Tabuk City, Kalinga – To start with their task, Task Force Chumanchil – a group whose members are officials and personnel of national line agencies, barangay officials, and religious sectors convened on Wednesday, November 23, at the Davidson Hotel and started crafting development plans in an attempt to stop the marijuana cultivation in Tinglayan.
The activity, according to Mayor Sacrament Gumilab, is a signal that government agencies in Kalinga are serious in the fight against the particular illegal drug introduced by foreigners in Tinglayan decades ago.
In the said meeting, the members were tasked with suggesting projects and programs the government could give the areas involved in planting marijuana for them to totally abandoned their ‘illegal source of livelihood’.
Before the conduct of the workshop for the formulation of the Comprehensive Development Plan, concerned barangay officials in areas that are yet to be declared as drug-free were given the privilege to express the issues and concerns of their constituents regarding the move of eradicating marijuana in said areas.
Barangay officials pointed out during the meeting that the lack of development projects in the area, such as roads, is one of the reasons why some of their constituents continue doing the illegal activity.
Further, the plan of the government to put up a detachment in Barangay Loccong was opposed by the locals, saying ‘they are not terrorists’. Aside from this, the place is considered a ‘critical area' since this has been the area of a land dispute between the Bugnay sub-tribe of Tinglayan and Betwagan of Sadanga.
Other issues cited are the limited source of income for the education of their children, the difficulty and high cost of transporting farm products to market outlets, limited alternative livelihood opportunities, and limited skills for livelihood entrepreneurship.
Though various agencies are implementing some projects and programs to resolve the issue, one barangay official admitted these do not satisfy the locals, and still clamoring for more development projects.
Programs Undertaken by the local government, national-line agencies
Some of these programs implemented include the conduct of skills training for livelihood, provision of farm machineries, equipment, and tools for livelihood, scholarship grants to children, planting of fruit trees, construction of irrigation canals in potential areas which can be converted into rice terraces, the building of tourist information center and establishment of checkpoints in key areas.
Also, Information Education Campaign was made in 5 high schools in Tinglayan and the integration of illegal drugs during the conduct of Responsible Parenting, barangay assemblies, tour guide and homestay trainings, religious meetings, and health board meetings.
Ensuring that the provision of anti-drug funds in the barangay annual budget was also made.
As a result of the workshop, inputs of the law enforcement agencies for the demand-supply reduction, education programs from the religious sector and academe, livelihood, and infrastructure development programs from other national-line agencies, and other development programs for barangay and municipal officers that may be implemented were solicited.
These will be presented to the members of Task Force Chumanchil during the next meeting for further deliberation prior to its adoption and subsequent submission to the RPOC.
The following are the responsibilities of the Task Force Chumachil, aside from the formulation of the Comprehensive Development Plan:
· Lobby for the Comprehensive Development Plan to be incorporated in the Annual Investment Plan of the Municipality and the Province;
· Advocate and solicit support for the realization of this Comprehensive Development Plan to the National and Regional Offices;
· Ensure that the contents of the Comprehensive Development Plan are communicated to the stakeholders to round up support, mobilize, and facilitate implementation;
· Meet regularly to assess and fast-track progress in the implementation of this Comprehensive Development Plan; 7. Prepare and submit proposals to the funding agencies for projects identified as critical by the Task Force;
· Conduct actual monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of all the programs/projects initiated by the Task Force;
· Recommend measures or strategies in the effective and efficient implementation of the objective of this Order; and
· Submit semestral and annual accomplishment reports to the Regional Peace and Order Council.
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