Experience Best Teacher: Lessons In Governance!

Experience Best Teacher:
Lessons In Governance!
Following my last hour decision to file my candidacy for Governor of North Cotabato, political adversaries who were all caught by surprise scrambled to dig up negative issues to throw against me.
Finding nothing earthshaking, they are now questioning my motive to run for Governor again saying that I have not accomplished anything significant during the 9 years that I was Governor, including such inane and childish issue that I am just a braggart and charlatan.
I have never really bragged about my accomplishments in governance but since I am now challenged, I decided to list down, to the best that my memory could recall, all the programs and projects I have done as a public servant.
So, in this 2-part series, I will enumerate that accomplishments I made first as Mayor of Mlang and later as Governor of North Cotabato.
In all modesty, I lay claim to the distinction of being one of the very few high-ranking government officials who personally designed and crafted development programs to respond to problems I saw on the ground and heard from the people.
Here are some of the innovations in Governance which I designed and implemented:
1. Mayor of Mlang, 1995 to 1998 – Implemented Simplified Governance W-L-R-L-P (Water, Light, Roads, Livelihood & Peace) – Opened Barangay Roads, Water Systems, Small Water Impounding, Electrification and Neutralized Kidnap-For-Ransom Groups. Mlang consistently won the Clean and Green Award and was elevated to the Hall of Fame;
2. Governor of North Cotabato, 1998-2007 Gov. Piñol designed and implemented the following programs:
A. Award Winners:
1. Special Area For Agricultural Development (SAAD), a community-based agricultural productivity and poverty alleviation program where the residents themselves identified their problems and needs and recommended projects which they believed would help the community. This program was replicated at the National Level in 2016 and is now one of the Banner Programs of the Dept. of Agriculture. SAAD was cited by the National Economic Development Authority and the Philippine Statistics Office as one of the most effective Poverty Alleviation Programs of the Philippine Government;
2. Children Of Peace Program a peace-building advocacy which brought together bright Muslim, Christian and Tribal high school students from conflict areas to learn & understand each other’s culture and tradition, proceeded to College as provincial scholars. This program received the Galing Pook Award;
3. PALMA LGU Alliance brought together the towns of Pigcawayan, Alamada, Libungan, Midsayap & Aleosan (later expanded to include Pikit) to pool their limited resources like road building equipment to undertake jointly projects in the member towns. This governance innovation received the “Galing Pook Award;”
4. Jobs For Economic Enhancement Program (JEEP) assisted the youth of Cotabato in finding jobs by holding a Jobs Fair with the support of the Dept. of Labor & Employment. Those who qualified were provided with financial loans by the Provl Govt for their placement fees and other expenses which they repaid by installment from their salaries. This program was acknowledged as an Outstanding Jobs Program by the DOLE;
5. Cotabato Health Insurance Program (CHIP) an innovative health program which sought to assist poor families by covering the excess payables after PhilHealth virtually giving “Free Hospitalization” to all CHIP members. This program was recognized by the Dept. of Health as an Outstanding LGU Innovation;
6. Task Force Manhunt which captured over 100 Wanted Criminals in the First 100 Days as Governor. It also included the organization of the Cotabato Highway Patrols (CHIPS) where policemen riding brand new motorcycles in tandem patrolled the highways and responded to calls for assistance immediately. Policemen headed by then Provincial Director, Col. Alex Paul Monteagudo, who later became Director General of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, were awarded the Ten Outstanding Policemen of the Philippines Award;
7. Helped design the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP) as Governor of one of the 5 Pilot Provinces. The MRDP was later expanded nationwide to become PRDP, a program which I presented in an international conference in Berlin 2019.
B. Other Governance Innovations
1) Task Force Kalsada – Acquired Road Building Equipment and Opened Over 1,000 kilometers of Barangay Roads in 9 years & Established Modern Asphalt Batching Plant. The Provincial Road Building Machineries were organized into fleets composed of 4 Dumptrucks, 1 Bulldozer, 1 Grader, 1 Payloader and 1 Backhoe which were fielded to remote villages to build roads and to never leave the area until the projects were completed;
2) OPLAN Tubig sa Kabarangayan implemented with the acquisition of Modern Truck-Mounted Water Drilling Rig;
3) Plant-Now-Pay-Later Program distributed planting materials for Rubber, Coconut, Mango, Bananas & other fruit trees;
4) Plow-Now-Pay-Later Program – acquired fleet of tractors to plow farmers field payable after harvest;
5) Study-Now-Pay-Later Scholarship Program which succeeded in sending over 2,000 youth from Muslim, Christian and IP communities to college to become professionals;
6) Magtutudlo Sa Barangay Program employed hundreds of graduates of teaching course to assist overloaded regular teachers in remote areas of the province;
7) Organized the Council of Tribal Elders (COTE) and the Council of Muslim Elders (COME) from the municipal to the provincial level to enable the marginalized communities to participate in governance. Both Councils were provided Office Spaces in the Provincial Capitol and the heads were appointed Executive Assistants to the Governor;
😎 Barangay Leaders Development Exposure Program involved learning trips for newly elected Barangay Chairmen to Malaysia to study the impact of the Rubber, Palm Oil and other agricultural industries on the economy of rural communities;
9) Launched the yearly Cotabato Fruit Festival in partnership with SM Megamall in Metro Manila and SM City in Mandaue, Cebu to assist in the marketing of Cotabato fruits and linking Cotabato farmers with institutional buyers;
10) Initiated the Bottom-Up Planning for Agriculture in North Cotabato which included the crafting of a Master Plan for Agriculture from 1998 to 2007.
C. Major Infrastructure Project
Initiated the construction of a Domestic Airport in Barangay Tawantawan, Mlang, North Cotabato with the acquisition of 62-hectares of land by the Provincial Govt. Constrruction started in 2004 and the runway and terminal building of the Central Mindanao Airport were inaugurated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2009. The airport, however, has remained inoperational as of 2024 as the Provincial Government which owns the property where the airport is has not turned over the ownership of the area to the Dept. of Transportation.
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
#ExperienceIsTheBestTeacher!