By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/PNA
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Assistant Secretary Roosque B. Calacat on Wednesday urged barangay officials here to stop corruption that most commonly starts at their level.
“The barangays are the first to spot corrupt practices,” Calacat, who spoke on the second leg of the Barangay Summit on Good Governance held in Antique, said.
The DILG official, in charge of the Barangay Affairs and Partnership, recalled one of the campaign platforms of President Rodrigo Duterte was against corruption.
“The reason why there is still so much poverty in the country is because of corruption,” he said.
“Let us cleanse up to the lowest level and portray good governance,” he added.
Engr. Ariel O. Iglesia, DILG Western Visayas newly assumed director, said the summit is being held in order to inform and educate barangay captains of their role in the thrust of the President against illegal drugs, criminality and corruption.
“Antique is the second province that we visited after Aklan,” he said.
The Barangay Summit on Good Governance was held in Aklan province last January 15 and in Capiz on January 17. The regional director hoped that the participants will be able to internalize their learning.
The one-day summit was attended by barangay officials from the 590 barangays throughout the province at the Binirayan Gymnasium in San Jose de Buenavista.
“The barangays are the basic political unit of society so the barangay officials are being expected to perform their roles for the province to remain peaceful and crime-free,” he said.
