The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Regional Office IX in coordination with the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) successfully hosted the one-day Orientation and Simulation Activity on Web-Based Planning Tool conducted on February 15, 2013 at Lantaka Hotel, Zamboanga City.

A total of 150 LGU participants attended the activity composed of the Municipal Planning Development Coordinators (MPDCs), designated Information Technology Officers (ITOs), Civil Society Organization (CSO) representatives of the municipalities and cities of Region IX and the BuB Provincial Focal Persons of the Provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay, respectively.

Likewise present were members of the Regional Poverty Reduction Action Team-Technical Working Group (RPRAT-TWG) such as DBM, DOH, DA, DOT, Dep.ED, TESDA, DSWD, DAR and DOLE, RPRAT Provincial Basic Sector Representatives, and BuB Regional Focal Persons of DILG Region IX, among others.

The opening program was graced by DILG IX Assistant Regional Director Pedro G. Cuevas, Jr., NAPC technical personnel Lani Arda, Divina Marciano and Richard Coballes, who discussed to the participants the rationale and objectives of the program.

In his opening message, ARD Cuevas underscored the advantages of the web-based tool in order to fast track the submission of the Local Poverty Reduction Action Plans (LPRAPs) relative to the implementation of the identified development projects under the Bottom-Up Budgeting (BuB) program.

“The introduction of this web-based tool is a strategy to promote transparency as espoused by the national government and thus, is very much attuned with the demands of technology,” ARD Cuevas said.

The objective of the activity is to enhance the knowledge and technical know-how of the LGUs of the concept and application in the utilization of the web-based planning tool and to hasten or facilitate the submission of the Local Poverty Reduction Action Plans (LPRAPs) of the focused LGUs in the region to the DILG and other participating agencies.

During the simulation exercises, participants were grouped by province. In the course of the lecture, NAPC technical personnel oriented, demonstrated and thereafter conducted a series of sit-down coaching sessions relative to the data uploading procedures and other technical processes relative to the utilization and application of the web-based tool.

Further, participants were afforded the time to be clarified on issues and concerns during the open forum

Furthermore, DILG Region IX was congratulated by NAPC for being the first region in the country to conduct the Orientation and Simulation activity.