“We Will Succeed”*

(Fifth 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.

The organizational structure of the Aklan Environment and Natural Resources Office (AKENRO) which now includes a newly appointed Aklan Environ-ment and Natural Resources officer is now being drafted and incorporated in the environmental code of Aklan which will soon be enacted and adopted by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and eventually implemented this year.

Thank you Engr. John Kenneth Almalbis and staff!

DENR Secretary Jose Atienza, Jr. had pronounced CY 2008 as an Information and Education Campaign (IEC) year to address climate change.

A people’s caravan "Lakbay Para sa Kalikasan, Lakbay Para sa Buhay at Kinabukasan" was held on April 5–12, 2008. PENRO–Aklan and CENRO Kalibo were host offices of the culminating activity in Boracay Island.

The DENR people’s day, being the mother of all people’s day celebration was launched last March 27, 2008 in the Municipality of Nabas. DENR Aklan conducted four (4) people’s days. 266 patents with a total area of 75.23 hectares were distributed.

For forest protection and law enforcement, CENRO, Kalibo worked closely with the local government units, people’s organizations, other government agencies and individuals to continue protecting the remaining forest resources of the Province of Aklan. CENRO Kalibo has apprehended a total of 398 pieces or 3,804.50 board feet of lumber, one (1) unit of chainsaw and eight (8) pieces of finished products for CY 2008. The apprehended items stated are within the administrative jurisdiction of CENRO, Kalibo, Aklan pursuant to DENR laws, rules and regulations.

Thanks to Mr. Raul Lorilla, Mr. Baltazar Gerardo of DENR and staff!

Procurement

In its procurement task, our PGSO, had strictly observed and complied with Republic Act 9184 or the government procurement reform act designed to promote transparency in the bidding and awarding of government projects and facilitated broader participation of suppliers and contractors.

For the year 2008 our PGSO facilitated the procurement of P47,865,619.65 worth of medicines, medical supplies, laboratory supplies and medical oxygen; P16,185,367.30 worth of office supplies and equipment, furniture and fixtures were also procured. P8,408,508 went to the purchase of medical equipment.

Thank you, Miss Medelia Solanoy, Provin-cial General Services Officer and Staff!

Human Resource Management

For the year 2008, our human resource and management office facilitated the usual evaluation of applicants and the processing of the appointment papers of appointees. There were a total of 55 new appointees and 30 promotional appointments for year 2008.

It has effectively maintained close coor-dination with the provincial office of the Civil Service Commission and facili-tated the continued training of personnel.

Thank you Mrs. Ellen Tolentino, Provincial Human Resource and Management Officer and staff!

Thank you Ms. Evelyn Ejar of the CSC–Aklan!

Sports

Our sports develop-ment efforts centered on the palaro, DepEd’s conduct of the games on the provincial level and our participation in the regional and national palaro.

Our sports and games development section on its own continued its year-round promotion of athletics, boxing, chess, lawn tennis, taekwondo, arnis and badminton among other sports.

Among our notable winners is Susan Grace Neri of Kalibo who placed 4th in the 18 and under girls division of the national age group chess championship in Manila.

In the Palarong Pambansa at Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Mamerto Mendez of Tangalan got the gold in Arnis while Jan Roe Reyes of Numancia won the silver.

Erdilyn Peralta and Aileen Peralta of Kalibo, sisters, were gold medalists in lawn tennis while Honey Joy Del Rosario and Gay Marie Santiago of Kalibo won the bronze medal.

In the national amateur boxing tourna-ment held in Iloilo City Rob Montero of Ibajay won the gold while Marjhun Macahilig of Kalibo won the bronze medal.

Mira Mirano of Banga won the gold medal in chess during the Philippine Olympic Festival qualifying games in Dumaguete City where our delegation also won seven gold, six silver, and five bronze medals in arnis.
Thank you Mr. Fred Neri and staff!

Integrated Population and Development Programs

Resource generation, establishment of functional provincial, municipal and barangay support structures, social mobilization thru networking, linkage and alliance building, as well as close collaboration with the 17 LGUs, local/national GOs/NGOs, academe, media religious sector, civil society and other program partners/volunteers, were the key strategy in the successful implementation of the population and development program.

This 2008, the commission on population 6 (POPCOM 6) has unanimously chosen Aklan in the entire Region 6 as an exemplary model for replication by other LGUs in population management.

These positive accomplishments on the demographic processes contributed much to the upliftment of the health status and quality of life of Aklanon families and communities. This is also a major factor to Aklan’s winning the award as outstanding provincial health board for two consecutive years (2006-2007) in Region 6.

Thank you Mr. Arturo Teodosio, Jr., Provincial Population Officer and staff!

Planning and Development

For 2008, our Provincial Planning and Development Office spearheaded the topographic and hydro-graphic survey of the 9-kilometer radius of the Aklan river from Tigayon to Bakhaw Norte downstream to the Aklan bridge preliminary to the proposed dredging program and mitigate damage brought by floods.

The PPDO was secretariat in the formulation of the Aklan Tourism Code, the Aklan investment and incentive code, and the provincial environment code, the task force Bangon Aklan, and the provincial development council.

It completed the first draft of the provincial development and physical framework plan in coordination with our national and local government agencies and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

The department continued to be the implementer of our gender and development program and hosted the first national convention of the men oppose to violence against women and children (MOVE) held on December 5, 2008 at Boracay Island, Malay.

Thank you Engr. Roger Esto, Provincial Planning and Development Coor-dinator and staff!

Aklan Rivers Development Council

The provincial govern-ment of Aklan is pleased to have a hardworking and tireless public servant now serving as executive director of the Aklan Rivers Development Council and Action Officer of task force Bangon Aklan, former Congressman Atty. Allen S. Quimpo. ARDC is spearheading the profiling of seven Aklan River system and water shed areas. Our rivers and its tributaries need immediate environmental rehabilitation and protection thru our public and private collaborative efforts.

Thank you Atty. Allen S. Quimpo and secretariat, the PPDO staff!

Employment Services and Generation

Approximately 5,287 Aklanons have sought the assistance of the provincial employment service office primarily for employment, scholarship, new pass-ports, NBI clearances, special program for the employment of students (SPES) payments, complaints, and inquiries. The PESO also facilitated the eventual hiring of 1,025 Aklanons for local employment.

Ninety-four (94) were deployed as OFWs in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as domestic helpers, factory workers, welders, and other categories.

Two hundred Aklanon students were employed during the implementation of the SPES or summer job last April 21 to June 4, 2008 in coordination with the DOLE and some LGU of the province. The provincial government paid a total of P432,000.00 as its 60 percent counterpart pay at P2,160.00 each student, while the DOLE has released a total of P564,000.00 for the remaining 40 percent pay at P2,820.00 each summer jobber. The two 200 summer jobbers received P4,980.00 each for the thirty (30) day work last summer to augment their expenses for their enrollment for the school year 2008–2009.

For 2008, in lieu of the annual conduct of the mobile passport services, PESO assisted 748 Aklanons applying for new and expired passports by giving them list of requirements and checking their complied requirements before they proceed to DFA Iloilo.

Thank you, Ms. Vivian Solano and staff!

Complementary to our youth development and employment generation efforts, the Aklan provincial office of TESDA has continued its technical and skills development program.

TESDA Aklan provincial office has produced a total of 2,455 graduates in the year 2008 thru four training venues: school-based, center-based, community-based and enterprise-based.

The school-based training program has graduated 1,318 students. Most of the graduates finished technical vocational courses on tourism, health and social services, maritime, information and commu-nications technology, garments and electronics.

In the center-based training, the bulk of graduates were from the construction trade such as plumbing and carpentry. There were also graduates from metals engineering and automotive technology.

For this year, TESDA has allocated about P4.4 million for its various scholarship programs with a total of 565 scholars. These programs are: Private Education Student Financial Assistance (PESFA), the president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo training for work scholarship (PGMA-TWSP) and Ladderized Education Program (LEP). More Aklanons can still avail of the scholarships as there are still scholarship coupons available for distribution to poor, yet deserving and competent students.

The PESFA scholar-ship program released about P2.3 million which was availed by a total of 312 technical-vocational students from the different municipalities of the province of Aklan. One hundred thirty (130) of them enrolled in the food and beverage program, 55 in household services, 50 in commercial cooking, 38 in consumer electronics servicing, 21 in computer hardware servicing, and 18 in health care services.

On PGMA-TWSP program, a total of 155 were granted scholarship on the following trade areas: Galing Mekaniko (Automotive); Galing Masahista (Massage Therapy); Dressmaking, Plumbing and shielded metal arc welding.

Free tool kits were also distributed to the graduates of Galing Mekaniko training. Likewise, graduates of Galing Masahista and dressmaking received starter tool kits that they can use in their entrepreneurial activities thus, making them economically active members of the community.

The PGMA ladderized education program has a total of 98 scholars enrolled in the food and beverage program.

Thank you Mr. Edwin Villanueva of TESDA and staff!

The Department of Labor and Employment was also another government agency that had com-plemented our youth development efforts with its SPES (Special Program for the Employment of Students) program which in 2008 benefited 421 students at a cost of P1,187,220.

The department also implemented an emergency employment assistance program for displaced workers after typhoon Frank which had an allocation of P1,207,500 benefiting 700 workers.

Thank you Mr. Joselito Dela Banda of DOLE and staff!

Cooperativism

One of the cooperative development initiatives of the provincial cooperative office is the organization and development of the provincial government employees development cooperative (PGEDECO). With 378 registered members to date and a total CBU of 470,500, it now provides salary loan and rice loans to its member employees – an accessible facility that provides relief to employees needing small loans.

Two hundred eight (208) farmer-borrowers province-wide are currently serviced by the program – a support facility to achieve the provincial government’s thrust for improved rice production and rice sufficiency in the province.

To improve economic activities in the barangay level, PCO facilitated the release of loans to SMES intended to energize economic activities and create jobs/employment in the communities.

Thank you, Ms. Lilian Rey, Provincial Cooperative Officer and staff! (to be continued next issue) /MP