As one of the operating units of DA-RFO 8 entrusted to oversee our agency’s participation in the recently concluded “Handog ng Pangulo: Serbisyong Sapat para sa Lahat”, we, at AMAD, had the chance to shift or move from one venue to another – meaning from Rizal Plaza in Tacloban City, to the Leyte Academic Center in Palo, Leyte.
It was quite a challenging task for us, but we have to do something to make our agency’s presence felt in two big events – done in two contrasting places at the same time.
On hindsight, hey! we just did a marvelous job. All that we’ve done was simply applied the key stategies of coordination, collaboration, convergence, and commitment – as always emphasized by our very own Regional Executive Director Andrew Rodolfo T. Orais.
In tandem with our counterparts from the provincial and city governments, and with the strong support of AMAS – our mother unit at Central Office, including the Food Terminal Incorporated (FTI) and the National Food Authority (NFA), we’d just luckily pulled it off as we all together came out victorious, to say the least.
Now, let me specifically cite the following 7 contrasting points between the two, but simultaneous activities:
1) The event in Palo, Leyte was held inside the Leyte Academic Center (indoor), while the one in Tacloban was in an open area of Rizal Plaza (outdoor).
2) Leyte provincial government spearheads the activity in Palo heavily supported by national line agencies, while the one in Tacloban City was jointly organized by the Office of the City Agriculturist, the National Food Authority ((NFA) and the DA-RFO 8, – backstopped by other departments like the City Social Welfare Office, the City Police , the Philippine Army, as well as the City Agriculture, and Fishery Council.
3) Due to the near constant rainshowers, the queue by the multitude of people at the Rizal Park became inorderly and many showed restlessness resulting in temporary delay in the program flow. Meanwhile, in Palo, participants are comfortably seated, and queues were seemed orderly.
4) The KADIWA ng Pangulo was both present in two venues, however, the participation of FCAs was more pronounced or prominent at the Rizal Park, in complete contrast to that in Palo, Leyte, which mostly participated in by MSMEs.
5) The Benteng Bigas sold in Tacloban City reached a record of 320 bags – benefiting a total of 1,600 consumer-buyers, while the Benteng Bigas sold in Palo totalled to 300 bags only with an estimated 1,500 beneficiaries.
6) The Office of the President through Undersecretary Joseph Francisco Ortega who is also the concurrent Chairman of the National Youth Commission graced the activities in Palo, while in Tacloban, Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Federation President Emmanuel Dirko De Paz represented the City Mayor.
7) Finally, in Palo, the DA-RFO 8 was duly represented by RED Orais himself, while in Tacloban, Dr. Jennylyn R. Almeria, RTD for Research and Regulations led our DA-8 Team.
