TACLOBAN CITY — More barangays in Northern Samar are set to benefit from government-funded development projects as the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) expands the coverage of the Support to the Barangay Development Program (SBDP) in the province.
The DILG–Northern Samar announced that a total of 17 additional barangays have been identified as new beneficiaries of the SBDP, with projects scheduled for implementation from 2025 to 2026. The update was presented during the 4th Quarter Joint Councils Meeting held at the Provincial Capitol held on Dec.19 and presided over by Governor Harris Ongchuan.
DILG Northern Samar project team leader Engr. Roddie Jay Doroja presented the list of newly covered barangays for 2026, as well as those included under the Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP) for 2025–2026.
For 2025, the newly identified barangays are Macagtas, Washington, Somoge, and Libjo in Catarman, and Barangay Del Pilar in Las Navas. For 2026, the beneficiary barangays include Alejandro Village in Allen; Sumuroy in Bobon; Magtuas and Sulitan in Catubig; Sibunot and Yabyaban in Laoang; Quezon in Las Navas; Bayho in Lope de Vega; Mirador and Talolora in Mondragon; and Guindauhan and Kailingan in Rosario.
Engr. Doroja also reported that in 2024, a total of 161 projects were completed under the Local Government Support Fund–Support to the Barangay Development Program (LGSF-SBDP), benefiting 161 barangays across Northern Samar.
For 2025, two projects have already been completed, two additional projects in the towns of Gamay and Mapanas are currently ongoing, while three projects remain under procurement.
The LGSF-SBDP is a flagship DILG-led initiative that supports critical infrastructure and social development projects, including farm-to-market roads, rural health stations, water systems, and school buildings.
These projects are aimed at addressing long-standing service gaps in conflict-cleared and geographically isolated barangays, while helping reduce poverty and sustain peace.
Provincial officials said the continued rollout of SBDP projects underscores the shared commitment of the national government and the provincial government to accelerate development in underserved communities.
Aligned with the Harmonized Community-Oriented (HCO) Framework, the provincial government under Governor Ongchuan continues to pursue its vision of making Northern Samar a peaceful, happy, and progressive province.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
Transmitters of tradition
THE story of Anna, already advanced in years and a widow, and who “departed not from temple, by fasting and prayers serving night and day,” (cfr. Lk 2,36-40) somehow reminds of those good old women who spend a lot of time in churches doing all sorts of devout practices and even offering to carry out tasks, often gratis, in parishes.
The younger generation may have some cheeky attitude toward them, but we cannot deny that they, like Anna, actually do a lot of good to all of us. In their own way, they keep and transmit time-honored pious traditions that would truly help alive our spiritual life.
Especially these days when we are often swept away by modern things that tend to detach us from the sources of our religious faith, their example deserves to be given due attention and imitation. Obviously, these pious traditions also evolve in some ways. But they just cannot be ignored.
Traditions are important in our life. They are like structures that help us cope with the different necessities of life. They have been built up from the common experiences of a person and of a society and are passed on from generation to generation.
That’s what tradition means. It’s a matter of handing down certain shared attitudes, practices, lifestyles from one generation to the next. It’s a continuing process that parallels and supports life itself.
Traditions can be personal, family, social, political, historical, cultural, and of course, religious that are in fact the most important. In other words, they correspond to our human needs taken either individually or collectively, spiritually or materially. In short, they cover all aspects of our life.
Traditions help keep life going, facilitating the performance of certain duties and the attainment of certain goals and ideals. They give some consistency to our life, and a reassuring sense of direction and fulfillment.
Since our identity as a person and as a people is often qualified by the traditions we practice, we need to make sure that we have good and healthy traditions, refining and polishing them along the way, or otherwise starting new ones as circumstances warrant.
New traditions somehow are born spontaneously. A certain spirit or ethos must be behind its making after a number of factors and relevant elements come together. There are also those that are quite deliberately engineered. But no new tradition comes about unless it has at least the tacit approval of the majority of the people.
Traditions also form some kind of basis or ground on which a person and a society grows and develops. They can be part of the raw material used for growth. Practically no one and no society can live without some tradition in place in their system. No one starts to develop from absolute zero. He has to begin somewhere.
We should try, however, to adapt traditions to changing circumstances while preserving their essence and spirit, striking a healthy balance between preserving tradition and embracing progress, innovation and positive change.
We should also be respectful of the diverse traditions we can have around, ever mindful of the cultural sensitivities of different communities and avoiding appropriating or misrepresenting traditions that are not our own.
We should also engage in open and respectful dialogue with people from different backgrounds to promote mutual understanding and appreciation. Ultimately, a balanced approach that combines respect, critical evaluation, and cultural sensitivity can help us navigate the complexities of tradition and its role in shaping our lives and communities.