Let us continue our march for progress

(Inaugural speech of re-elected Eastern Samar governor Ben Evardone delivered during the Oath Taking Ceremony held July 2, 2007 in Borongan City)

The passion of politics is over. Let us get back to work.

We had divergent voices and votes last May 14.  But we have one hope.

Unity in diversity has been our recurring story.

Our politics of consensus and focus on collective effort has transformed Eastern Samar in a big way.

We are now out of the Club 20, the list of the poorest and the most depressed provinces.

The short period it took us to pull our beloved province out of the quagmire of poverty is in itself an inspiring story.

Our record for the past three years is something we can all be proud of. We posted great strides in all areas where government ought to be present.

But the tasks ahead are far from over. 

On infrastructure, we will embark, with the active support and cooperation of the municipal and barangay officials, on a massive rehabilitation of our provincial, municipal and barangay roads which have long been neglected, especially access roads to agricultural production areas.

I assure you. Aided with a fleet of brand new heavy equipment, we now have the will and determination to tackle this perennial problem head-on because the people have already suffered so much from bad roads.

To carry out this task, I will issue an executive order creating the Provincial Road Rehabilitation and Maintenance Task Force to be headed by no less than your governor with the provincial engineer as vice chairman. All kapatas and construction and maintenance man (CMM) personnel will be recalled to report to the capitol to be members of this Task Force for proper deployment to various areas which need urgent attention.

A company from China will soon start the construction of Amandaraga Hydropower Plant at a cost of P700 million. It will have a power generating capacity of 4 megawatts, enough to supply the energy requirement of the four gateway municipalities of Lawaan, Balangiga, Giporlos and Quinapondan. The rehabilitation of the Amanhuray Hydropower Plant will start soon.

We will intensify our program to energize some of the barangays in the province. To date, there are already 411 barangays which were energized.

We will also intensify our efforts at providing potable water to the various barangays in the province.

On agriculture, we have started an earnest modernization of production and post-harvest facilities, even as we have recorded decent increases in crop and fishery production.

We have acquired 340 units of hand tractors, 100 water pumps for irrigation and 200 units of pump boat engines for distribution to our farmers and fishermen who have long been yearning for government support. (Later in this inaugural program, we will start the distribution of the first batch of recipients of pump boat engines.)

We facilitated the release of P120 million pesos for the rehabilitation of some irrigation projects and farm to market roads.  And some more are coming. We have been propagating certified seeds to further increase the yield of the farmers.

We will revitalize our coconut industry by maximizing its value-added products – like coco coir etc. – and by encouraging intercropping of Jethropha and other cash crops.

On tourism, we are proud to report the influx of local and foreign visitors, awed by the natural wonders we have and the hospitality and warmth of our people. Calicoan Island will be the next Boracay. Or even better.

This week, your governor, together with Presidential Assistant for Eastern Visayas Vic Domingo and Guiuan Mayor Annaliz Gonzales-Kwan will go to Seoul, South Korea to seal the intention to a leading Korean real estate company to put up another world-class resort hotel in Calicoan, and on August 8 a memorandum of agreement will be signed by the parties for the construction of a 200-room Intercontinental Hotel to be finished in three years.

At this juncture, I would like to thank the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for coming up with Investments Incentives Ordinance. And hopefully, the SP will prioritize the approval of the proposed Tourism Ordinance to further enhance our efforts to attract tourists and tourism investors. As you know, there is already a world-class surf camp and a P5M yoga center in Calicoan.

To compliment these tourist facilities, the provincial government will actively pursue the construction of a convention center here in this capitol site and at the same time explore the possibility of establishing a new capitol building on top of the mountain at the back, to give the provincial seat of power a new face befitting a vibrant province. (Early this year, the League of Board of Members from Eastern Visayas wanted to hold its convention in our province. However, they decided not to proceed with the convention for lack of facilities, among other reasons. Now that Borongan is a city, the province should compliment.)

I need not stress the tremendous multiplier economic benefits that these developments will bring to the people of our province.

On healthcare, there is a long list of tangible achievements. The operations and management of our two public hospitals – the Eastern Samar Provincial Hospital and the Albino M. Duran District Hospital - had been cited by the Philippine Hospital Association.  The PHA had likewise cited your governor for two consecutive years already for implementing a comprehensive and integrated approach to health development.

The implementation of the P560 million Provincial Health Investment Plan will start this quarter, starting with the acquisition of ambulances for our district hospitals, to make health services more accessible, more affordable and more efficient.

We have had breakthroughs in reining in child malnutrition, a silent killer, and in checking maternal and child mortality.

There is still much to be desired in our efforts to improve the delivery of health services to our people.

We will not be discouraged by the magnitude of the problems confronting the health sector – from the lack of medicines to the scarcity of medical doctors, which is a national phenomenon.

We are the host of UNICEF, Plan Philippines, European Commisison, GTZ, Spanish International Red Cross and UNFPA-aided health programs.

And we express our sincere appreciation for the continued trust and support of these international institutions, a concrete manifestation of a vote of confidence to our leadership and our people.

On education, our elementary and high schools have been outperforming those in key and progressive provinces and cities nationwide where financial support is not a problem, be it in the National Achievement Test or the National College Admission Test and other barometers of academic excellence.

We hired about 300 province-paid teachers. We supported the WB/JBIC-funded TEEP. Last Thursday during the oath taking ceremonies of governors in Malacañang, I was informed that the President has approved the release of P40 million for school repair and 48 new teacher items.

About 200 provincial scholars are now taking degree courses at the Eastern Samar State University and in TESDA-accredited schools for technical courses.

Recently, the 1st batch of welders and plummers, who were all provincial scholars, graduated at the Llorente Training Institute, the only one in the whole island of Samar. (Congratulations and thank you Mayor Cardona and the local officials of Llorente.)

About 500 youth have so far availed the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) under RA 7323. This is on top of those who have earned gainful employment as a result of our sustained program to generate jobs locally and abroad.

On the environmental front, we have arrested the despoliation of our marine resources. We are nurturing our wounded ecosystems back to full health. While we are promoting responsible mining, we have been very extra careful in allowing mining operations in the province to make sure that the primordial interest of preserving the environment is not compromised.

Our finances are healthier, with surpluses posted after I assumed office in 2004 up to the present. We contained waste, undertook austerity measures and avoided the usual profligacy with public money.

We are in the Hall of Fame of the AGAP, the Association of Government Accountants of the Philippines for a more efficient handling of our financial matters.

This is the ultimate proof that we are prudent with public funds. As a result of this, we are able to provide almost all the legally-mandated benefits of provincial employees. Also, because of this feat, we have gained the confidence of international funding agencies, particularly the European Commission, in pouring in resources to our province.

The next three years covered by my 2nd term as steward of the province will also be spent on re-engineering and re-inventions. To start with, I will abolish the Provincial Transportation and Equipment Office and transfer some of its functions and personnel to the Provincial Engineering Office to beef up our road rehabilitation efforts and help maintain our heavy equipment.

Our reorganization and streamlining scheme, however, will not put in the back burner our ambitious programs of education, health, anti-poverty, infrastructure development and agricultural modernization.

The leadership of an LGU in this millennium requires parity concern to both the traditional concerns of government – the usual mandate to lift up education and health – and facing up to the challenges of the ascendant themes of this age.

By this I mean, putting governance in sync with the technological breakthroughs in the area of information and communication technology.

It is either we adopt or we loose our growth momentum.

In line with this, we are embarking on a computerization program, covering our crucial operational work and key provincial offices. We will install a wireless LAN or Local Area Network. Our Bio-Metrics Attendance System will be full operational this year.

We will craft a program to intensify computer education. Our target is to make Eastern Samar a source of knowledge business workers. We have the talent, the creativity and the bent. With adequate training, we can place our young men and women in good and high-paying jobs in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector.

On my invitation, a leading international outsourcing company will come to the province to train young Eastern Samareños to work in call centers. I will ask the SP to allocate an initial amount of 500 thousand pesos to finance the training. All the trainees who will pass will be hired immediately by international firms.

For the next three years, our educational thrust will cover a very broad range, from early childhood care and development to improving tertiary education. Again, let me thank the SP for coming up with a revised Child Welfare Code. We are one of the few provinces which have adopted this measure that is aimed at promoting and protecting the rights and welfare of the children.

As an initial step, I will ask the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to allocate P1 million to hire an army of day care workers province-wide which will help prepare our children shape a better future.

Skills training and retraining will be a priority. The mastery of a skill is a premium in this Knowledge Society.

Our health programs will be along the imperatives of the World Health Organization: improving primary health care, improving the basic health care infrastructure and disease prevention. We will carry out a comprehensive poverty-reduction program based on the 13 poverty indicators. We have partnered with foreign and local institutions in this effort, institutions that have been witness to our relentless effort to combat the scourge of poverty.

I have already directed the Provincial Planning and development Office to come up with a viable livelihood program through microfinance.

As you steward, I am committed to lead by example. Not by words but through deeds, selflessness, commitment, integrity.

I will continue to introduce unorthodox, innovative and pro-active style of governance to enable us to compete with the rest of the 81 provinces, 130 cities, 1,500 municipalities and 42,000 barangays nationwide as we continue to march for progress.

As we embrace new approaches to meet the challenges of the times, I call on all sectors to support all our initiatives in facing up to the challenges.

The Pacific, the part of the world where the sun rises, is where Eastern Samar is.

This is where the streaks of light break out to later blossom into the full light of day.

Let us then work to transform our streaks of growth, our seminal light, into a full-blown morning of growth, stability and prosperity.