Mayor leads consultations with IPs

By Aida C. Agad

Monday 16th of July 2012

KORONADAL CITY, July 16 (PIA) -- The mayor here has started visiting indigenous people's (IPs) communities under his turf, declaring that, “Improvement in the lives of indigenous peoples is our indicator for governance effectiveness.”

Through consultation that started July 3 at Barangay Kisante, Makilala Mayor Rudy Caoagdan said that he will lead the weekly consultations as he wanted to carry out his commitment and priorities in his state of the municipality address.

The local chief executive expects to cover all 30 of the 38 barangays of Makilala with IP communities before the year ends.

The IP consultations focused on the development needs of the nearly 20 percent of the town’s 73,498 populace based on the Community- Based Monitoring System (CBMS) in 2009.

At the consultation, prominent issues raised by IPs that needs local governments attention included livelihood support, improvement of access roads, electricity, and social services like health, potable water system, and latrines.

“Making the IPs the benchmark of governance springs from these people’s less access to government support due to their less assertive attitude, and their rate of poverty is relatively higher than those of other residents in Makilala," the mayor said.

Data from CBMS 2009 indicate that the households below poverty level in Makilala comprise 47.1 percent of the total, and households below the food threshold reached 30.4 percent. (aca-PIA12)