THE DEPARTMENT of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said it will introduce a new program, dubbed “Bantay Kaagapay Program” (BKP) to give emphasis to corruption at the local government level.
The program will replace the former Masa-Masid (Mamamayang Ayaw sa Anomaliya, Mamamayang Ayaw sa Droga), which targeted corruption and illegal drug concerns. Masa-Masid had already been shelved.
BKP was introduced to local government operations officers (LGOOs) during their recent Visayas cluster meeting with DILG Officer-in-Charge Eduardo Año in Cebu City.
Lawyer Ferdinand Panes, of the DILG, said BKP has a three-way approach – advocacy, prevention and deterrence. “DILG is yet to come up with specific guidelines on how it will be implemented,” Panes said.
He said that in coordination with the provincial LGOOs, they came up with activities on information dissemination to “popularize the program.” He added that they also intend to include the program in their training for barangay newly-elected officials (BNEO) program.
“We have instructed other government agencies not to conduct other trainings, not until we have conducted the BNEO,” he added.
Panes noted that the introduction of the program is timely, given the new sets of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials. He quoted Año as saying that they would be a big help to the program.
Referring to the SK, he said that youths still have an “aggressive idealism” to keep watch against any corruption attempt at the barangay, municipal, city and provincial offices. “I hope this would have a great impact on the anti-corruption program of our President (Duterte),” he said.
The program is expected to be implemented this year and this semester, they will focus on advocacy as part of the initial stage. (Perla Lena)
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