68 puroks in Liloan given recognition

CEBU, Philippines - Liloan town’s “most responsive” puroks will receive cash from the town and Gov. Gwen Garcia through the expanded Green and Wholesome Environment that Nurtures (e-GWEN).

Liloan Mayor Vincent Duke Frasco said this year, instead of picking the top three puroks, the town picked the five top-performing ones out of the 212, from the town’s 14 barangays.

The mid-year awarding is part of the municipal government’s program review, as well as a means to encourage puroks to work harder to further develop their communities. 

Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said that due to the efforts that the puroks have exerted which contributed to Liloan’s progress, the provincial government will double the P5,000 incentive that the winning puroks will receive from the municipal government. 

Frasco expressed his overwhelming gratitude to Garcia for the additional incentive.

A purok is the smallest unit of governance composed of a number of households with an average of 20 to 50 or even more number of members, depending on a particular geographical location or cluster of houses.

Given the mandate through local ordinances enacted by barangay or municipal/city sanggunian, a purok can perform government functions with the coordination and supervision of local officials.

For purok leaders, they take pride in being able to participate in the running of projects and activities of the government, even if they are not elected officials of the barangay.

It empowers people to manage programs and projects using local talents, skills, and resources.

A purok has its own set of officers elected for a specific term of office to set their own policies or house rules and to draft and implement action plans and directions anchored on the overall vision, mission, and objectives of the barangay.