(Fourth of a series)
* State of the Province Address of Aklan of Governor Carlito S. Marquez delivered during the 4th Regular Session held in Aklan Sangguniang Panlalawigan, Capitol, Kalibo, Aklan on January 29, 2009.
Other Agricultural Concerns
As our food security problems have been aggravated by the damage wrought by the typhoon, we have intensified meat or livestock production.
At our stock farm at Tina, Makato, the office of the provincial veterinarian continued to implement an artificial insemination program, a cattle-fattening project including pasture and forage production, a goat raising project, a swine-breeding, and a carabao dispersal program. It is expected that we start this year our meat production line to fill up the shortage of meat in the province for the benefit of our poor consumers.
Parallel to this department continued to implement an animal health program with disease recognition, surveillance, prevention, and treatment and control components.
This is why we have reinforced our animal quarantine and regulatory services program.
Rabies prevention and control, as in previous years, was also high-priority program in 2008.
Thank you Dr. Gervase Radislao, Proincial Veterinarian and staff!
Our Provincial Agrarian Reform office has effectively complemented our priority objective of alleviating poverty particularly in the agrarian sector.
Under its Rural Infrastructure Program, the PARO concreted/reha-bilitated 11 kilometers of farm-to-market roads costing P25 million.
The PARO was one national agency that had actively participated in the relief operations after typhoon Frank. Distributing relief goods and conducting medical and dental missions in coordination with civic organizations.
Thank you PARO, Atty. Daniel Martelino of DAR and staff!
Irrigation being a life-or-death component of agriculture particularly rice producers, we are happy that the national irrigation administration, thru its provincial irrigation, has completed various national irrigation system repair and rehabilitation projects totaling P12,349,524 and also similar projects for communal irrigation systems with a total funding of P2.4 million.
Our farmers can look forward to better irrigation facilities in 2009 with the implementation by the NIA of the Luzon Urban Raftway and Central Philippines rehabilitation and restoration of small irrigation projects under which Aklan has been allocated P40 million.
Thank you Engrs. Felix Francisco and Rizalo Concepcion of NIA and staff!
Our status as a prime cocal province in Region VI was recently endangered by coconut leaf beetle infestation (Brontispa) in Malay and Buruanga.
But the Philippine Coconut Authority im-plemented a containment program with the help of the provincial government.
Subjected to treatment and prevention were 28,948 trees.
Thank you, Mrs. Plevy Reyes Raco of PCA and staff!
Infrastructure
Congratulations to our provincial engineer, Engr. Victory Fernandez for having been elected president of the Association of Provincial Engineers of the Philippines. We must have a very good provincial engineer!
From simple repairs, maintenance, and rehabi-litation, to major cons-tructions, our Provincial Engineer’s Office im-plemented infrastructure projects totaling P92.3 million in 2008 as against 2007’s only P78.1 million.
Located in our 17 municipalities these are road construction and concreting projects, water supply systems, installation of signages and guard rails, repair and rehabilitation work on provincial government building and hospitals, slope protection projects, drainage canals, road-widening, barangay electrification projects, senior citizen centers, construction of solar dryers, and other such projects.
Thank you Engr. Victory Fernandez, Provincial Engineer and all the staff! Job well done!
Congressman Florencio T. Miraflores has also effectively responded to the other infrastructures needs of the province thru the Aklan Engineering District of the Depart-ment of Public Works and Highways.
The national agency’s carry-over projects – roads, highways and bridges; flood control; school building; multi-purpose buildings; public markets; multi-purpose pavements; and water supply systems totaled more than P100 million for 2008 and for the same period similar projects worth P194 million have been either completed, on-going or yet to be implemented.
Thank you Congressman Joeben T. Miraflores, thank you Engr. Roberto Cabigas of DPWH and staff!
The Department of Transportation and Commu-nications through its civil aviation authority of the Philippines, the former Air Transportation Office, has continued implementing the Kalibo International Airport Development Project.
The 48 million terminal building is now 38.27 percent completed.
On the other hand, the project for the installation of the instrument landing system including runway edge and taxi edge lights with a funding of P54.175 million has the following completion percentage: site acquisition, 82 percent; site development, 86.8 percent; installation of ILS equipment, 96.67 percent; construction of equipment shelter, 100 percent; and installation of runway edge and taxi edge lights, 100 percent.
Kabay pang padayon si President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo sa pag-alocar it pundo sa padayon man nga improvement ag expansion ku Kalibo International Airport ag padayon man nga inabu ku regional flights sa padayon nga pagdugang it tourist arrivals.
Thank you Engr. Percy Malonesio, Airport Manager, Kalibo International Airport and staff!
Health
Congratulations to the Aklan Provincial Health Board which was adjudged the most outstanding in Region VI in 2007 and is a nominee for the national award. This is testimony to this administration’s high prioritization of our health concerns.
Our program for the expansion and modernization of our provincial hospital, the Dr. Rafael S. Tumbokon Memorial Hospital, and the general improvement of our seven other hospitals have suffered delays and setbacks due to the problem of resources, migration of doctors, nurses, and other health personnel, and, again the damage wreaked by Typhoon Frank.
But as medical costs continue to rise making it more difficult for our poor to properly provide medical care for their sick it has become more urgent for us to determinedly pursue the dream of a modern hospital.
For 2008, our provincial health office, in coordination with our eight hospitals continued to implement programs to reduce infant mortality rate which has steadily gone down from 18.33 percent in 2005 to 8.38 percent in 2008.
Reversely, our present 92 percent cure rate for TB is higher than the national target which is 85 percent.
Continually declining is our malnutrition rate, from 15.75 percent in 2005 to only 9.66 percent in 2008.
Under our rabies control program, a Memorandum of Agreement with the privately-run animal bite center at the DRSTMH had provided Aklanons bite victims with two free injections of the required four, an immense help particularly to indigent patients.
The prevention of STI/HIV/AIDS, Dengue, Malaria, and other diseases and the promotion of family planning, dental health, maternal health care, and breastfeeding were also among the priority programs of our provincial health office.
We would like to thank here our barangay health workers and barangay nutrition scholars who have been involved in our health programs.
Guided by the vision of the Dr. Rafael S. Tumbokon Memorial Hospital, our provincial hospital, to be Aklan’s premier client-centered health care provider and the mission of providing sustainable quality and accessible health care service, its 398 strong officials and employees of the hospital with the hardworking 187 job order employees, continued to show improvement in the quality of health services.
As a second–level referral hospital, with an authorized 100–bed capacity while operating as a 186–bed capacity hospital, DRSTMH had admitted a total of 19,521 patients for CY 2008 posting a 27 percent increase from CY 2007 admissions of 15,335.
For the outpatient department, a total of 47,749 patients have been served.
Our laboratory depart-ment processed a total of 117,795 diagnostic proce-dures. It generated an income of P14,282,211.20. Truly the workhorse of the hospital, the department has started to utilize the e-HMIS inventory system for efficient inventory management.
Our radiology depart-ment for CY 2008 has undertaken 15,773 radiologic procedures and has earned an income of P5,273,845.
For the operating room/delivery room, we had delivered a total of 2,110 for CY 2008. More than 1,800 surgical operations were undertaken. For CY 2008, the OR/DR had posted in the e-HMIS an income of P11,612,956.54.
For continuing professional education of all hospital personnel, attendance in residency trainings, conventions, seminars and conferences was a management priority.
For CY 2008, accoun-ting records will show that we have posted a 34 percent in income from P73,981,004 in 2007 to P99,421,815 in 2008.
The boost in our income was substantially due to the improvement in the efficiency of the processing and filing of Philhealth claims arising from the outright deduction from the hospital bills of our patients. For this, we were assisted by the internal audit team in maximizing the features of the e-HMIS for the proper recording, filing, and monitoring of Phic claims and remittances. Thus, for CY 2008, we shared a total of P6,880,643.10 an increase of P2,256,129.16 or 49 percent increase from CY 2007’s collection for professional fees derived from Phic transactions.
As part of the hospital’s continuing efforts to improve the health care facilities of the hospital, several hospital equipment were purchased mainly to complement the require-ments of the intensive care unit of the hospital.
Thank you Drs. Emma Cortes and Victor Santamaria! Thanks also to the hospital chiefs of our eight hospitals, namely Dr. Paul Macahilas, Dr. Julius Gonzales, Dr. Mary Jean Gelito, Dr. Michelle Depakakibo, Dr. Roy Pareñas, Dr. Mary Grace Tumaca, Dr. Johnbard Maypa, and Dr. Edwin Ilarina!
Philhealth
Still in line with our health care services, we have continued the implemen-tation of the universal coverage program with Philhealth where Cong-ressman Florencio T. Miraflores and I have each allocated P5 million for a total of P10 million. Under this category, we have more than 26,000 beneficiaries while in the LGU-sponsored program with provincial counterpart, we have more than 29,000 beneficiaries.
Including individually paying members, government and private employees, non-paying members and OFW’s total Philhealth coverage in Aklan now is 102,392.
Thank you Mr. J’roel Del Rosario of Philhealth and staff!
Tourism
We continue to look to tourism as one springboard to our economic development, bringing revenues to government and livelihood sources to our people.
The good news in our tourism industry is, that, despite the long-felt downturn in the world economy, worsened by the financial crisis, tourist arrivals in Boracay managed to squeak a 6 percent increase, from 596,748 in 2007 to 634,263 in 2008.
One indication of this uptrend is the unprecedented increase in flights in our two airports.
Caticlan, for the year 2008 had 24,658 flights against 2007’s only 10,473.
Kalibo Airport listed 4,642 flights in 2008 compared to 2,541 in 2007. This include regional flights (Incheon, Korea).
For 2008 our foreign tourism receipts registered P6.9 billion, while revenues from local tourists reached P5.8 billion or a total of P12.7 billion.
Aside from Boracay, we intend to promote our other tourist attractions aboun-ding in our 17 towns. This is why we initiated the catchword, "Explore Aklan…Tara Na!" We will re-create our jetty port facilities at Caticlan as a tourist center.
We have also initiated the regreening and beautification project. It is two-pronged. It is for the environment, in line with our program to plant, plant and plant and make Aklan forever green. It is also for tourism.
For this promotional undertaking, we have launched a contest to be participated in by the barangays and residents along the route. We have released funds for subsidies and for garden tools. Small investment for tourism and the environment.
Thank you, Ms. Roselle Quimpo Ruiz, Mrs. Concepcion "Inday" Labindao and staff of the provincial tourism office! (to be continued next issue) /MP
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