Guv Oaminal delivers major achievements in 2nd SOPA

by Shaine Mae R. Nagtalon

Governor Henry S. Oaminal delivers his Second State of the Province Address before hundreds of Misamisnons including Vice Governor Rowena “Wheng” Gutierrez, First District Jason P. Almonte, and 2nd district Sancho Fernando Oaminal, board members, local chief executives, national government agencies, department heads, employees of the provincial government, barangay officials, private sectors among others on July 1, at the Bayfront Arena, Oroquieta City. (Clark Cabantan/PIA-10/Misamis Occidental)

Highlighting major accomplishments for the province in his first year, Misamis Occidental Governor Henry S. Oaminal delivered his 2nd State of the Province Address (SOPA) on Saturday, July 1, 2023, at the Bayfront Arena, Oroquieta City.

Governor Oaminal reported before the Sangguniang Panlalawigan members and the entire populace of Misamis Occidental the accomplishments of his 5Ms thrust of Misamisnon Magpuyong Malinawon, Malamboon ug Malipayon for the first year of his term as Misamisnon’s leader as well as his prospective direction for the succeeding year 2024.

In terms of peace and order, “The goal of the administration is to be a drug-free, crime-free, and insurgency- free Misamis Occidental,” he said.

To win the hearts of the Guerilla members and go back to mainstream society and live a peaceful and progressive life, the provincial government is offering cash reward to rebel surrenderees like the two high-ranking and two members of the CPP-NPA who acceded to this call, extending a total of P500,000 each for the high-ranking CPP-NPA and P300,000 each for the rank-and-file members.

As part of the maintenance of peace and order and to provide the barangay with vehicles that they can use for mobilization, especially during emergency and peacekeeping activities, Governor Henry Oaminal shared that the provincial government already distributed the 100 rescue and patrol vehicles to different barangays in the province.

During his SOPA, the provincial government also distributed another 100 vehicles to the second batch of recipient barangays.

Making health and social services his priority, the province was able to obtain P266, 500, 000 from the DOH Health Facility Enhancement Program for the construction of 43 barangay health stations. The DOH through its HFEP program, also allotted P55 Million for completion/repair/renovation of Misamis Occidental provincial hospital.

On the education program, Governor Henry Oaminal said that education is one of the most important investments that a society can make in the future.

“I am happy to inform that our Asenso Pamilya: One Family One Professional Program will commence this coming 1st semester, school year 2023 where we target to more or less 3,000 students who will benefit from the program by giving them monthly allowance in the amount of P5,000 or a total of P25,000 per semester to cover for their board and lodging, transportation and other educational expenses," the governor said.

Governor Henry S. Oaminal delivers his Second State of the Province Address before hundreds of Misamisnons. (Clark Cabantan/PIA10)

“I am confident that through this program, we can provide our poor but deserving students with better knowledge and skills they need to secure stable employment. This is one of our strategies to reduce poverty in the province. We target that within three years, we can have 9-10 thousand professionals and 30 thousand professionals in 10 years with stable jobs. Furthermore, we strengthened our collaboration with our partners in the educational sector," he added.

One of the notable accomplishments of Governor Henry S. Oaminal is the Agricultural program which is the Asenso Misamis Occidental Rice Farmers Full Assistance- Fertilizer Subsidy (ARFFA) program.

“The program involves the provision of free fertilizers, mechanization assistance from land preparation-planting to harvest, provision of rice seeds, and technical assistance and training for rice farmers,” the governor shared.

On tourism, Governor Henry Oaminal aims to make Misamis Occidental a leading tourist destination in Mindanao.

"Our vision for economic growth in the province can hardly be attained if we will only depend on our agricultural sector. For this, we need to invigorate our tourism industry to work in tandem with our agricultural sector because of its great potential towards economic growth and development," he stressed.

To further improve tourist destinations in the province, the provincial government inspected and conducted an inventory of the potential, emerging and existing tourism sites to identify avenues of support and collaboration between the provincial government and the city/municipal local gov’t units towards tourism development.

The provincial government also provided funds for infrastructure projects: (1) the construction of a sanitary landfill in Aloran (11,000,000), (2) the construction of Labo Classroom in Aloran (4,500,00), (3) the construction and rehabilitation of Dela Paz facilities in Panaon (10,000,000), (4) construction of Multi-Purpose Hall Phase 2 and Phase 3 in Lopez Jaena (2,000,000), (5) Purchase and installation of Solar Panel in Working Congressman, Sports Complex in Tudela (7,000,000), (6) Renovation and extension of fiscal’s office in Upper Langcangan, Oroquieta City (2,385,000).

A total of P80 million fund was allocated for the Asenso Ozamiz Wellness Park, P20 million for the completion of GADTC Building.

"This year, we have allocated P40 million for the completion of the academic building in order to comply with the requirements of CHED for the increase in the enrollment,” the governor said.

Governor Henry S. Oaminal delivers his Second State of the Province Address before hundreds of Misamisnons. (Clark Cabantan/PIA10)

Governor Henry Oaminal also reported implementation of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) subprojects worth P239, 105, 187.04 namely, Concreting of Bato-Plaridel-Sinian, Baliangao FMR connecting Plaridel and Baliangao, and concreting of Zamora- Culpan-Balintonga-Sinampongan FMR in Aloran.

For this year, 11 new PRDP projects with an estimated cost of P2.6 billion which is around 129 kilometers in length will soon be completed.

On water system projects, the governor gave updates on the important aspect of economic development.

"With the five drilling machines of the provincial government, we implemented various drilling activities in Tudela and Bonifacio, installation of transmission pipeline, repair of submersible pump and cleaning of deep well and water source survey and structural and Geo-Resistivity survey to 41 areas province-wide. We also provided the amount of 2 million pesos for the purchase of water line pipes, Tuburan to Lawaan, Aloran," he said.

Governor Oaminal’s second SOPA concluded by urging Misamisnons to continue to work hand in hand, embracing uniqueness, and honoring shared values. (SMRN/PIA-10/Misamis Occidental)