Politics in the country has been divisive at times, but reelectionist Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario is asking everyone to bury the hatchet after election day is over.
Del Rosario, asked his fellow candidates and political supporters to toe the line and accept the outcome of the elections, especially if it turns out to be credible and clean.
He said the democratic exercise is the act of selecting the leaders of the land and that the protagonists should not harbor ill-feelings toward each other.
The governor, who has weathered five presidential and many local elections in a colorful political career that spans 32 years, assailed the dirty tactics and mudslinging employed by candidates in the run up to the 2010 national and local elections.
These discordant acts, he said, only foment disharmony, further dragging our people deeper into the quagmire of strife.
“Election lang kini ug kinahanglan nga pagkahuman ani mobalik kita sa atong tagsa-tagsa ka mga trabaho ug ipadayon nato ang atong panaghiusa aron sa paghaw-as sa atong katawhan sa kalisod (It should be back to work mode for us after the polls and we must continue our unity in freeing our people from the clutches of poverty),” he said in one of his political sorties.
Gov. del Rosario assured he would implement programs and projects that aim to heal the wounds of discord and disunity caused by one of the hottest elections in history.
He said he would intensify his comprehensive RDR WHEELS development agenda, as well as further strengthen his Project NOBLE (No Barangay Left Behind) as an offering to the people in the interest of peace and reconciliation.
He pledged to continue implementing his projects and thrusts without exception, even for those barangays that denied him or his candidates their electoral support.
In other provinces, constituents who openly support candidates on the other side of the political fence might have become wary of ‘expected fiscal punishment’ after the elections from whoever will sit as local chief executive.
This is not so in Davao del Norte under Gov. Del Rosario.
His Project NOBLE alone, which assures fair allocation of provincial resources among the barangays, is a powerful tool to hasten the healing of political wounds down to the community level.
In the past three years, all the 223 barangays of Davao del Norte received a minimum of P1 million worth of assistance for projects in their communities.
The governor has given emphasis to opening up farm-to-market roads and in connecting dead-ends, especially linking up remote communities to progress.
He has also prioritized the rehabilitation of key community facilities such as health centers, day care centers and classrooms, among other important facilities that determine the well-being of the people.
So far, more than P417 million worth of infrastructure projects were implemented in the three cities and seven municipalities of the province.
The barangay councils themselves identified their priority projects through formal resolutions.
In his State of the Province Address last March, Del Rosario underscored the close to a billion pesos worth of consolidated programs, projects and services granted by the provincial government to all local government units of the province in the past three years.
