Hi there! Have you been following the news lately? Well, my apologies to our brothers in Mindanao who are suffering from flooding on top of the fighting between government troops and the rebels, it’s sad but news about your plight is not the order of the day. People, or should I say the powerful media entities (and I guess I have to include some of our lawmakers) are into the latest bomb or dud (depending upon which side of the political fence one is into) to hit the Senate - of course it’s none other than the latest Lacson expose.
Talking about the news. The big news is not exactly nice: Lehman Brothers has collapsed; and world economies held its breath. And the Philippines? Mareng Winnie said it best, that the fundamentals of the Philippine Economy are intact. On the other hand I’m still waiting if there would be some lawmakers or anybody who will give Arroyo the flak for the Lehman collapse. Well, already one lawmaker went on TV questioning why our economy should be tied to that of the U.S. I’m no economist, but I think there is something quite not right with that inquiry.
And hmm, they are into something new at the Senate. Just when I thought that the usual grandstanding err, investigation (where one gets free media mileage on TV) was the order of the day (what with the latest issue on insertion), some of the members of the upper chamber are into either a walkout or simply being out (on a boycott). Now that’s what I call reinventing (or should I say repackaging?).
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Mayor Mel Sarmiento is off to New York. He will be speaking as Philippine representative in the Side Event of the United Nations (UN) High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals. The said side event will focus on Local Poverty Reduction and MDG Localization and for scaling up implementation to achieve MDGs.
For a short backgrounder. On September 25, 2008, a High-level Event (HLE) on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be jointly convened by the (UN) Secretary-General and the President of the (UN) General Assembly to reaffirm existing commitments and evoke new ones needed to achieve the MDGs by 2015. The HLE will bring together Heads of States or Government, as well as leaders of the private sector and civil society.
The HLE takes particular note of the fact that while many developing countries are on track to achieve some of the MDGs, large disparities persist across and within countries.
THE OBJECTIVE OF THE SIDE EVENT. The side event aims to share practical policy innovations amongst participants by highlighting challenges and key elements of success in scaling-up MDG localized interventions.
Over the years, some innovative local initiatives have been developed in different parts of the world to achieve the MDGs. However, these good practices and their key elements of success have not been shared widely for substantive discussions. Therefore, the side event will aim to:
- Facilitate the exchange of country case studies (good practices) along key elements of success on local poverty reduction and MDG localization/scaling up good practices;
- Promote strategic partnerships to effectively advocate for MDGs
- Promote policy innovation for reducing the national – local gap.
During the roundtable discussion, Mayor Sarmiento’s presentation will attempt to answer the following critical questions:
- What are the major challenges for policy alignment for MDG planning and implementation at national and local levels.
- How these challenges have been overcome?
- What are, in the country’s context, effective way to sensitize local government and parliamentarians on MDG?
- In sum, what are the key elements of success in bridging the gap between national and local levels in scaling up MDG implementations?
Other countries invited to the Side Event are Brazil, Uganda, Liberia, Rwanda, Vietnam and Kenya.
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A week ago today, Mayor Mel Sarmiento led the guests during the Farmers’ Field Day and FFS Graduation at the Calbayog City Jail. This is a part of the City’s Palayamanan Project. More details next issue.
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Condolence to the Sabenicio Family. Mr. Felicissimo “Isin” Sabenicio Sr., the former Municipal Mayor of Sto. Niño was laid to rest yesterday. He returned to his creator on September 8, 2008. He was 84.
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This is it for now. Have a nice weekend everyone! Ciao!
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