TACLOBAN CITY – The town of Mayorga in Leyte will be the province’s model municipality for the convergence initiative of various government agencies in a fast-track implementation of anti-poverty and other social protection programs of the national government.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Regional Director Letecia Corillo and Leyte Gov. Carlos Jericho L. Petilla, together with heads and representatives of various social programs of the province, recently met to chart down the convergence approach to these programs.

At the front seat of this effort is the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) which aims to eradicate poverty and empowering indigent people in a time frame of five-year implementation.

DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman, during the Regional Development Council Meeting for Eastern Visayas, recently said her agency together with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Health (DoH) are converging and are going into partnership with local government units (LGUs) in order to ensure that the right to education, the right to health services are availed of by the poor in this area.

She said that an inter-agency convergence has been initiated by the DSWD, DepEd, DoH and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in empowering the beneficiaries of the 4Ps in the whole Eastern Visayas region.

She added that an interagency effort could possibly transform the living conditions of the beneficiaries from being poor to independent.

Meanwhile, Petilla said the town of Mayorga was chosen as the model municipality for the convergence effort considering the successful implementation of the previous DSWD-led projects such as the
Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS).

“I know Mayor Valente Adolfo to have an ‘iron hand’ when it comes to proper implementation of programs, and I can see that this convergence initiative would fit well with the way the mayor handles his social programs,” Petilla said.

President Aquino himself would like a Leyte municipality to be a model for his priority program, the governor stated, adding that “he wants to see that this convergence strategy works and we have to do our part to prove that this initiative can work.”

Petilla also said the national government’s convergence strategy would likewise be the province’s basis in implementing province-initiated and funded programs such as infrastructure projects, health, education and other social programs.