INAUGURAL SPEECH OF BM IVY DALUMPINES

I stand before youtoday gratefulfor the trust, confidence and the mandate you have bestowed upon me; yet humbled by the tasks and challenges that lie ahead.

Our beloved governor Lala Taliño – Mendoza; Vice Governor Gregorio Ipong; my soon-to-be colleagues in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan; Provincial Heads of Offices; our diligent public servants who are stationed at the various offices here in Amas; City, Municipal and Barangay Officials who are with us today; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen: A pleasant morning to all of you.

All of us have heard of the term family values. Some of us may have taken the term lightly while some of us may have pondered on what it really means. For me, “family values” simply means that we are a family and that each one of us, being a family member, is valuable. Our province of Cotabato is a large family where you and I belong – with our esteemed Governor Lala Talino-Mendoza as our mother and head, with the rest of our elected provincial officials acting as our older brothers and sisters responsible for looking after the best interest of their younger siblings. By electing this humble representation during the recently-concluded election, you have officially made me one of your older sisters in the family. From the bottom of my heart, I cannot thank you enough for giving me the privilege to serve you.

As leaders in our family, we are aware that many of our family members are still suffering from the afflictions of ill-education, poor health conditions, hopelessness, poverty and intergenerational economic neglect. In as much as there is not a single solution to the problems besetting our family, these challenges confronting us are undoubtedly huge that our Governor cannot carry all the burdens singlehandedly by herself. She needs each and everyone’s help; thus, this is the time for team work, cooperation, and partnership among us, leaders in the family.

Being a neophyte in this august chamber and an elder sister in the Provincial Government family, I am very excited to work with my soon-to-be colleagues in crafting appropriate policies and laws for the general welfare of our people. And as an obedient and respectful daughter to her mother, I will likewise be supportive to our Governor and to her programs and projects that are geared to uplift poverty, restore the peace, address human insecurities, and bring hope to the hopeless. There is a time for everything and a season for every activity; thus says Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 verse 1. And I say: this is a time to forget about politics and let us instead start healing the wounds of the recent elections. Now is the time to act as one united family with God at the center. Together, we can break free from the shackles of poverty and ill-education as we labor to fan the flickering sense of hope among our fellow Cotabateños.

In our quest to find remedies to the social and economic evils that hound the province, I ask you our beloved constituents to continue supporting us, the leaders you have chosen, as we work hard to remain worthy of the trust that you have bestowed upon us.

Let us all work hard together to remove Cotabato on the list of the top 20 poorest province in the Philippines. Let us dream together. Let us believe together. Let us hope together. And together, let us scatter these seeds of hope as we inch our way toward the fulfillment of the vision that is Cotabato.

You are a part of the family just as I am a part of it too. We are one and as one shall we bear the labor pains of a more dynamic, more equitable, more progressive, more empowered and more growth-inclusive Cotabato Province.

You, I, everybody has an important role to play. We are a family and as a family we shall act. After all, we value not only one another but even the future of our children and the generations to come.

Thank you very much and may God bless us all.