In 1998, I made history in local governance when I took my oath as Governor of North Cotabato in the remote village of Daig, Tulunan before a barangay captain.
The reason why I chose Daig for the symbolic oath-taking was because the village represented the neglect by government of far-flung areas.
While Daig and its neighboring barangays of Magbuk and Paraiso are part of Tulunan town, one has to pass through the towns of Mlang, Makilala, Bansalan and Magsaysay to reach these areas from Tulunan town proper.
The oathtaking in Daig was actually just a result of a dare from then Barangay Chairman Julian Salvaleon who asked me to visit his village after the elections as a condition for his all-out support.
During my inaugural speech, I made a promise to the people of Daig that in 100 days, I will build a road leading to the barangay and I connect the mountain village to the power lines.
Added to that, I also promised the people of Magbuk and Paraiso that I will build a road which will connect them directly to the town of Makilala.
I did all that. A road with a concrete pavement in its most difficult portion was built, electric poles and power lines were established and the road connecting Daig, Magbuk and Paraiso was opened in the first 100 days of my administration as Governor.
Daig then became a symbol of a new governance which I initiated in North Cotabato where emphasis was given to the development of the remotest areas of the province to improve the economic condition of the people long neglected.
In the new governance paradigm which I started, I compared the remote villages as the springs whose waters flow to the big river which are the urban centers.
“There will be no rivers without the waters from the spring,” was the statement that I made to illustrate that there will only be progress and prosperity in the town proper if the people in the mountains are prosperous and possess the buying power.
So it was in Daig where the blueprint of the massive countryside development started in North Cotabato, a program which succeeded in reducing poverty in the province.
Rural roads and bridges were built, planting materials were distributed and assistance and training for farmers were provided.
In the remote areas of the province where the roads were opened, agricultural activities were immediately started right after the completion of the roads.
Farmers were seenb plowing the previously unproductive fields knowing that they will be able to bring their products to the market easily.
From a very high 52% when I took over as Governor in 1998, the province’s Poverty Incidence Per Family (PIPF) went down to 22% in 2007 when I left office, a figure provided by the National Statistical Coordination Board.
Monday night, I was in Daig which I had not visited since the inauguration of the road and the ceremonial switching on of the first electric light in the village.
The houses are bigger now as people have started to make money from the rubber seedlings I gave them many years ago.
The road is in a state of disrepair but I assured the people that if God will grant me the chance of serving my people again, I will go back to where it all started – Daig.
I will retrace the road I took in successfully reducing poverty in the province, this time wiser from the experiences I had in the nine years that I was Governor.
I left Daig for Kidapawan at about 1 a.m. passing through really bad roads but I was very happy knowing that the experiment in governance which I conducted in Daig has been proven to be effective.
(Photo caption: Residents of Daig, Magbuk and Paraiso gather for my first visit to the area after 15 years. Photo by Ferdinand Pinol)
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