MDG monitoring stepped up

published April 30, 2012 in BusinessWorld

TACLOBAN CITY-The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Eastern Visayas (Region 8) has stepped up the monitoring of local achievements related to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which should be achieved by 2015, an official said.

Pedro A. Noval, Jr., DILG regional director, said local efforts will result in better scores in the Philippine pursuit to attain the MDGs.

“The national government has been raising the capability of LGUs (local government units) to achieve these targets. As frontline institutions, they have significant roles to play to realize the MDGs,” he said in an interview.

“For the most part, the achievement of the MDGs largely depends on the delivery of devolved services,” he added.

Among the national government support to Region 8 LGUs is the P170-million Local Government Support Fund for areas that passed the Seal of Good Housekeeping, a good governance benchmarking scheme.

The assistance is intended for rural electrification, local roads connecting to national roads, local economic enterprises, flood control, and drainage.

Myles Joseph E. Colasito, DILG regional information officer, said the amount has been released to the LGUs and most of the projects have started to be implemented.

“We also gathered updates if the identified LGUs in the bottom-up approach have submitted their proposed projects to concerned national government agencies for 2013 funding,” Mr. Colasito said.

A total of 55 poor cities and municipalities in Eastern Visayas were included in the 600 focus areas in bottom-up budgeting, an approach that will incorporate in the budgets of key departments the requirements of poor LGUs.

Based on the latest report of the National Statistical Coordination Board, Region 8 has been lagging in the goal to achieve universal primary education with only 71.8% completing elementary education.

The region also obtained a poor score in the promotion of gender equality and empowering women especially in terms of education and politics. Improving maternal health is another concern as maternal mortality rate remains high and mothers still prefer traditional birth attendants.

However, the region registered a better score in reducing child mortality.- Sarwell Q. Meniano