Province to focus on infra projects

CEBU, Philippines — The Province of Cebu will now be prioritizing infrastructure projects when it comes to the approval of requests for assistance from barangays.

This was announced yesterday when barangay captains in the Province of Cebu gathered in the IC3 Convention Center Cebu for their general assembly. During the later part of the program, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia laid down guidelines for barangay programs and projects eligible for assistance from the provincial government.

Among the main points she discussed were the prioritization of roads, electricity, and water systems in barangays. Garcia declared that the province will only be accepting “hard projects” that amount to no less than P500,000. Any infrastructure that costs less than that is expected to be subsidized fully by the barangay units.

“Ang mga ginagmay, inyo. Ang mga dinagko, amo,” she said.

All infrastructure requests will still be subject to validation prior to their approval. Before the procurement process, the barangays will also need to prove the liquidation of the previous financial assistance given to them by the province.

“Ang procurement process, magsugod ug Abril. Apan, dili ta makasugod ug procure kung wala pa kamo maka-liquidate sa inyong prior financial assistance,” Garcia said.

She explained that this was to make sure that the projects requested for assistance were not personal projects.

Garcia also laid down a list of items that will no longer be allowed to be requested from the provincial government. Among these are tents, monobloc chairs, uniforms, computers, laptops, cellphones, radios, tablets, printers, LCDs, CCTVs, internet subscriptions, cameras, kitchen appliances, and sporting goods.

The enumerated items were from previous requests from barangays.

“Kanang CCTV, maayo kaayo for peace and order and all pero kung guba pa kaayo inyong dan, o ang inyo mismong mga health centers wala pa maitsura…. asa man na ibutang… basic usa ta,” she said.

In her speech, Garcia urged the barangay captains to look into addressing basic issues in their respective barangays and addressing the primary needs of their constituents.  BRP(FREEMAN)