The Department of Interior and Local Government thru the office of Secretary Ronnie Puno has announced a significant achievement of the office. The office shared that almost all of the local government units in the county has their own existing citizen charters. The objective of the office is 100-percent coverage, and with nearly all of the LGUs covered as of this writing then it is safe to say that the project of the department can be considered as a success. So when the general public wants too a copy of this charter and wants to understand the basic assistance and services that can be provided by their respective LGUs, then the can surely expect that their city or municipality has one and this details the core services that can be offered.

There is a piece of good news coming out of the national political scene. When everyone seems to be harping on negativity and dirty tactics just to get ahead of the pack and get the attention of the general public, there is one vice presidential aspirant that is bucking the trend and showing his preference for civility in politics. He is Secretary Ronnie Puno of the Department of Interior and Local Government. The DILG chief has declared his commitment to a conduct of a civil and an intelligent campaign.

The destruction caused by Typhoon ‘Ondoy’ and ‘Pepeng’ may have caused inconveniences in many parts of the country, but these natural calamities also showed how the Filipino people stands up and recover after being hit by calamities. Hours after the Typhoon ‘Ondoy’ left a trail of destruction in Metro Manila and in many parts of Luzon, local government units and their heads lost no time in helping those in need of help and assistance.

After witnessing the destruction and the inconvenience brought about by Typhoon Ondoy to the country; the country is now in the reconstruction phase with communities picking up the pieces again and government instrumentalities doing its part to make sure that they can guide communities and local government units in their reconstruction efforts.

When the Secretary Ronnie Puno presented to Congress the budget for the Department of Interior and Local Government, what he presented was a slightly higher than the usual budget for 2010. The budget for next year is significantly higher than that for the current year. The main reason for this, according to Secretary Ronnie Puno is to ensure that the department can implement and sustain its major programs and projects. One major program of the department is the maintenance and the promotion of peace and order, and one concrete way of doing that is by adding 10,000 more police officers.

The department of Interior and Local Government under the direction of Secretary Ronnie Puno has already presented its budget proposal for next year. The department is asking for the approval of 64.547 billion to sustain its 2010 operations and part of the said project will be used to finance its major projects and programs like the hiring of another 10,000 jail officers, fire officers and policemen.

One of the major programs of the Department of Interior and Local Government under the direction of Secretary Ronnie Puno is to empower the local government units. Now for other cabinet secretaries, it is all about lip service. But not Secretary Ronnie Puno of the DILG; Secretary Ronnie Puno helped pushed for key initiatives that will truly help the LGUs realize its full potential in helping its communities. One such move of the department is by beefing up its police force; the department through the Philippine National Police has beefed up the police force. And the nice thing is that more and more female police officers were added to the police force.

When Secretary Ronnie Puno assumed the leadership of the Department of Interior and Local Government, one of the major programs that he prioritized is to empower the local government and its local chief executives. He is a believer of grassroots empowerment, and he added that this can only be done if the LGUs and the local chief executives will be empowered and also given the say in the planning process. Secretary Ronnie Puno helps promote public governance in which he pushes for greater LGU participation in the planning process. To be more specific, he wanted to see our local chief executives to have a better say on how projects are selected by the national government.

In an effort to make this country of ours peaceful and orderly and appeal greatly in the eyes of investors, the Department of Interior and Local Government has initiated a number of programs and initiatives that are designed to empower our local government units and more importantly these are designed to ensure that there will be peace and order in our communities. As per the department’s reckoning, implementing these initiatives will allow the LGUs to achieve self governance thus making this country of ours an ideal choice for long term investments. Department of Interior and Local Government Chief Ronnie Puno has said that these initiatives that promote peace and order have been implemented by the department and promoted under his watch.

There is no denying the fact that the introduction of the manual that specifies the rules and regulations in handling children in conflict with the law will serve its purpose in the police force. Our police officers will be more confident when handling these cases, and more importantly the rights and the needs of the minors entangled with the law will be properly guarded and promoted. So what can the general public expect from this manual of the Department of Interior and Local Government? To give you an idea, here we list some of the important details included in the manual promoted and developed under the guidance of Secretary Ronnie Puno: