Kibungan mayor assures continuous support for Green Luzon initiatives

Staff members of Caritas-Baguio-Green North Luzon Project during their courtesy call to Kibungan Mayor Agustin Tello. The mayor assured the team of the LGU’s continuous support to projects of Green Luzon. Photo by Caritas-Baguio

KIBUNGAN, Benguet – The projects started by Caritas-Baguio’s Green North Luzon Project will continue to receive support after this town’s new mayor assured that the assistance rendered to the team prior to his election will be sustained during his tenure.

During the team’s courtesy call to the mayor last April 13, Mayor Agustin Tello informed Caritas-Baguio and Diocese of Baguio Social Action Commission Director Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Panayo and Project Coordinator Larson Molitas that the support the group has been getting will continue. He also thanked the team for assisting his constituents improve the quality of their life.

By organizing marginalized members of the community into civil society organizations, the mayor said people become empowered and through their collective voice, they can seek better service from government institutions.

The community also learns that the answer to achieving a better quality of life is hardwork complimented by appropriate government intervention.

Barangay Sagpat is one of the project areas of Caritas in Benguet. The other is in Barangay Tuel in Tublay town.

“Sagpat is lucky to be a recipient of the Green Luzon Project ta mapukpukawen din binnadang tako (we are losing our cooperative spirit”, Tello said.

Binnadang is an indigenous system of bayanihan among some indigenous groups in the Cordillera.

Tello said Caritas’ initiative of organizing the community into CSOs also helps to reignite public duty, which are to remind those in the halls of power that they are meant to serve the public.

“Prepare the people. Dapat makialam sila (in affairs of the government)”, Tello added.

To formalize the partnership between Caritas-Baguio and the local government of Kibungan, the memorandum of understanding between the two will be renewed. A copy of the MOU was submitted to the mayor and Vice Mayor Laurence Toking for their review. After review, the Sangguniang Bayan will pass resolution to authorizing the mayor to sign the MOU, afterwhich a formal signing of the document will be undertaken.

The Green North Luzon Project is funded by AECID, a government agency of Spain and Caritas Española, the social arm of the Catholic Church.

Green North Luzon is a four-year project that started in 2022 and will culminate this year. It aims to build sustainable indigenous communities through participatory governance, promote agrarian development, develop sound environmental management systems in Northern Luzon.

Implementors of the project are the Diocese of Baguio, Apostolic Vicariate of Tabuk, Diocese of Ilagan, and Archdiocese of Tuguegarao. – Caritas-Baguio