THE bustling town of Carmen has exceeded the target of income generation by P15,350,611.42, up to P165,809,671.53 during the first half of the year from P150,459,150.11 during the same period of last year 2022 under the institutional sector.
Mayor Conchita Toribio delos Reyes bared this in her first State of the Municipal Address (SOMA) last week held at the front grounds of the municipal hall attended by Sanggniang Bayan chaired by Vice-Mayor Romero Bigay, Jr., (which held a session), heads of offices, Board Member Nathaniel Binlod, barangay officials and visitors.
“We are able to increase resources above agency expenditures. This is possible by increasing revenue generation and strengthening internal control to safeguard and utilize our resources efficiently,” Mayor Delos Reyes said in her SOMA.
Among the expected expenditures for said collection are subsidies for Carmen Municipal College, which the mayor wanted to open this August, counterpart for the farm-to-market road of the KALAHI of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), implementation and maintenance of the peace and order of the town, among others.
In tourism sub-sector, Mayor Delos Reyes also bared that the collection of the Chocolate Hills complex has also surpassed the previous income. It amassed a total of P51,801,546.76 in first half of 2023, higher than P11,764,315.07 in the same period of 2022, or an increase of 340%.
She said, “With our recent development on our Chocolate Hills operation, I am very proud to inform that we have accomplished and exceeded our collection targets for the year 2023.”
The aggregate amount of P3,020,801.76 from said income were distributed to the 29 barangays and P4,723,200.75 to the provincial government as the latter’s share of net income.
The Chocolate Hills complex is owned by the provincial government but managed by the Carmen town under a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that provides 70% and 30% of net income derived from its income for the town and province, respectively.
On economic sector, under the sub-sector of agriculture, the mayor said that the agriculture municipal office was able to register farmers in Registry System for Basic Sector in Agriculture, with 8,964 farmers registered.
Infrastructure support for this sub-sector included the provision of solar-powered irrigation system and construction of solar dryer, mechanized and modern farm machineries, like rice transplanter, rice combine harvester, among others. Capacitating the farmers in cooperatives and associations is part of the thrusts under the Delos Reyes administration.
On commerce and industry sub-sector, which is an interrelated, the mayor said that her administration continues to encourage and attract private commercial establishments to do business so, not only to be a business-friendly town but to create more job opportunity.
Establishment of the much-needed bank, like land Bank of the Philippines is expected to rise here as the usufruct agreement is already entered into and by the town and the said bank, the mayor said.
“Indicators have shown that our municipality’s commercial and industrial sector are recovering and improving, these are clearly manifested by a number of new businesses opened and conducting groundbreaking for the construction of commercial buildings, such as gasoline stations, building for rent, grocery stores and telecommunication sites.”
She said that her administration has stressed the infrastructure sector to ensure her people’s safety and convenience to usher economic growth and attracting investors.
One of these is the continuing construction of the town’s evacuation center o multi-purpose center to provide shelter to the townsfolk and those in the barangays in the event of the natural calamities. These evacuation centers include in the barangays La Salvacion, Nueva Vida Sur, Villarcayo, Buenos Aires, La Victoria, Tamboan, Nueva Vida Norte, Guadalupe.
Construction of multi-purpose hall are also constructed in the barangays Alegria, Nueva Vida Este, Villaflor and Montesunting to serve as barangay community center that provide space for permanent and temporary frontline services and events, the mayor said.
Not to be left out is the emphasis on the environment “to ensure the protection of public health and environment,” she said. The Republic Act No. 9003, known as the Solid Waste Management Act is strictly implemented by acquiring equipment, supplies and materials for the purpose.
The town also did the tree growing and joined in the Tree Growing for Legacy, with the apt theme, “Tanom Ko, Amumahon ko” in Matin-ao as part of the Sandugo celebration.
“We also conducted a number of trainings on disaster response and mitigation including training of incident command system (ICS) for Municipal Disaster risk Reduction Council and volunteers and barangay fire Olympics.”
On social sector, the municipality also put emphasis heath care and nutrition by way of upgrading heath facilities and provision of equipment. These included the procurement of emergency response vehicle, transport vehicle, purchase of medicines, construction of barangay Montesuerte health station and the enrolment of the needy in PhilHealth. There are 494 indigents being enrolled in PhilHealth under the LGU Group Enrolment Program.
Some of the health services brought to the backyard of the people were: conduct of voluntary blood donation, free physical therapy services, mobile free chest X-ray, deployment of doctors to the barangays under the Doctor to the barrio program of the Department of Health, among others.
The program was entertained by intermission numbers by songs of Mary Anne Dela Torre, Venice Adlaon, Philip Richard Budiongan, Extreme 24/7 and a policeman. Julie Mae Nombre, municipal local government operations officer of the Department of Interior and Local Government, closed the program. (rvo)
