LIMAY, Bataan – The Department of Trade and Industry on Tuesday launched here the Local and Regional Economic Development (LRED) where the public and private sectors will help each other in the attainment of economic progress in the area.
LRED is a participatory, action-oriented planning and implementation process by which public and private stakeholders work together to improve conditions for employment generation and consequently economic growth, Mayor Lilvir Roque said.
Yay P. Lasam, DTI provincial director, said LRED was brought to the country by the German Cooperation Agency and started in Leyte in 2000. Limay was chosen as the pilot area in Bataan, the fourth in Central Luzon.
“The DTI secretary has issued a directive to replicate LRED in all towns and cities in the country but we can only do so much and due to lack of resources, we have chosen pilot areas for provinces like Limay for Bataan,” the director said.
She said that with Limay as model, if the process succeeds, LRED which is a planning tool process will be copied in the rest of the 10 towns and one city in Bataan.
As to why Limay was chosen, Lasam said that when the scheme was presented, “Mayor Roque readily agreed.”
“Naunawaan agad ni Mayor Roque ang proseso at nagsabing gawin ito agad upang matulungan ang kanyang bayan,” she said.
Roque thanked DTI for choosing the town to be the launching pad for LRED.
The mayor also added that through the project, it will enable the municipal government to offer and deliver better programs and services that will be beneficial to all and will lead to achieving economic development in Limay.
“Ang maliliit na bagay kapag pinagsama-sama ay maganda ang epekto at makakatulong sa kahirapang dinaranas natin,” said Bataan Gov. Enrique Garcia. He said the choice of Limay for the start of LRED in Bataan was a good one.
“I hope you will be guided by my motto of leaving no stone unturned,” the governor said.
Lasam said that under the process, they will come up with issues and concerns from all stakeholders from all sectors that will be gathered through interviews by enumerators selected from students of the Limay Polytechnic College.
“From the output, we will prioritize four burning issues that will be addressed by the Limay municipal government and for implementation within six months to one year,” the DTI provincial director said.
She said the implementation will be under close scrutiny by a working committee coming from the public and private sectors chaired by the Limay mayor himself.
