Kananga Municipal Hall

It's very scenic and clean.

ONE KANANGA MOVING FORWARD

improving and developing

I would say that the town has a way to go. When it comes to infrastructure projects, Kananga falls behind other municipalities of similar size and wealth. Improved infrastructure means better access to key services, faster travel, unhampered deliveries of goods and other outputs, cost reduction, and additional income for the municipality. I just find it ironic because the town is categorized as a first-class municipality, yet it is lacking in several aspects. It may sound simple in words but this means that the municipality has the advantage of more funding compared with its neighbors. The new administration has to renovate and extend major government buildings and offices for larger needs in the future. This is largely due to long condonation in the past. In terms of public service and transactions, it's often slow. It will take you days to finish simple government transactions, weeks even, for more complicated documents. Although I am aware that it has significantly improved under the new leadership, it is still inching to meet the standard set by the national government. I intend no offense but I remember when I was working on our research in high school, we had to go to the barangay hall countless times just to get our paper signed. It was a burden on our part because we also have a deadline to submit the documents we were working on. And that's not all, there were times when I made my way to the office and wasn't able to get the needed papers at the scheduled time. There were also instances when the barangay hall closed or cut their office hours. To be honest, there are too many of them to mention. I also noticed that some government instruments are not heavily tapped. The SK for example, (I can't help but compare) in some other municipalities in Leyte, their Youth organization has launched several programs in their hope to help their constituents during the global pandemic. They include webinars for mental health, leadership improvement, climate change, COVID awareness, and other relevant topics. They are also engaged in social services like fundraising efforts and relief aids. They have also provided financial support for disadvantaged students, gadgets for online classes, school supplies, module assistance to children and high school students, and many others alike. In our locality, I have not heard of them. Although I am informed that they are working on smaller projects and have been reporting regularly, they appear to be insufficient and lacking. Not to mention the fact that they are being criticized by the youths. This may be due to the lack of funds but in other poorer municipalities within the region, they were able to execute these efforts. Moreover, work ethics by the employees are often criticized by locals. Of course, this results in low productivity and competitiveness of the municipality. I am not a fan of the lackadaisical attitude of few workers there. Plus, it also seems obvious that favoritism is a chronic issue regardless of who is elected as mayor. I hope we will come to a day when qualification will be more considered than the 'who's got whose backing' scheme. Other workers are also very personal in their work. I believe they made a little bit of commotion on social media about their squabbles with their colleagues and other people outside. While it is true that criticisms may sometimes hit you hard, professionalism should be at the core, especially for public servants. It is worthy to mention at this point that the latest change in leadership has made substantial improvements in many areas. And I hope it will continue. However, as I have said, we still have a long way to go. Progress needs the collective action of everyone. And it can not be attained if we'll continue the culture of tolerance and the government will just do the usual defensive approach. Public engagement and open conversation should be practiced. Here, I want to emphasize that this review is not meant to single out any one particular and it is not due to anyone's statement or control. This is not solicited.

They stared at you as if you did something.