By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff Reporter
LAOAG CITY—Five members of
the Sangguniang Panlalawigan leave the halls of the Provincial Capitol session
hall after the end of their terms on June 30, 2019.
Led by its presiding officer,
Ilocos Norte Vice Governor Eugenio Angelo M. Barba along with three-term board members
Rogelio Balbag, Ramon Gaoat, Matthew Joseph Manotoc and Vicentito Lazo turned a
bit emotional as they bid farewell to each other during the last session of the
10th Sangguniang Panlalawigan on June 24, 2019 afternoon.
During the final conduct of
the 127th regular session, Mr. Barba expressed his gratitude to his
colleagues, staff and supporters as he spent almost two decades of his life
serving the province of Ilocos Norte as board member from 2001 to 2010 and then
as vice governor from 2010 to 2019. The veteran politician looks forward to
representing the second district of Ilocos Norte in Congress as he will assume
his new office at the House of Representatives, Batasan Hills, Quezon City
starting July 1, 2019. He also served as a former mayor of San Nicolas town
prior to his election in the provincial board.
“I can’t thank you enough for
helping me through the years. All of you honed me to who I am now. What we have
now is a teamwork made in heaven,” said Mr. Barba in his farewell speech before
members of the board, staff and media workers who cover the SP session every
Monday.
For SP secretary II Cristeta
Udaundo, she said among the most significant accomplishments of the 10th
SP include the passage of the province’s environment code, giving incentives to
investors of the province, anti-plastic and anti-littering ordinances, granting
of various scholarship grants to deserving students, granting burial and
medical assistance to senior citizens, ban of coal-fed power plants,
institutionalization of the Capitol Express and Sustainable Development
Council, children’s code and mandating private companies in the province to
comply with the corporate social responsibility ordinance among others.
“Through the Sirib Young
Leader Scholarship (SYLS), I have learned to wholeheartedly serve the community
without expecting anything in return,” said Mark Vincent Tagalicud, one of the
84 beneficiaries of SYLS and Sirib Community Leaders Scholarship.
Mr. Tagalicud received his
bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education major in Mathematics as cum laude on
the 41st Commencement Exercises of the Mariano Marcos State
University (MMSU) on June 7, 2019. He is a SYLS beneficiary since 2015.
As a priority program of the
Ilocos Norte government, the Ilocos Norte board allocates more than PHP900
million annually for the scholarship program.
SP members Rogelio Balbag
from Bangui, and Ramon Gaoat from Batac City who are both medical doctors were
misty eyed as they took turns reminiscing their memorable experiences at the
Sanggunian. Mr. Balbag said he is now retiring from politics while Mr. Gaoat
will go back to the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Batac City where he was first
honed as a lawmaker.
On the other hand, lawyer SP member
Vicentito Lazo will return to the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Laoag City—not as a
city councilor but to become the city council’s next presiding officer.
Senior SP member Matthew
Joseph M. Manotoc also thanked everyone for the good memories as he is now
preparing to take over his new post as governor of the province.
“I won’t be leaving as I will
just be around and will continue to be reachable to everyone,” Mr. Manotoc
assured.
The newly-elected provincial
and municipal officials of the province took their oath of office at 8:00 am on
June 29, 2019 at the President Ferdinand E. Marcos Monument in Batac City.
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