For the Gigaquit Civic Club
November 18, 2007
GOL: How does it feel to be back as Mayor of Gigaquit after 21 years?
Mayor Egay:
I feel that I have not been away from the scene because I have always been with the group that had administered the town, except for the brief period during the incumbency of former Mayor Rafael Eliot, wherein I was totally an outsider. But after him, during the 9 years of Mayor Perral and the 3 years that followed during the incumbency of my wife, Mayor Elvira Arcena Egay, I had always been an insider so to speak, because I had provided a great deal of guidance and assistance to both mayors. During the 9 years when I was with the Provincial Administration of former Governor Francisco Matugas as his Provincial Administrator, most of the assistance to Gigaquit from the National Government coursed through the provincial government and those from the provincial government itself, were initiated upon a preview of the needs of the municipality from the level of the provincial plans for the municipalities. Hence, I had always been able to keep abreast of the developments within the municipality.
GOL: What is the difference in the situation of Gigaquit two decades ago compared to the present?
Mayor Egay:
First of all, there was no electricity in Gigaquit when I became a mayor in 1972 up until 1980 when SURNECO brought electricity to the town; the large irrigation system of Gigaquit came into reality only when I was on my last year in office in 1986. Both developments made a vast change in the lives of Gigaquitnons. Now, there are television sets and refrigerators in many homes, which means an increase in the incomes of the people. The increase of the Internal Revenue allotments of the municipal government has engendered the rehabilitation/construction of more farm-to-market roads and more public buildings. There are now more facilities for transportations such as public transportation and motorcycles called “habal-habal”. Even the LASICAM area has become accessible by means of the “habal-habal” motorcycles. The Gigaquitnons now are better informed. The advent of technology has made the younger Gigaquitnons more prepared educationally.
However, there is no dramatic change in the lives of the Gigaquitnons by way of having access to the basic needs such as a potable water system and livelihood opportunities to many. Some Gigaquitnons still live in great poverty without decent houses and food security. The incomes of many are still marginal. Job opportunities are scarce and the professionals are in the City.
GOL: What do you hope to achieve during your term from July 2007 ~ June 2010?
Mayor Egay:
I ran during the last election under the battle cry ”Buhion An Gigaquit”. This means giving life back to our marine resources both at sea and our inland brackish rivers. Also, to give more impetus to crops production which has not increased despite the irrigation system. We also thought of constructing a safe water system for the entire municipality and improving the health and nutritional status of the people. Livelihood activities for farmers and fisher folks are in our plans, as well as for women who are mostly idle, except the professionals and those in government service.
GOL: How are you going to achieve these plans?
Mayor Egay:
We plan to revive the water system proposal of Mayor Elvira Egay to the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), which had been aborted after her term in 2004. The feasibility studies only have to be updated and revised. The membership of the Gigaquit Water District will be reconstituted. Livelihood projects with special funding from the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Plan, the Mindanao Rural Development Fund (MRDF), and other funding agencies will be resorted to. The local wine industry with the assistance of the Australian government-funding program called PATSAARD will be strongly revitalized. The Wine Cooperative GIAMUPCO will be up a second distillery plant with packaging and marketing complementing the increase in production of wine. A great portion of the local IRA will be channeled to assistance for livelihood and health and nutrition program.
The possibilities of developing the beaches of Doot and Anibongan or tourism areas will be studied, as well as Cuyapnit cave along the Daywan River.
GOL: In what areas will the LGU come in to be able to implement such plans?
Mayor Egay:
We realize the need to build our human resources capacity to undertake these tasks. Capability-building through the programs offered by foreign governments, such as the Australian and New Zealand capability-building projects. Hence, we will train our local government officials and employee to improve their competencies.
The LGU can set aside some of its funds for these programs. For instance, for the second half of 2007, we have re-aligned at least P200,000.00 as credit assistance to farmers. We plan to increase this amount to a half-million pesos by year 2008 on top of the amount remitted back by the farmer-borrowers, and so on up to year 2010. We will also set aside at least P150,000.00 for GIAMUPCO for its second distillery unit.
The incidence of death from tuberculosis is the town’s next target for year 2008 such that we will be TB-free by then. We are allocating at least P250,000.00 as programmed by the Municipal Health Officer (MHO), Dr. Roland Mira. Bigger amounts for nutrition and other health programs will be allocated in the annual budget of the municipality.
GOL: What about infrastructure projects?
Mayor Egay:
The local resources will be concentrated more in the barangays than in the poblacion. Almost all the poblacion streets are now concreted and we hope to be able to finish this by next year. One or two barangay roads may be concreted also by next year.
GOL: Any other matters that you would like to convey to all Gigaquitnons?
Mayor Egay:
There are other projects that we are studying but at the moment they are not fixed yet. Will give updates on these matters to our townspeople through GOL in the coming months.
GOL: Thank you very much sir for your time and for sharing us your plans for our town.
Mayor Egay:
Thank you also for this opportunity that you gave me to convey to our Gigaquitnons the plans and activities of my administration. I wish that more people will also get involved in such worthy undertakings.
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