LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — The people must not only be recipients of the government’s programs and services, but should also be active participants in the crafting and implementation of such programs and services, Palace officials told hundreds of locals in the Cordillera here on Saturday.
“We are asking the community to get involved in the process of governance in order for them to have an easy access to the programs and services intended for them,” Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. said at the launch of the government’s “Biyaya ng Pagbabago” program at the Benguet State University in this capital town of Benguet province.
The “Biyaya ng Pagbabago” (Blessings of Change) program was brought by the Office of Participatory Government (OPG) under the Office of the Cabinet Secretary.
“Tayong mga mamamayan, sa pamamagitan ng kilusang pagbabago, sa pamamagitan ng mga organisasyon, actively maki-participate tayo sa proseso ng pamahalaan (We, citizens, should actively participate in the process of governance through our respective organizations and own initiatives for change),” OPG Undersecretary Joselito Libres stressed. “If before, people were just waiting to be given services and assistance, now we are urging them to actively participate in the process, to get involved with crafting plans and with the implementation.”
“You are the actors of change, initiators for change, no more no less,” Evasco told the locals, saying the Duterte government wants to transform the bureaucracy into a pro-active government.
“We are trying to make the government alive and responsive to the needs of the people, so that they will no longer hesitate to participate with governance,” Evasco said.
He said the people’s perception of government must change to something that there really are programs and services that would reach the grassroots.
The “Biyaya ng Pagbabago” program aims to bring the various poverty alleviation programs of the national government to the communities, letting them know that such programs and services for them exist.
“Hanggang sa matapos sana ang termino ng pangulo, magtulung-tulong tayo, gobyerno at mamamayan, para makamit ang biyaya ng pagbabago (We hope that until the President ends his term, we, the government and citizens, will help each other to receive the blessings of change),” Libres added.
Such targeted change is embodied in the government’s Philippine Development Plan for 2017-2022 – such as the reduction of the country’s poverty rate from the present 21 percent to 14 percent by the end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term.
In his welcome remarks, Benguet Governor Crescencio Pacalso expressed thanks for the efforts of the national government to inform the communities of the existing programs and projects for the grassroots.
“In this administration, we really feel the presence of government in our midst,” he said. “We’d like to know more programs.” (PNA)
