Six Cordillera Towns Complete MLDP course

Welcomed in the customary ways of Sagada town, the attendees completed the two-day training course on leadership and community enhancement and development.

Six municipalities from across Cordillera region underwent and completed the Municipal Leadership Development Program (MLDP) on June 20 in Sagada, Mountain Province.

The completers are the Benguet municipalities of  Atok, Bokod, and Mankayan; Hingyon, Ifugao; Lagayan, Abra; and host town Sagada.

Dubbed “Bayang Malusog,” the program aims to bolster the leadership and governance capacities of municipal mayors and key officials to cope with the demands of implementing universal healthcare.

All local chief executives and committee on health councilors, as well as municipal health officers, of the said municipalities attended the event.

In attendance are mayors Franklin Smith (Atok), Thomas Wales (Bokod), and Dario Banario (Mankayan); Florencio Nalula (Hingyon); Edmarc Crisologo (Lagayan); and Felecito Dula (Sagada).

Newly-appointed DOH Cordillera Regional Director Ferdinand Benbenen also graced the occasion.

The six towns were the second batch in the program jointly offered by the Department of Health (DOH) and Cordillera Career Development College (CCDC), in collaboration with The Zuellig Family Foundation.

The first batch of towns to graduate the MLDP course are the Ifugao towns of Aguinaldo and Asipulo; Balbalan, Kalinga; Bontoc, Mt. Province; and Buguias, Benguet.

Mayor Edmarc Crisologo of Lagayan, Abra shares his insights in one of the sessions of the program meant to improve the efficiency of health systems in rural municipalities like Lagayan.

“We hope the program can generate adaptive responses in addressing emerging and persistent challenges, especially in the implementation of the Universal Health Care,” said CCDC President Sherry Junette Tagle, who was also among the facilitators.

After the two-day course, the municipalities drafted their own strategies in strengthening stakeholder relationships for sustained implementation of the Universal Health Care and design action plans to address the remaining challenges in its implementation.

The MLDP consists of two modules of in-person training, hands-on activities, expert-led sessions, mentorship, and final presentation events spread out over a year.

While the course is offered through the DOH Cordillera’s Local Health Systems Section, the resource persons and facilitators are from CCDC.*