More villages enroll in Star Barangay program

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Another batch of villages in the City of San Fernando has enrolled in the City Government’s Sukatan ng Tagumpay ng Aktibo at Responsableng Barangay, or Star Barangay program.

City Planning Officer Engr. Fernando Limbitco said the barangays of Telabastagan, Lara, Del Pilar, Quebiawan, Malino, San Nicolas, Pandaras, Baliti, Sta. Teresita, Pulung Bulu and Del Carmen are already being processed under the program’s “Masigasig” stage, or the initial phase of the localized version of the Performance Governance System (PGS).

He said the new batch joined the original 10 villages of Sindalan, Calulut, Maimpis, Alasas, Magliman, San Isidro, San Pedro, San Jose, Sta. Lucia and Dela Paz Norte, which have been inducted into the “compliant” stage.

“The barangays of Juliana and Dela Paz Sur are also currently undergoing their ‘revalida.’ We are very happy to note that more and more of our 35 barangays are enrolling under the Star Program, for what they saw as its effectiveness in governance,” Limbitco said.

Under the Star Barangay Program, those “graduating” from the four stages -- initial, compliant, proficient and institutionalized -- receive incentives like P300,000, P500,000, P1 million and P3 million worth of projects, respectively.

“It’s not so much on the incentives because under the Star Barangay Program, their respective barangay development plans become aligned with the city’s Comprehensive Development Plan. They also get to act as business units who engage the participation of the private sector. Through the program, they get to be less dependent on the City Government through the organization of their respective Barangay Development Councils who implement the barangay development plan in partnership with the private sector, much like the Multi-Sectoral Governance Council,” Limbitco said.

Through the program, which started in 2011, he said barangays get to share responsibilities with the city as mandated by the Local Government Code and maximize and put into effective use resources like their parts of the 20 percent development fund.

“By and large, the beauty of the Star Barangay program is its safeguards and systems of good governance. By cascading the program as a localized version of the PGS, we get to be more efficient in delivering basic services for Fernandinos. We are optimistic that more of our barangays would enroll in this program,” he said.