By Hilda Austria
MANGATAREM, Pangasinan – The Pangasinan provincial government has initially turned over three solar lights to Barangay Lawak Langka in this town as part of the project Liwawa (light) to strengthen the security of the province and maintain its insurgency-free status.
The Pangasinan Provincial Information Office (PIO) said the project promotes access to solar energy in farthest barangays, known as Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA).
“Project Liwawa is one of the projects of Governor Amado Espino III that aims to illuminate far-flung barangays in the province by using renewable energy through solar lights to reduce the effect of climate change,” it added. Espino also chairs the Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC).
Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office head Rhodyn Luchinvar Oro said the project also provides importance to the help and contribution of the indigenous peoples (IPs) who live in remote and isolated areas of the province.
National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) provincial director Enrique delos Santos Jr., for his part thanked Espino for “including the IPs in this program as many of the tribes are in GIDA thus, many will benefit from this project of the provincial government.”
The PIO said the provincial government plans to install two to three solar lights in 16 identified far-flung barangays in Eastern and Western parts of Pangasinan.
Aside from the solar lights, the PIO said the Provincial Agriculturist’s office also provided 200 seedlings of sweet tamarind, narra, cashew, and mahogany, and a knapsack sprayer for the barangay.
Some 50 residents also underwent the modified mobile skills training project of the Provincial Employment and Services Office to learn basic carpentry and electrical troubleshooting, while frontline workers received rubbing alcohol and vitamins. (PNA)