3 government agencies pour P500M projects in Javier town of Leyte

JAVIER, LEYTE, Philippines - A total of over P500 million worth of projects has been set for the town of Javier in Leyte during the country's first Convergence Initiative at the municipal level held here over the weekend.

The Convergence Initiative is a collaboration of three departments (Agriculture, Agrarian Reform and Environment and Natural Resources) in giving a package of complementary services to a selected local government unit. Such initiatives have been launched already at the provincial levels before such as in Sorsogon, Isabela and Surigao.

Olive Tiu, regional director of the Phil. Information Agency who emceed the launching event, said Javier--a 4th class town composed of 28 barangays with a total population of 23,856---was a natural choice by the government considering that two-thirds of its total land area are agricultural and public lands.

Agriculture Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said the DA is pouring in P127-million to the town because they trusted Mayor Leonardo "Sandy" Javier to use his business acumen in running the convergence efforts to pull the town up to progress.

Mayor Javier, owns the chicken barbecue chain Andok's, and department officials felt that his economic expertise would ensure that the government's investment in the town will not go to waste.

The DA funds would cover farm-to-market roads, irrigation, and development of by-products and new agro-industries such as production of ginger tea production, coco coir and coco peat, carabao and goat milk production, and banana plantations. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources will also be mentoring beneficiaries on tilapia aquaculture.

DENR's Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio, for his part, committed his agency's assistance to the town's rural folks. Some 400 hectares of forestland, rich in rattan, have been "released" to become a source of livelihood for them, while training them on furniture making and rattan craft industry. He said the DENR will also identify forest areas suited for agro-forestry, and help develop the town's eco-tourism.

Agrarian Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes later distributed at least 26 land titles to as many beneficiaries, complete with support systems, and declared 20 barangays here as Agrarian Reform Communities-2. He further committed P87 million for seven rural infrastructure projects like construction of farm-to-market roads, bridges and potable water supply.

Representative Jose Carlos Cari (5th district, Leyte), who attended the event, pledged P2-million from his PDAF as support for the program.

The results of this Convergence Initiatives are expected to be seen by 2016, the program's time frame, and Mayor Javier said that, if he had his way, it should be seen "now" already, and then he urged recipients to have the attitude to do everything to change their economic status.

The event was concluded with a ribbon cutting rite, led by Governor Carlos Jericho Petilla, construction of the town's Convergence Initiatives showcase center, the P4.1-million police station building, and the ginger tea and coco-coir production centers. (FREEMAN)