high poverty indicators and peace concerns.
For their parts, 802nd Infantry Brigade commander Col. John Bonafos and Philippine National Police (PNP) Provincial Director Constantino Paul Barot, Jr. pledged to keep their agencies’ essential roles in the peace and prosperity mission.
De los Reyes was reported to have barked at the police chief of her town and commanded him to get orders from her, not from the provincial PNP head.
Barot reminded of the law against the abuse of power delegated to the local chief executive over the police, or such an authority by deputation can be withdrawn.
The governor highly regarded a mayor as LGU ship captain, but for the local chief executive to tell the policemen not to believe their duly-constituted superior and obey lawful higher orders is intolerable.
Lt. Gen. Ralph Villanueva, chief of the Central Command of the Philippine Army, commended the peace and development efforts thru the CDP-PPM of the province which he likes to be replicated in other areas of the country.
The feedbacks he received from his men in Bohol have been so positive and encouraging, said Villanueva who himself met with the governor here yesterday.
OFFICIAL DATA ON POVERTY
While she had the ProTeams pulled out of her town, the Carmen mayor even went sarcastic in suggesting to have them instead brought to Balilihan, the governor’s town, because her place is already “progressive and peaceful.â€
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) records on high poverty indicators however suggest that De los Reyes should rethink.
The DSWD National Household Targeting System (NHTS) survey on the high poverty indicators in Bohol ranks Carmen at 12th while Tagbilaran City is even in top 20. Balilihan is ranked 31.
The DSWD poverty map for KALAHI interventions also places Carmen at top 12th while Balilihan is at 27th.
The KALAHI is one of the national government programs to reduce high poverty incidence.
Chatto said he had then even asked the DSWD why his town has been excluded from KALAHI assistance because more national government responses to the needs of the LGUs are always welcomed.
The DSWD data have also become bases for the purok power interventions by the ProTeams.
Chatto said official records have been used to avoid the hit-and-miss consequence, which can usually happen to government programs which are not well planned.
Barangay officials, even teachers, thanked capitol for the water pumps for the puroks and the high school in Montesuerte, Carmen delivered thru the CDP-PPM and its ProTeams.
The barangay captain of Nueva Estrella in Bien Unido, a Second District town, cited the strengthening of their puroks, Botica sa barangay, dispersal of native chicken and other livelihood aids as initial ProTeam interventions.
The same interventions have brought a “big difference†to their community in Pangpang, Ubay, according to a barangay nutrition scholar.
Captain Mercia Denoso of Doljo, Panglao said the CDP-PPM and its workers are elemental to government’s warm presence in the smallest unit of the community.
CRIME FACTOR
According to the PNP, Carmen is also in the top 10 LGUs based on crime volumes, which explains why the peace and development program as integrated in the CDP-PPM brought the ProTeams to the place.
Barot said Ubay, Talibon and Trinidad, among others, join Carmen in this bracket, although Tagbilaran City remains Bohol’s “crime capital.â€
There have been periods when Tagbilaran City contributed over 50% of the crime volumes in Bohol, Barot said.
While their town still has unattended concerns, some Carmenanons hinted that the city administration must have failed in curbing the city criminality so that their lady mayor wants power base at capitol in Tagbilaran in 2013.
JUDGMENT CALL: BOHOL’ GOOD
Being their top leader, the good of the Boholanos is his judgment call, declared Chatto.
On De los Reyes’ barb that it is Balilihan, not Carmen, that needs the ProTeams, the governor said they are not in a competition so they do not compare.
Chatto is not convinced in putting one up to make others small.
He rallied his fellow Balilinhons not to be discouraged by the insinuations belittling their gains and the attacks on his leadership of the province.
“It comes natural because I come from you,†said the Balilihan son.
The governor said what is supreme now is that “we serve one province and make Bohol the best way we want it to become.â€
Bohol is strong in tourism and luring more investments, but their trickling effect down the barangays is not an overtime job and even the economists understand this, according to the governor.
Chatto said that is why such innovation as the CDP-PPM has been done to help secure inclusive growth that considers poverty index.
He reiterated a leadership that nurtures understanding, but which could at the same time not fear to right wrong.
The governor sounded firmer to sustain the purok empowerment as an approach to poverty reduction after the mission of the ProTeams was assailed by his political detractors even during lent.
Chatto said there are always good reasons for his silence and sound, and that even silence has a sound of its own.
While others may seem like facial whiteners for the political preservation of certain quarters to look fair, the governor said he has his own mind and he knows when to talk.
Chatto turned the issues around as an opportunity to serve more, a strategy for community growth and an empowered, peaceful, prosperous and happy people.
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Topic: Gov Edgar Chatto Pushes for Bohol Development (Read 1861 times)