BALBALAN, Kalinga – The provincial government will employ the whole-of-nation approach in the identified conflict-stricken barangays in the province to achieve the overall objective of the government in ending local armed conflict in the countryside to pave the way for development to flourish in remote communities.
Gov. James Edduba, together with representatives from the concerned government agencies involved in the government’s campaign to end local communist armed conflict (ELCAC), started visiting the barangays in the province which were identified as conflict areas to learn about their needs and assess the ongoing implementation of the initial wave of their barangay development projects funded by the national government.
He explained that one of the objectives of the visitation is to be appraised on the other needs of the conflict barangays and to find the appropriate solutions to their problems, especially when it could be addressed by the joint efforts of barangay, municipal and barangay officials.
The governor claimed that as an example the waterworks needs of a certain village which had an initial funding requirement from the barangay but was not enough, he immediately pledged the downloading of the province’s counterpart for the community to start implementing the project.
Kalinga has more or less 20 barangays that had been included in the list of ELCAC barangays around the country which are now being visited to end the long-standing conflict.
The local chief executive pointed out that the concerned stakeholders will be frequenting the identified ELCAC barangays in the different parts of the province next year so that the whole-of-nation approach will be employed to be able to effectively and efficiently address their needs while allowing the national government to fund the implementation of their desired high impact development projects.
He emphasized that part of the visitation will be the regular inspection and monitoring that will be conducted on the ongoing implementation of their projects that were included in the barangay development project to ensure that the same are being done pursuant to project specifications and standards.
Edduba revealed that if the group will be able to encounter projects that could already be funded by the barangay, municipality or province or a combination of the said local governments, they will immediately work for the implementation of these so that the said priority needs of the people living in the area will be addressed to prevent the communists from taking advantage of the situation to have their influence in the said areas.
He expressed his gratitude to the residents living in the ELCAC barangays for their decision to support the programs, projects and activities in their respective areas of jurisdiction and denounce the communist movement which had been depriving their communities from the development supposed to be implemented by concerned government agencies and the local government in the past.
