ILIGAN CITY​ ​(PIA)--To continuously provide and respond to the needs of citizens especially those who are situated in secluded areas, the City Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (CTF-ELCAC) spearheaded a serbisyo caravan for peace and development ​Wednesday, July 28 ​, ​at Sitio Kapisahan in Brgy. Mainit​, this city, delivering different government services.

"Ang serbisyo caravan atong gipahimo nga ang presensya sa gobyerno muabot diri sa pinakalayo nato nga lugar ug kabarangayan,” said Vice Mayor Jemar Vera Cruz.

[We held the serbisyo caravan so that the government’s presence will reach here in the farthest places and barangays.]

The caravan ​was conducted ​in partnership with different line agencies ​such as Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Iligan City Police Office (ICPO),  55th Infantry Battalion​ of the Philippine Army​, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD), City Health Office (CHO), City Agriculture Office (CAO) and Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) ​covering households from​​ five sitios o​f ​the barangay. These are Upper and Lower Pinatagan, Locloc, Kapisahan, and Caribao.

Vera Cruz ​said the local government has already kicked off serbisyo caravans in far-flung barangays several times already​ ​including Rogongon, Panoroganan and Lanipao ​. He ​stressed that such effort is necessary to bring in timely services and see personally the current situation of localities so that they may duly respond to them.

“Ato gyud sila gidala diri para makita nato asa ang problema ug importante nakita nato nga problema sa kalsada ug water ug wala lang masulti sa atong katawhan ang health problems. Ako gyud ning gianhi personal kung unsa gyud problema sa atong mga tao,” he said

[We really brought them here so that we will see where the problems are and importantly, we saw the problems in road and water, and people did not just mention the health problems. I personally went here to see what the problems of the people are.]

City Councilor Ian Uy, ​c​hair​person​ of the ​City Council's ​Committee on Peace and Order, saw this initiative as an opportunity to effectively urge the citizens ​not ​to​ ​be deceived by the lies of communist terrorist groups while appealing to the members of such groups to surrender and return to the fold of the law.

“Hopefully, pinaagi niini makamata na ang atong mga igsoon ug dili na mupakig-anib sa atong kaatbang sa gobyerno, mubalik na sila mamuyo nga malinawon uban sa ilang mga tagsa-tagsang pamilya,” he said.

With the serbisyo caravan at Sitio Kapisahan, Vera Cruz scored their effort successful as he called on the citizens to maintain their support and trust in the government as it is striving to answer their addressed concerns.

“Continue to support your local government and have faith in us because your government is here to help you. Kami nga naa sa gobyerno, ilabi na sa local government, makita nako nga wala mi pulos kung ang among pagpuyo diha sa city hall ug ang among pagserbisyo dili muabot ngadto sa mga tao [We in the government, especially the local government, I can see that we are useless if our stay in the city hall and our services will not reach the people],” he said. (CRG/PIA-ICIC)