Normin officials commit to DILG’s ‘Disiplina Muna’ drive

By URIEL C. QUILINGUING

Contributing Editor

MORE than 500 local government officials and military and police officials in northern Mindanao signed tarpaulins to signify their commitment to the “Disiplina Muna” advocacy campaign that was launched at the Grand Caprice here Thursday.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año was the first to write his name and sign over it before governors, mayors, and other officials.

Año urged all those present to learn from the initiatives and best practices of Manila on how Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, has cleared the sidewalks and the streets of ambulant vendors, particularly that of Divisoria.

He recalled how then-mayor Bayani Fernando transformed Marikina, about 10 years ago, to become a model city for cleanliness, by instilling discipline among city residents in the disposal of their trash and garbage, thus keeping their river.

Discipline, he said, could be as simple as a keeping one’s trash in a pocket and dispose it off only in a bin which he claimed to have witnessed among pupils of Marikina.

Año also appealed to local chief executives to become the purveyors of truth, relaying information only those from reliable sources, when they interact with the public, more so because of a contagion, the new coronavirus disease.

Aside from the 2019 novel coronavirus, he said, local officials must also careful in relaying information even as they brace themselves with the threat of the Africal Swine Fever which, if not contained in places where pigs were found positive of fatal virus, could wipe out swine population.             

“Do not be afraid to make unpopular decisions for the safety of every one,” Año said. 

Those who joined Año in commitment-signing rites were Misamis Occidental Gov. Philip Tan who chairs the Regional Development Council, Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno, chairperson of the Regional Peace and Order Council; governors Jurdin Jesus Romualdo of Camiguin and Imelda Dimaporo of Lanao del Norte as well as El Salvador Mayor Edgar Lignes.

Other signatories were Maj. Gen. Franco Nemesio Gacal, commander of the Army’s 4^th Infantry Division; Brig. General Rolando Anduyan, regional director the Police Regional Office-10; and Col. Ferdinand Barandon, commander of the Army’s 403^rd Infantry Brigade in Bukidnon.

Organized by the Department of Interior and Local Government regional office, the campaign is geared towards road clearing, disaster preparedness, anti-smoking, ease in doing business, liquor ban, tourist spots cleanup, and anti-drug campaign.