Cordi dev’t, peace councils nominate bets to key positions

BAGUIO CITY – The Regional Development Council and the Regional Peace and Order Council in the Cordillera approved the nominations of aspirants for key positions in the two regional bodies with the lapse of the term of office of former Baguio city mayor Mauricio G. Domogan who chaired both powerful bodies.

Nominated for chairperson and co-chairperson of the RDC-CAR were former la Trinidad Mayor Edna C. Tabanda of Benguet and Philip Tinggonon of Abra, both from the private sector respectively while governors Maria Jocelyn Valera Bernos of of Abra; Eleanor Bulut-Begtang, Apayao; Melchor Diclas, Benguet; Ferdinand Tubban, Kalinga; Bonifacio Lacwasan, Jr., Mountain Province and Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong of Baguio were also given nominations for the same posts on the part of the local chief executives.

Earlier, Magalong was unanimously agreed upon by the local chief executives as chairperson of the RPOC that is why his appointment papers are now being processed by the Office of the President and subject for release anytime.

Milagros Rimando, RDC-CAR vice chairperson and regional director of the Cordillera office of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA-CAR), said nominees for RDC-CAR chairperson and co-chairperson will be transmitted to the Office of the President within two weeks after their nominations complete with the attached documents from where President Rodrigo Duterte will select the next chairperson and co-chairperson of the region’s policy-making body.

She added the Office of the President recently released a directive to all RDC and RPOC chairpersons in the country that both regional bodies should always conduct joint meetings as part of the government’s efforts to synchronize the implementation of priority programs, projects and activities geared towards the development of the different regions.

 From 2016 to the present, both the RDC and RPOC had been conducting joint meetings in different parts of the region to show commitment of the regional bodies in addressing issues and concerns of local governments.

Under the present set up of the RDC, if the appointed chairperson of the regional policy-making body will come from local chief executives, the co-chairperson will automatically come from the private sector and vice versa.

The RDC was created to cater to development issues concerning the development of the different local governments and the region as a whole while the RPOC deals with prevailing peace and order as well as security concerns affecting the different localities and the region as a whole.

Aside from local chief executives and mayors of capital towns, other members of the RDC and RPOC include the regional directors of different regional line agencies in the region, law enforcement agencies while a portion of the membership should come from the private sector duly accredited by local governments. -- Dexter A. See