Barangay empowerment program continues in Balanga

BALANGA CITY, Bataan – The unique program of empowering villages in this city dubbed “Learning Barangay Week Program” continues under the new tandem of Mayor Francis Garcia and Vice Mayor Vianca Venzon-Gozon. This week the program is being conducted in Barangay San Jose.

Prior to his unopposed election in this city as mayor, Garcia was already attending the barangay week program for almost a year as adviser of the Barangay Mentors Society.

On the other hand, Venzon-Gozon was three-term councilor and part of the program since 2007 as started by the incumbent mayor’s brother former mayor and now Bataan second district Congressman Joet Garcia.

Aiming to empower the city’s 25 villages, activities in the barangay are assigned week-long. The program ends with a barangay assembly, which is required in every barangay as stipulated in the Local Government Code.

The program was modified into a Learning Barangay Week Program integrating the learning aspect. The idea came up when the former mayor attended the International Conference on Learning Cities in China a few years ago.

Innovative strategies are being adopted to enable local residents to learn new skills and competencies to transform Balanga into a learning city, said City Administrator Rudy De Mesa.

The program has been cited as one of the best LGU practices and duplicated in the other towns of the province.