Indeed, this geographically isolated and disadvantaged area is in need of assistance from the government.
Based on the Barangay Development Plan of Barangay Cacaoiten, main concerns of the people in the area are focused on health care, infrastructure and livelihood.
In order to empower the people in this hard to reach barangay, the Pangasinan Task Force in Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC), through its “Serbisyo Caravan,” has brought the government services and assistance closer to the families in the village.
Through the caravan, the Task Force provided the families with health care services, food assistance, skills and livelihood training as well as free beauty care services.
The project, in correlation with the provincial government’s ABIG Pangasinan Program, aims to promote not only peace and order but development as well through several programs.
“Sa kasalukuyan, wala na pong naobserbahan na galaw ng mga bandido sa lalawigan ng Pangasinan,” said. Col. Angel Madarang, deputy brigade commander of the 702nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army.
The Task Force, formed through the Executive Order (EO) No. 70, has key members that include the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
It also consists of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Education (DepEd), National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), and the Philippine Information Agency (PIA).
