LAGAWE, IFUGAO — This time around the awardees were those who profoundly felt the actions taken by a few good local government units (LGUs).
It’s clearly their turn, as retired judge Leticia Morales of Lamut, Miguel Dimalnat Sr. of Lagawe and Godfrey Dominong, also of Lagawe, were honored recently for their invaluable contributions to the 2017 Search for Good Local Governance (SGLG) of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Ifugao Office.
By their class acts, these three distinguished Ifugao individuals even outshone those who call the shots at the corridors of power in the municipal and provincial levels.
Dimalnat, Dominong and Morales received their plaques of recognition at simple but meaningful rites during the flag ceremony at the provincial capitol building in Lagawe.
Dimalnat is the president of the Lagawe Senior Citizens Association, while Morales is the president of the Ifugao Federation of Senior Citizens Associations. They effectively elevated elderly programs despite scarce resources.
Dominong is the general manager of the 7,000-strong Ifugao Global Entrepreneurs Multi-Purpose Cooperative (IGEMCO). He is also the president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI)-Ifugao Chapter and a board director of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC)-Ifugao Chapter.
The awardees, along with representatives of various government agencies, evaluated the actual situations in the province’s 11 towns as to the criteria set forth by the DILG. It took them nearly two weeks to accomplish the task of determining highly-performing LGUs.
As a result, only three of the 11 municipalities were adjudged winners in the national level. Asipulo, Banaue and Lamut made it in the Who’s Who list. Ifugao was nowhere in the said list.
Living proof of the positive effects of the SGLG program on these towns is the marked improvement of lives of the people. Agriculture is fairly well developing in Asipulo and Lamut. Banaue is still experiencing a relatively rapid development of its tourism industry.
Although they did not choose the eventual winners, they established the manner of rating the performance of towns diligently and thoroughly that it made an impact on the final standings.
When seeking inspiration from other outstanding LGUs in recent times, they noted that the experiences of previous winners a positive influence on their task, although conditions vary, could be helpful, but also asserted the conditions of the people vis-à-vis the prevailing mode of governance constitute a major factor.
“It was a very challenging assignment for us,” Dominong said.
“There’s no such thing as a typical day in the office because reports have to be scrutinized at all times,” he added.
In recalling the rare and rich experience of interacting with the people in and out of government circles during the validation phase of the SGLG activity, Dominong told the ZigZag Weekly that their rigorous work “provided an opportunity for stakeholders to actually see, understand and appreciate the importance of the duties and responsibilities of public servants.”
“The challenge facing local chief executives is to try to get as many people to agree on a common set of plans for the growth and development of a locality, it’ll only help in their aspirations to promote the delivery of basic services to their constituents more efficiently and rapidly,” he stressed.
“It is certainly a challenge to take part in this vital project,” shares Dominong, one of the most distinctive leaders in this part of the region with strong United Nations organizations linkages. “But at the same time we are very honored and grateful for the opportunity to work with esteemed friends at the DILG.”
When the awardees did realized the impact of their chores? The answer, drawn from the final results, would be after the three aforementioned towns figured triumphantly in the prestige-laden competition.
The validation chores of the awardees entail a lot of hard work. They have to be away from their families for several days. They took the tedious assignment of going to far-away places on “pro-bono” basis. Ironically, they were not even given the opportunity to express their gratitude for their awards during the said occasion. Nor coffee and snacks were served to the awardees.
And while the citizenry recognize the vitality of the good deeds of local officials and scorn on the lack of it- albeit its toughness to call one, that has been made, are helpful that all officials will demonstrate good faith in discharging their functions for the betterment of the people.
Thus, each official should take the lead in promoting a culture of excellence in upholding the tenet of good governance as a means of responding well to the needs of the people.
In a related development, Dominong also called on leaders of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Ifugao to actively support the Ambisyon Natin 2040 program of President Duterte.
“Let it be as a matter of declaration, we will stand side-by-side with President Duterte on his reformist agenda,” he quipped.
Dominong, a long-time civic leader and businessman of Lagawe, told the meeting of CSOs in Lagawe that “advocating and aggressively pursuing the noteworthy goals of the program are vital this year and beyond. He is a staunch supporter of the Chief Executive.
The Ambisyon Natin envisions that by 2040 all Filipinos should be enjoying a stable and comfortable life, where no one is poor considering that Filipinos are smart and innovative.
“We are sad that poverty still persists in Lagawe, yet let this be a reminder to concerned parties to act now and deliver fundamental services to those who need it the most, especially those in remote barangays,” he said. He expressed concern that projects for livelihood, health and agriculture are underfunded. **By Anthony A. Araos
