The convergence of all efforts of government agencies, local government units (LGUs), and stakeholders in the private sector brought economic growth and reduced the insurgency problem in Agusan del Norte.

This was emphasized by Gov. Maria Angelica Rosedell Amante in her State of the Province Address (SOPA) delivered on Friday.

The SOPA presentation is among the highlights of the weeklong commemoration of the 56th foundation anniversary of the province.

In 2022, Agusan del Norte has gained substantial financial stride through resources derived from tax and non-tax revenues amounting to PHP238 million, or an increase of 18.79 percent from the previous year.

“Despite the rapidly changing and evolving challenges, we achieved financial equilibrium by balancing revenue generations and government expenditures that were optimal, efficient, effective, and able to carry the economic recovery,” Amante said.

At present, the province has 87,578 real property units with a real estate valuation of PHP3.47 billion, she added.

In agriculture, the provincial government has provided support to farmers through their LGUs as indicated in their 2022 records where 479 sacks of genetically modified corn seeds were released with 1,152 bags of fertilizers, 16,585 seedlings of fruit trees, and 2,520 heads of chickens for backyard production.

Amante also recognized the support of the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to the farmers in Agusan del Norte.

With the DA support, a total of 293 coffee farmers in the town of Las Nieves, including 100 Indigenous Peoples, received a PHP19 million coffee production and marketing project with an additional PHP6.1 million financial grant for fertilizer and marketing program.

Likewise, some 164 hectares of land were also distributed with the release of PHP2 million worth of equipment and machinery to 117 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries in the province last year.

The NIA also invested PHP12.7 million in six irrigation projects in Las Nieves and Cabadbaran City.

The PCA, for its part, provided support to 697 coconut farmers in 2022 through its incentive program amounting to PHP5.8 million for planting 68,640 coconut seedlings while the BFAR provided 1.74 million tilapia and 2.21 million carp fingerlings to the Agusan del Norte Techno-Demo project.

Fighting insurgency

Meanwhile, the convergence through Executive Order 70 that institutionalized the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) also brought impacts in the fight against insurgency in the province.

From 2021 to 2022, Amante said 33 farm-to-market roads (FMRs) were completed and handed over to the LGUs which were funded under the Local Government Support Fund-Support to Barangay Development Program (LGSF-SBDP) of the NTF-ELCAC.

Eleven operational Level II water system projects were also turned over to the different barangays which are accessible through 255 water tap stands.

The province received PHP660 million worth of funding for the projects from the LGSF-SBDP from 2021 to 2022.

“The success of this program was due to the harmonious collaboration between the provincial government, the LGUs, the 37 barangays identified under the ELCAC, the Department of Interior and Local Government, and the other stakeholders,” Amante said.

She added that aside from its contribution to the infrastructure development of the province, the LGSF-SBDP, through NTF-ELCAC has conveyed the government’s presence in the isolated areas in Agusan del Norte.

The convergence of efforts, the governor said, “resulted in the improvement of road conditions from 68 percent in 2021 to 79 percent in the first quarter of 2023,” with 198 kilometers of provincial roads now concreted or paved from the total of 251 kilometers.

The collaboration of stakeholders in the province also led to the surrender of 149 NPA rebels from 2020 until the first quarter of this year and the turnover of 130 firearms and explosives.

The government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program likewise aided some 200 former rebels since 2022 through the provisions of quarterly subsistence support from the provincial government. (PNA)