P 1 billion for good governance

ALABEL, Sarangani (November 25, 2006) - Confidence in government haspoured in at least P1 billion external and local initiative funds forSarangani."Trust and confidence in government, and that is all," said FredoBasino, provincial planning and development coordinator.

The Provincial Steering Committee For Externally-Assisted Projects(PSCEAP) has recorded P506 million external funds coming from thevarious sectors this year.PSCEAP, chaired and co-chaired by Governor Migs Dominguez and ViceGovernor Bridget Chiongbian-Huang, respectively, was institutionalized"to provide information regarding the interventions of variousagencies and institutions for the socio-economic development ofSarangani Province.""Our continuous effective linkaging and networking with the differentinstitutions has made Sarangani a recipient of various externalassistance from the local and foreign-funding donors," GovernorDominguez noted.External funds' distribution ranges from environmental, agricultural,employment, technological advancement, livelihood and skillsdevelopment, health, infrastructure, and social welfare.The economic development sector has the biggest appropriation ofP329.134 million; P25.529 million for social development, P150.917million for infrastructure, and P1.339 million for developmentadministration.Under economic development, the Department of Agrarian Reform hasextended a total amount of P205.823 million for construction,rehabilitation, and improvement of farm-to-market roads province-wide.

The Support to Emergency and Livelihood Assistance Program of theDepartment of Agriculture has started implementing its P53 millionallocation for farm road projects.A PSCEAP report noted that this year's external investment is highercompared to the province's income.This year, the province has a P328 million Internal Revenue Allotment,according to Basino."We therefore need these funds and we are just happy to see they havemuch confidence.""For Governor Migs, our collaborative efforts have been highlycommendable having increased our external investments from P356million last year," commented Jelyn Apura, planning developmentofficer."As part of its local initiatives, the P65 million local fund for theannual investment plan was used to counterpart these externallyassisted investments, and augmented programs and projects of thecomponent municipalities," Apura said."This year is also the implementation of the P339.5 million SeptageTreatment Facility projects from Japan Bank for InternationalCooperation among the province's six coastal municipalities," Apura disclosed.

The local initiative fund has availed loan assistance from Land Bankof the Philippines for the purchase of heavy equipment worth P110million for the province's various infra projects.A deed of donation was signed between DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes andGovernor Dominguez last August for the turnover of the P31-millionbuilding and research facilities of the Environmental Conservation andProtection Center to the provincial government. (SARANGANI INFORMATIONOFFICE)