The Vice Mayors League of the Philippines (VMLP) held a national assembly/congress in San Jose, Romblon recently with the primary goal of identifying approaches and strategies to help achieve the goals of the 2004-2010 Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) and the 2005-2010 Medium-Term Regional Development Plans (MTRDPs). National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Director (for Region IV-B) Oskar O. Balbastro (inset) urged the vice mayors to put in place necessary mechanisms that will maximize local resources and realize regional economic development priorities. He said local government units play an important role in achieving the national goal of cutting poverty by half by 2010.