TACLOBAN CITY: Nearly 35,000 barangay (village) officials in Eastern Visayas will undergo leadership training beginning January 2024 to better equip and prepare them as development partners of the national government. The training aims to ensure that village officials are capacitated to perform their tasks to ensure peaceful and progressive communities, Arnel Agabe, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Eastern Visayas regional director said in an interview Wednesday. 'The training is not only for the newly elected officials but for everyone in the barangay leadership. We want our barangay government to be a partner in all our development efforts,' he said. The training program will start with a two-day basic orientation course to introduce them to the fundamentals of barangay governance, particularly the relevant provisions of the Local Government Code, development planning, budget and finance, participation, and public ethics and accountability. Apart from the orientation course, it wil l also provide technical assistance in the implementation of specialized courses on barangay governance, enriching citizen participation, and performance management. The Seal of Good Local Governance for Barangays will be discussed extensively in the program. Agabe said the training would also highlight priority campaigns such as the formation of a barangay anti-drugs council and enhancing the capacity of the anti-drug council and peace and order council. 'We will conduct training needs assessments since there are special concerns for each area,' he said. On Oct. 30, 2022, the region's over four million voters elected 4,365 barangay chairman and 30,555 barangay council members. Source: Philippines News Agency
