MANKAYAN, Benguet – The municipal government is studying the possible options that will be undertaken to jumpstart the needed economic and infrastructure development that will contribute in efforts to uplift the status of the municipality.
Mayor Frenzel Ayong said that whatever the strategies that will be embraced by the local government to propel growth and development that will cascade to the remote villages will pass through the prescribed processes enshrined under existing law, rules and regulations for transparency and accountability purposes.
He added that one of the major prospects of development being eyed by the local government is the existing market building in the town proper, the slaughterhouse area and its market building in the boundary of Abatan, Buguias so that there will be a significant increase in the economic activities of the people that will improve their sources of livelihood.
Further, he claimed that the local government wants to venture on the put up of sufficient accommodation facilities aside from improving the existence of multipurpose centers that will entice individuals and groups to hold their big gatherings in the municipality.
“We have to strengthen our existing economic enterprises so that we will be able to propel a significant growth in the sources of livelihood of our people for them to have stable income and help in improving the living condition of their families. We also want the municipality to be known as a convergence area of people from different tribes considering the town’s strategic location right in the border of the Ilocos and Cordillera regions,” Mayor Ayong stressed.
Aside from venturing on the improvement of economic enterprises, he explained that the local government is also looking forward to the development of the town’s rural health unit to help in enhancing the delivery of basic health care services to the people needing such interventions considering that the strengthening of the existing health programs is one of the major thrusts of his administration.
According to him, the implementation of the priority programs of the present administration will not compromise the proposed enhancement of its local tourism and agriculture programs coupled with the planned infusion of sustainable livelihood programs for the people to achieve economic stability that will allow them to hurdle the challenges of poverty that had confronted them through the years.
He asserted that the local government will continue to explore whatever needed interventions that will have to be put in place so that there will be sustained economic activities in the municipality that will eventually make Mankayan as one of the most resilient municipalities not only in the province but also in the whole Cordillera region.
While it is true that Mankayan is a first-class municipality, Mayor Ayong stated that there is a need to prepare the municipality and its people to be independent considering that the town’s income primarily comes from the present mining operations which is temporary in nature, thus, the need to come up with economic-driven activities that will help the town grow even beyond the prescribed mine life of existing large-scale mining companies operating in the said area.
He also asserted the need to revitalize the town’s agriculture sector considering that its upland barangays rely on vegetable production as the source of income of the people.
By HENT
