First Cabinet Meeting of Gov. Pacoy’s Second Term Held

By: Marcel A. Florentino

---

Following the First Monday Flag Raising Program of the Provincial Government of La Union (PGLU), Gov. Francisco Emmanuel “Pacoy” Ortega Gov. Pacoy relayed his plans, expectations, and directives to his Cabinet during the First Cabinet Meeting for the Governor’s second term (2019-2022) on July 1, 2019 at the Diego Silang Hall, Provincial Capitol, City of San Fernando, La Union.

Crediting a job well done for the first term as the cause for his electoral dominance, the governor conveyed his congratulations and gratitude to the attendees of the meeting. After which, he immediately posed several new challenges to his Cabinet as he laid out his plans for 2019 to 2022 by saying, “We should not rest on our success. We shouldn’t see success as the end. Our service to the public is a journey of endless potentials.”

On economic dynamism, the focus of the second term is on Tourism. Gov. Pacoy called for intensifying efforts on tourism site development and promotions to improve the quality of the local industry. Since measurable progress is one of the concerns of the Governor, he directed that data collection efforts on tourism related activities such as tourist arrivals should be strengthened.

Despite the focus on tourism, the Governor has instructed to build the Agricultural capabilities of the province to sustain productivity and to advance post-harvest processes which translates to a higher income for farmers. He instructed the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist to further develop the economic conditions of farmers so that they can level-up from production to processing.

The PGLU, under the Governor’s leadership through a Transformative Governance Framework, has undergone intensive internal reform and improvements during the first term which led to a Quality Management System ISO 9001:2015 certification and a more committed workforce. Now, Gov. Pacoy has set his sights on improving the technological capabilities of the PGLU starting with a province-wide wireless network and development of more information systems which shall facilitate the speed, precision of business transactions, data collection, and security in the province.

The governor further relayed his plans concerning health and education, environment, maintenance of a business friendly province, infrastructure development, peace and order, and disaster risk response. He shared that La Union is one of the four of 81 provinces in the country having a 911 system and Operations center.

Lastly, since La Union has been a consistent Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) awardee, the governor committed anew to provide closer assistance to the component LGUs so that on his third term or earlier, all LGUs of La Union will be conferred with the SGLG.