“Palapit ng palapit ang serbisyo [ng LGU] sa mga barangay,” Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao said, in his speech in Maigpa Elementary School as he opened the Komprehensibong Serbisyo para sa Bayan on April 13 to serve the barangays of District 5, namely Maigpa, Balaybuaya, Macayocayo, Batangcaoa, and Beleng.
“Meron na po tayong limang ambulansiya, at apat na ang ating RHU. May RHU 3 na ginagawa sa Carungay at RHU 4 naman sa Macayocayo. Meron tayong 9 police precincts,” he explained. According to the Engineering Department, only two Police Community Precincts are left unfinished: the ones in Reynado and Tampog.
Maigpa Punong Barangay Leodovico Soriano welcomed the municipal officials and employees, together with Macayocayo Punong Barangay Mario Cariño, Maigpa Elementary School Principal Jaime Tamondong, and other Maigpa barangay officials. “Yung dating medical-dental mission noon, Komprehensibo na ngayon,” said Soriano. “Sila na po sa Municipio mismo ang lumalapit sa mga remote barangays sa halip na tayo ang pumunta sa bayan para sa maraming klase ng serbisyo.”
Among the other municipal officials present were Vice-Mayor Raul R. Sabangan, Councilors Martin Terrado, Amory Junio, and Philip Dumalanta, and several department heads. Vice-Mayor Sabangan reminded the people that Komprehensibo is the realization of Team Quiambao-Sabangan’s electoral campaign promise: “Anto’y rason et aawiten tayo so Municipio ed barangay? Anengneng nen Mayor no antoy sitwasyon ed barangay tayo.” It is oftentimes difficult for many residents in faraway barangays to even seek basic medical help because they don’t have enough fare going to the center, Sabangan went on.
Indeed, on the way to Maigpa, Mayor CTQ noticed that a stretch of the road was unpaved, so he immediately asked PB Soriano about it and, as it turned out, a concrete solution was under way, to be implemented right on the next day.
Quiambao also informed the people about the coming irrigation project in the area, thanks to a P300M grant from the Korea International Cooperation Agency or KOICA. “This is set to initially benefit 2,000 hectares of farmland. So far, we have 8,000 hectares of farmland that need to be irrigated,” he said.
This year’s chairperson of Komprehensibo, Municipal Health Officer Dr. Paz F. Vallo, explained that the services have been divided according to age groups, and she patiently detailed the benefits that the people could avail of in each room, including free ultrasound, X-ray, and vitamins. These, together, normally cost thousands of pesos in private hospitals.
She also gave several qualifications: Dentures are for 4Ps members only, in consideration of private dental practitioners. “We brought two dental chairs, and we have five dentists present here today, most of whom are young,” she noted. They were Municipal Dentist Dr. Dave Francis Junio, Dr. John Paul Santos, Dr. Carla Martinez, Dr. Minda Olivar, Dr. Zaida Alcantara, and Dr. Eleanor Ventura. “Circumcision is only for boys 10 years up,” she explained further, “because boys younger than 10 tend to cry.”
She also reminded the public about the free haircut services available, and in the case of psychiatric patients, free consultation with the Municipal Action Center staff under the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Dr. Vallo took the opportunity to announce that this coming April 21, there will be another Medical-Dental Mission at the Events Center, this time to be brought over by the Bankers Association of the Philippines together with SM Foundation.
Komprehensibong Serbisyo in Maigpa had 1,000 beneficiaries.