AKLAN TRULY HAS LEVELLED UP*

AKLAN TRULY HAS LEVELLED UP*

(2nd of five parts)

*State of the Province Address of Hon. Florencio T. Miraflores, Governor of Aklan delivered during the Regular Session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan, held on Wednesday morning, February 4, 2015 at the SP Session Hall, Capitol, Estancia, Kalibo.

Samtang nagabahoe ro atong industiya it turismo ag kita hay nagabenepisyo sa mabahoe nga kita sa aton nga mga pwerto sa Caticlan ag Cagban, angay ag bagay eang nga maiplastar man naton rong mga facilidad nga magasuporta sa pagsustenir kara.

Thus, it is my pleasure to report that your provincial government has completed last year 2014 the much urgent reconstruction of the damaged roro ramp ag Caticlan jetty port with an appropriation of Php 13.3 million.

From the capital outlay budget of our economic enterprise development department-Caticlan jetty and passenger terminal unit, we have also completed for 2014 the rehabilitation/improvement of comfort rooms for both Caticlan and Cagban jetty ports.

We saw to it that these facilities are worthy to be temporary comfort havens of our local and international guests especially persons with disabilities.

Also from the same budget of 2014, we have provided for the expansion of the holding area, comfort rooms, walkway canopy and ticketing area for the port’s roro activities. We also have provided for support facilities such as barricades, perimeter fence, entrance and exit canopies, generator set room, and building enclosures for our ports.

All of us will soon enjoy an expanded terminal building and airconditioned holding area in Cagban. More than Php 5 million for 2014 and almost Php 24 million for this year, 2015 in so far as infrastructure support is concerned.

The clincher here is the support coming from the national government thru the Department of Transportation and Communication agressively lobbied for Aklan by my partner, your TODO ASENSO Congressman Ted “Nonong” Haresco, jr.

Congress approved the Php 207 million budget for the construction of reinforced concrete pier both landing and shore protection with access road for Caticlan jetty port.

For Cagban, Php 41.5 million for the expansion of existing reinforced concrete pier.

If these figures don’t mean TODO ASENSO for our tourism, then I don’t know what it is. 

The best way for this province to be productive is to have a great team on the frontlines and even behind the scenes. As they say and I agree, the best resource is human resource.

It must have been heaven-sent that the australian aid will have Aklan as one of their core partner organizations.

Our Local Government is at the point where it is trying to cope with the fast-paced growth of the organization and expansion of its functions. Aklan needed high-level interventions to capacitate our employees to be ready and primed to face the challenges.

Thanks to the Australian government thru the Philippine-Australia human resource and organizational development facility.

With your interventions, we now have personnel with masters degrees from premier Australian universities covering the areas of accounting and financial management, information technology, project management, human resource management, and tourism management.

Also, with your interventions, we now have a provincial government-wide human resource development plan addressing the agency’s competency gaps, a learning and development system in place, training, monitoring, evaluation tools available and a pool of facilitators.

Rest assured that your investment in Aklan’s human capital will not be for naught.

It is my challenge that we sustain our gains and continue bolstering the capacities and confidence of our personnel.

Let us continue also to strengthen and improve our systems especially the human resource management information system. The provincial government of Aklan-HRMIS has been recognized with LGU Guimaras conducting a bench marking activity. Let us maximize its use by expanding its operationalization so that we will achieve the reduction of paperworks and expedite processing of personnel-related records.

Notably, most of our provincial offices and department heads performed to noteworthy and outstanding levels, such as:

The Aklan Provincial Population and Gender office’s efforts for its integrated population and gender development programs which was given special citation by the regional office as one among the best practices in the region.

For the Aklan GAD program, there is now an increased awareness of the Akeanon public on the issue of violence against women. The grassroots has embraced this common advocacy. We are the first and only province to launch the barangay VAW Desk handbook. Congratulations are in order for the governor’s search for best barangay vaws desks in Aklan led by barangay Pook, Kalibo; Banay-banay, Malinao; and Laguinbanua East, Numancia. Thank you to the Spanish government and the Philippine Commission On Women for the assistance in the advancement of this noble cause.

True to its high rating in the agency procurment compliance and performance indicator, the Provincial General Services office was able to facilitate the bidding and awarding of 261 projects. The PGSO also procured and inspected a good Php 90.6 million pesos worth of our much needed major engineering, medical, and i.t. equipment.

Another winner is our Provincial Treasurer’s office declared by BLGF as the second most outstanding provincial treasury office in region 6 for 2013 besting its 2012 third place performance. Also, the PTO is one of the best 5 implementors among the provincial treasury office in Region 6 as per Bureau of Local Government Finance.

The provincial assessor’s office was able to process 3,435 real property units causing the generation of Php 20.1 million for our provincial coffers. 

Due to the collaborative effort of our sports and games development section and the department of education-Aklan, we successfully hosted the Visayan leg of the Batang Pinoy qualifying tournament last october 2014. It was like testing the waters then with over 2,000 athletes trooping to Aklan. Next week, we will confidently host over 5,000 delegates of the West Visayan Regional Athletic Association meet.

The Aklan Provincial Public Employment Service Office was able to facilitate 45 local recruitment activities and 24 overseas special recruitment activities. This brightened the future of 198 locally hired and 131 deployed overseas Aklanons.

Our Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office was able to provide learning materials for 14,667 pre-school children in 436 day care centers province-wide. Financial assistance worth Php 1.3 million covering 445 centers was also extended on top of capability building services to further inspire our day care workers.

The Office of Provincial Acountant reported that we received an unqualifying opinion on the audit report of the Australian Agency for International Development-united incentive fund grant for the provincial roads management facility. The audit was chaired by no less than COA Commissioner Heidi Mendoza. Worthy to note is that while we are busy implementing our programs and projects, our financial transactions are performed with due adherence to commission on audit rules and regulations. It is of equal importance that we exude trustworthiness to our benefactors and maintain our seal of good housekeeping.

Akon gid nga ginadayaw do bilog natong pamilya it Aklan province dahil sa aton tanan nga sambilog nga direksyon ag dedikasyon nga magtao it pinakamanami nga serbisyo, haabot naton rong makara nga estado it atong Akean.

This dedication of our personnel was recognized by the Department of Interior and Local Government Region 6 when they ranked Aklan as the third best amongst the provinces of the whole region during the 2014 excellence in local governance pagdayaw awarding ceremony. This recognition covers performance, social governance, environmental governance and valuing fundamentals of good governance.

Padayunon naton rong pagtao it first class nga serbisyo nga angay ag bagay eang sa first class eon naton nga mga sweldo.

On top of organizational and human resource development, it was likewise important to upgrade the capability of the province to provide more and better services to the people thru infrastructure support. In fact, in our resource allocation, our infrastructure projects comprise a great bulk.

Our Provincial Engineer’s Office reported that under my stewardship, our completed projects amounted to Php 94.5 million and our on-going projects, Php 352.8 million.

This total covers the following:

1. Repair and or improvement of provincial government facilities in the capitol compound, engineering compound, Aklan Training Center compound and the Caticlan and Cagban ports;

2. Upgrading, repair and or renovation of the Dr. Rafael S. Tumbokon Memorial Hospital, Altavas District Hospital, Ibajay District Hospital as well as the municipal hospitals, health and sanitation facilities. This includes the counterparts from the Department of Health/health facilities engancement program;

3. Aus-aid provincial road management facility/Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade projects;

4. Provincial roads, farm to market roads, and local bridges;

5. Additional funding for other priority infrastructure projects, made possible by the Department of Interior and Local Government’s performance challenge fund;

To highlight some on specific terms, we prioritized the improvement of the capitol main building by investing Php 25 million. Construction is on going and when completed by the fourth quarter of this year, more office spaces will be made available for our departments. This is also part of our continuing effort to convert the entire capitol complex into a tourism and trade showcase venue on top of being the hub for basic government service. You may have observed that tourists start to frequent the capitol and it has become a very good location for photoshoots for grand events and occasions.(to be continued in the next issue) /MP