Tacloban City – The two (2) projects under the Performance Challenge Fund (PCF) of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Region 8 which are said to have been sourced from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) have been completed and are well-implemented, according to Regional Director Pedro A. Noval Jr.
“Our records show that of the P10 Million released to DILG-8 on December 27, 2012, the PCF projects worth P7 Million for the dietary building of the Leyte Provincial Hospital, and P3Million worth Truck Scale/Weighbridge and its components for the Ormoc City Ecowaste Center have both been completed”, said Dir. Noval.
Leyte province allotted the P7Million cash award from the PCF for attaining the 2nd round of the 2011 Seal of Good Housekeeping to transform a makeshift building to a full-fledged dietary building. Finished in 2013, the building was damaged by Supertyphoon Yolanda, but this was fortunately repaired by the Korean Araw Contingent and the Philippine Army Engineering Battalion. “Now the facility is serving more than a hundred patients or clients a day”, said Ofelia C. Absin, LPH Chief of Hospital.
On the other hand, the city government of Ormoc made a P70,000 counterpart to the P3 Million PCF grant for the truck scale in the ecowaste center. The weighing scale will again be fully operational once electricity to the ecowaste center is restored. “Considering the benefits and advantages of having a weighbridge, the city government is very much positive that it will yield results and contribute much in our solid waste management undertaking and even in the generation of locally sourced revenues,” wrote Mayor Edward Codilla to Dir. Noval last July 17, 2014.
The PCF was established by the late DILG Secretary Jesse M. Robredo in 2010 as an incentive to well-performing local governments who adhere to the principles of transparency and accountability as well as other facets of good governance. Thus, only LGUs that had complied with the Full Disclosure Policy and attained a passing (at the least a Qualified or better, a Clean or Unqualified Opinion from COA) were granted the Seal of Good Housekeeping in 2011 and 2012.
“DILG observes strict guidelines on screening possible projects under PCF, which should only be for those meant to help attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); disaster risk reduction and management and climate change adaptation (DRRM-CCA); and promote economic development”, said Dir. Noval. Further, inspection teams from its DILG Central and Regional Offices periodically conduct site evaluations to ensure that LGUs follow the program of work, and LGUs have to put up project billboards and submit reports.
Other PCF projects in the region have also brought positive impact to their communities. According to Mayor Romeo M. Gomez of Hinunangan, Southern Leyte, the P1M Catublian to Nueva Esperanza farm-to-market road (FMR) “… has paved the way for our farmers to be able to transport their goods efficiently (and) thereby cutting the cost of production.” Mayor Gomez went on to thank DILG for providing the PCF as one of the sources of funds for this FMR.
DILG Region 8 made the disclosure of the status of PCF projects for 2011 and 2012 in the spirit of transparency and to spell out the pronouncement of Secretary Mar Roxas that DILG projects were all aboveboard.
