Emano attains 10 programs

MISAMIS Oriental Governor Yevgeny Vincente Emano said Tuesday that he has achieved 10 programs with his 100 days of holding office.

Emano presented his report in Gingoog City in a crowd of some 1,500 people from the different sectors of the province while provincial administrator Edmundo Pacamalan Jr. simultaneously relayed Emano’s achievements at the Provincial Capitol compound.

Emano chose Gingoog City to emphasize its potentials that has been ignored for the longest time.

He said formulating the local risk reduction management plan (LRRMP) for the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council (PDRRMC) has been the first program on his list.

He issued Executive Order 2013-001, allocating five percent of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) for disaster preparedness following Republic Act (RA) 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010.

Emano said the formulated and approved “BAMBIMisOr” (Better Adaptation and Management of Disasters for a Blissful Protection and Improvement of the people in Misamis Oriental) Contingency Plan 2013 would prepare the province for calamities.

Emano discovered that for the last nine years, Misamis Oriental never produced a definitive plan to prepare the province in the event of calamities.

The World Disaster Report 2012 of the World Bank (WB) identified the Philippines as the third disaster-prone country in the world after the tiny Pacific island nations of Tonga and Vanuatu.

He said the WB study classified the province high risk as one of the provinces for El Niño–induced droughts and temperature changes affecting the lives of thousands of people in the province, especially the fishing and farming sectors.

He also signed EO 2013-006 that established the provincial disaster risk reduction management office to ensure programs and projects are implemented.

Ela

Emano formulate his second program, the executive-legislative agenda (Ela), which is a tool for transparency and accountability and convergence for interactive collaboration and venue for consensus between executive and legislative departments and other stakeholders.

Ela is a planning-workshop designed to make a common development roadmap to harmonize the planning, investment programming and budget and revenue administration for sectoral and cross-sectoral concerns.

He said the executive and legislative branches should work harmoniously rather than antagonistic with each other at the detriment of the constituents.

Emano stressed the drafting of the provincial development and physical framework plan (PDPFP).

The second draft was submitted on September 30, 2013 consisting of the completion of the issues, goals, objectives, targets, strategy, programs, projects, and activities to ensure linkage between planning environment and vision.

Tourism summit

The recently concluded provincial tourism summit held at Duka Bay over the weekend is his fourth accomplishment for his 100 days.

Emano said tourism is a critical element of the quest for economic growth of the province.

Eight tourist spots have been identified which at least 13 investors and companies have signified to participate in the public-private-partnerships.

The Steag coal-fired power plant has earmarked P13 million to support this program. The money is part of the proceeds from its electricity sales (1 centavo per kwh) set aside to support various development program in the province.

Likewise, the Tourism Infrastructure Economic Zone Authority (Tieza), the corporate arm of the Department of Tourism, represented by its CEO Mark Lapid, has signified their commitment to invest in the priority lists of tourism destination of the province.

A total of P113 million for next year’s tourism projects coming from the province’s partners have been generated from that summit.

Local peace talks

The fifth on his list is the creation of the localized peacetalks by the religious sector in the province.

Emano said the program aims at answering to human-induced incidents rooted in socio-economic inequalities.

He started it by talking with some religious sector leaders and getting their commitment to explore the consensual approach to build stable and enduring peace.

Crafting lumad program

His sixth is the crafting of a program for indigenous people’s (IP) cultures, tradition and knowledge systems, in which Emano recognizes the value of the lumads to achieve the eco-tourism programs of the province.

The program will be focused on IP education, youth initiatives, preservation of culture, learn new skills for their livelihood activities, improvement of access to basic medical health care services and utilization of their cultural system for conflict resolution.

The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) helped in crafting the said IP program.

Misortel

Solving the problem of the MIsamis Oriental Telephone System (Misortel) is Emano’s seventh program.

A possible merger with Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Co. will help Misortel recover from the years of mismanagement.

Emano significant changes have already been introduced and felt at Misortel nowadays such as increase of income and collection to cover cost of payment of salaries and trust liabilities like the GSIS, PhilHealth, Pag-ibig and others.

New jail

Emano’s plan for the relocation of the Misamis Oriental Provincial Jail (MOPJ) has been met with positive response from the Municipal Government of Initao.

Emano signed another Executive Order 2013-008 for the planning, operation and management of MOPJ and appointed the jail warden, budget, treasury, accountant, PPDO, PEO, and legal office to constitute the team for MOPJ’s relocation.

Streamlining of working force

Streamlining of the Provincial Government’s working force is Emano’s other priority.

Emano said he wanted that in his first 100 days, he would be able to identify whether the provincial government is having more employees than what it needs.

As of October 5, the provincial human resource management office estimated the inventory of the PGMO personnel at 85 percent complete.

There is a need to update the staffing pattern and redefine the job description significantly needed at the Provincial Capitol.

Emano mandated through Executive Order 2013-002 the prioritization of payments, the salaries and trust liabilities of the employees.

Equity based 2014 budget

The province has started collecting rent for eateries from vendors.

Emano said prudent, sound and equity-based 2014 budget is at hand.

Emano has proposed P1.4 billion following with the realizable income sufficient to include all the expenditures for next year.

Emano has approved the plan to review the provisions of the Revenue Code and public hearings will be conducted and focused on industrial and commercial lands excluding residential and agricultural lands.