MARIBOJOC, Bohol – Several residents from the different barangays in this municipality heartily welcomed the community outreach program conducted by the Countryside Development Program-Purok Power Movement (CDP-PPM) of the provincial government of Bohol recently.
Some key local officials and people’s organizations from barangays Guiwanon, Punta Cruz and Bayacabac came as one and expressed their gratitude to Gov. Edgar M. Chatto and the movers of the CDP-PPM for coming to their barangays.
The CDP-PPM team conducted an orientation on the registration and accreditation of non-government organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) in barangay Bayacabac last October 24. This accreditation is mandated by the Local Government Code of 1991 and is also supported and found in the provincial Ordinance C-001 and Ordinance 2012-032. The CDP-PPM team was joined in this activity by the 47th Infantry Battalion which is based in Tubigon as part of their orientation as a new partner of the program.
Emilia Roslinda, executive director of the Bohol Alliance of Non-Government Organizations (BANGON) also supported the move of the provincial government of Bohol in its continued conduct of orientation on accreditation of CSOs in all municipalities in the province. This is to ensure the coordination between and among the CSOs and the government sector and must be aligned with the government programs for a unified and cohesive action for development.
After the orientation, employees from the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office distributed items for feeding, fresh milk and solar lamps to several people’s organizations.
The whole day activity earned the respect and gratitude from the officials, residents-beneficiaries in the Barangay.
Guiwanon’s barangay secretary Genara Sanoy said that “gikalipay sa mga lumolopyo ang pagbisita sa taga-province ug pagtuman sa ilang saad nga manghatag ug solar lamps.” (the residents are very thankful of the visit made by the staff of the provincial government and fulfilled its promise of giving solar lamps.)
Ricardo Bagnoran, president of a fishermen people’s organization, also expressed his thanks to the CDP-PPM team. He said that “gikalipay namong tanang mananagat ang among nadawat.”(all the fishermen are happy of what we have received.) Bagnoran was even thankful that they were able to stay away from the “actions and deceptions of the leftist groups. We, the fishermen are happy that we have not joined them,” he added.
In behalf of his people, Lourdes Concepcion Tan-Endo, barangay captain of Punta Cruz also expressed her gratitude and gave assurance that the people of Punta Cruz will always support and always will be with the government.
Despite of this development, the Community Empowerment Resource Network (CERNET), an NGO which is based in Cebu City made a statement published earlier that it is not happy over what the provincial government is doing for its own Boholano constituents.
Liza Quirog, chair of the Technical Working Group (TWG) of the CDP-PPM just laughed off the pronouncement made by this outsider NGO. According to a staff assigned to the Desk of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) they could not find CERNET as among the legitimate NGOs of the country. Under the law, SEC registration gives legal personality to a non government organization. This registration and accreditation requirements are also mandated in the Local Government Code and Provincial Ordinances. Efforts are being directed to get the official statement of SEC on the legality of CERNET’s operations. This NGO is also not accredited with the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Bohol. The Provincial Ordinance also requires that any NGO based outside of the province must get accreditation first before it can conduct any activity in the province to safeguard the interests and security of the Boholano people.
Quirog said that the manifestation and verbal expression of the people of the barangays in Maribojoc, as mentioned earlier in this report, are proof enough that the people welcomes and supports the programs of the provincial government, especially the CDP-PPM since this is specifically implemented to address the socio-economic problems faced by all sectors of the community. She emphasized, however, that the governor is more than happy with the support and complementation extended by the registered and accredited NGOs and CSOs of the province for the achievement of its development goals.
As to the orientation of CSOs accreditation, Quirog emphasized that this is not just the provincial government’s decree but a national law. The accreditation process is given much emphasis now to avoid another Napoles scam scenario where bogus NGOs were allocated billions of pesos for ghost projects.
Medical missions and distribution of items to the farmers and fishermen might also be used as a pattern for bogus NGOs going to the communities so that they could “implement” projects for liquidation purposes of funds given by their donor agencies from abroad. (tltb)
