COTABATO CITY–“Do your jobs as village officials, or face me.”
This was the warning issued by City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi as she led here Monday afternoon the oath-taking ceremony of more than 300 newly-elected village and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials from the city’s 37 barangays at the city hall lobby.
In particular, Guiani-Sayadi reminded the new village officials to intensify the fight against illegal drugs in the barangay level. She said curbing the illegal drug problem remains a major thrust of the local government, in compliance to President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drugs agenda.
“Do not let drugs enter your communities,” she said, pointing out the harm that illegal drugs can bring to the city’s economy and security.
She also called on the newly-minted village officials to fulfill their promises to their constituents on the aspects of peace and order, cleanliness, and transparency in the use of funds in their respective communities.
“If you fail to do your promises, you will face me but if you fulfill it, I will personally help you (in your barangay activities),” Guiani-Sayadi said.
“Keep your barangays peaceful, clean and free from drugs and more investments would surely come to our city to benefit the barangays,” she added.
The city’s “drug-free” villages include Tamontaka 3, Tamontaka 4, Tamontaka 5, Rosary Heights 4, Kalanganan 1, and Kalanganan 2, based on the assessment of the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council, in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
For the SK leaders, meanwhile, the mayor said youth leaders should not condone any wrongdoing of their village officials by reporting the matter to her.
“Do not act as ‘puppets’ of your village officials. Do not be reluctant by reporting any misconduct directly to me,” she said. (Noel Punzalan/PNA)
