By EDDIE T. PANLILIO
On the occasion of his 2nd Anniversary as Governor of the Province
of Pampanga
June 30, 2009
Let me begin by thanking all of you for your presence today. But
more than your presence, we thank you for your support in working
with us to keep our province steadily moving forward. The growth and
development of Pampanga can not be sustained without the commitment
and industry of provincial employees in partnership with other local
government units and civil society groups.
The past year was again another very trying year for us, given the
recall-resign move against me initiated by our rabid critics as well
as the other challenges that came our way during the last several
months. Notwithstanding these political storms, we chose not to be
distracted as our determined bid and relentless efforts have scored
impressive gains and reaped huge dividends for our people.
Our quarry revenues over the past 24 months have scaled unparalled
heights as we collected more than Php413 Million during the subject
period. The dramatic 300% increase in quarry fees has earned for the
provincial government the Gawad Galing Pook Award 2008 in the field
of revenue collection. As of May 31, 2009, municipal and barangay
quarry shares have reached Php138 Million. This is indeed a huge windfall
that would go a long way in meeting the essential needs of the concerned
communities.
Our Pamisaupan Caravan remains active as ever, delivering various
social services such as free medical/dental check-up and treatment,
skills training, supplemental feeding, and a lot more to 31 barangays
since its inception in August 21, 2007 in Sagrada, Masantol, Pampanga.
More than 52,000 of our constituents in more than 31 barangays of
the different municipalities benefited from these services.
• Free medical/dental check-up to more than 17,499 patients;
• Filmshowing/ bookreading to more than 3,994 children
• Employment opportunities to more than 1,161 jobseekers
• Livelihood trainings and capability building to more than
771 entreprenuers
• Anti-flu/pneumonia vaccination to more than 1,150 elderlies
• Anti-rabies vaccination to more than 3,986 dogs
• Seeds distribution to more than 4,215 households, and so
on.
The very essence of these Pamisaupan Caravans is the fact that we
brought to the Capitol to the hearts and minds of our people and they
too were able to tell us their concerns. To the different department
heads and capitol employees who gladly served our cabalens, I thank
you.
I am also proud to report that we have invested Php232M for infrastructure
development. Roads, canals, government facilities, public schools
and hospitals and covered courts were paved, concreted, repaired and
constructed. I wish to emphasize that these projects were built without
the add-on cost of SOP. I repeat, wala pong komisyon dito. And for
this, let me thank our engineers and the members of the Bids and Awards
Committee who monitor their proper implementation.
During my last year�s report to you, I said
that we would fine tune our flagship program, HEAL which stands for
Health, Education And Livelihood for our needy constituents.. . For
this purpose, we have provided more than Php31.5 Million for public
health programs, allocated more than Php26.5 Million for supplemental
feeding and have served more than 10,000 undernourished school children
so far. Php92.77 Million was also allotted to other marginalized sectors
such as senior citizens, persons with disabilities, youth, and indigenous
people and more so to our indigent constituents for their health and
other pressing needs.
Moreover, we have allocated Php22 Million for Philhealth cards, of
which more than 10,711 persons have benefited in response to their
pressing medical needs. We have given priority to barangay health
workers and barangay tanods as beneficiaries of this program. Accordingly,
our efforts was recognized by Philhealth in the 6th General Assembly
Philhealth Governors Forum.
In the area of education, we continue to distribute various construction
materials for the improvement or repair of dilapidated school buildings
through our CPM office. The Pamiaduangan 57-75 program which aims
to raise the quality of education in the province continues. Php1
Million was allocated as seed money for this project, not to mention
the other assistance we are giving to our schoolchildren. And for
this, we would like to extend our warmest appreciation to Holy Angel
University and our other partner institutions.
For those of you who frequent the 2nd floor of the provincial capitol,
you must have noticed during the past few months the crowd of students
waiting outside the Provincial Administrator�
s Office. They are the 7,940 recipients of financial educational assistance
being granted to bright but indigent college students in our province.
Last summer, in line with our Special Program for the Employment
of Students (SPES) in partnership with the Department of Labor and
Employment, our students were granted summer jobs. Aside from their
help to the different municipalities and to the capitol, the information
they have gathered will pave the way for a skills registry where jobseekers
could look for job openings here. These will also be listed in the
Phil Jobs Net, a national institution where employers look for their
needed workers. At present, we have provided Php3 Million assistance
to 955 summer student workers for the different municipalities of
the province.
In the same manner, we together with Pampanga Agricultural College
will enter into a Memorandum of Agreement to support fully one-hundred
of our indigent but bright students. Most of them are children of
our farmers.
For the agriculture and aquaculture sectors, it is only now that
provincial funds were allocated. We have allotted Php41.9 Million
in order to increase our production in rice, vegetables, at various
fishes and give assistance to our farmers and fisherfolks.
In the matter of livelihood, our Aku ing Bayung Entrepreneur (ABE)
program has so far assisted 1,230 entrepreneurs, providing Php6.15
Million for micro financing. The cooperative movement in the province
has gained more strength and has, in fact, been conferred the best
Cooperative Development Award during the 1st Regional Cooperative
Congress held in Olongapo City.
Ladies and gentlemen, these are only some of the ongoing programs
and projects which have been implemented by the provincial administration
in the last two years. There are many more that need mentioning but
time constraints and the limited attention span of our audience prevent
me from enumerating all of our accomplishments here.
While a few of our friends in media say that this is all form, amounting
to little substance�particular ly the creation
and convening of more than 30 different boards, councils and committees
which have remained dormant over the years�I
say this is an important and integral part of our advocacy towards
responsive and consultative governance. The undisputable statistical
data speak for itself.
Our aspiration to persist on implementing these programs have radically
the way of doing things at the capitol (where discipline was instilled),
in quarry operation (where procedures were put in place in securing
permit and truck accreditation) , and in the repair and rehabilitation
of roads and government facilities under the Pamisaupan concept.
As contentious as the issues that continue to confront us today,
we must remain on our toes to meet the most pressing challenges. Much
is still needed to be done to alleviate poverty, generate jobs, improve
living standards and widen access to education, health care, food
security and shelter.
Thus, during the past several months, we have laid down several strategies
in order to generate additional income for the province, such as:
a. the revision of all existing tax ordinances;
b. general revision and tax mapping along with the integrated tax
administration system;
c. making the PEO compound free and available for commercial use;
and
d. rehabilitation and development of the San Matias property.
But foremost to that, we have to be aggressive in making the following
projects a reality:
a. the rehabilitation of the Macario Arnedo park;
b. construction of new buildings for ENRO, PEO, PSWDO, OPA, and VET
and/or the rehabilitation of existing ones;
c. provision of top-of-the-line medical equipment and additional
funds for drugs and medicines and medical and laboratory supplies
for our nine districts and one provincial hospitals;
d. repair and rehabilitation of all offices at the capitol building;
and
e. the construction of an environmental recovery and waste facility.
This is not to mention the repair and rehabilitation of all provincial
roads and bridges as well as the repair and rehabilitation of municipal
and barangay roads, schools, barangay halls and day care centers,
for which we shall provide funds amounting to more than Php350M.
In the past two years, we took the lead in cleaning up, nor only
the system but also the structure of governance. We are bringing justice
to our people by filing charges against erring officials of the previous
administrations for the malversation of at least Php568 Million from
quarry collections. We will filed charges against the contractor of
the botched computerization project of the previous administration.
This is not to mention the charges we have filed to some provincial
government employees for their violations of their sworn duties as
civil servants.
These are challenging times. We cannot afford to lose hope and faith
in one another. Our people expect much from us. We vowed to this responsibility.
I pray that it will not take a major upheaval for us to unite as
Kapampangans. There is much room for collaboration right here and
right now. I am therefore inviting all stakeholders in our province,
specially our partners in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, to stand for
a common purpose. My appeal for support and cooperation does not come
without my being cognizant of the need to respect the right of the
august body to responsibly fiscalize and oppose my administration
on matters of principle and policy or honest differences of opinion.
We are all seated in the same boat. We have no other choice but to
pull together, to row in one direction and in unison to reach our
destination faster. Instead of finding fault, let us find ways to
help and encourage one another. Instead of condemning, let us seek
to remedy and build on the gains that were started.
In closing, I express my appreciation to all provincial government
employees, the nameless, faceless workers, who have bestowed upon
the province the bounty of their labors. My sincerest gratitude to
all for your diligence and hard work.
Lastly, may I invoke the blessings of the Almighty God upon us all.
Hail the breed of Pampanguenos. #
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