The City of Alaminos and the towns of Bani and Burgos have heeded the call to work together and forged partnerships for the realization of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG).

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga) Managing Director, Roland Cabigas, and LGU partners represented by City Mayor Hernani A. Braganza, Burgos Mayor Domingo Doctor, Jr. and Bani Mayor Marcelo Navarro, was signed yesterday at the Islandia Hotel here for the implementation of the The MDG Pathways: Cementing Pathways to Financing the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Ms. Virginie Lafleur-Tighe, program officer of the European Union (EU) Delegation graced the occasion and witnessed the signing of MOU.

The project launched coincided with the celebration of the Gali’La Hundred Islands Festival 2010 and city patronal fiesta celebration.

“Gali’La" means “halina” or “come, let’s go” which depicts the town’s hospitality to visitors, a policy which aims to promote the city, home to the world famous “Hundred Island National Park,” as a major eco-tourism destination in Luzon.

With the MOU, the creation of the technical working group that will monitor and oversee the project’s implementation will soon be formalized.

Cabigas said MDGG pathways which is funded by the European Union (EU),  is a partnership project among local governments, national and local citizens” organizations and other development stakeholders that aims to mainstream nationally-committed MDG targets in local government programs and budget."

The project has a total cost of 282, 159 Euros including funding support from the European Union of 239,835 Euros and counterpart funds from La Liga.

MDG pathways seeks to create an impact on MDG targets that are at risk of being achieved by 2015 that include poverty reduction, education, reproductive and maternal health, and environmental sustainability by institutionalizing people’s participation and cooperative engagement in the planning, budgeting, resource mobilization and monitoring processes at the local level.

“Through these partnerships, we hope to bolster delivery of basic social services to the 1.6 million people of the project target sites, especially to the marginalized sectors of fisherfolks, farmers, women, school children and out of school youth,” Cabigas said.

“We welcome the commitments of our LGU project partners in Pangasinan and we look forward to a fruitful cooperation with them in undertaking improved MDG related services and programs in their areas,” he added.

Cabigas said for the next two years, the three LGU partners will be sharing of experiences and even resources and looking into this area as one model for integrated area of development.

“We intend to pool resources so that the targets which will be identified by our LGU partners will be realized because there is a fund,” he stressed.

“We are not simply talking of dreams and advocacies. We are talking here of actual mobilization of public funds and that of private funds so that our goals, of which of our general objective is to contribute in good governance, will be achieved within the next two years,” he added.

Alaminos, Bani and Burgos are among the seven original members of One Pangasinan Alliance of LGUs (OPAL), a brainchild of Mayor Braganza, which looks at western Pangasinan as a cluster local government units with intersecting boundaries and common socio-economic and even political interests that requires an integrated intervention.

Aside from Pangasinan, the two-year project also covers a cluster of three LGUs in the province of Negros Oriental namely Sibulan, Dauin and La Libertad. Other institutional partner to the said project is the Social Watch Philippines.

According to Tighe, this project is one of the ten proposals selected among 102 fitting projects under the strategic project facility of the European Union.

“So, it is very competitive," she said. "The bar was set very high and the La Liga Policy Institute along with its partners has brilliantly succeeded in fulfilling all the quality criteria set out in the proposals.”

Tighe said that this project is relevant to the challenges of participatory local governance in the country and to the objective of EU-Philippines cooperation.

“The existing partnerships that sustain this project have high chances of reaching impact and sustainability and the activities proposed will represent valuable opportunities for participants to strengthen institutions,” the EU program officer added.

“The project is selected because you convinced the EU that it will make the participating LGUs to address the challenges that mainstreaming the MDG targets and incorporate those targets into the local government programs and projects.”

“And to reach these objectives, we will need the commitment of all sectors, government and non-government. La Liga Policy Institute will have a challenging task of orchestrating all efforts towards a common goal. We are counting on all mayors and administrators to ensure that this project is prioritized in the government’s agenda.”

In his message, Mayor Braganza thanked the La Liga Policy Institute for choosing City Alaminos, and the municipalities of Bani and Burgos in broadening its MDG commitments into actual policies, programs and resources that have already been started in the area.

It is indeed pleasure, an honor and privilege to have you with us today not only to visit our city and meet us local officials but also in improving the quality of life of our people, the mayor told EU Program Officer Virginie Lafleur-Tighe.

“Let me again thank La Liga for again bringing to us in the first district of the province a new partner to capacitate the three LGU partners in OPAL,” he said.

“This is a very special occasion, first it’s because we are already celebrating our city fiesta today and our parish is now 400 years old,” he added.

Braganza said seven LGUs under the OPAL realized the need to work together to be able to achieve their respective visions and common aspirations as LGUs in the district.

“We realized the fact that we cannot live alone," he said. "By formalizing the alliance between and among the LGUs in our district, we can now function as a group primordially in crafting policies that would promote and create new economic opportunities that would address the most common problems of each locality.”

 

 

 

Noting that La Liga is advocating good governance, Mayor Doctor said that Alaminos, Bani and his town have been chosen as project partners because they share noble visions for their constituents.

 

“We are here today because we love good governance and we after winning the war against extreme poverty, promoting good health and sanitation and protecting our environment,” he added.

“With La Liga behind us, we will never fail and we will continue to be of good service to our respective towns and in the whole district.”

 

Mayor Navarro complemented it by saying that good governance coupled with responsible citizenship will bring about true development in every municipality.

 

 

He also stressed the need for LGU integration for area development and to easily reachg out to other towns.

“I join Mayor Braganza and Mayor Doctor in extending our gratitude to La Liga and the European Union for inviting our town to be their partners in the implementation of the MDG Pathways,” he added. (CIO)