| Govs
share governance experiences with newly-elected colleagues
 |
Governors
during the Peer-to-Peer Orientation Program for Newly-Elected
Governors held last August 17 in Cebu City. Seated (from
left) Gov. Plaza, Gov. Akbar, Gov. Fuentes, Gov. Diasen,
Gov. Villaroman, Gov. Lee; Standing (from left) Gov.
Evardone, Gov. Sacdalan, Gov. Uy, Gov. Cagas, Gov. Beltran,
Gov. Yap, LPP Pres. Gov. Ocampos, Gov. Savellano, Gov.
Bersamin, Gov. Baguilat, Gov. Dimaporo and Gov. Tanco.
|
Newly-elected
governors got not only an orientation on governance, but also
an opportunity to learn from the experiences of their colleagues.
The
League of Provinces of the Philippines adopted a different
approach to the orientation for newly elected governors by
designing the program as a peer-to-peer discussion wherein
selected re-elected governors shared their experiences on
assigned areas of local governance.
The
orientation, held last August 17 at the Marco Polo Plaza in
Cebu City, was divided into two areas: setting the local government
agenda and direction and working together; and, practicalities
in taking office.
 |
Gov.
Migs Dominguez
Sarangani |
Second-term
governor Miguel Rene Dominguez of Sarangani shared his experiences
on building alliances in the province, on how he made the
politically painful decision to streamline and trim down the
bloated bureaucracy in order to better deliver the basic social
services to the Sarangans, toward bringing back the lost credibility
and returning the people’s trust in the institution.
He underscored that in Sarangani, the provincial officials
and employees “have turned (their) back on patronage-driven
politics, from transactional to transformational leadership.
We are trying to establish an environment where people can
exercise their rights and pay their obligations to government.
 |
Gov.
Arnan Panaligan
Oriental Mindoro |
Meanwhile,
on the topic of the Challenges of Effective Service Delivery,
Oriental Mindoro Gov. Arnan C. Panaligan shared his strategies
on how his administration was able to stretch the province’s
scarce resources in order to fund its programs to meet the
long list of development needs and concerns.
He underscored the need for the LGUs to prioritize the programs
and services that need to be delivered in order to maximize
the available resources.
“We have prioritized health care and education programs
because they are poverty alleviating programs that impact
directly on the quality of life of the people. Agriculture,
because it is the principal means of livelihood in the province
and most of the poor reside in the rural areas, and infrastructure
like farm-to-market roads and irrigation because it is needed
to boost rural development and productivity,” the young
governor said.
 |
Gov.
Daisy Fuentes
South
Cotabato |
Relative
to the topic of Local Government Re-organization, South Cotabato
Gov. Daisy A. Fuentes shared with her colleagues how she was
able to strengthen the bureaucracy of the Capitol which was,
upon her assumption as governor in 2001, marked by a lot of
deadwoods, personnel who lacked the academic qualifications
or the skills required for their position or who were simply
misplaced.
She related that in order to undertake the much-needed reorganization
to strengthen the bureaucracy, she ordered the strengthening
of the merit promotion board, changed the nomenclature of
the then existing plantilla positions, studied what were the
positions that were needed and those that were redundant,
and taking action on the latter.
 |
Gov.
Leo Ocampos
Misamis
Occidental |
On
Financial Management and Resource Mobilization, LPP president
and Misamis Occidental Gov. Loreto Leo S. Ocampos shared some
strategies on how the provinces can take advantage of working
with national government agencies and availing of international
finance and bilateral or multilateral international grants
to supplement their local revenues.
He shared at least nine points to his colleagues, which include
using “funded but unfilled positions” in funding
job orders or casuals, the use of intelligence funds, the
use of calamity funds to finance year-end bonuses of provincial
employees, using local funds to finance high and visible impact
projects, and maximizing the advantage of small scale mining.
Ocampos
also urged the governors to create economic enterprises in
their province in order to circumvent the 45% limit set for
personal services, utilize economic enterprises to increase
the local budget, use IRA sharing in funding barangay projects,
and work closely with the provincial treasurer and accountant.
Aside from the sharing sessions, which elicited a lively and
highly productive discussion between colleagues on the various
issues and concerns besetting the LGUs, the governors also
had the opportunity to hear about the various programs of
the different international development partners.
Present during the orientation were Mukami Kariuki of the
World Bank, Rosa Antes of AusAID, Frances Tanner of the Canadian
International Development Agency and Dr. Hedwig Meyer of GTZ.
Usec. Austere Panadero of the DILG likewise gave a brief background
on the program for Building LGU Alliances for Local Development
of the Philippine Development Forum, of which the Orientation
for Newly-Elected Governors is a component.
The program aims to improve coordination to achieve ODA harmonization
and effectiveness. (AJSanchez)
 |
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