In welcoming the National Community Development Day, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. spoke on Monday to give additional incentives and prizes to Local Government Units that displayed a commendable performance on environmental cleanliness under the Kalinisan Program.
This is further expanded by Marcos through the national competition for Gulayan sa Barangay, the use of motor vehicles user charge for the lighting of national roads and tunnels, the intensifying of the campaign against single-use plastic, and the rendition of the apparent use of tarpaulin.
“Every day must be Community Development Day,” Marcos highlighted while giving importance to the role of barangay as front-liners of the government. Community development also caters to the efforts for children’s welfare, crime prevention, climate change adaptation, capacity institutions to resolve local disputes, community health and nutrition, and commerce and trade, he added.
Throughout his message, he emphasized the importance of people’s participation in different activities of the government to achieve the goal of community development and commended barangay units for pushing further programs to which the government shows continuous support. Moreover, Marcos said allocating funds to less fortunate areas should not be interrupted. Likewise, “should get the most first,” which drives the government project of Build Better More.
“Filipinos do not deserve dirty, dingy, or dark communities,” Marcos said as he encouraged people to take action for a cleaner environment. He again mentioned making barangays a hub of doable ideas as proof of living in best practices.
The president also reflected on some human negligence on the environment; such bodies of water became dumpsites, affecting marine life and humans. “Government will do as much as it can, but it can only do so much, ” he said, hoping for people to have the habit of taking care of the environment. “When it comes to cleanliness, believe me, constructive action will always be better than any app,” Marcos added. By Adrian Mas
