Governor Roel Degamo: 2016 most challenging year of my administration

CEBU, Philippines – The re-election victory of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo in the May 2016 elections did not start with a smooth mandate as chief executive of the province, when the DILG on June 17 served the Ombudsman order dismissing him from office, and replaced by Vice Governor Edward Mark Macias.

DILG-Negros Island Region OIC Director Margie Biligan served the dismissal order, even if Degamo refused to acknowledge it, contending that he did not receive a copy of the Ombudsman decision.

Biligan, accompanied by DILG provincial director Dennis Quiñones, was accorded heavy security in serving the Ombudsman order, with at least 100 policemen headed by Senior Superintendent Harris Fama, director of the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office.

Hundreds of Degamo’s supporters blocked the main door of the Capitol building when Biligan arrived. However, cooler heads prevailed, as the DILG director was met with at least four lawyers of Degamo, namely, Assistant Provincial Administrator Froilan Pinili, Justo Paras, Nevino Cardente and Jose Petit Baldado.

After posting the Ombudsman order on the walls of the Capitol, Biligan swore into office Macias as the new governor. Degamo refused to step down as governor, arguing that the DILG’s implementation of the Ombudsman order was illegal and highly irregular, because he as a respondent did not receive a copy of it.

The dismissed governor earlier said legal remedies have been exhausted in telling the people of Negros Oriental that he is still the governor of the province, insisting the entire event as political harassment by his opponents who could not accept defeat in the elections.

On July 1, Biligan herself served a memorandum re-installing Degamo as governor of Negros Oriental, upon orders of DILG Undersecretary Austere Panadero. Degamo then took his oath before Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Gerardo Paquio Jr,, while Macias took his oath as vice governor before RTC-Branch 38 Judge Cenon Voltaire Repollo,

It was a sort of a nightmare on the life of Degamo, as governor in 2016. Degamo—in a statement during a year-end briefing with the local media—said 2016 was a year he now considers as the most challenging period of his administration.

Working on a re-enacted budget for 2016 was not that easy for the incumbent governor, especially with a Provincial Board dominated by the party of his opponents in the election. This was made steeper with the fight for the creation of the Negros Island Region, severing Negros Oriental from Central Visayas.

Suffice it to say, however, Degamo said he was able to weather and accomplish many things by taking instead the overwhelming support of the Negrenses and the different stakeholders, besides staging a masterful move to unite his men and their political opponents.

Foremost of the accomplishments, Degamo said was the understanding reached by the leaderships of both the executive and legislative departments of the Negros Oriental Capitol to work as one to the best interest of the people.

This resulted in the immediate approval of the 2017 annual budget of P2.331 billion, and he thanked Vice Gov. Macias and the PB members, who in turn helped in crafting the executive-legislative agenda (2016-2019).

Other accomplishments include the IWAG award recognition as the best implementing province in the anti-drug campaign; recognition as the best implementing local government unit in the anti-rabies campaign of the Department of Agriculture; and a COA declaration for being the 5th richest province nationwide in terms of assets at P4.955 billion.

Degamo completed the 4-story Negros Oriental Hospital Central Block Building; construction of the P36 million oxygen generating plant which is now fully operational and acquisition of modern diagnostic and laboratory equipment through donations from the Department of Health such as the new MRI and x-ray machines.

Then there’s the MagDegamo Missions—medical, dental, surgical and animal welfare services—totaling 61 missions and benefitting 65,000 indigents all over the province.

On education, scholarship programs were extended to 781 beneficiaries on top of the 442 who are high school valedictorians and salutatorians presently enrolled in different colleges and university in the province. This included his ongoing scholarship program for 61 students at the School of Medicine of Silliman University.

Degamo also reported that in 2016, the Capitol allocated P7.8 million for the 6,500 public elementary and high school teachers who receive P1,200 each, charged to the Special Education Fund.

On skills training, the Provincial Integrated Skills Training Center (PISTC) has recorded a total of 340 graduates from the regular training modules and has graduated 150 others from various training for work scholarship programs (TWSP) funded by the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA).

The Department of Social Welfare and Development also sponsored 25 scholarship slots for shielded metal arc welding course, and the Dumaguete City Agriculture Office also initiated a two-day special training module for engine repair and trouble shooting courses to 29 employees of the city government.

For the record, 90 percent of the graduates have landed jobs here and abroad while the remaining 10 percent have started their own businesses. On the other hand, 297 Negrenses have benefitted from the 14 different livelihood training programs—being conducted by the Technology and Livelihood Development Center (TLDC) of the province—on dressmaking, fish, meat and poultry processing, commercial baking, cosmetology among others, aside from extending P528,000 as micro financing assistance to 117 individuals.

For self-sufficiency in food production, the Degamo administration’s provincial tilapia satellite hatcheries in different 139 barangay agricultural development centers have produced 326,583 tilapia fingerlings, which were dispersed all over the province with a marketable estimated sales of P2.75 million.

The Panambalon development project itself in Bais City had harvested 2.7 metric tons of tilapia with an estimated sales of P216,000, while the Bais Oyster Farm was able to produce 80,000 pieces of oysters this year. Moreover, a total of 1,117 heads of cattle, carabao, goat, swine, poultry and even sheep were distributed to farmer recipients in the province, with artificial insemination services to 2,932 heads of cattle, carabao, goat and swine that produced a total of 3,739 offspring.

On the environment, Negros Oriental has sustained 26 integrated social forestry/agro-forestry, and 16 special reforestation sites with a total of 1,810 project adaptors in reforestation efforts through the establishment of nurseries and plantations, producing 48,000 forest tree seedlings and almost 20,000 fruit tree seedlings.

On disaster risk reduction management, Degamo has recently formed eight Rapid Emergency Telecommunications Teams all over the province, in line with his directive to make sure no deaths are reported during calamities in the province.

For 2017, Degamo said a huge challenge is being faced by the people of Negros Oriental especially with the impending threat of revocation of the Negros Island Region. He said the status maybe unsure but this will not stop the two provinces from pursuing its objectives of trying to achieve peace and development in the area.

Rest assured, the provincial leadership will continue to do its best in order to implement programs and projects that are essential in attain total peace and development in Negros Oriental under the program of government dubbed as “Sa Probinsiya-Mag Degamo ta,” focusing on his centerpiece program of HELP (health, education, livelihood and other programs and projects).