AS THE Province of Davao Oriental celebrates 51 years of steady progress and development, Davao Oriental Governor Nelson Dayanghirang reflects on his State of the Province Address the accomplishments of his administration within the past two years.
In his years in office, Dayanghirang continues to steer the province’s development direction, taking off from the concrete foundations of development already laid down by the previous administration.
By advancing a slate of development programs, Dayanghirang continues to pursue development by devising a new Local Development Strategy – the NLD or Nagkakaisang Lingkod-Bayan ng Davao Oriental which he adopted in practically all his development programs, believing that true development can only be achieved through unity of all development stakeholders.
With this, he aims to make the government’s presence felt by the people by propelling government agencies into action, demonstrating a compassionate kind of public service that actively reaches out to all.
Flagship program
The program called “Nagkakaisang Lingkod-Bayan ng Davao Oriental Barangay Outreach Caravan” which was launched in 2016, has already reached out to 249,073 beneficiaries in 72 out of 183 villages.
A comprehensive program that cuts across various sectors in the effort to address the communities’ difficulty in accessing to basic services and development project, the caravan offers a range of free government services, which include medical, legal, and livelihood services and distribution of free goods, among many others. Having gained positive response from communities, the Outreach Caravan is being benchmarked by other local government units (LGUs).
Peace and order
Forging a strong partnership with the Philippine Army, the peace and development programs in the province has resulted in the surrender of 136 members of Communist New People’s Army since 2016. The successful anti-insurgency program has also resulted in the mass surrender of 1,135 members of the underground mass organizations of the Communist group.
Many more rebels have surrendered as the local government is strengthening even more the operation of the Capitol-run Happy Home, a halfway house for former rebels that offers holistic services to the rebels for their complete reintegration to society.
War against drugs
The Provincial Government’s intensified campaign against illegal drugs has resulted to the declaration of 148 villages and eight local government units as drug-cleared. The Nagkahiusang Lumulupyo Kontra Droga program has currently enrolled a total of 5,564 drug reformists. To date, a total of 1,460 drug reformists have already graduated from the program as the provincial government has successfully completed the construction of the first ever Drug Reformation Center in the province called “Balay Silangan” that would provide a comprehensive community-based rehabilitation program for drug reformists that would prepare them for their reintegration to their families and communities.
Agriculture
Since 2016, the Provincial Government’s Pagkain at Kita Sustainable Agriculture Village Enterprise Program has already benefitted a total of 57,417 farmers and 3,548 fishers. Farm lands have also been maximized, with a total of 79,142 hectares of idle lands now being productively planted with various cash crops. Being conferred by the Department of Agriculture (DA) as the national Outstanding Rice Achiever province for 2017, Davao Oriental is well on its way to become 100 percent rice-sufficient. This year, the province was awarded as the regional Champion Province in the DA’s Gawad Saka and Rice Achievers awards.
Infrastructure investments
The governor says that under his watch, many more farm-to-market roads have already been built as he is now pushing for the construction and concreting of several provincial roads.
Eleven road-concreting projects now reached at least fifty kilometers, among them is the P147 million road project in the town of Boston; the P9 million road project in the town of Baganga; the P8 million road project in the town of Cateel; the P216 million road project in the town of Lupon; the P86 million road project in the City of Mati; the P27 million road project in the town of Cateel; the P246 million Badas-Culian-Sanghay road project in the City of Mati; and the P105 million Dahican-Bobon road project in Mati City.
He also pointed out that many more potable water systems have already been constructed especially in the geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas in the province. Moreover, the provincial government also vows to enhance its revenue collection as it is now updating its Local Revenue Code.
Sole good governance awardee
The province being the only winner in the Davao Region for the good governance awards has truly brought an enormous pride to the people of Davao Oriental.
Dayanghirang vows to continue and strengthen even more the implementation of cutting-edge innovation programs.
“Let us continue moving our beloved province forward in the spirit of harmony and solidarity,” says Governor Dayanghirang. (PR)