The incoming Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (SILG) Ismael “Mike” D. Sueno met the legislators, local chief executives, leaders and the DILG family in Region 12 at an interfacing event on June 23, 2016 at Villa Amor Hotel, Koronadal City.
“We will lay the foundation for meaningful change in the LGUs,” the SILG said before two hundred and twenty participants, who lauded him for his presentation on the Department’s top priorities for his first one hundred days in office.
Among the said various top priorities are to: (1) intensify anti-criminality campaign particularly on the fight against illegal drugs; (2) pursue local economic development by assisting local businesses through the Business Permit and Licensing System (BPLS); (3) transform local governance through inculcating within the LCEs the culture of meeting the demands of local governance and exercising meaningful devolution; (4) ensure disaster preparedness among LGUs; (5) facilitate a more intensified and effective implementation of DILG projects; and (6) support the internal governance in DILG and attached agencies.
These top priorities come with corresponding strategies and notable among these strategies are: (1) the Department to draft an Executive Order to be signed by the President suspending local officials involved in drugs and criminality; (2) to reduce the regulatory standards in business licensing and renewal to a minimum; (3) to ease the regulatory bottlenecks in the use and access to LGU funds; (4) to intensify the implementation of Operation Listo in the LGUs; (5) to help poorly performing LGUs; otherwise, cancel projects; and (6) to uphold merit and fitness in the recruitment and promotion within the Department.
The incoming Secretary’s challenge to the participants was that Region 12 must become the model in implementing the Department’s thrusts and mandates under his term.
The participants responded to such challenge by signing the Pledge of Commitment signifying their full support, cooperation and dedication to the incoming SILG and the Department.
The interfacing event was hosted by the DILG Region 12 headed by Regional Director Reynaldo M. Bungubung, CESO IV.
It is anticipated that a series of similar regional interfacing events will also be conducted all over the country in the coming days.
