2012 Socio-Economic Profile
Misamis Oriental Philippines
 
 

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2012 State of the Province Address
By Oscar Moreno, Governor of Misamis Oriental, Philippines

 

INTRODUCTION

My dear people of Misamis Oriental, members of the Legislative Department of the Provincial Government – Vice Governor Norris C. Babiera and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Kagawads, my colleagues in the Provincial Capitol, our partners from the national government and the private sector, civil society organizations, representatives from the municipal and barangay governments, friends, ladies and gentlemen:

“The future has several names. For the weak, it is impossible; for the faint-hearted, it is unknown; but for the valiant, it is ideal.” This profound insight of the famous poet and novelist, Victor Hugo, highlights that without ideal there is no direction. For the province of Misamis Oriental, that ideal has been grounded on a vision of prosperity gained through strengthened foundations in governance, collaboration and sustainable development. This administration has set an unprecedented standard for governance in the Province since the implementation of the Local Government Code, under its combined, devolved and decentralized framework. In this spirit, we have inculcated among our local government units the values of self-reliance and collaboration (i.e., the “kurambus” approach and municipal clustering).

Under my watch, the Province has invested in the foundations for uplifting the next generations of Misamisnons, in the areas of health, education, and infrastructure, reaching out to the isolated, marginalized and underserved constituents of the Province. The impact of the strategies that we have adopted to fight against economic deprivation and social marginalization has been recognized nationally and duly awarded by prestigious institutions such as the Galing Pook Foundation.

Our strategies for social welfare and health care was approached both with immediate and mitigating assistance, as well as improving the foundations of our service providers at the provincial, municipal and barangay levels. We want our constituents to be a more empowered and included citizenry, enjoying a more expansive and functional healthcare system, than being treated as perpetual mendicants who are dependent on occasional mercy missions. Nevertheless, we continue to reach out in the same way to still very difficult-to-reach areas.

At the start, we endeavored for a focused purpose-driven administration, based on the 8-point Agenda of this administration: 1) Poverty Alleviation, 2) Revenue Generation, 3) Investment in Infrastructure, 4) MISORTEL Resuscitation, 5) Education and Environmental Protection and Management, 6) Hospital and Health Systems, 7) Agricultural Productivity, and 8) Teamwork and Streamlined Bureaucracy, which we coined with the acronym: PRIME HAT.

The 8-point Agenda I readily put in place upon assumption of office was to set the impetus for the work to be commenced immediately, then serve as baseline for year-to-year monitoring and evaluation to gauge how far we are meeting our objectives and targets.

If you recall, we undertook first a strategic workshop in the latter half of 2004 to formulate our medium-term development plan, with the participation of all departments and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, as well as various stakeholders in the Province. We have since followed this participative process through the next two terms, including the formulation of the Provincial Development and Physical Framework Plan 2008-2013 or the PDPFP as well as the Provincial Development and Investment Plan or the PDIP which we shall update with the technical assistance from the National Economic Development Authority-10 or the NEDA before the curtain closes for this administration in mid-2013.

The PDPFP, a more holistic and integrative development plan, through a participative and consensual process outlined various programs, projects and strategies to decrease environment degradation, address low income, unemployment and poverty conditions, and work on making basic services adequately accessible. From the PDPFP, about 10 major programs or projects of the Provincial Government of Misamis Oriental are prioritized in its PDIP 2010-2013. Total investment requirements for said programs/projects/activities in five years amount to PhP1.54B, the funds of which will be from various sources. These all-embracing programs incorporate commonly sought and internationally agreed targets such as those in the Millennium Development Goals or the MDG Goals.

We were among the few Provincial Governments which completed the PDPFP and the PDIP earlier. All of the required development plans are now in place, giving us a high mark in the Department of Interior and Local Government-supervised Local Governance Performance Management System or the LGPMS, which is the basis for the Pamana Ng Lahi Award for an average higher than four (4) out of the highest possible score of five (5), and also for the Seal of Good Housekeeping for high marks on the area of transparency. The Provincial Government is proud to be the recipient of both performance-based awards.

In a nutshell, our overarching goal is for a better quality of life for Misamisnons and greater inclusiveness in growth and development. We endeavored to work more closely with the national government agencies, so that on-the-job, our Capitol workers will continue to upgrade their capacity in planning, agriculture, health, education, local governance, social welfare, to mention a few. Then at the start of my third and last term, we have been fortuitous that Misamis Oriental was chosen as one of the seven (7) original provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao included in the Philippines Provincial Road Management Facility or the PRMF of the Australian Aid for International Development (AusAID). The PRMF aims to institute governance and institutional reforms with core roads development and management as entry point. Now on its third year, we are beginning to feel the start of internal transformation in the Provincial Capitol through strategic organizational reforms, capacity development, management information system/information-communication technology, and automation of key administrative services of the Provincial Government.

The PLGU’s engagement with PRMF also provided a collateral benefit in terms of opportunities for scholarships for graduate studies abroad, specifically to Australia, courtesy of the Philippines-Australia Human Resource and Organisational Development Facility (PAHRODF), another AusAID assistance facility. In 2011, seven (7) employees of the Provincial Government graduated from various universities in Australia and are now reintegrated into the PLGU with qualifications as either with Masters Degree or with Graduate Diploma. Currently, we have four (4) personnel doing postgraduate studies in Australia in the fields of financial management, engineering and environment. Several more are undergoing the selection process for deployment next year. The graduates are now making substantial contributions in the areas of engineering, planning, internal audit, environment and human resources. [Next page: Poverty Allevation]


Introduction | Poverty Alleviation | Revenue Generation | Investment in Infrastructure | MISORTEL Resuscitation | Education | Environmental Protection and Management | Hospital and Health Systems | Agricultural Productivity | Teamwork and Streamlined Bureaucracy | Conclusion

 
Main information from Department of Trade and Industry-Misamis Oriental.