DAGYAW 2019. Communications Secretary Martin M. Andanar delivers the keynote address for the Cagayan de Oro leg of Dagyaw 2019: Open Government and Participatory Governance Regional Townhall Meeting at the Barangay Nazareth Gymnasium on Thursday (August 8, 2019). He said the townhall confab is a platform where people can communicate properly with their local leaders and even with national officials. (PCOO photo)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar enjoined participants and stakeholders in Northern Mindanao to participate in nation-building during a town hall meeting here on Thursday.
The PCOO chief said the confab is an avenue for the national and local government, and its constituents, “to communicate, clarify, and converge” on inputs for further improvement of public programs and services.
“This time you have the national government really going in aggressively and assertively to bring the services of government to the people. That is Duterte legacy in action,” Andanar said in his speech.
“Our task here is to gather all of your stories and take them to desks where programs and decisions are made. It is here in the town halls where questions are to be answered,” he added.
Andanar likened the Dagyaw 2019 to the traditional bayanihan spirit of Filipinos.
“Like the traditional bayanihan of able-bodied persons carrying a nipa hut on their shoulders in unison to get from one place to another, everyone in the movement altogether are carrying their desires, their ideas, and their dreams towards a national action plan for the rest of this year and beyond,” he said.
Meanwhile, Department of the Interior and Local Government Assistant Secretary Marjorie Jalosjos reiterated President Rodrigo Duterte’s marching order of bringing the government closer to the people.
“The government wants to hear from you and we want to address all the issues and concerns in our locality in the best way that we can,” she said.
She encouraged participants to lobby their concerns to government officials in attendance, especially on focus areas in health, violent extremism and general development.
“Hangad din po namin na madama ninyo na ang gobyerno ay para sa ating lahat at para po sa nakararami (We hope you will feel that the government is for all of us and for the majority),” Jalosjos said.
During her speech, Jalosjos highlighted the efforts of the government to put an end to local insurgency through the operationalization of Executive Order 70 and the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
According to Jalosjos, NTF-ELCAC identified 27 conflict-affected barangays in Region 10 that the DILG and local government units (LGUs) to focus on for civilian peace-building efforts.
“We envision trickling our efforts down to the local level and in fact, the DILG has already facilitated...planning workshops on building sustainable peace which guided our functions, our prioritized projects, programs, and activities in line with the ending of the local communist armed conflict,” she said.
She noted that DILG Region 10 already issued a memorandum for the creation and operations of the regional unit of the NTF-ELCAC to ensure all efforts are aligned to the pursuit of ending local communist armed conflict.
“Some LGUs already complied with the directives. Went beyond the issuance of LGU resolutions supporting EO 70 to condemning atrocities of the CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines–New People's Army) and urging the leadership of CPP-NDF (CPP-National Democratic Front) to direct NPA to stop attacking civilians and destroying civilian properties,” Jalosjos said. (PR)
