'One village, one project' pushed
'We will make it happen,' Guimaras solon assures despite no-show of mayors
Buenavista, Guimaras-Notices and invitations were sent and duly received. Four of the five mayors confirmed yet come training-workshop days, trainors and project proponents were similarly dejected on the no-show of the invited resource persons. Yet for Guimaras Representative Edgar Espinosa, the plans and projects will continue even as he expressed frustration and disappointment on the initial rebuff from the town mayors of three Guimaras towns.
The training-workshop was for the "One Cluster, One vision for Local Development in Pilot Priority Provinces."Conducted by the House Special Committee on Priority Provinces, Espinosa as House Special Committee chair was in high spirits when the schedule was set for Guimaras. The project as pushed by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) would have gathered local chief executives and their town's functionaries in a session that would help establish and identify priority programs for government funding.
The no-show of the concerned town executives meant non-submission of these priority programs highly believed to have been influenced by political forces in said island-province who belong outside the Espinosa camp.
"The people should understand that what we are pushing here are projects for their benefits and not for me or their mayor. It is for them, the people in the barangays so political affiliation really has no place here,"Espinosa said in a The News Today interview. "In the past, I would have the same experience where my efforts like the improvement of provincial roads are not allowed. But again, I hope we get these developments to the barangays where it is most needed by the people."
"One Cluster, One Vision for Local Development (OCOV)"is the brainchild of the DILG with the House of Representatives as program conduit. Under this concept came the "one village, one product"component advocated by the department as successfully instituted in Oita, Japan where participating chief executives will be brought to said country.
Efforts received better welcome in the provinces of Aurora, Ifugao, Mountain Province and Sulu.
Two Guimaras mayors heeded the invitation and came along with their top town executives. As such, the Memorandum of Agreement for said project was realized between the municipalities of Buenavista under Mayor Samuel Gumarin and San Lorenzo Mayor Arsenio Zambarrano.