Gov. Malanyaon made this clear during the recent Interfacing Activity and Executive-Legislative Agenda (ELA) Formulation on Friday, August 19, at the Lanes Hotel in the City of Mati, with the presence of the local chief executives of the province.
The formulated three-year ELA gained wide support of the 11 municipalities and one city LCEs who attested their signature of approval to the outlined provincial development agenda for the next three years.
Malanyaon made known her priority to defeat poverty “to uplift the lives of her Davao Oriental constituents, who are still reeling from the effects of the pandemic and the current inflation”.
Based on the PSA Davao Region Poverty Statistics released in March 2022, Davao Oriental registered a poverty incidence of 32.7% in the 1st semester of 2021, next to Davao Occidental that posted 40.1% on the same period.
Governor Malanyaon tagged her priority programs and development commitments as Oplan Kalsada, Operation Ilaw, Renewable Energy, Davao Oriental Beautiful and Nationalizing Davao Oriental Provincial Center.
She placed first on the list of her priorities, the rehabilitation of roads particularly those leading to farms and tourist destinations as her economic development agenda centers on agriculture and tourism.
To realize this, Malanyaon organized ten teams, each with a set of heavy equipment that will soon be deployed to each of the 10 municipalities, taking advantage of the dry season.
“Hopefully, we can deploy all equipment not later than the last week of August,” she said.
Second on her list was the Operation Pailaw through which the Provincial Government and the local electric distributor, Davao Oriental Electric Cooperative, Inc. (DORECO), were set to soon launch a massive clearing operation of electric lines across the province to address the frequent power outages. .
On renewable energy, Governor Malanyaon announced the provincial government’s plan to establish renewable sources of energy, particularly biomass, in partnership with a Japanese company interested in investing in a biomass powerplant expected to reduce power rates by about 40 percent.
She said she wants it pursued as soon as possible, saying, “no tourist or investor will be interested in coming to the province with frequent power interruptions and expensive power rates.”
Recognizing tourism as a potential economic driver, Governor Malanyaon placed it as a major priority that would be drummed with the launch of “Davao Oriental Beautiful,” a campaign to “showcase Davao Oriental as a world-class tourism destination in the country”.
“We want people to realize that we live in a really beautiful province blessed with all these natural resources,” she said referring the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary, Mindanao’s first and only UNESCO World Heritage Site.
On top of economic and tourism development, Malanyaon also intends to cater to the health needs of her constituents, especially the indigent patients.
She is pushing the Davao Oriental Provincial Medical Center (DOPMC) to become a state-run hospital.
The Governor admitted that the plan would not quickly get the nod of the national government, but she is determined to push the proposal. (Jean Duron-Abangan, PIA XI with reports from PIO Davao Oriental)
Davao Oriental Governor Corazon Malanyaon. Photo from Provincial Government of Davao Oriental FB Page
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