MANKAYAN, Benguet – The local government started the establishment of a farmers and pocket miners desk to help in effectively and efficiently addressing the primary concerns of the vulnerable and marginalized sectors in the mining and agriculture town to help in achieving overall growth and development.
Mayor Frenzel Ayong said that he already directed the clearing of an office in the municipal hall that will accommodate the joint farmers and pocket miners desk so that the marginalized sectors will be able to have a venue to ventilate issues and concerns that need appropriate action by the concerned government agencies and the local government.
Further, he also sought the hiring of a job order personnel to man the said desk so that there will be immediate action to the issues and concerns that are being brought by the representatives of the said sectors.
However, Ayong explained that other marginalized sectors like the senior citizens, persons with disabilities, barangay health workers, child development workers among others should not worry of being sidelined because there are already other offices like the municipal social welfare and development office, municipal health office and other offices that already were designated to take the lead in attending to their needs.
“We hope that we will be able to operationalize the farmers and pocket miners desk the soonest so that we will be able to start closely working with them and attend to whatever will be the concerns that they will bring to our attention. We will only act on issues that within the bounds of our power and we will refer to the appropriate agencies the issues that is beyond our control and jurisdiction,” Mayor Ayong stressed.
According to him, his first days in office was devoted in establishing the needed systems and placing the personnel to the places that they are supposed to occupy so that there will be efficient and effective delivery of services to the people transacting with the offices of the local government daily.
The 41-year old new local chief executive expressed his gratitude to the support shown by the officials and employees of the municipal government to the innovations that he is slowly introducing to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of the services to the people so that the people will be able to feel the presence of government in their midst.
He appealed for utmost understanding from the public if they encounter certain inconveniences when transacting with the offices of the municipal government considering the ongoing adjustment period under the new administration of the municipality but assured the people that all systems will be in place the soonest for the smooth transaction of business.
Yong encouraged the public to cooperate with the initial reforms in the municipal government that are being put in place because such innovations are being infused to the existing system to enhance he effective and efficient delivery of public service.
Mankayan is a mineral-rich municipality that primarily derives its income from an existing large-scale mining operation but it also has numerous agriculture communities that provide food security to the people.
By HENT