PR | Posted on Feb. 20, 2020
Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino asked all the 12 clusters of the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC) to submit all their project proposals for 2021 on Friday, February 21.
This is to plan out and prepare the said projects on ELCAC efforts to be submitted to the joint Regional Development Council (RDC)- Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) meeting this March.
The said deadline is to comply also with the deadline set by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in the National Budget Memorandum Circular 133 set last December 2019.
Last February 11, Secretary Dino who is the Cabinet Officer for Regional Development for Security (CORDS) in Central Visayas called for a meeting with the member-agencies of the RTF-ELCAC.
He asked all the members of the 12 different clusters to submit their project proposals based on the issues and concerns raised by the identified conflict-affected and vulnerable barangays.
Currently, there are 16 identified conflict-affected and vulnerable barangays in Region 7 which are all located in Negros Oriental.
During the meeting, the Secretary thanked all agencies that have contributed greatly to the successful implementation of the President’s Executive Order No. 70 in 2019.
He also made a special mention to the efforts of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) 7 for completing the series of “Dagyawan sa Barangay: Talakayan at Serbisyo sa Mamamayan” that ultimately resulted to the handing over of issues and concerns as well as project proposals that will address the same at the grassroots level.
During the said meeting, Assistant Secretary Anthony Gerard “Jonji” Gonzales was also designated by Secretary Dino as the Chairman of the RTF 7 ELCAC technical working group (TWG).
The TWG will ensure that the plans, programs and projects for the conflict-manageable and development-ready communist terrorist groups-affected areas will be endorsed accordingly for budget allocation and implementation.
They will also conduct site visits of the listed projects as part of the monitoring of the ongoing implementation of ELCAC interventions for 2020.
Included in the list of proposals are the projects that will be launched or inaugurated by March of this year.
Secretary Dino encouraged all agencies to continue working diligently and with tenacity in fulfilling the President’s thrust towards sustainable peace and development in order to provide happy and comfortable lives for every Filipino.
