Message of MCTQ for BPRP 3.0

 

MESSAGE

 

On the 7^th anniversary of our Revolution Against Poverty, it is high time we recalled what it is all about. In August 27, 2017, on National Heroes’ Day, when I was still the mayor, I wasn’t sure what to say on the occasion, but I had this one thought lingering in my mind: “Here we go again celebrating our freedom (from foreign oppression), but are we really free, that is, free from poverty?”

Since it has always been my ardent wish to see our town of Bayambang really freed from poverty, I decided to declare the Rebolusyon Laban sa Kahirapan, to get rid of poverty once and for all within ten years.

With the help of our Municipal Administrator, then Atty. Rodelynn Rajini Sagarino, formerly of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, (with Dr. Rafael L. Saygo taking over the reins later on), we formed the Bayambang Poverty Reduction Action Team, held a series of public consultations in the form of anti-poverty summits, and crafted the Bayambang Poverty Reduction Action Plan 2018-2028. For dramatic effect, I remember even burying a time capsule during the groundbreaking of the St. Vincent Ferrer Prayer Park, which contained a letter I wrote asking whether we have indeed won in our town-wide Revolution. With God’s mercy, I do hope I would still be around by 2028, the year we are supposed to exhume the time capsule to ask ourselves if we had indeed won over poverty in our town. As we all know, one thing led to another, and the rest is history.

In this, the 7^th year celebration of the Rebolusyon Laban sa Kahirapan, it is fitting that we ask, “Where are we now?” I am glad that even though we are not yet 100% finished, we have taken major strides. I believe God blessed our efforts because we have pure intentions.

1.      In terms of Good Governance, we are successful in stamping out corruption. We earned an Unmodified Opinion from the Commission on Audit for the first time. We passed the ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management System) certification for the first time.

 

2.      Under the thrust of Environmental Protection and Disaster Resiliency, as we can see, our MDRRMO is a most active department, with a fleet of rescue vehicles and equipment.

 

3.      In the area of Sociocultural Development and Social Protection, a sense of peace and order prevails in our town, with a nationally recognized police station and chief. We have a busy Emergency Command Center operating our system of CCTVs and set of ambulances. We are incessantly assisting all disadvantaged sectors, among other things.

 

In Health, in particular, we have taken giant steps. From two Rural Health Units, we now have six, and we are opening the tertiary hospital, Julius K. Quiambao Medical & Wellness Center. We have come to a point where we are thinking of scrapping our outreach program Komprehensibong Serbisyo sa Bayan on its 7^th year because there is no longer a pressing need. Moreover, from being at the bottom of the pile, our Municipal Nutritionist’s program implementation became one of the top 10 best in the country.

 

4.      In the area of Economic and Infrastructure Development, we have made significant gains in the non-stop construction of core local access roads, covered courts, barangay halls, etc. A world-class theme park is about to open at St. Vincent Ferrer Prayer Park, which in itself has become a tourist attraction and is now seeing a lot of business startups in the area. Very soon, the groundbreaking of the BYB Metro will be a gamechanger.

 

5.      In the realm of Agricultural Modernization, I believe we have also made progress in leaps and bounds. The establishment of Bayambang Polytechnic College came with course offerings in Agriculture Enterprise. We have created E-Agro as a lending system. On top of the farm-to-market roads (FMRs), solar driers, post-harvest facilities that we have completed, we are now constructing the first-ever Bayambang Pump Irrigation Project, to serve 2,200 hectares of farmland. What’s more, we are finishing the Pantol-to-San Gabriel 2^nd FMR with 2 Bridges project, through the World Bank and Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP). And we are about to build two cold storages, a 120,000-bag facility through PRDP and a 20,000-bag facility through DA Region I. Lastly, our Soil Laboratory building is up and ready.

Of course, so much more need to be done, but we are getting there, especially since we now have this document, the BPRP 3.0, an updated version which is our new bible in our fight against penury, economic deprivation, and other forms of poverty.

Let us continue joining our hands in the remaining three years of this all-out war. With God’s grace, we shall overcome and win this fight.

 

 

DR. CEZAR T. QUIAMBAO

Former Mayor

Special Adviser to the Mayor