Fifteen key personnel of the Municipality of E. B. Magalona attended a three-day workshop conducted by the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM)- Regional Office VI, at Ciano’s Seafood Grill and Bar in the town on July 11 to 13.

The participants were from the Office of the Mayor, Sangguniang Bayan, Municipal Population Office, Municipal Planning and Development Office, Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office, Municipal Health Office, Municipal Budget Office, Municipal Police Office, Department of Education, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Liga ng mga Barangay, and Sangguniang Kabataan Federation.

The activity was called Program Design Workshop and Capacity Development Needs Assessment on the Philippine Population and Development Program (PPDP) for the Municipality of E. B. Magalona.

Resource speakers were POPCOM-VI Planning Officer Richard Magullado and Capacity Development field coordinator Ken Ryan Delgado.

Among the topics were (1) Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning, (2) Adolescent Health and Development, and (3) Population and Development Integration.

The workshop aims to (1) effectively localize the implementation of the PPDP in E. B. Magalona, (2) capacitate the local stakeholders in the localization strategy of the PPDP, and (3) plan ways forward in the impementation of the PPDP localization by identifying key population issues in the locality.

POPCOM is the central policy-making, planning, coordinating, and monitoring body of the PPDP to improve the quality of life and increase the share of each Filipino in the fruits of socio-economic progress through well-planned, healthy, empowered, and resilient individuals, families, and communities.

Prior to the workshop, POPCOM-VI Regional Director Harold Alfred Marshall paid a courtesy call on Mayor Marvin Malacon on April 14 to discuss the objectives and details of the activity. They were joined by Vice Mayor Eric Matulac, several members of the Sangguniang Bayan, and other officials of POPCOM regional office.

Marshall said POPCOM is “working to effectively localize population and development policies and programs considering the Mandanas- Garcia Ruling to strengthen full devolution of some functions."

The Municipality of E. B. Magalona was one of the 12 target municipalities in the Province of Negros Occidental in 2023 for these objectives, Marshall added.*

E. B. MAGALONA PIO

Photos from EBM PIO, DILG- EBM, POPCOM-VI, and PSWDO- Population and Development Division