2004 STATE OF THE PROVINCE ADDRESS

WE HAVE WALKED THE TALK
Hon. Isagani S. Amatong
Provincial Governor, Zamboanga del Norte

III.       EDUCATION

The province’s performance in basic education for school year 2002-2003 generally improved compared to the past school years. Note for example that  improvement in simple literacy rate in the last 5 school years has been significant, from  84.00% in school year 1999-2000 to 93.02% in school year 2002-2003.

(Simple Literacy is the ability to read and write a simple message in any language).

Functional literacy rate, on the other hand,  is sustained at a high 98.02% in school year 2002-2003

(Functional Literacy is the ability to read and write with comprehension as well as make simple arithmetic calculations in an expanded sense; and the possession of minimum skills needed to carry out simple functions in life and to interact with others in society).

                           However, improvements in the participation and survival rates in both elementary and secondary levels fell short of desired outcomes.  This indicates that, notwithstanding our numerous interventions in education, such as school building construction and repair, and hiring of teachers, challenges in terms of attracting and keeping children in school  remain unresolved.

(Participation Rate is the ratio of the enrolment of a given age-group in a grade level to the population of the same age-group in a given school year.)

(Survival Rate refers to the percentage of Grade 1 pupils and First Year students who enter Grade 6 and Fourth Year, respectively.)

                  Support Extended

·        Hiring of secondary teachers in the last 5 school years, from 5 teachers in school year 1999-2000 to 180 teachers in school year 2003-2004;

·        Construction/repair of elementary and secondary school buildings. . . By the end of 2003, we have completed 179 school construction/repair related projects

                  We have built school buildings in the school-less barangays of :
                           1.   Lambaguan, Sibuco
                           2.   Limpapa, Limpuno, Sibuco
                           3.   Lanote, Bongalao, Sibuco
                           4.   Tugop, Kalawit
                           5.   Sahara, Sipawa, Sirawai

Another school-less barangay, Brgy. Kilalaban, Baliguian will soon have a school building under the FFCCCI-assisted school building project of the provincial government.

·        We have supported the Early Child Care and Development Program for pre-school children by providing day care centers with playground apparatus and workbooks.

IV. INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

The gap in infrastructure requirements of the province is slowly closing in the last 5 years with the implementation of various projects meant to provide :
           1.  access to market areas, production areas, schools, churches and government
                      facilities, among others;
           2.  classrooms to pupils and students;
           3.  facilitate delivery of government services to barangays;
           4.  roads and bridges/spillways connect barangays, municipalities, cities and provinces.
               Immediate concern is to address the physical isolation of the Triple SB area from
               each other and the rest of the province.
           5.  open opportunities for livelihood activities;
           6.  better hospital services for sanitation and health purposes;
           7.  well lighted houses at night for children to study better;
           8.  well lighted streets for security purposes; and a lot more

By the end of year 2003, we implemented more than a thousand of infrastructure projects,  and more are still to be accomplished.  To date, 163 projects are still on-going, and 355 projects on the pipeline for implementation. These projects generated a total of 1,946 jobs.

These 1,559 completed projects of various types amounted to P 522.90 million in funding requirement.

TOTAL NUMBER OF COMPLETED PROJECTS,  BY CATEGORY, as of 2003

                    Sources: PEO and PPDO

q                   Under the Tulay ng Pangulo Program, we completed a total of 13 bridge projects, with Palomok Bridge in Kalawit, to be fully completed by the first quarter of this year.

q                   On water transport, 4 port development projects that will enhance the development of agriculture and tourism industries are currently carried out, either under the Roll-on-Roll-off project or Philippine Port Authority’s capital investment program.

q                   In air transport, the major initiative is aimed towards expansion and improvement of Dipolog airport under DOTS’s 3^rd Airports Project.

Local and National Government Support

q                   Counterparting of resources has been the scheme we adopted in the implementation of most of our infrastructure projects.

q                   It warms the heart of this administration to be trusted by partner LGUs, barangays, national government offices like the Department of Finance, Tulay ng Pangulo Program of the Office of the President, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Agriculture, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and donor funding institutions like the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce, Inc. and BIARSP,  in the implementation of projects partly using their funds.

q                   Words of gratitude are also extended to the Honorable Members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for supporting my administration in the pursuit of my development agenda. 

V.                 LIVELIHOOD PROMOTION

“Give man a fish and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime.”  This Chinese proverb is my administration’s guiding principle in the provision of livelihood assistance to our constituents.

Toward this end, our support and assistance essentially consisted of enhancing their access to credit, technology and market. No dole outs as clamored by some quarters. We always believe that when one invests time, effort and money to learn the trade, he or she is bound to prosper. 

And so we established partnership with the following credit and funding entities in the provision of livelihood activities : 

Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corporation (QUEDANCOR). We coursed thru QUEDANCOR a livelihood assistance fund of P 10.0 million intended to trigger rural productivity, employment and income opportunities in  farming and fishing communities. As of the latest report, a total of 953 farmer/fisherman-beneficiaries, have availed of the funding assistance. 

TESDA-GTZ Assisted Livelihood Program in the amount of P1.0 million funding assistance from the Federal Republic of Germany.  Dubbed as funding assistance for peace, it is intended for the conduct of community-based skills enhancement trainings in KALAHI barangays in the Triple S-B area.  The terms and conditions of the funding assistance specify KALAHI areas as the focus of coverage.  For Zamboanga del Norte the identified KALAHI area is the Triple S-B. The project components and identified beneficiary groups are the following :

Philippine-Canada Development Fund (PCDF) Assistance in the amount of  about  P 4.0 million for livelihood activities in the coastal areas of LGUs within the influence of Murciellagos Bay, namely, Dapitan City, Rizal and Sibutad. PCDF-assisted projects include the following :

v                 Establishment of marine sanctuaries in Barangays Baylimango, Guimputlan and Tag-ulo in Dapitan City; Barangay Sebaca in Rizal; and Barangay Sawang in Sibutad. ; 

v                 Livestock Production (Goat and Cattle Dispersal) in Barangays Napo, Oro and Carang in Dapitan City; Barangays Nasipang, Sebaca, Balubohan, Mabunao, Damasing and Nangca in Rizal; and Barangays Kanim, Sawang, Libay, Panganuran and Calube in Sibutad ;

v                 Seaweeds Production and Salt Making in Barangays Canlucani, Taguilon, Sto. Niño, Selinog Island and Aliguay Island in Dapitan City; Barangays Nasipang, Sebaca, Balubohan, Mabunao and Nangca in Rizal; and Barangays Sinipay, Panganuran, Libay and Calube in Sibutad; and

v                 Capability building

PhP 1.0 Million Fund under the “Isang Bayan, Isang Produkto, Isang Milyong Piso” Loan Program of GMA for financing promising enterprises in the province. Following the criteria in the selection of qualified entrepreneurs set by the Office of the President, the fund was accessed by 3  entrepreneurs, namely :

v                 Tabulig Bag manufacturer in Barangay Tuburan, Katipunan

v                 Roxas Center of Commerce Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Barangay 
                Langatian, Roxas

v                 In-Glass Sardines of Dipolog Association or ISDA in Dipolog City

The assistance to the Roxas Center of Commerce Multi-Purpose Cooperative helped them facilitate their application for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) certificate required before they can penetrate the European markets for their bottled sardines. With the approval of their application, their bottled sardines are on their way to the markets of Europe.

LIVELIHOOD FOR OUR INMATES . . . They earn while they train and rehabilitate at the ZN Correctional and Rehabilitation Center thru the implementation of the skills training on concrete hollow block making right at the provincial jail’s premises. The end goal here is to transform them into productive members of the society once released from the rehabilitation center. The implementation scheme requires the giving of a 30 centavo incentive share to the inmates for every P1.00 earned from the sales of the finish product.

Established the TECHNOLOGY AND LIVELIHOOD DEVELOPMENT CENTER (TLDC),  a one-stop shop service for micro-enterprise development in coordination with the Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC). The center is equipped with information materials, electronic library (E-library) for film shows and business guides on various livelihood technologies.  The E-library brings small and medium enterprises into the mainstream of E-commerce. Technology transfer is facilitated at the barangay level thru the Techno van. A total of 43 techno shows were already conducted benefiting a total of 5,198 viewers in the municipalities of Mutia, S. Osmeña, Sindangan, Siayan, Pres. M. Roxas, Salug, Kalawit, La Libertad, Tampilisan, Sibutad, Katipunan and Manukan; Cities of Dipolog and Dapitan; Jose Rizal Memorial State College of Dipolog City, Pilot School of Sindangan, Miputak Central School and Sindangan National Agricultural School.

Establishment of MARKET LINKAGES . . . To promote efficient marketing and distribution of local products, we sent a team to explore potential markets along the Strong Republic Nautical Highway. As mentioned earlier, there is a great market potential for our corn and this is being worked out by our agriculture people with our corn farmers.

We continue to support our sardines and mango producers and bag manufacturer establish market links in Metro Manila and BIMP-EAGA thru participation in trade fairs and expositions. Our participation to WOW Philippines in Manila further enhanced the acceptance of our bottled sardines with Metro Manila consumers.  Our bottled sardines producers  were  the  top  grosser  during  that affair with a  total  sales  of  P 1,784,405.00.

SOPA PAGE:   1   2   3   4