REACHING OUT. Gov. Lilia G. Pineda takes her state of the province address to the people of Magalang, Pampanga.
Joining the governor on stage are board members Trina Dizon. Monz Laus and Ric Yabut, Butil Partylist Rep. Agapito Guanlao, Mayor Romy Pecson and Vice Gov. Yeng
Guiao.
PHOTO BY BONG Z. LACSON
MAGALANG, Pampanga – Reporting directly to the people, face to face. Nothing can beat such method in effective communication: the information at source, the message delivered to a present, responding audience.
Thus goes Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda taking her state of the province address (SOPA) to the municipalities, to better deliver her message of accomplishments, programs, projects and plans to her constituents for their information, and hopefully, better understanding and appreciation.
First delivered at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center last August 1, Pineda’s SOPA covered her notable accomplishments in her first year in office, foremost of which was the over P240-million quarry collection which even bettered the so called “quarry miracle” of her predecessor, Gov. Eddie Panlilio.
Pineda’s SOPA is also replete with credits to Panlilio for the savings in the Capitol coffers and his initiative in the repair of the San Luis and Mabalacat district hospitals.
President Aquino is also the object of gratitude of the governor for the release of P10 million for the rehabilitation of infrastructures damaged by typhoons, P500 million in agriculture assistance and the 8,200 Philhealth cards distributed to indigent residents.
Part of the SOPA too were the roads, bridges and school buildings built, livelihood programs both initiated and inherited from the previous administration.
The support of the provincial government to the local police in terms of patrol cars, motorcycles and tricycles and communications equipment to further enhance crime prevention and fighting capability was even more applauded in Arayat last Wednesday and in Magalang last Friday than at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center.
Pineda’s flagship program – health care and sanitation – take even greater urgency given the current upsurge in dengue cases in the province.
In the first of her SOPA-on-the-road forays in Arayat and Magalang, Pineda enjoined the townspeople to do their share of maintaining the cleanliness of their surroundings even as she assured them that the district hospitals are staffed and equipped enough to treat dengue cases.
Solid waste management, or the lack of it which the governor has blamed for the various ills plaguing the province, from flooding – “garbage chokes the rivers and waterways preventing the flow of water to the Pampanga Bay” – to dengue – “mosquitoes breed in waterlogged garbage” – is a major call to both local officials and constituents.
“Gaano man po kalaki ang pondo ng ating pamahalaan para sa kalusugan ng ating mga mamamayan ay mauubos at mawawalang saysay dahil hindi mawawala ang mga sakit, pati na ang kanser, kung hindi magiging malinis ang ating mga pamayanan,” Pineda would always impress upon her audience.
So what did her constituents take of her SOPA right in their communities?
“Hindi na po siya kailangang pumunta pa dito para mag-ulat pa sa amin, damang-dama naman po namin ang kalinga at pagmamahal ni Nanay Baby,” said an old woman who identified herself simply as “Aling Barang” who joined some 2,000 others jampacked at the Magalang Central School covered court and spilling around the schoolyard.
A queue of assistance seekers formed at the very stage of the Magalang Central School right after Pineda’s SOPA with provincial health workers and staff of the Office of the Governor addressing their concerns.
Said a teacher at the school: “Mabuti naman at nandito siya para personal kaming makapagpasalamat sa mga tulong niya, sa aming mga suweldo at insentibo at sa pagpapaayos ng mga silid aralan.”
In Arayat, with over 3,000 in attendance, a town councilor who requested anonymity lest he be charged of “making sipsip” (ingratiating himself to the governor’s graces) said the SOPA was an “affirmation of the mutuality
of love between Nanay Baby and the people” which “makes the gubernatorial election in 2013 a foregone conclusion.”
When asked what he meant, he smirked: “Sino pa ang lalaban sa ating Nanay?”
