| More than 50 Bacolod women members calling themselves “Advocating Women as Representatives thru Election” (AWARE) officially endorsed Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue yesterday as Bacolod’s lone district representative to the 15th Congress whom they said is “a dynamic mover and a true visionary.” A multi-sectoral, multi-social strata gathering of women, AWARE invited the Bacolod media where Batapa-Sigue professes to be where she had started to finance further studies in Law, preferred to call her congressional agenda as visions rather than promises “as promises are meant to be broken” while visions are centered on people’s need as dictated by the people themselves. In her speech, Batapa-Sigue outlined her agenda for the City of Bacolod and Congress, among them, are the development of an ICT ready and literate human resource base of Bacolod City as the world “has left the industrial age to the information age.” She disclosed that at her office table right now are relevant papers of 30 Bacolod-based animators ready for training given the right time and sufficient logistics, related to this therefore is to transform Bacolod City as an industrial zone attractive to qualified locators. As to livelihood projects related to purok cooperativism, which is among Batapa-Sigue’s landmark legislation for the marginalized, she stressed on developing a marketing scheme for products or services otherwise members’ productivity will remain stagnant and unprofitable. Also, Batapa-Sigue envisioned Bacolod City as a beauty, health and wellness destination recalling the organization of the Spa Association of Negros (SPAN) and because there are available areas and existing facilities, Bacolod can be a retirement destination as well. Bacolod City, she said, must be in the world map as a medical tourism destination. As to her provincial-wide vision, Batapa-Sigue will work out to unite all the congressional districts of Negros Occidental and respond to suggestions of the Chinese community leaders to organize the Provincial Economic Development Authority tasked to do harmonization and coordination of all economic activities of the province. Bacolod must be connected with the rest of the province as this is the age of networking and that all these province-wide visions will be under the umbrella program Batapa-Sigue calls “Province-Wide Triennium Development Agenda.” In the 15th Congress, Batapa-Sigue will push the formation of a “green bloc, women and children bloc, the BPO bloc” among others, and to catapult Bacolod City as the ICT champion of the world. When asked, will there be no road and other infra projects? “Roads and bridges will still be built but not rivers,” she said.* By Gil Alfredo B. Severino | 
