Governor Edwin Marino C. Ongchuan, is the 10th Governor of the Province of Northern Samar.
Now on his second term as provincial chief executive, Governor Edwin had a sweeping victory from the first time, and more overwhelmingly, the second time he ran for the highest elective position in the province, a mark of the increased trust of the Northern Samar community to his governance style.
Prior to being Governor, he was a member of the 17th Congress as representative of the province 2nd Legislative District. His AB Sociology degree from the University of the Philippines helped shape his leadership perspective which is anchored on the principle, “Salus Populi est Suprema Lex” or “the welfare of the people is the supreme law”. His development agenda Padayon nga KAUSWAGAN, or Sustained PROGRESS, focuses on reducing poverty and promoting sustainability as his administration’s tenet for all development initiatives. By operationalizing the development agenda through the four clusters – Good Governance and Institutional Development; Human Developmental and Poverty Alleviation Cluster; Food Security and Sustainable Economic Development; and Peace and Resilience – delivery of services and technical capacity is strengthened, gaps and overlaps are lessened and accountability of government officials is upheld.
In every Kauswagan Caravan, a landmark program under his leadership, Governor Edwin brings government services closer to the people, especially to the hard-to-reach areas in the province, which visits give him a deep sense of understanding of grassroots concerns, and propels him to push for reforms that will best serve the Norte-Samarnons.
A proof that efforts to combat poverty is making an impact, the poverty incidence among families in Northern Samar saw a significant decline during Governor Edwin’s term, from 30% in 2018 to 19.3% in 2021, based on the Philippine Statistics Authority data.