ALABEL, Sarangani -- “If only lahat ng governors ay kagaya ni Governor Steve Solon, then we will have a very good performance and delivery of services in the barangays in the provinces,” said Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Secretary Isidro Lapeña.

During the 27th Joint Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (JRTF-ELCAC) meeting on March 25 at the Provincial Capitol, Lapeña commended “Sarangani is doing really well” in its peace and development efforts in the province.

Lapeña said “when the local chief executives are really active and are performing well, national-line agencies like us will really pour out support. That is how we do things.”

In Sarangani, 13 barangays have already each received a P20-million development assistance package from the national government as part of the Local Government Support Fund-Support to Barangay Development Program 2021 (LGSF-BDP).

The P260-million total fund allocated for Sarangani will be used for the 41 projects such as the rehabilitation and improvement of Level II water system, construction of health stations, and concreting of farm-to-market roads.

In 2021, four additional barangays in the province were declared insurgency-free and will also each receive P4-million development assistance, while four more barangays were included in the first quarter of 2022.

Lapeña said “it has been ongoing, may mga natapos na at meron pang mga ongoing, at may mga kailangan pang i-comply na mga requirements,” as he gave an update on the status of the implementation of the development projects in Region XII.

“These projects are on target at ang importante nyan ay nararamdaman na ng ating mga kababayan sa malalayo at mahihirap na mga lugar,” he added.

“At long last, the government service that they have longed for a long time has arrived in their place.”

Seeing poverty as the root cause of communist insurgency, Lapeña said “TESDA as the cluster head of the Poverty Reduction, Livelihood, and Employment Cluster (PRLEC) under NTF-ELCAC, will really maximize our services to even strengthen the implementation of ELCAC.”

“To address poverty, we will go on with our mandate which is to provide relevant, accessible, high-quality, and efficient training for livelihood and employment for our Filipino workforce,” Lapeña said. (Jori Mae R. Samillano/SARANGANI PROVINCIAL INFORMATION OFFICE)