Pagadian City – Twenty -one (21) Local Government Units (LGUs) in Zamboanga Peninsula benefited the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG)  training workshop on applied geo-tagging of Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA)-DILG fund subprojects on October 22-23, 2014 at Bay Plaza Hotel, Pagadian City.

 Participating LGUs are the municipalities of Labangan, Margosatubig, San Pablo, Aurora, Kumalarang and Pagadian City  of  Zamboanga del Sur.

 Also included are the municipalities of Tungawan, Payao, Mabuhay, Naga, Talusan, Olutanga, Kabasalan, Titay, Diplahan, Imelda, Ipil and RT Lim of Zamboanga Sibugay and the municipalities of Sibuco, Siocon and Baliguian of Zamboanga del Norte.

The training oriented the participants on the actual operations and important details of the geo-tagging devices and to train on the procedures in the use and conduct of actual geo-tagging.

Regional Director Paisal O. Abutazil said that the Department as the prime mover in promoting transparency and accountability is advocating the use of applied geo-tagging to ensure that there is no project duplication and no ghost projects.

 “This is the primary purpose why we conducted this training workshop. Because once we geo-tagged the specific projects, it would then be continually keep in the Google maps unless modified for some specifications.

He added that the application of the technology as an initiative of the Department through the Office of Project Development Services can also speed up the monitoring of project implementation and progress.

It is important to note that the program has identified 13 municipalities in CY 2012, nine (9) municipalities in CY 2013 and six (6) municipalities in CY 2014 in Zamboanga Peninsula.