The DILG Regional Office 5 thru the Bicol Local Governance Resource Center (LGRC) entitled “Larawan: Documentation of LGU Local Governance Models on LGU Service Delivery” was conducted at Ayala Malls, Legazpi City on October 23, 2022 as part of the Local Government Code month-long celebration and will be highlighting the LGU Best Practices in the Bicol Region.

The DILG Albay Provincial Office headed by PD Arnel Renato L. Madrideo together with Program Manager LGOO VI Immaculada Con G. Miras and LGOO VI Elmer M. Villanueva, Jr., CLGOO of Ligao City attended the activity. The overview was discussed by LGOO V Sheena Mae P. Dela Cruz of LGCDD. The LGUs that were present during the activity was Ligao City, Albay, headed by Mayor Fernando V. Gonzalez was represented by Ms. Ruth Q. Roperes, City Cooperative Development Officer, Provincial Government of Sorsogon represented by Engr. Raden D. Dimaano, Provincial Government Department Head and Municipality of Barcelona, Sorsogon, headed by Atty. Cynthia Falcotelo – Fortes, Mayor. They discussed briefly their best practices followed by the audio visual presentation (AVP) that showcased their programs.

For the City Government of Ligao as discussed by Ms. Roperes, their best practice is the “Tricycle Boundary-Hulog Project” or TBHP which was started in 2012 under the leadership of then-Mayor Linda P. Gonzalez in compliance with RA 8749 or the Clean Air Act of 1999 and City Ordinance No. 2012-007 entitled, “Regulating Tricycle-for-Hire using Carbureted Two-stroke Engine in the City”.

She continued, “from 2016 to the present, we have a total of 830 units of tricycles in the city, all with four-stroke engines. In summary, the project has now a total to 222 beneficiaries. The project has a 101% repayment rate as of September 30, 2022. The program was successful that the loanable amount was raised for the next batch which will be the 9th by the present administration to be at par with the current price of the motorcycle.

With this, we did not only recover the financial investment of the city in this project, but we also succeeded in contributing to the lowering of carbon emissions within the city, and clean air for the Ligaoeños”, said Ms. Roperes as she ended her speech.

Once all the LGUs have shown and presented their AVPs and awarded with the plaques, the closing remarks was given by Assistant Regional Director (ARD) Jhoaden G. Lucero, EnP, MM, CESO V thanking everyone for participating during the activity and continue with the success of the best practices they have started.