A PEACE and Development Agenda (PDA) will be formulated by the San Carlos City Government, in cooperation with its Planning and Development Coordinator’s Office and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

In a statement, the City Government said that a meeting and workshop on Capacitating Urban Communities for Peace and Development (CUCPD) was conducted for the representatives of the different offices of the local government unit (LGU), Philippine Army and civil society organization (CSO) on November 18 to 19, 2021 as first step.

Danille Marie Osorio, City Local Government Operations officer (CLGOO), said the agenda aimed at empowering local chief executives (LCEs) to upscale governance to collectively champion the cause of sustaining peace and development by bridging leadership.

It will also enable LGUs to harness all available opportunities to minimize, if not eradicate, the profound feeling of marginalization among the vulnerable sectors and enabling them to participate in local governance, she said.

Osorio added that San Carlos is the only beneficiary in Negros Occidental of the pilot program of the DILG, the CUCPD, wherein participants revisited issues and concerns of the four priority sectors; women, youth and student, labor and employment and urban poor which will then be aligned to the existing plans of the LGU like the Barangay Development Plan (BDP), Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) and Peace and Order and Public Safety (POPS) Plan.

Issues identified and incorporated in the city’s plans will be monitored during the implementation while issues not included in the existing plans will be used as inputs in the future.

“Projects Programs Activities (PPAs) per sector will be consolidated and ranked for final presentation of PDA before endorsing it to the Sangguniang Panlungsod for adoption and approval,” Osorio added.

Paola Ann Malunes LGOO III and Rodulfo Legaspi Jr., LGOO V and Local Government Monitoring and Evaluation Section Chief of DILG-Negros Occidental were the resource speakers during the 2-day activity. (PR)