South Korea to support socio-economic dev’t plans of North Cotabato

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Provincial officials found so beneficial their September 7 to 10 socio-economic engagements with counterparts in a booming South Korean province, Gov. Emmylou Talino-Mendoza said Tuesday.

Mendoza said public officials in South Korea’s Gangwon province had taught them valuable insights on agriculture, health, commerce and trade, which can be applied locally to expedite North Cotabato’s rise as Region 12’s main economic hub.

Mendoza was accompanied to South Korea by her research and planning staff, Mayor Joseph Evangelista of Kidapawan City, which is North Cotabato’s capital, and a senior member of the provincial board, Noel Baynosa.  

“Among the important learning we had during our engagements there is how to make telecommunications hasten the delivery of health services to beneficiary-communities,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza said the Gangwon provincial government provides medical services to its constituents in far-flung area using telecommunication facilities.

“With strong determination and cooperation from our local government units in the province, we can also do it here,” Mendoza said.

North Cotabato covers 17 towns and Kidapawan City, where the telecommunication giants Globe, Smart, Sun and the pioneer Philippine Long Distance Company operate.

North Cotabato is well known for its exotic fruits and for being a major producer of oil palm nuts, latex from rubber trees in vast plantations, coconuts and coffee beans.

“With healthy peasants everywhere, our economy surely will become as healthy as well,” Mendoza said.

A popular radio entity in Central Mindanao, the Notre Dame Broadcasting Corporation (NDBC), had earlier reported that Mendoza wants to duplicate in North Cotabato the telecommunication-based health service system in Gangwon.

The NDBC, which has six radio stations in the region, had quoted Mendoza as saying that Gangwon’s provincial government is ready to help put up such health facet in North Cotabato.

The Korean International Cooperation Agency had earlier said it is ready to support the development initiatives of the Mendoza administration.

Just last August, South Korean dignitaries visited Kidapawan City to familiarize themselves with the intricacies of the local economy and determine viable development tie-ups with LGUs.

“That, for us, was a positive sign, an indication that we are succeeding in our struggle to put North Cotabato in the international economic map,” Mendoza told The Star.