DON VICTORIANO, Misamis Occidental (PIA)–Don Victoriano town led by Mayor Bertoldo Murallon, Jr. will step up the needed information education campaign to convince residents to avail the COVID-19 vaccines as well as the government’s Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) efforts to attain inclusive and sustainable peace in the area.
“All our frontliners are ready for COVID-19 vaccination. Some residents are still hesitant to get vaccinated but we need to do a campaign for our constituents,” Murallon said.
During the Network Briefing News with Communications Sec. Martin Andanar, March 8, Murallon said in terms of controlling COVID-19 infection, the municipality immediately implemented a lockdown when the virus started.
The town provided food packs and enforced a stay home policy.
“We are thankful for the help from the national government, the emergency programs we received here sustained our people,” he said.
Ending insurgency in DonVic
When it comes to ending local communist armed conflict, Murallon said the New People’s Army (NPA) remains a problem of his town.
Presently, they are pushing for developments in the area by constructing farm-to-market roads to help the farmers bring their produce to the market and to provide easier access for the military to reach people in the far flung areas.
“We have a problem with NPAs, out of our 11 barangays, 8 are under ELCAC. Now the LGU (local government unit), together with the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and PNP (Philippine National Police), goes to the barangays; we talk to the people and ask them what they need. [They say] they need farm-to-market roads, that’s what we need to solve the problems of NPA,” the mayor said.
Murallon added that the farmers have not yet been organized in Don Victoriano due to NPA’s presence in the uplands.
“The cabbages, carrots, broccoli, pechay, we are promoting them including strawberries because the cities have high demand– Oroquieta City, Ozamiz City, and Pagadian City, Dipolog City. Our strawberries are sweet and our people have no other source of income. There are no coconuts; fruits and vegetables are easier. The agricultural lands are too far so it’s expensive when it arrives in the municipality,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture (DA) allotted projects for Don Victoriano Chiongbian for 2021 under the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) Program where “we will give planting materials, knapsack sprayers for high-value crops in upland areas. There’s also a budget allotted for the corn program and high-value crops; for high-value crops we have P1.5 million, for white and yellow corn seeds we have P730,000 and for the SAAD Program, we have P1.5 million,” DA Usec. Leocadio Sebastian said. (SMRN/PIA Misamis Occidental)
