FROM being a hotbed of crime in the south, Gov. Henry S. Oaminal has said peace and order initiatives in Misamis Occidental turned the province into one of Northern Mindanao’s leaders in development indicators.
Oaminal shared the progress milestones that the province has achieved in less than a decade, such as in infrastructure, employment, economy, and labor and employment. Before the province could achieve such leaps forward, Oaminal recalled the poor state of law enforcement in the province as a “challenging part of our history,” marked by crimes, insurgency, and even terrorism.
Aside from being known previously as the “the drug and organized crime capital of Mindanao,” the province also faced threats from the Kuratong Baleleng gang and communist rebels.
The governor attributed the province’s liberation from crime and violence to the cooperation of local government units (LGUs) with law enforcement improvement efforts.
“Ozamiznons can now freely walk without any fear of harassment from the bad elements,” Oaminal said, a realization of one of the tenets of his 5M platform – “Misamisnon Magpuyong Malinawon Malambuonug Malipayon,” or “Misamisnon Live Peacefully, Progressively, and Happily.”
With criminal threats under control, Oaminal said more businesses are now being established in the province, “and the job opportunities that were created out of it are getting better.”
From being one of the poorest provinces, Misamis Occidental posted in 2021 “the highest significant improvement in poverty incidence among families,” according to data by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) – from a 32.7 percent poverty incidence in 2018, to 23.3 percent in 2021.
The poverty incidence has further gone down to 18.30 percent. Public infrastructure also heavily contributed to the province’s development, according to the governor. “We gave more attention to the improvement of our roads,” he said.
Oaminal also said municipal, provincial, and national roads are now 95 percent paved, while more health centers, and educational facilities have been built for Misamisnons. He vowed that “peace and order initiatives will continue to be one of the priorities of the provincial government. When there is peace, there is development.”
