Abra stakeholders commit to advocate measles elimination
Posted on | Friday 25 March 2011 | No Comments
by Maritess B. Beñas
BANGUED, Abra, Saturday March 26 – Various stakeholders had come together at a forum in the Provincial Capitol social hall on March 23 to commit themselves in the advocacy to eliminate measles in the province.
The Abra Provincial Health Office headed by Dr. Godofredo L. Gasa in collaboration with the Department of Health-Center for Health Development, Abra field office headed by Agnes P. Casia, convened an advocacy meeting regarding Measles Rubella Supplemental Immunization Activity (MRSIA).
During the activity, various local and national agencies signed their pledge of commitment to promote the advocacy on the said program.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DULG) committed to take charge of the conduct of information dissemination and distribution of flyers and streamers to the 303 barangays in the province.
The office of the vice governor assured the passage of a resolution for the executive order to support the program.
The Philippine National Police, on the other hand, will provide security during the motorcade which will serve as the kick-off activity on April 4 when the vaccination starts.
The media, both private and the government media, will provide full coverage in both print and broadcast, of all the activities relative to the program.
As an initial output, the Philippine Information Agency had already started drumbeating the Information Education Campaign during its weekly program, the Hot PIA Info Link.
Aside from the print releases, Interpersonal Education Campaign (IEC) will be carried out in partnership with the various women organizations in the province, since PIA chairs the Kalipunan ng Liping Pilipina (KALIPI) Provincial Federation in Abra and is conducting regular meetings with the municipal chapters throughout the province.
It can be noted that the health department had already conducted three successful nationwide campaigns since 1998. However, annual routine measles immunization coverage was sub-optimal with pockets of low coverage distributed all over the country that resulted to measles outbreaks that included Baguio City in 2010.
In Abra, there had been two laboratory-confirmed cases of measles in 2010. *(PIA CAR/ Abra)
BANGUED, Abra, Saturday March 26 – Various stakeholders had come together at a forum in the Provincial Capitol social hall on March 23 to commit themselves in the advocacy to eliminate measles in the province.
The Abra Provincial Health Office headed by Dr. Godofredo L. Gasa in collaboration with the Department of Health-Center for Health Development, Abra field office headed by Agnes P. Casia, convened an advocacy meeting regarding Measles Rubella Supplemental Immunization Activity (MRSIA).
During the activity, various local and national agencies signed their pledge of commitment to promote the advocacy on the said program.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DULG) committed to take charge of the conduct of information dissemination and distribution of flyers and streamers to the 303 barangays in the province.
The office of the vice governor assured the passage of a resolution for the executive order to support the program.
The Philippine National Police, on the other hand, will provide security during the motorcade which will serve as the kick-off activity on April 4 when the vaccination starts.
The media, both private and the government media, will provide full coverage in both print and broadcast, of all the activities relative to the program.
As an initial output, the Philippine Information Agency had already started drumbeating the Information Education Campaign during its weekly program, the Hot PIA Info Link.
Aside from the print releases, Interpersonal Education Campaign (IEC) will be carried out in partnership with the various women organizations in the province, since PIA chairs the Kalipunan ng Liping Pilipina (KALIPI) Provincial Federation in Abra and is conducting regular meetings with the municipal chapters throughout the province.
It can be noted that the health department had already conducted three successful nationwide campaigns since 1998. However, annual routine measles immunization coverage was sub-optimal with pockets of low coverage distributed all over the country that resulted to measles outbreaks that included Baguio City in 2010.
In Abra, there had been two laboratory-confirmed cases of measles in 2010. *(PIA CAR/ Abra)
Category:
Abra
Natonin's abaca industry could yield as much as P18M annually
by Lito Dar
BAGUIO CITY, March 26 – The Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA) confirmed that the Abaca industry of Natonin, Mountain Province could yield as much as one ton of fiber per hectare and with 900 hectares allotted for such purpose and if sold at P20 per kilo could give the municipality up to P18 million a year.
This was disclosed by povincial fiber officer Raymond Tunac, during the kapihan forum held at the Philippine Information Agency’s (PIA) "Dap-ay," Thursday, in line with the promotion of Natonin’s Sas-alliwa festival.
Abaca, which is the One Town One Product (OTOP) of Natonin, will once again be one of the highlights to be featured on the Sas-alliwa festival, which will be held on May 7 to 15.
According to Natonin municipal government administrator Gilbert Bangilan, they will be putting on more products for this year’s festival as he also stressed that abaca was given by nature to the people as these thrive abundantly with little maintenance in the vast tracts of lands in Natonin.
Meantime, Natonin’s Abaca OTOP product president David Ayungo said that the abaca fiber industry is starting to boom again after a slump during the global financial crisis in 2009. According to Ayungo, there are several fiber varieties in Natonin and they are continuously developing more abaca by-products that not only serve as a livelihood and source of employment in their municipality but as a tourist attraction as well.
Natonin, for the first time, also joined the Session Road in Bloom last February and according to Bangilan, all the abaca by-products they brought in for display were sold out and that they even went back to Natonin to bring in more products.
On May 7, coinciding with the grand opening parade and program, will be the start of the agro-industrial trade fair, wherein aside from abaca, it will also feature the various indigenous products, including agricultural produce and local cuisines.
Meantime, municipal tourism officer Lilia Vida also assured visitors to the Sas-alliwa festival that there are Natonians who are ready to accommodate them through the municipality’s homestay program.
“There are already 15 homestay houses that can accommodate a little less than 200 people,” Vida said. *(PIA CAR)
BAGUIO CITY, March 26 – The Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA) confirmed that the Abaca industry of Natonin, Mountain Province could yield as much as one ton of fiber per hectare and with 900 hectares allotted for such purpose and if sold at P20 per kilo could give the municipality up to P18 million a year.
This was disclosed by povincial fiber officer Raymond Tunac, during the kapihan forum held at the Philippine Information Agency’s (PIA) "Dap-ay," Thursday, in line with the promotion of Natonin’s Sas-alliwa festival.
Abaca, which is the One Town One Product (OTOP) of Natonin, will once again be one of the highlights to be featured on the Sas-alliwa festival, which will be held on May 7 to 15.
According to Natonin municipal government administrator Gilbert Bangilan, they will be putting on more products for this year’s festival as he also stressed that abaca was given by nature to the people as these thrive abundantly with little maintenance in the vast tracts of lands in Natonin.
Meantime, Natonin’s Abaca OTOP product president David Ayungo said that the abaca fiber industry is starting to boom again after a slump during the global financial crisis in 2009. According to Ayungo, there are several fiber varieties in Natonin and they are continuously developing more abaca by-products that not only serve as a livelihood and source of employment in their municipality but as a tourist attraction as well.
Natonin, for the first time, also joined the Session Road in Bloom last February and according to Bangilan, all the abaca by-products they brought in for display were sold out and that they even went back to Natonin to bring in more products.
On May 7, coinciding with the grand opening parade and program, will be the start of the agro-industrial trade fair, wherein aside from abaca, it will also feature the various indigenous products, including agricultural produce and local cuisines.
Meantime, municipal tourism officer Lilia Vida also assured visitors to the Sas-alliwa festival that there are Natonians who are ready to accommodate them through the municipality’s homestay program.
“There are already 15 homestay houses that can accommodate a little less than 200 people,” Vida said. *(PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
PhilHealth's frontline services now available at Baguio service office
by Lito Dar
BAGUIO CITY, March 26 – The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) or Philhealth frontline services are now being offered at their Baguio Service Office along Bonifacio Street fronting the Saint Louis University (SLU) main gate.
According to PHIC-CAR information officer Maggie Del Rosario, all frontline services which include payments of premium, submission and follow-up of claims, issuance of Member Data Record, printing out of member contributions, and other inquiries, are now all being done at the Baguio Service Office which opened last March 14.
The regional office at the Social Security Services (SSS) building along Harrison Road only provides backroom services such as monitoring of services and policy implementation.
A service office was likewise opened in La Trinidad, Benguet near the provincial capitol which also offers the same frontline services. This, is in addition to the regular service desk they maintain in Buguias, Benguet.
With the opening of the Baguio and La Trinidad, Benguet Service offices, PHIC now has frontline services office in all the capital towns of Cordillera.
Meantime, in an earlier statement, PHIC president and CEO Dr. Rey Aquino assured that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have been repatriated from the troubled Middle East and North African countries may still use the unexpired portion of their Philhealth coverage, in case they or their legal dependents in the country are hospitalized.
"We want to assure our OFW-members that should hospitalization needs arise, they may still avail themselves of their PhilHealth benefits, provided the period of confinement is within the effectivity period of their coverage," Aquino said.
Among the in-patient medical care benefits that OFWs and other PhilHealth members may avail are allowances for hospital room and board fees, drugs and medicines, x-ray and laboratory fees, as well as allowances for the use of operating room complex, and for the professional fees of attending physicians. These benefits may be availed of in accredited institutional health care facilities in the country.
At the same time, OFWs and their dependents are also entitled to a menu of outpatient diagnostic benefits in 42 DOH-retained hospitals nationwide. To date, there are over two million registered OFW-members in PhilHealth's database. *(PIA CAR)
BAGUIO CITY, March 26 – The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) or Philhealth frontline services are now being offered at their Baguio Service Office along Bonifacio Street fronting the Saint Louis University (SLU) main gate.
According to PHIC-CAR information officer Maggie Del Rosario, all frontline services which include payments of premium, submission and follow-up of claims, issuance of Member Data Record, printing out of member contributions, and other inquiries, are now all being done at the Baguio Service Office which opened last March 14.
The regional office at the Social Security Services (SSS) building along Harrison Road only provides backroom services such as monitoring of services and policy implementation.
A service office was likewise opened in La Trinidad, Benguet near the provincial capitol which also offers the same frontline services. This, is in addition to the regular service desk they maintain in Buguias, Benguet.
With the opening of the Baguio and La Trinidad, Benguet Service offices, PHIC now has frontline services office in all the capital towns of Cordillera.
Meantime, in an earlier statement, PHIC president and CEO Dr. Rey Aquino assured that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have been repatriated from the troubled Middle East and North African countries may still use the unexpired portion of their Philhealth coverage, in case they or their legal dependents in the country are hospitalized.
"We want to assure our OFW-members that should hospitalization needs arise, they may still avail themselves of their PhilHealth benefits, provided the period of confinement is within the effectivity period of their coverage," Aquino said.
Among the in-patient medical care benefits that OFWs and other PhilHealth members may avail are allowances for hospital room and board fees, drugs and medicines, x-ray and laboratory fees, as well as allowances for the use of operating room complex, and for the professional fees of attending physicians. These benefits may be availed of in accredited institutional health care facilities in the country.
At the same time, OFWs and their dependents are also entitled to a menu of outpatient diagnostic benefits in 42 DOH-retained hospitals nationwide. To date, there are over two million registered OFW-members in PhilHealth's database. *(PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
Provincial gov't creates committee to draft revenue code
by Vency D. Bulayungan
LAGAWE, Ifugao, March 27 - The provincial governor’s office created recently an ad hoc committee to come up with a draft of the 2011 revised revenue code of the province.
Governor Eugene Balitang said that with the passing of time since the enactment of Provincial Ordinance No. 2006-038, there is a need to revisit and review the same and adjust the rates bearing in mind the present situation of the province.
Balitang cited the Local Government code of 1991 (RA 7160), particularly Section 129, empowering local government units to create their own sources of revenue and to levy taxes, fees, and charges subject to the provisions therein, consistent with the basic policy of local autonomy.
Likewise, Section 191 of the code provides that LGUs shall have the authority to adjust the tax rate as prescribed therein not oftener than once every five years without exceeding 10 percent of the rates fixed under the code.
The provincial government here enacted Provincial Ordinance No. 2006-038 otherwise known as an ordinance enacting and approving the revenue code of the Ppovince of Ifugao on October 1, 2006.
The ad hoc committee is composed of provincial treasurer Samuel Marinay, and provincial legal officer Valdoboyd Ngipol, as co-chairmen and Pedro Namingit; Dr. Joseph Bulayungan; Engr Orlando Sarol; Raymundo Bahatan and Dr. James Gopeng as members. (PIA-CAR/Ifugao)
Governor Eugene Balitang said that with the passing of time since the enactment of Provincial Ordinance No. 2006-038, there is a need to revisit and review the same and adjust the rates bearing in mind the present situation of the province.
Balitang cited the Local Government code of 1991 (RA 7160), particularly Section 129, empowering local government units to create their own sources of revenue and to levy taxes, fees, and charges subject to the provisions therein, consistent with the basic policy of local autonomy.
Likewise, Section 191 of the code provides that LGUs shall have the authority to adjust the tax rate as prescribed therein not oftener than once every five years without exceeding 10 percent of the rates fixed under the code.
The provincial government here enacted Provincial Ordinance No. 2006-038 otherwise known as an ordinance enacting and approving the revenue code of the Ppovince of Ifugao on October 1, 2006.
The ad hoc committee is composed of provincial treasurer Samuel Marinay, and provincial legal officer Valdoboyd Ngipol, as co-chairmen and Pedro Namingit; Dr. Joseph Bulayungan; Engr Orlando Sarol; Raymundo Bahatan and Dr. James Gopeng as members. (PIA-CAR/Ifugao)
Category:
Ifugao
City health organizes 20 teams for doo-to-door immunization
by Mari Cruz
BAGUIO CITY, March 26 – City Health officer Dr. Florence Reyes enjoins the public to support the free Measles-Rubella Supplemental Immunization Activity on April 4 - May 4.
In a radio interview, Dr. Reyes announced that the City Health Office (CHO) has formed 20 vaccination teams composed of medical officers, nurses, midwives, nutrition workers, volunteer health workers, and volunteer nurses.
Each team is composed of not less than five health personnel with the medical officer as the team leader.
Unlike in other areas, the city will conduct a saturation drive per health districts, so starting April 4, all the 20 vaccination teams will converge in one health district. The city has a total of 16 health districts and each health districts has assigned barangays, “This is a door-to-door campiagn and we’ll see to it that no eligible child will be left behind,” Reyes said.
She likewise urged mothers, fathers, and caregivers to open their doors to the vaccination teams and avail of this free vaccination, it will be conducted from Monday to Friday, starting April 4 to May 4, 2011.
She announced that all children aged nine months old up to sevebn years and 11 months old or those born from May 2003 up to July 2010 are illegible for vaccination.
According to Reyes, the number of confirmed measles cases has significantly increased, 19 in 2004 to 49 in 2010.
There will be a simultaneous launching nationwide on April 4 in the city; we will be launching it at the Baguio City Hall during the flag raising ceremony, Reyes concluded.*(PIA-CAR)
In a radio interview, Dr. Reyes announced that the City Health Office (CHO) has formed 20 vaccination teams composed of medical officers, nurses, midwives, nutrition workers, volunteer health workers, and volunteer nurses.
Each team is composed of not less than five health personnel with the medical officer as the team leader.
Unlike in other areas, the city will conduct a saturation drive per health districts, so starting April 4, all the 20 vaccination teams will converge in one health district. The city has a total of 16 health districts and each health districts has assigned barangays, “This is a door-to-door campiagn and we’ll see to it that no eligible child will be left behind,” Reyes said.
She likewise urged mothers, fathers, and caregivers to open their doors to the vaccination teams and avail of this free vaccination, it will be conducted from Monday to Friday, starting April 4 to May 4, 2011.
She announced that all children aged nine months old up to sevebn years and 11 months old or those born from May 2003 up to July 2010 are illegible for vaccination.
According to Reyes, the number of confirmed measles cases has significantly increased, 19 in 2004 to 49 in 2010.
There will be a simultaneous launching nationwide on April 4 in the city; we will be launching it at the Baguio City Hall during the flag raising ceremony, Reyes concluded.*(PIA-CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
Folks from far-flung areas get medical, dental attention
by Peter A. Balocnit
TABUK, Kalinga, March 27 – Thousands of poor residents in far-flung communities in this province benefitted from separate medical outreach missions conducted recently by government and civic-spirited individuals.
In Balbalan, more than 2,000 were given medical attention particularly eye cataract operations sponsored by the Obar clan based in the United States of America, who wanted to share their blessings to their townmates.
In coordination with the local government unit of Balbalan headed by Mayor Kenneth Mangaoang and the Free and Accepted Masons, 24 patients were operated for eye cataract while more than 1,000 were given free eyeglasses.
On the other hand, more than 500 clients were also given medical and dental services in Allaguia, Limos, Baay, and Asibanglan barangays in Pinukpuk.
A total of 86 patients underwent dental extraction and cleaning; 26 were circumcised; and 321 were checked-up for various complaints.
In March 18, a similar medical/dental mission was conducted by the 501st Infantry Brigade at the Kalinga National High School here.
On March 18-20, a stay-in youth leadership training seminar for 4th year students was conducted at the Cawagayan National High School in Pinukpuk.
Hundreds of poor residents were given medical/dental attention in Laya East here on March 21 followed by the March 23 mission in Allaguia; Apatan on March 24; and operation “kugit" at Dilag on the 26th.
This is aside from the regular free operation “kugit”and “pukis” at the Ugnayan center in Bulanao every Saturday.
The 501st Infantry Brigade, under its "bayanihan" program has lined up a series of similar civic missions this year in far-flung barangays in the province aimed to bring closer government service to the people. *(PIA-CAR/Kalinga)
TABUK, Kalinga, March 27 – Thousands of poor residents in far-flung communities in this province benefitted from separate medical outreach missions conducted recently by government and civic-spirited individuals.
In Balbalan, more than 2,000 were given medical attention particularly eye cataract operations sponsored by the Obar clan based in the United States of America, who wanted to share their blessings to their townmates.
In coordination with the local government unit of Balbalan headed by Mayor Kenneth Mangaoang and the Free and Accepted Masons, 24 patients were operated for eye cataract while more than 1,000 were given free eyeglasses.
On the other hand, more than 500 clients were also given medical and dental services in Allaguia, Limos, Baay, and Asibanglan barangays in Pinukpuk.
A total of 86 patients underwent dental extraction and cleaning; 26 were circumcised; and 321 were checked-up for various complaints.
In March 18, a similar medical/dental mission was conducted by the 501st Infantry Brigade at the Kalinga National High School here.
On March 18-20, a stay-in youth leadership training seminar for 4th year students was conducted at the Cawagayan National High School in Pinukpuk.
Hundreds of poor residents were given medical/dental attention in Laya East here on March 21 followed by the March 23 mission in Allaguia; Apatan on March 24; and operation “kugit" at Dilag on the 26th.
This is aside from the regular free operation “kugit”and “pukis” at the Ugnayan center in Bulanao every Saturday.
The 501st Infantry Brigade, under its "bayanihan" program has lined up a series of similar civic missions this year in far-flung barangays in the province aimed to bring closer government service to the people. *(PIA-CAR/Kalinga)
Category:
Kalinga
Natonin folks support renewed bid for regional autonomy
by Redjie Cawis
BAGUIO CITY, March 26 - The people of Natonin in Mountain Province support the renewed bid for regional autonomy in the Cordillera Region.
Natonin Vice Mayor Abel Bagsao, in a kapihan forum here to launch Natonin’s Sas-alliwa Festival in May, said that more than 75 percent of the people in the far-flung municipality of Mountain Province are supportive of the region having autonomous status.
Bagsao said that a series of Information and Education Campaign were conducted in the municipality and people were encouraged to join and understand the issue.
The IEC forums were conducted by the provincial government in the different municipalities for people to be informed and be enlightened on the issues on regional autonomy.
He added that the local government officials are conducting their own IECs to let their constituents know and be informed and that they would continue to support the autonomy bid.
Bagsao believes that once the Cordillera becomes autonomous, it will also bring development in the poor municipalities such as Natonin. He hopes that the roads leading to Natonin will be improved and other basic services would be availed by indigenous folks once the Cordillera is autonomous.
Bagsao stressed that ever since the issue on autonomy came about, the people of Natonin have been very supportive of it. ( PIA CAR)
BAGUIO CITY, March 26 - The people of Natonin in Mountain Province support the renewed bid for regional autonomy in the Cordillera Region.
Natonin Vice Mayor Abel Bagsao, in a kapihan forum here to launch Natonin’s Sas-alliwa Festival in May, said that more than 75 percent of the people in the far-flung municipality of Mountain Province are supportive of the region having autonomous status.
Bagsao said that a series of Information and Education Campaign were conducted in the municipality and people were encouraged to join and understand the issue.
The IEC forums were conducted by the provincial government in the different municipalities for people to be informed and be enlightened on the issues on regional autonomy.
He added that the local government officials are conducting their own IECs to let their constituents know and be informed and that they would continue to support the autonomy bid.
Bagsao believes that once the Cordillera becomes autonomous, it will also bring development in the poor municipalities such as Natonin. He hopes that the roads leading to Natonin will be improved and other basic services would be availed by indigenous folks once the Cordillera is autonomous.
Bagsao stressed that ever since the issue on autonomy came about, the people of Natonin have been very supportive of it. ( PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
Abra PNP presents side on alleged failure to respond in shootout
by Maritess B. Beñas
BANGUED, Abra, March 26 – The Abra Provincial Police Office (APPO) presented their side on their alleged failure to immediately respond to crimes particularly in the recent shootouts in this capital town which riled the people.
In a press conference over radio DZPA here, P/Supt. Johnny Bacbac, deputy provincial director for administration, challenged the citizens to come out and give their support to the PNP investigators in order for the PNP to be able to pursue cases and file charges in court against suspects and erring policemen.
People are apparently furious over the shootout last March 18 here that claimed the lives of Barangay Captain Loreto Barbosa of Taping, Dolores and Perry Carl V. Benedito, a first year high school student of the Divine Word College of Bangued.
Wounded in the same incident were Brgy. Kagawad Helen Bisquera and Jocelyn Masaoay.
The press conference was held on March 24, a day after the special meeting of the Abra Multi-Sectoral Group (AMSG) cum Peace Dialogue initiated by Bishop Leopoldo C. Jaucian, with the local officials led by Governor Eustaquio P. Bersamin and Bangued Mayor Ryan S. Luna.
Abra Task Force Commander PSSupt. Robert Soriano informed the public during the said presscon that he had already sent his recommendation to the chief PNP director for the suspension of all permits to carry firearms. Latest APPO reports said there is now a suspect, but whose name is still withheld pending the filing of appropriate charges.
Meanwhile, the family of Benedito had aired their sentiments for the very slow process of investigation. Darwin Benedito who spoke in behalf of the family appealed to the provincial director of the APPO to give his order for the speedy investigation of the case, and to all the political leaders in Abra to please stop once and for all their “politicking activities” as the expense of the innocent citizens especially because in this particular crime incident, the most vulnerable sectors of society, women and children have become victims of political violence in Abra. *(PIA CAR/Abra)
BANGUED, Abra, March 26 – The Abra Provincial Police Office (APPO) presented their side on their alleged failure to immediately respond to crimes particularly in the recent shootouts in this capital town which riled the people.
In a press conference over radio DZPA here, P/Supt. Johnny Bacbac, deputy provincial director for administration, challenged the citizens to come out and give their support to the PNP investigators in order for the PNP to be able to pursue cases and file charges in court against suspects and erring policemen.
People are apparently furious over the shootout last March 18 here that claimed the lives of Barangay Captain Loreto Barbosa of Taping, Dolores and Perry Carl V. Benedito, a first year high school student of the Divine Word College of Bangued.
Wounded in the same incident were Brgy. Kagawad Helen Bisquera and Jocelyn Masaoay.
The press conference was held on March 24, a day after the special meeting of the Abra Multi-Sectoral Group (AMSG) cum Peace Dialogue initiated by Bishop Leopoldo C. Jaucian, with the local officials led by Governor Eustaquio P. Bersamin and Bangued Mayor Ryan S. Luna.
Abra Task Force Commander PSSupt. Robert Soriano informed the public during the said presscon that he had already sent his recommendation to the chief PNP director for the suspension of all permits to carry firearms. Latest APPO reports said there is now a suspect, but whose name is still withheld pending the filing of appropriate charges.
Meanwhile, the family of Benedito had aired their sentiments for the very slow process of investigation. Darwin Benedito who spoke in behalf of the family appealed to the provincial director of the APPO to give his order for the speedy investigation of the case, and to all the political leaders in Abra to please stop once and for all their “politicking activities” as the expense of the innocent citizens especially because in this particular crime incident, the most vulnerable sectors of society, women and children have become victims of political violence in Abra. *(PIA CAR/Abra)
Category:
Abra
400 senior citizens to get P500 social pension
by Juliet Saley
BONTOC, Mt. Province, March 26 - About 400 senior citizens here will be receiving their P500 monthly social pension starting this month.
Erlinda Likigan of the Department of Social Welfare and Development Mt. Province field office said there are 402 listed senior citizens in the province for the said program but are still subject for validation.
She said qualified to avail of this program are senior citizens aged 77 and above but priority is given to elders aged 80 years old and above who are frail, sickly, or with disability, and without pension or regular source of income, compensation or financial assistance from their relatives to support their basic needs, as determined by the DSWD.
The P500 monthly social pension is part of government’s efforts to provide and care for its elderly population as stated by Republic Act No. 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act.*(PIA-CAR/Mt. Province)
BONTOC, Mt. Province, March 26 - About 400 senior citizens here will be receiving their P500 monthly social pension starting this month.
Erlinda Likigan of the Department of Social Welfare and Development Mt. Province field office said there are 402 listed senior citizens in the province for the said program but are still subject for validation.
She said qualified to avail of this program are senior citizens aged 77 and above but priority is given to elders aged 80 years old and above who are frail, sickly, or with disability, and without pension or regular source of income, compensation or financial assistance from their relatives to support their basic needs, as determined by the DSWD.
The P500 monthly social pension is part of government’s efforts to provide and care for its elderly population as stated by Republic Act No. 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act.*(PIA-CAR/Mt. Province)
Category:
Mountain Province
3.5 million trees to be planted in CAR
by Redjie Cawis
BAGUIO CITY, March 26 - More than 3.5 million trees will be planted in the Cordillera Administrative Region under the National Greening Program (NGP), a priority project of the Aquino administration.
President Benigno S. Aquino III recently signed Executive Order 26 to pursue sustainable development for poverty reduction, food security, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation operationalized through the greening program.
According to Department of Environment and Natural Resources Cordillera regional director Clarence Baguilat, the NGP is mandated to plant 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares nationwide and to be planted in six years starting this year until the Presidents’ term end in 2016.
In the Cordillera Region, more than 6,000 hectares will be planted to millions of trees. Baguilat said that among the areas to be planted will be forestlands, protected areas, ancestral domain areas, urban areas, reservation areas, inactive mine sites, and other suitable areas.
The NGP aims to integrate and harmonize all greening initiatives of the government, civil society and private sectors with the end view of addressing poverty, food security, protection and resource conservation and productivity enhancement. It also addresses climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The greening program will be lead by the DENR together with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Reform in cooperation with all the government line agencies, government owned and controlled corporations, state universities and colleges, and even the private sectors.
The lead agencies are tasked to establish a nursery and produce tree seedlings and saplings to be planted in the entire region. They would also be responsible in determining the type or species of seedlings to be produced and planted in respective localities and jurisdictions.
Baguilat said that since the trees to be planted include fruit bearing trees, they would also be providing agronomic crops and post harvest and processing facilities.
Baguilat said that among the social mobilization to be undertaken would be the encouragement of all government agencies to plant at least 10 seedlings yearly. The Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education will also encourage students to plant trees of 10 seedling yearly.
The Department of Interior and Local Government shall encourage local government units from the barangay to the municipal, city, and provincial level to lead the tree planting in their communities.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development shall also encourage family beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer to plant trees and help in the maintenance of the trees.
Private sectors and organizations are also encouraged to support the NGP by joining tree planting activities and the maintenance and protection of the trees. *(PIA CAR)
BAGUIO CITY, March 26 - More than 3.5 million trees will be planted in the Cordillera Administrative Region under the National Greening Program (NGP), a priority project of the Aquino administration.
President Benigno S. Aquino III recently signed Executive Order 26 to pursue sustainable development for poverty reduction, food security, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation operationalized through the greening program.
According to Department of Environment and Natural Resources Cordillera regional director Clarence Baguilat, the NGP is mandated to plant 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares nationwide and to be planted in six years starting this year until the Presidents’ term end in 2016.
In the Cordillera Region, more than 6,000 hectares will be planted to millions of trees. Baguilat said that among the areas to be planted will be forestlands, protected areas, ancestral domain areas, urban areas, reservation areas, inactive mine sites, and other suitable areas.
The NGP aims to integrate and harmonize all greening initiatives of the government, civil society and private sectors with the end view of addressing poverty, food security, protection and resource conservation and productivity enhancement. It also addresses climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The greening program will be lead by the DENR together with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Reform in cooperation with all the government line agencies, government owned and controlled corporations, state universities and colleges, and even the private sectors.
The lead agencies are tasked to establish a nursery and produce tree seedlings and saplings to be planted in the entire region. They would also be responsible in determining the type or species of seedlings to be produced and planted in respective localities and jurisdictions.
Baguilat said that since the trees to be planted include fruit bearing trees, they would also be providing agronomic crops and post harvest and processing facilities.
Baguilat said that among the social mobilization to be undertaken would be the encouragement of all government agencies to plant at least 10 seedlings yearly. The Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education will also encourage students to plant trees of 10 seedling yearly.
The Department of Interior and Local Government shall encourage local government units from the barangay to the municipal, city, and provincial level to lead the tree planting in their communities.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development shall also encourage family beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer to plant trees and help in the maintenance of the trees.
Private sectors and organizations are also encouraged to support the NGP by joining tree planting activities and the maintenance and protection of the trees. *(PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
Cordillera Autonomy: a key to a progressive Cordillera Administrative Region?
By Jun Pitas
The quest of the autonomous status of the Cordillera Administrative Region is once again pushed as pro-autonomy leaders of the region believe autonomy the key to a more progressive Cordillera Administrative Region.
The first time the community leaders pushed for the drafting of the organic act was as early as 1990. In a plebiscite held on Jan. 30 of the same year, the Cordillerans rejected RA 6766 which was supposed to be, if approved, will lead to the creation of the autonomous Cordillera. Unfortunately, only the province of Ifugao gave a positive response.
After eight years of its first rejection, another plebiscite was conducted and once again, only one province accepted the organic act but this time, the province of Apayao.
As ruled by the Supreme Court, there must be at least two of seven provinces and a city of the region should agree to form an autonomous status.
In a survey conducted by the Regional Development Council (RDC) in 2007, 64 percent of the respondents were unaware of the provisions of regional autonomy. Also, 40 percent do not know if the region is ready for autonomous status while 30 percent say the region is not ready for autonomy. Ask should be there a third voting for the Cordillera Autonomous Region tomorrow, 66 percent are undecided.
Baguio city mayor Mauricio Domogan, in the series of public consultations in the city and around in the provinces, says the best way to explain autonomy is that existing powers and benefits the region is getting from the national government will be maintained further once autonomy is achieved.
The five principles are:
The quest of the autonomous status of the Cordillera Administrative Region is once again pushed as pro-autonomy leaders of the region believe autonomy the key to a more progressive Cordillera Administrative Region.
The first time the community leaders pushed for the drafting of the organic act was as early as 1990. In a plebiscite held on Jan. 30 of the same year, the Cordillerans rejected RA 6766 which was supposed to be, if approved, will lead to the creation of the autonomous Cordillera. Unfortunately, only the province of Ifugao gave a positive response.
After eight years of its first rejection, another plebiscite was conducted and once again, only one province accepted the organic act but this time, the province of Apayao.
As ruled by the Supreme Court, there must be at least two of seven provinces and a city of the region should agree to form an autonomous status.
In a survey conducted by the Regional Development Council (RDC) in 2007, 64 percent of the respondents were unaware of the provisions of regional autonomy. Also, 40 percent do not know if the region is ready for autonomous status while 30 percent say the region is not ready for autonomy. Ask should be there a third voting for the Cordillera Autonomous Region tomorrow, 66 percent are undecided.
Baguio city mayor Mauricio Domogan, in the series of public consultations in the city and around in the provinces, says the best way to explain autonomy is that existing powers and benefits the region is getting from the national government will be maintained further once autonomy is achieved.
The five principles are:
1) Permanent regional identity where the term Cordillerans shall apply to all Filipino citizens who are domiciled within the territory of the CAR;
2) The powers and benefits of the region, including the different units within it, shall not be diminished;
3) Nationally paid officials and employees will continue to be nationally paid and the budgetary needs of the regional agencies where they belong shall continue to be provided by the national government;
4) Mandate the national government, under the Autonomy law to provide subsidy for the first ten years of the Cordilera Autonomous Region over and above the internal revenue allotment and other existing benefits that are being enjoyed by the local government units; and
5) After the period of subsidy, the national government shall continue to provide sufficient budgetary allocation to the region in order to ensure its financial stability and sustenance.
The powers to be developed after the enforcement of autonomy are:
1. Administrative organization; 2. Creation of sources revenue; 3. Ancestral domain and natural resources; 4. Personal, family, and property relations; 5. Regional, urban, and rural planning development; 6. Economic, social, and tourism development; 7. Educational policies; 8. Preservation and development of the cultural heritage; 9. Powers, functions, and responsibilities now being exercised by the departments of the national government, except with respect to certain areas such as national security, postal management, foreign affairs, postal service, coinage and fiscal and monetary policies, quarantine, customs and tariffs, citizenship, naturalization, immigration and deportation, general auditing, civil service and elections and foreign trade.
In a consultation held in Mt. Province lately last year, the Indigenous People raised a fearsome issue, “is the Ampatuan case a failure of Autonomy?”
Franklin Odsey, chairman on Regional Development and Autonomy says, “The abuse of powers by the Ampatuans did not come about because of regional autonomy. It came about because of several factors like the history in warlordism in Muslim Mindanao, the coddling by the national government of the Ampatuan, and lack of an empowered citizenry to stop an abusive politician.”
As inhabitants of the Cordillera Administrative Region, when will we fully understand the provisions of autonomy? As the third organic act is drafted and will be presented to the congress on May this year, will we finally accept it and approve once a plebiscite is conducted in our region? Long live the Cordillera Region!!!
Source : http://www.cordillera.gov.ph/
Category:
opinion
80 scholarships opened for kin of low income OFWs
by Lito Dar
BAGUIO CITY, March 26 – The Overseas Worker Welfare Administration – Cordillera (OWWA-CAR) provided 26 scholarship grants to dependents of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)dependents in 2010 under the new OFW Dependent Scholarship Program (ODSP).
The ODSP has five scholars in Abra, two in Apayao, 10 in the Baguio/Benguet area, four in Ifugao, four in Kainga, and one in Mountain Province.
This school year 2011-2012, OWWA-CAR OIC regional director Evelyn Laranang announced that 80 more slots are allocated for the region: 12 slots are allocated each for the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Baguio/Benguet, Ifugao, and Kalinga, while Mountain Province has 20 slots available.
According to Laranang, the ODSP is their newest scholarship program which aims to provide opportunities to deserving students who are dependents of low income OFWs,for them to have the opportunity to finish a college or baccalaureate degree.
The ODSP is offered to legal dependents of OFWs who are active OWWA members whose salary is not more than $400. Qualified beneficiary of the program is entitled to enroll in any four or five years baccalaureate or associate degree in any college or university.
Under the said scholarship program, qualified beneficiaries are legal dependents of an active OWWA member, either he or she is child (natural or adopted) of a married/single OFW or a brother or sister (half or full-blood) of single or childless married OFW.
Other qualifications needed for the applicants are: single and not more than 21 years old at the time of application; high school graduate or about to graduate from high school; physically, mentally and morally fit; and must pass the qualifying or entrance examination to be conducted by an OWWA-partner state college/university or any Commission on Higher Education -recognized and accredited educational institutions.
OWWA’s ODSP program provides an education assistance to qualified OFW dependents of P20,000 per year or P10,000 per semester. *(PIA CAR)
BAGUIO CITY, March 26 – The Overseas Worker Welfare Administration – Cordillera (OWWA-CAR) provided 26 scholarship grants to dependents of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)dependents in 2010 under the new OFW Dependent Scholarship Program (ODSP).
The ODSP has five scholars in Abra, two in Apayao, 10 in the Baguio/Benguet area, four in Ifugao, four in Kainga, and one in Mountain Province.
This school year 2011-2012, OWWA-CAR OIC regional director Evelyn Laranang announced that 80 more slots are allocated for the region: 12 slots are allocated each for the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Baguio/Benguet, Ifugao, and Kalinga, while Mountain Province has 20 slots available.
According to Laranang, the ODSP is their newest scholarship program which aims to provide opportunities to deserving students who are dependents of low income OFWs,for them to have the opportunity to finish a college or baccalaureate degree.
The ODSP is offered to legal dependents of OFWs who are active OWWA members whose salary is not more than $400. Qualified beneficiary of the program is entitled to enroll in any four or five years baccalaureate or associate degree in any college or university.
Under the said scholarship program, qualified beneficiaries are legal dependents of an active OWWA member, either he or she is child (natural or adopted) of a married/single OFW or a brother or sister (half or full-blood) of single or childless married OFW.
Other qualifications needed for the applicants are: single and not more than 21 years old at the time of application; high school graduate or about to graduate from high school; physically, mentally and morally fit; and must pass the qualifying or entrance examination to be conducted by an OWWA-partner state college/university or any Commission on Higher Education -recognized and accredited educational institutions.
OWWA’s ODSP program provides an education assistance to qualified OFW dependents of P20,000 per year or P10,000 per semester. *(PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
No need to change political party - Domogan
Posted on | Thursday 24 March 2011 | No Comments
by Redjie Cawis
BAGUIO CITY, March 24 - Mayor Mauricio Domogan said that there is no need for local officials to transfer and change in political affiliations.
Domogan reacted to reports that Congressman Bernardo Vergara will be transferring from the LAKAS-NUCD party to the ruling party of the Liberal.
Vergara, in a radio interview, said that if the Liberal Party invites him to their side, he would be willing to do so. He added that if the LP has a good program, he will join them.
Vergara clarified that he is just thinking of the development of the city. He said that if the city would benefit from his decision of changing parties, he would do so.
Domogan, meanwhile said that he still would meet with Congressman Vergara to get his side of the story.
The mayor added that maybe the Congressman only wanted to bridge the city and the Malacanang by affiliating with the ruling party. And the development of the city is being considered by the lawmaker from Baguio City.
But he cleared that the LAKAS-NUCD here in Baguio City is still intact and solid.
Domogan said that changing ruling parties after election only shows that there are no genuine politicians in the country.
The mayor said that officials should be supporting the programs of government whoever is president. He said that everybody should support the Aquino government even without transferring political parties. *(PIA CAR)
BAGUIO CITY, March 24 - Mayor Mauricio Domogan said that there is no need for local officials to transfer and change in political affiliations.
Domogan reacted to reports that Congressman Bernardo Vergara will be transferring from the LAKAS-NUCD party to the ruling party of the Liberal.
Vergara, in a radio interview, said that if the Liberal Party invites him to their side, he would be willing to do so. He added that if the LP has a good program, he will join them.
Vergara clarified that he is just thinking of the development of the city. He said that if the city would benefit from his decision of changing parties, he would do so.
Domogan, meanwhile said that he still would meet with Congressman Vergara to get his side of the story.
The mayor added that maybe the Congressman only wanted to bridge the city and the Malacanang by affiliating with the ruling party. And the development of the city is being considered by the lawmaker from Baguio City.
But he cleared that the LAKAS-NUCD here in Baguio City is still intact and solid.
Domogan said that changing ruling parties after election only shows that there are no genuine politicians in the country.
The mayor said that officials should be supporting the programs of government whoever is president. He said that everybody should support the Aquino government even without transferring political parties. *(PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
1st Manny Pacquiao cup opens, MP warriors take first win
by Redjie Cawis
BAGUIO CITY, March 24 - The Pound for Pound King formally opened the 1st Manny Pacquiao Cup Basketball Tournament at the Easter College Gym, here Monday afternoon.
The basketball tournament is part of the high altitude training here in Baguio City. According to Pacquiao, basketball is an additional exercise for the body as he prepares for another world title bout.
The tournament is composed of 13 teams, 11 coming from the local Baguio City and Benguet teams, a selection team of Pacquiao called Manny Pacquiao Warriors, and team Buboy, the selection team from General Santos City and Sarangani Province under assistant coach Buboy Fernandez.
Baguio Teams are composed of the University of Baguio Cardinals, Teahouse team composed of BENECO players, Mothers Team, Mazo Law Office team, Baguio College of Technology Eagles, MP Nitro tea and the Autofield team.
Teams from Benguet are the Cordillera Career Development College Admirals, the La Trinidad Glas and the BMRP team of Nestor Fongwan Jr.
The Buhay Media Team, who took on a Friendship Cup championship trophy several years back, will also try their luck in this league.
Meanwhile, the pound for pound king led the pack of the MP Warriors to take down the UB Cardinals in the opening game of the tournament.
Pacman scored 14 points while brother Bobby scored 10 to defeat the Cardinals with the final score of 90-80.
After the game, Pacman stressed that boxing is still his number one sport followed only by basketball, his second sport.
The league will continue for the next two weeks and the champion is expected to win P100,000 as cash prize and the bragging rites of the 1st Manny Pacquiao Cup. *(PIA CAR)
BAGUIO CITY, March 24 - The Pound for Pound King formally opened the 1st Manny Pacquiao Cup Basketball Tournament at the Easter College Gym, here Monday afternoon.
The basketball tournament is part of the high altitude training here in Baguio City. According to Pacquiao, basketball is an additional exercise for the body as he prepares for another world title bout.
The tournament is composed of 13 teams, 11 coming from the local Baguio City and Benguet teams, a selection team of Pacquiao called Manny Pacquiao Warriors, and team Buboy, the selection team from General Santos City and Sarangani Province under assistant coach Buboy Fernandez.
Baguio Teams are composed of the University of Baguio Cardinals, Teahouse team composed of BENECO players, Mothers Team, Mazo Law Office team, Baguio College of Technology Eagles, MP Nitro tea and the Autofield team.
Teams from Benguet are the Cordillera Career Development College Admirals, the La Trinidad Glas and the BMRP team of Nestor Fongwan Jr.
The Buhay Media Team, who took on a Friendship Cup championship trophy several years back, will also try their luck in this league.
Meanwhile, the pound for pound king led the pack of the MP Warriors to take down the UB Cardinals in the opening game of the tournament.
Pacman scored 14 points while brother Bobby scored 10 to defeat the Cardinals with the final score of 90-80.
After the game, Pacman stressed that boxing is still his number one sport followed only by basketball, his second sport.
The league will continue for the next two weeks and the champion is expected to win P100,000 as cash prize and the bragging rites of the 1st Manny Pacquiao Cup. *(PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
Use of English as medium of instruction pushed
by Juliet Saley
BONTOC, Mt. Province, March 24 - Congressman Maximo B. Dalog has co-authored House Bill No. 93 introduced by Cebu Representative Eduardo R. Gullas which is to strengthen and enhance the use of English as the medium of instruction in Philippine schools.
This bill aims to correct the defects of the current Bilingual Education Program of the Department of Education with the ultimate objective of improving the learning process in schools to ensure quality outputs.
Gullas, in his explanatory note stated that the Bilingual Policy of the Department of Education which was introduced in 1974 (through DECS Order No. 25, s. 1974) was designed to develop a “bilingual nation competent in the use of English and Filipino.”
This policy mandated the teaching of Filipino as a subject in all curricular levels from the elementary to college. It also required the use of Filipino as a medium of instruction in Social Studies, Character Education, Values Education, Physical Education, Industrial Arts, and Home Economics.
He mentioned that as a result of this policy, the learning of the English language suffered a set back. The use of Pilipino as a medium of instruction in the subjects mentioned has limited the exposure of the learner to English.
As proposed by House Bill No. 93, the medium of instruction in all subjects taught shall be as follows: English and Filipino or the regional/native language may be used as the teaching language in all subjects from preschool to Grade 3; English and Filipino shall be taught as separate subjects in all levels in the elementary and secondary; medium of instruction in all academic subjects in the elementary grades from grade IV to Grade VI and in all levels in the secondary shall be English; the current language policy prescribed by the Commission on Higher Education shall be maintained in college.
In addition to formal instruction, the use of English shall be encouraged as a language of interaction in school. The organization of English clubs such as book, oratorical, debating, writing, and related associations shall be encouraged. In school publications, the use of English shall be given priority as far as practicable.
The bill also requires English as the language of assessment in all government examinations, and in all entrance tests in public schools as well as state universities and colleges. It may include questions in Filipino for which the credit for such questions shall not exceed 10 percent of the total points in the examination.*(PIA- CAR/Mt. Province)
BONTOC, Mt. Province, March 24 - Congressman Maximo B. Dalog has co-authored House Bill No. 93 introduced by Cebu Representative Eduardo R. Gullas which is to strengthen and enhance the use of English as the medium of instruction in Philippine schools.
This bill aims to correct the defects of the current Bilingual Education Program of the Department of Education with the ultimate objective of improving the learning process in schools to ensure quality outputs.
Gullas, in his explanatory note stated that the Bilingual Policy of the Department of Education which was introduced in 1974 (through DECS Order No. 25, s. 1974) was designed to develop a “bilingual nation competent in the use of English and Filipino.”
This policy mandated the teaching of Filipino as a subject in all curricular levels from the elementary to college. It also required the use of Filipino as a medium of instruction in Social Studies, Character Education, Values Education, Physical Education, Industrial Arts, and Home Economics.
He mentioned that as a result of this policy, the learning of the English language suffered a set back. The use of Pilipino as a medium of instruction in the subjects mentioned has limited the exposure of the learner to English.
As proposed by House Bill No. 93, the medium of instruction in all subjects taught shall be as follows: English and Filipino or the regional/native language may be used as the teaching language in all subjects from preschool to Grade 3; English and Filipino shall be taught as separate subjects in all levels in the elementary and secondary; medium of instruction in all academic subjects in the elementary grades from grade IV to Grade VI and in all levels in the secondary shall be English; the current language policy prescribed by the Commission on Higher Education shall be maintained in college.
In addition to formal instruction, the use of English shall be encouraged as a language of interaction in school. The organization of English clubs such as book, oratorical, debating, writing, and related associations shall be encouraged. In school publications, the use of English shall be given priority as far as practicable.
The bill also requires English as the language of assessment in all government examinations, and in all entrance tests in public schools as well as state universities and colleges. It may include questions in Filipino for which the credit for such questions shall not exceed 10 percent of the total points in the examination.*(PIA- CAR/Mt. Province)
Category:
Mountain Province
Provincial youth summit set for April 4
by Juliet Saley
BONTOC, Mt. Province, March 24 – A provincial youth summit on Integrating Concepts on Population, Health and Environment in Good Governance will be held on April 4 as one of the activities in celebration of the 44th foundation anniversary of Mt. Province and the 7th Lang-ay Festival.
Sponsored by the Provincial Population Office, the UNFPA, the Environment and Natural Resources Office, the Department of Education, the Department of Interior and Local Government, and the Provincial Health Office shall be conducting this summit and participants to this summit are the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials and in-school youth province wide.
Topics will focus on population, health, and environment issues and challenges,the Philippine population situation, understanding the Filipino youth: young adolescent fertility and sexuality, the role of Sangguniang Kabataan in the protection of environment and solid waste management, and good governance.
According to the Provincial Population officer Shirley Chiyawan, before the conduct of the summit, dear mother earth hour shall be conducted first to be spearheaded by the SK officials.
Two SK representatives per municipality shall bring two potted plants; one herbal and the other ornamental for the symbolic mother earth ritual. These plants will be distributed to the different offices after the ritual.
There will be also a ceremonial tree planting to be conducted at the opposite sides of the stage of the multi-purpose building located at the provincial plaza to be planted by the provincial governor and his wife and the vice governor and his wife.**( PIA- CAR/Mt. Province)
BONTOC, Mt. Province, March 24 – A provincial youth summit on Integrating Concepts on Population, Health and Environment in Good Governance will be held on April 4 as one of the activities in celebration of the 44th foundation anniversary of Mt. Province and the 7th Lang-ay Festival.
Sponsored by the Provincial Population Office, the UNFPA, the Environment and Natural Resources Office, the Department of Education, the Department of Interior and Local Government, and the Provincial Health Office shall be conducting this summit and participants to this summit are the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials and in-school youth province wide.
Topics will focus on population, health, and environment issues and challenges,the Philippine population situation, understanding the Filipino youth: young adolescent fertility and sexuality, the role of Sangguniang Kabataan in the protection of environment and solid waste management, and good governance.
According to the Provincial Population officer Shirley Chiyawan, before the conduct of the summit, dear mother earth hour shall be conducted first to be spearheaded by the SK officials.
Two SK representatives per municipality shall bring two potted plants; one herbal and the other ornamental for the symbolic mother earth ritual. These plants will be distributed to the different offices after the ritual.
There will be also a ceremonial tree planting to be conducted at the opposite sides of the stage of the multi-purpose building located at the provincial plaza to be planted by the provincial governor and his wife and the vice governor and his wife.**( PIA- CAR/Mt. Province)
Category:
Mountain Province
Synchronized anti-malaria border spraying set on April 11
By Juliet B. Saley
BONTOC, Mt. Province, March 23 - In efforts to eliminate malaria in the area, synchronized border spraying with the provinces of Kalinga, Isabela and Ifugao will be conducted on April 11.
Mt.Province Provincial Health Team Claudio Pancho said the team will be conducting the inter border malaria operations for the province.
This will be conducted in the boundaries of Sitio Damsite of barangay Anonat in Paracelis in this province with barangays Simmimbaan, San Placido, Sinamar, and Malusalem of Roxas in Isabela; barangay Buringal in Paracelis with barangay San Ramon in Mallig of Isabela; barangay Butac in Aguinaldo with barangay Banawel of Natonin; barangays Kiling and Caragasan both of Alfonso Lista in Ifugao with barangays Butigue and Palitud of Paracelis; barangays Calaccad and Cudal of Tabuk in Kalinga with barangay Bacarri of Paracelis; barangays Pangol and Lay- asan of Tanudan in Kalinga with barangays Bunot and Baccari of Paracelis.
Pancho said aside from this activity, the Global Fund Malaria Project through its partner Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc., will be distributing 7,000 long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) in the municipalities of Paracelis and Natonin for saturation to meet the goal of the Philippine Malaria Program by 2020 which is to eliminate malaria.
Paracelis and Natonin, located in the eastern part of the province, had the most number of malaria cases in the past.
Pancho disclosed that for the period January to March 2011, there is no reported positive case of malaria in the province.
Malaria cases in the province have been continuously decreasing. In 1998, there were 157 cases of malaria in the province and it went down to 77 in 1999. Last year, it further decreased to 15 cases and in the first quarter of calendar year 2011, there was no report on malaria cases, according to Pancho.
The conduct of intensified information education campaign against malaria and the strict monitoring on the use of treated nets by concerned agencies have contributed to the zero case of malaria in the first quarter, Pancho said.*(PIA-CAR/Mt. Province)
BONTOC, Mt. Province, March 23 - In efforts to eliminate malaria in the area, synchronized border spraying with the provinces of Kalinga, Isabela and Ifugao will be conducted on April 11.
Mt.Province Provincial Health Team Claudio Pancho said the team will be conducting the inter border malaria operations for the province.
This will be conducted in the boundaries of Sitio Damsite of barangay Anonat in Paracelis in this province with barangays Simmimbaan, San Placido, Sinamar, and Malusalem of Roxas in Isabela; barangay Buringal in Paracelis with barangay San Ramon in Mallig of Isabela; barangay Butac in Aguinaldo with barangay Banawel of Natonin; barangays Kiling and Caragasan both of Alfonso Lista in Ifugao with barangays Butigue and Palitud of Paracelis; barangays Calaccad and Cudal of Tabuk in Kalinga with barangay Bacarri of Paracelis; barangays Pangol and Lay- asan of Tanudan in Kalinga with barangays Bunot and Baccari of Paracelis.
Pancho said aside from this activity, the Global Fund Malaria Project through its partner Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc., will be distributing 7,000 long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) in the municipalities of Paracelis and Natonin for saturation to meet the goal of the Philippine Malaria Program by 2020 which is to eliminate malaria.
Paracelis and Natonin, located in the eastern part of the province, had the most number of malaria cases in the past.
Pancho disclosed that for the period January to March 2011, there is no reported positive case of malaria in the province.
Malaria cases in the province have been continuously decreasing. In 1998, there were 157 cases of malaria in the province and it went down to 77 in 1999. Last year, it further decreased to 15 cases and in the first quarter of calendar year 2011, there was no report on malaria cases, according to Pancho.
The conduct of intensified information education campaign against malaria and the strict monitoring on the use of treated nets by concerned agencies have contributed to the zero case of malaria in the first quarter, Pancho said.*(PIA-CAR/Mt. Province)
Category:
Mountain Province
Alumni urged to support Kalinga college become a premier school
by Gigi Dumallig
TABUK, Kalinga, March 23 – Kalinga Apayao State College (KASC) President Dr. Eduardo Bagtang challenged the new alumni federation officials to enthuse the alumni federation to be a partner in making the school a premier institution in Northern Luzon.
“Help us chart the destiny of the institution,” he said encouraging the federation’s active participation in the crafting of school policies and in the planning of development programs for the improvement of the institution which is currently working out to gain university status.
“We trust that in our decision making the alumni federation will be there to give us advice,” Bagtang said as he asked that the federation establish a facility within the school compound for the alumni to utilize.
In his message during the oath-taking and turn-over ceremonies, Bagtang provided an update on current development programs of the school which he said is towards the realization of its vision-mission to make the school a premier educational institution.
Towards the goal of becoming a university, he said that the school is geared on improving its services not only to educate students but for them to acquire quality education.
On top of the administration’s priority is the improvement of the school facilities where the alumni could help specially in the outsourcing to acquire the needed funds to make better KASC’s services.
The newly elected KASC alumni federation officers who took their oath before Judge Marcelino Wacas were Natividad Sugguiyao as the federation’s president, Jay Lapuz as vice president, Shiela Mae Carol Buslig as secretary, Leo Roman as treasurer, Giarhard Awis as auditor, and Clifford Delos Santos as press relations officer.
Business managers are Jessie Grace Martin, Valentine Pay-ong and Marshal Wagawag, with John John Venus and Emmanuel Ubuan as the federation’s sentinels. *(PIA CAR/Kalinga)
TABUK, Kalinga, March 23 – Kalinga Apayao State College (KASC) President Dr. Eduardo Bagtang challenged the new alumni federation officials to enthuse the alumni federation to be a partner in making the school a premier institution in Northern Luzon.
“Help us chart the destiny of the institution,” he said encouraging the federation’s active participation in the crafting of school policies and in the planning of development programs for the improvement of the institution which is currently working out to gain university status.
“We trust that in our decision making the alumni federation will be there to give us advice,” Bagtang said as he asked that the federation establish a facility within the school compound for the alumni to utilize.
In his message during the oath-taking and turn-over ceremonies, Bagtang provided an update on current development programs of the school which he said is towards the realization of its vision-mission to make the school a premier educational institution.
Towards the goal of becoming a university, he said that the school is geared on improving its services not only to educate students but for them to acquire quality education.
On top of the administration’s priority is the improvement of the school facilities where the alumni could help specially in the outsourcing to acquire the needed funds to make better KASC’s services.
The newly elected KASC alumni federation officers who took their oath before Judge Marcelino Wacas were Natividad Sugguiyao as the federation’s president, Jay Lapuz as vice president, Shiela Mae Carol Buslig as secretary, Leo Roman as treasurer, Giarhard Awis as auditor, and Clifford Delos Santos as press relations officer.
Business managers are Jessie Grace Martin, Valentine Pay-ong and Marshal Wagawag, with John John Venus and Emmanuel Ubuan as the federation’s sentinels. *(PIA CAR/Kalinga)
Category:
Kalinga
DOH to put up trauma center in Baguio General Hospital
by Lito Dar
BAGUIO CITY, March 23 – The Department of Health (DOH) is keen on establishing a Trauma Center at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC).
This was affirmed by BGHMC Surgery Department head, Dr. Mario Concepcion Jr., who said that the news came from DOH Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa, during his recent visit in the city.
Concepcion stressed that the establishment of a Trauma Center at the BGHMC is very essential especially with all of the recent occurrences of vehicular accidents, earthquakes and the civil unrests in other countries that are affecting many Filipinos, particularly overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
“With the increasing number of trauma victims, not only of burnt victims, but also on vehicular accidents and other natural calamities, the establishment of a Trauma Center would be a very helpful and welcome development not only for the city of Baguio but for also to the neighboring provinces as well,” Concepcion said.
If this materializes, the Trauma Center would be the first of its kind here in Northern Luzon.
Concepcion also stressed that a trauma center and a complete burn unit are among the health facilities/units that the BGHMC is hoping to establish in pursuit of its goal to provide a more extensive health services to the public.
Meanwhile, in line also with the observance of Burn Injury Prevention Month this March, BGHMC Department of Surgery Training officer, Dr. Gino Estandian is reminding the public to be safety conscious, especially on fire and burn preparedness and prevention.
According to Estandian, at the BGHMC, they have admitted/treated 96 burn cases in 2010, which included acute and chronic types of burns. He also confirmed that most common cases that they have treated were flame burns, followed by steam burn, and electrical burn.
Estandian also affirmed that burn or fire incident also subjects the victims or patients to trauma, which is why the public should be responsible enough to be safety-conscious, as most burn incidents happen inside the home and particularly in the kitchen and involve kids as victims.
“Prevention and preparedness are still the best weapon against any injury, accidents, or illnesses,” Estandian added.* (PIA CAR)
BAGUIO CITY, March 23 – The Department of Health (DOH) is keen on establishing a Trauma Center at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC).
This was affirmed by BGHMC Surgery Department head, Dr. Mario Concepcion Jr., who said that the news came from DOH Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa, during his recent visit in the city.
Concepcion stressed that the establishment of a Trauma Center at the BGHMC is very essential especially with all of the recent occurrences of vehicular accidents, earthquakes and the civil unrests in other countries that are affecting many Filipinos, particularly overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
“With the increasing number of trauma victims, not only of burnt victims, but also on vehicular accidents and other natural calamities, the establishment of a Trauma Center would be a very helpful and welcome development not only for the city of Baguio but for also to the neighboring provinces as well,” Concepcion said.
If this materializes, the Trauma Center would be the first of its kind here in Northern Luzon.
Concepcion also stressed that a trauma center and a complete burn unit are among the health facilities/units that the BGHMC is hoping to establish in pursuit of its goal to provide a more extensive health services to the public.
Meanwhile, in line also with the observance of Burn Injury Prevention Month this March, BGHMC Department of Surgery Training officer, Dr. Gino Estandian is reminding the public to be safety conscious, especially on fire and burn preparedness and prevention.
According to Estandian, at the BGHMC, they have admitted/treated 96 burn cases in 2010, which included acute and chronic types of burns. He also confirmed that most common cases that they have treated were flame burns, followed by steam burn, and electrical burn.
Estandian also affirmed that burn or fire incident also subjects the victims or patients to trauma, which is why the public should be responsible enough to be safety-conscious, as most burn incidents happen inside the home and particularly in the kitchen and involve kids as victims.
“Prevention and preparedness are still the best weapon against any injury, accidents, or illnesses,” Estandian added.* (PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
LGU, Hedcor ink MOA to erect hydro electric power plant
by Juliet B. Saley
SABANGAN, Mt. Province, March 23 – The local government unit (LGU) of this town and Hedcor this week entered into a memorandum of agreement for the construction of the proposed hydro electric power plant located in the municipality with an installed capacity of 13.2MW.
The LGU was represented by Mayor Donato L. Danglose while Hedcor Inc. was represented by its vice president for Business Development, Gregorio P. Jabonillo.
As stipulated in the MOA, Hedcor shall remit one percent of its gross income and shall be distributed as follows: 60 percent to the national government and 40 percent to the local government. This is in compliance with Section 13 of the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations.
In compliance also with the “EPIRA” and its Implementing Rules and Regulations, the Hedcor shall comply with its remittance obligations which states that the allocation and distribution of the local government share where the natural resources are located in the provinces are as follows: 20 percent goes to the province; 45 percent to the municipality; and 35 percent to the barangay.
Hedcor also binds itself to deliver to the municipality, one centavo per kilowatt hour of the power generated and delivered by its Hydro Electric Power Plant located within the territorial jurisdiction of the town. The amount shall be increased by P0.005 per kwh of the power generation every five years.
It is also provided in the MOA that the municipality will benefit from the project in terms of employment wherein Hedcor shall extend preference in employment opportunities to bona fide residents of the municipality for its hydro electric power plant.
Only residents who are qualified, competent, and physically fit for the positions applied for, will be hired in accordance with the employment guidelines set forth by Hedcor.
It is also the responsibility of Hedcor to initiate measures to protect and preserve the forest and water resources specifically those areas relevant to the hydro electric power plant, through various initiatives and undertakings particularly the implementation of relevant watershed management programs.
Hedcor shall extend to the LGU financial assistance to support the construction of the legislative building amounting to P1.5 million which will be given upon issuance of notice to proceed to the contractor.
For its part, the Sabangan LGU binds itself to observe, abide, and respect the obligations and responsibilities under this agreement with utmost good faith. *(PIA- CAR/Mt. Province)
SABANGAN, Mt. Province, March 23 – The local government unit (LGU) of this town and Hedcor this week entered into a memorandum of agreement for the construction of the proposed hydro electric power plant located in the municipality with an installed capacity of 13.2MW.
The LGU was represented by Mayor Donato L. Danglose while Hedcor Inc. was represented by its vice president for Business Development, Gregorio P. Jabonillo.
As stipulated in the MOA, Hedcor shall remit one percent of its gross income and shall be distributed as follows: 60 percent to the national government and 40 percent to the local government. This is in compliance with Section 13 of the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations.
In compliance also with the “EPIRA” and its Implementing Rules and Regulations, the Hedcor shall comply with its remittance obligations which states that the allocation and distribution of the local government share where the natural resources are located in the provinces are as follows: 20 percent goes to the province; 45 percent to the municipality; and 35 percent to the barangay.
Hedcor also binds itself to deliver to the municipality, one centavo per kilowatt hour of the power generated and delivered by its Hydro Electric Power Plant located within the territorial jurisdiction of the town. The amount shall be increased by P0.005 per kwh of the power generation every five years.
It is also provided in the MOA that the municipality will benefit from the project in terms of employment wherein Hedcor shall extend preference in employment opportunities to bona fide residents of the municipality for its hydro electric power plant.
Only residents who are qualified, competent, and physically fit for the positions applied for, will be hired in accordance with the employment guidelines set forth by Hedcor.
It is also the responsibility of Hedcor to initiate measures to protect and preserve the forest and water resources specifically those areas relevant to the hydro electric power plant, through various initiatives and undertakings particularly the implementation of relevant watershed management programs.
Hedcor shall extend to the LGU financial assistance to support the construction of the legislative building amounting to P1.5 million which will be given upon issuance of notice to proceed to the contractor.
For its part, the Sabangan LGU binds itself to observe, abide, and respect the obligations and responsibilities under this agreement with utmost good faith. *(PIA- CAR/Mt. Province)
Category:
Mountain Province
Pacman votes 'no' in impeachment of Ombudsman
Posted on | Tuesday 22 March 2011 | No Comments
by Redjie Cawis
BAGUIO CITY, Wednesday March 23 - Even as his vote did not count, boxing champion and Sarangani Congressman Manny Pacquiao made his stand known as he voted "no" to oppose the impeachment proceedings at the House of Congress Monday night.
The boxing champion, who is in Baguio for his high altitude training, took time to vote in his twitter account and tried to join the proceedings in Congress as he watched the events on television.
On his twitter account read, “I vote NO! and I can give my explanation…”
This morning, after the running and jogging sessions at the Baguio Teacher’s Camp, the pound for pound king gave his explanation to the media.
Pacman said that embattled Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez should have been given her chance to explain herself. “Sana nabigyan siya ng pagkakataon para i-defend ang sarili nya,” Pacman said.
The lawmaker- boxer added that although people think that Guttierez is guilty, they should have given her more time and a chance to explain herself.
Pacquiao maintained that everyone is entitled to his and her own opinion.
In a 212-46 vote with four abstentions, the lawmakers paved the way for the impeachment proceedings against Gutierrez to proceed in the Senate. The Ombudsman is being impeached for alleged betrayal of public trust due to the low conviction rates during her term and her supposed inaction on five high-profile cases.
Pacman said that after several taunts and blog that emanated from his tweet, he decided to delete his twitter account but his computer hang. *(PIA CAR)
BAGUIO CITY, Wednesday March 23 - Even as his vote did not count, boxing champion and Sarangani Congressman Manny Pacquiao made his stand known as he voted "no" to oppose the impeachment proceedings at the House of Congress Monday night.
The boxing champion, who is in Baguio for his high altitude training, took time to vote in his twitter account and tried to join the proceedings in Congress as he watched the events on television.
On his twitter account read, “I vote NO! and I can give my explanation…”
This morning, after the running and jogging sessions at the Baguio Teacher’s Camp, the pound for pound king gave his explanation to the media.
Pacman said that embattled Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez should have been given her chance to explain herself. “Sana nabigyan siya ng pagkakataon para i-defend ang sarili nya,” Pacman said.
The lawmaker- boxer added that although people think that Guttierez is guilty, they should have given her more time and a chance to explain herself.
Pacquiao maintained that everyone is entitled to his and her own opinion.
In a 212-46 vote with four abstentions, the lawmakers paved the way for the impeachment proceedings against Gutierrez to proceed in the Senate. The Ombudsman is being impeached for alleged betrayal of public trust due to the low conviction rates during her term and her supposed inaction on five high-profile cases.
Pacman said that after several taunts and blog that emanated from his tweet, he decided to delete his twitter account but his computer hang. *(PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
Internet providers to set minimum speed of broadband
by Joseph B. Zambrano
BAGUIO CITY,Wednesday March 23 - In line with its mandate to promote and protect the consumers of public telecommunications services, the National Telecommunications Commission recently conducted a consultation among service provides of a minimum speed of broadband connections.
Among the participants in the consultations held in Teachers Camp are internet service providers of Skycable, Mt. View, PLTD, Globe, and Digitel.
The NTC told the broadband service providers to specify the minimum broadband internet connection speed and service reliability and the service rates in their offers to consumers.
Subscribers shall be properly informed of the internet connection being offered them.
According to NTC commissioner Gamaliel A. Cordoba, failure on the part of the broadband service provider to comply will mean the filing of appropriate administrative charges against the internet service provider.
“Ang ganda ng advertisement ng mga service provider para ma-akit magsubscribe ang mga users pero pag-nakaconnect na ay ang bagal naman ng speed ng internet,” Cordoba said.
"We should protect the interest of the consumers, they pay so much and they should get their money’s worth," Cordoba said.
There is an increase in demand for internet usage and the business is getting lucrative, these companies should not shortchange their customers, Cordoba added.
NTC authorizes a healthy competitive environment and further defines the role of the government fair free, efficient and responsive market to stimulate growth and development of the telecommunications facilities and services. *(PIA CAR)
BAGUIO CITY,Wednesday March 23 - In line with its mandate to promote and protect the consumers of public telecommunications services, the National Telecommunications Commission recently conducted a consultation among service provides of a minimum speed of broadband connections.
Among the participants in the consultations held in Teachers Camp are internet service providers of Skycable, Mt. View, PLTD, Globe, and Digitel.
The NTC told the broadband service providers to specify the minimum broadband internet connection speed and service reliability and the service rates in their offers to consumers.
Subscribers shall be properly informed of the internet connection being offered them.
According to NTC commissioner Gamaliel A. Cordoba, failure on the part of the broadband service provider to comply will mean the filing of appropriate administrative charges against the internet service provider.
“Ang ganda ng advertisement ng mga service provider para ma-akit magsubscribe ang mga users pero pag-nakaconnect na ay ang bagal naman ng speed ng internet,” Cordoba said.
"We should protect the interest of the consumers, they pay so much and they should get their money’s worth," Cordoba said.
There is an increase in demand for internet usage and the business is getting lucrative, these companies should not shortchange their customers, Cordoba added.
NTC authorizes a healthy competitive environment and further defines the role of the government fair free, efficient and responsive market to stimulate growth and development of the telecommunications facilities and services. *(PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
Solon assures infra development for La Trinidad
by Redjie Cawis
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, Wednesday March 23 - Benguet Congressman Ronald Cosalan said that various infrastructure projects of the capital town will be done this year.
Cosalan said that after the completion of the concreting of the Kilometer 3 to Kilometer 6 section of the Halsema Road, concreting of the Pico – Puguis Road will also start following consultations with the local and barangay officials. This has a funding of P20 million.
Also in the pipeline is the replacement of two bridges, the Tabangawan Bridge and Balili Bridge.
Cosalan also bared that people are clamoring for the improvement of Buyagan Road. For the meantime, asphalting of the provincial road will be done, he said.
He also will fund the road in Beckel particularly in Lamut with an amount of P20 million. He is proposing to connect the Beckel to Shilan Road, which is a national road by next year.
Cosalan also proposed a vehicular overpass from Petron in Cruz to Jollibee in Km 5 but this will have to be in consultation with local officials and studied very well, he added. The proposal for a vehicular overpass started back in 1998.
Cosalan, who is also the chairman of the House Committee of Public Works, said he is working closely with the municipal as well as the provincial government to ensure that the basic services and development will be delivered to the people of La Trinidad and Benguet, as a whole.*(PIA CAR)
Category:
Benguet
Furniture shops to secure permits from legal distributors of wood
by Susan Aro
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet,Wednesday March 23 – Furniture shop owners in this capital town are forewarned to secure wood supplies from legal sources issued with necessary permits.
Provincial Environment and Natural Resources officer Guillermo Fianza cautioned furniture shops to obtain wood materials from legal sources to avoid being caught and penalized.
Mayor Gregorio Abalos Jr. said his attention was called when furniture shop owners flocked his office after the conduct of raid operations on their shops a few weeks ago. Allegedly, the confiscated items were brought to the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office, he added.
While the local government unit is aware of the job of enforcers and implementers, Abalos contended there should be consistency in the enforcement of laws.
According to shopowners, no raid was conducted over the past years that is why they were surprised when one took place this year.
Abalos suggested the Provincial Peace and Order Council to craft a standing policy they could adapt and incorporate as one of the conditions in issuing business permits. He said the policy should be clear to furniture shop owners. It should include the agency that will oversee the proper enforcement of the policy, he added.
Fianza said the operations were initiated by the National Bureau of Investigation in coordination with the CENRO.
He made it clear that they are not hindering furniture shops to operate but for them to secure permits from legal sources covered with necessary permits. But he stressed that only a few sources are given permit for pinewood.
It can be recalled that President Benigno Aquino III issued Executive Order No. 23 declaring a moratorium on the cutting and harvesting of timber in natural and residual forests and creating the Anti-Illegal Logging Task Force.
Vice Governor Crescencio Pacalso called on the PENRO to submit their report on the issue and verify the source of pinewood allegedly being used by funeral parlor operating in the area. *(PIA CAR)
Category:
Benguet
High tech coffee mill inaugurated in Atok, Benguet
by Joseph B Zambrano
ATOK, Benguet, Wednesday March 23 - This municipality, which is the top producer of coffee in the province, has now one of the most high tech and “eco friendly” Arabica coffee mills in the country.
The mill is equipped with depulping and dehulling machines. It is also equipped with a high capacity washer that recycles water for as much as 10 times and a dryer. Waste water is directed to a septic tank while coffee pulps and hulls are composted to become organic fertilizers for coffee trees.
In partnership with Rocky Mountain Cafe (RMC), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Benguet State University (BSU), and the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO), the mill was inaugurated on March 19 at Km. 30, Topdac, Atok.
The ceremony was attended by Atok coffee farmers who witnessed a short demonstration of the coffee mill processes.
We do not only want to empower farmers but we also want to be an example of good farming practices. With a 7.2 metric tons capacity per day, the mill will spare workers from manual, and from heavy and time consuming labor, said RMC president Pierre Yves Cote.
Cote envisions that the Philippines will be the top producer of coffee in the world and to realize this, RMC partnered with BSU to train coffee farmers in coffee seed selection, preparation, nursery establishment, field planting and maintenance, common pests and diseases of Arabica coffee and their management, harvesting, post harvesting, and coffee tree rejuvenation.
According to coffee farmer, Sigfred Cholin,an engineer, fresh coffee beans are sold to RMC for P26/kilo which farmers welcomed because they no longer have to depulp, wash, dry and dehull coffee beans manually.*(PIA CAR)
ATOK, Benguet, Wednesday March 23 - This municipality, which is the top producer of coffee in the province, has now one of the most high tech and “eco friendly” Arabica coffee mills in the country.
The mill is equipped with depulping and dehulling machines. It is also equipped with a high capacity washer that recycles water for as much as 10 times and a dryer. Waste water is directed to a septic tank while coffee pulps and hulls are composted to become organic fertilizers for coffee trees.
In partnership with Rocky Mountain Cafe (RMC), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Benguet State University (BSU), and the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO), the mill was inaugurated on March 19 at Km. 30, Topdac, Atok.
The ceremony was attended by Atok coffee farmers who witnessed a short demonstration of the coffee mill processes.
We do not only want to empower farmers but we also want to be an example of good farming practices. With a 7.2 metric tons capacity per day, the mill will spare workers from manual, and from heavy and time consuming labor, said RMC president Pierre Yves Cote.
Cote envisions that the Philippines will be the top producer of coffee in the world and to realize this, RMC partnered with BSU to train coffee farmers in coffee seed selection, preparation, nursery establishment, field planting and maintenance, common pests and diseases of Arabica coffee and their management, harvesting, post harvesting, and coffee tree rejuvenation.
According to coffee farmer, Sigfred Cholin,an engineer, fresh coffee beans are sold to RMC for P26/kilo which farmers welcomed because they no longer have to depulp, wash, dry and dehull coffee beans manually.*(PIA CAR)
Category:
Benguet
Ifugao PVO to conduct mass dog vaccination anew
by Mhars B. Lihgawon
LAGAWE, IfugaoWednesday March 23- The Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) is set to conduct anew a mass vaccination targeting thousands of dogs province wide.
Dra. Gloria Evangelo of PVO disclosed that their office has targeted 10,000 heads of dogs to be vaccinated with anti-rabies this year.
“This is in support with the goal of making Ifugao a rabies-free province by year 2020 and to abate the occurrence of rabies cases in the different municipalities,” she said.
Evangelo explained that for the past five years, the province has recorded only one case of human mortality due to rabies in the municipality of Alfonso Lista.
She also disclosed that the P20 injection fee was lowered to P10 per head to help indigent dog owners.
Evangelo also bared that the veterinary office has conducted a dog vaccination recently to the municipalities of Hingyon, Kiangan, Lagawe and Lamut
“There were 771 owners served with an equivalent of 1,335 dogs vaccinated in the four municipalities and this would be a regular activity of the office to carve-out the occurrence of rabies infected dogs,” she added.
The veterinarian further reiterated that aside of the mass vaccination, the PVO is also stepping-up its anti-rabies drive province.
“Currently, we are conducting a massive information advocacy to the different schools in the province including a regular radio program in the municipalities of Alfonso Lista and Lagawe to inform to the public the effect of rabies and its prevention,” Evangelo stated. *(PIA- CAR/Ifugao)
LAGAWE, IfugaoWednesday March 23- The Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) is set to conduct anew a mass vaccination targeting thousands of dogs province wide.
Dra. Gloria Evangelo of PVO disclosed that their office has targeted 10,000 heads of dogs to be vaccinated with anti-rabies this year.
“This is in support with the goal of making Ifugao a rabies-free province by year 2020 and to abate the occurrence of rabies cases in the different municipalities,” she said.
Evangelo explained that for the past five years, the province has recorded only one case of human mortality due to rabies in the municipality of Alfonso Lista.
She also disclosed that the P20 injection fee was lowered to P10 per head to help indigent dog owners.
Evangelo also bared that the veterinary office has conducted a dog vaccination recently to the municipalities of Hingyon, Kiangan, Lagawe and Lamut
“There were 771 owners served with an equivalent of 1,335 dogs vaccinated in the four municipalities and this would be a regular activity of the office to carve-out the occurrence of rabies infected dogs,” she added.
The veterinarian further reiterated that aside of the mass vaccination, the PVO is also stepping-up its anti-rabies drive province.
“Currently, we are conducting a massive information advocacy to the different schools in the province including a regular radio program in the municipalities of Alfonso Lista and Lagawe to inform to the public the effect of rabies and its prevention,” Evangelo stated. *(PIA- CAR/Ifugao)
Category:
Ifugao
DTI promotes use of energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps
By Andrew Doga-ong
BONTOC, Mt. Province ,Wednesday March 23 - The Department of Trade and Industry here is promoting the use of the energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (GFL) to reduce energy consumption and electric bills.
Juliet Lucas, DTI provincial head, said their advertisement on the use of CFL instead of the electricity-hungry incandescent bulbs is part of her office’s activities in observance of Fire Prevention Month.
Studies show that the use of an efficient energy light bulbs or CFLs, which is also about 10 times the life span of incandescent bulbs, would result in a savings of about 75 percent from the electricity bills of consumers.
Lucas, however, cautioned the public on the proper handling and waste disposal of destroyed CFL as this contains mercury element which are very hazardous to health if spilled or gets in contact with the body.
Former President Gloria Arroyo issued Administrative Order No. 183 mandating the use of energy-efficient lighting system (EELs) in government facilities in response to the then looming energy problem.
In 2008, the provincial government launched its local 'palit-ilaw' program which involves the replacement of all the incandescent bulbs to CFLs in all the lighting systems in the provincial government buildings and facilities.
The 'palit-ilaw' program was aimed to instill the value of energy conservation and efficiency and reduce gas emission to the environment.
Meanwhile, DENR Secretary Ramon Paje has called on the public to reduce carbon footprint by decreasing their electrical consumption as to lessen emissions generated from carbon dioxide and fossil fuel which have contributed to climate change.
Paje urged the Filipino to mitigate the further effects of climate change by decreasing the inefficient and wasteful consumption of electricity and instead use of cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels.
He then encouraged the public to participate in the observance of the Earth Hour 2011 on Saturday, March 26 by turning off their lights and other non-essential appliances for one hour from 8:30 to 9:30 PM. *(PIA-CAR/Mt. Province)
BONTOC, Mt. Province ,Wednesday March 23 - The Department of Trade and Industry here is promoting the use of the energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (GFL) to reduce energy consumption and electric bills.
Juliet Lucas, DTI provincial head, said their advertisement on the use of CFL instead of the electricity-hungry incandescent bulbs is part of her office’s activities in observance of Fire Prevention Month.
Studies show that the use of an efficient energy light bulbs or CFLs, which is also about 10 times the life span of incandescent bulbs, would result in a savings of about 75 percent from the electricity bills of consumers.
Lucas, however, cautioned the public on the proper handling and waste disposal of destroyed CFL as this contains mercury element which are very hazardous to health if spilled or gets in contact with the body.
Former President Gloria Arroyo issued Administrative Order No. 183 mandating the use of energy-efficient lighting system (EELs) in government facilities in response to the then looming energy problem.
In 2008, the provincial government launched its local 'palit-ilaw' program which involves the replacement of all the incandescent bulbs to CFLs in all the lighting systems in the provincial government buildings and facilities.
The 'palit-ilaw' program was aimed to instill the value of energy conservation and efficiency and reduce gas emission to the environment.
Meanwhile, DENR Secretary Ramon Paje has called on the public to reduce carbon footprint by decreasing their electrical consumption as to lessen emissions generated from carbon dioxide and fossil fuel which have contributed to climate change.
Paje urged the Filipino to mitigate the further effects of climate change by decreasing the inefficient and wasteful consumption of electricity and instead use of cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels.
He then encouraged the public to participate in the observance of the Earth Hour 2011 on Saturday, March 26 by turning off their lights and other non-essential appliances for one hour from 8:30 to 9:30 PM. *(PIA-CAR/Mt. Province)
Category:
Mountain Province
Atok to hold public consultation on temporary trash containment
by Susan Aro
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, Wednesday March 23 – The Environment and Natural Resources Office (ENRO) of the province is hopeful that the proposed residual containment area (RCA) in the municipality of Atok will have the approval of the public.
A public consultation will be held on March 25 at Caliking, Atok with residents, officials, and other stakeholders to convince the populace to support the waste management program.
This is an avenue to get their consent for the establishment of an RCA along Saddle, Caliking in Atok and to get their inputs and suggestions.
The proposed site has an area of 900 square meters but could expand if the need arises, according to the ENRO.
Portions could also be used to compost vegetable wastes or the so called ‘ubak’ which are commonly piled along the Halsema Highway.
According to the ENRO, the RCA will be temporarily used to dump waste while looking for an area to establish an engineered sanitary landfill as required for local government units to comply with.
Republic Act 9003 otherwise known as the Solid Waste Management Act mandates LGUs to establish its own sanitary landfill.
According to the ENRO, there is a difficulty in locating for an area to establish an RCA due to the province’s topographic features of rolling terrain.
Areas found suitable are where water sources are also located, the ENRO reported. This is aggravated by the difficulty in obtaining social acceptability of the people.
The province is currently looking for an RCA model for better appreciation of townsfolk. **(PIA CAR)
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, Wednesday March 23 – The Environment and Natural Resources Office (ENRO) of the province is hopeful that the proposed residual containment area (RCA) in the municipality of Atok will have the approval of the public.
A public consultation will be held on March 25 at Caliking, Atok with residents, officials, and other stakeholders to convince the populace to support the waste management program.
This is an avenue to get their consent for the establishment of an RCA along Saddle, Caliking in Atok and to get their inputs and suggestions.
The proposed site has an area of 900 square meters but could expand if the need arises, according to the ENRO.
Portions could also be used to compost vegetable wastes or the so called ‘ubak’ which are commonly piled along the Halsema Highway.
According to the ENRO, the RCA will be temporarily used to dump waste while looking for an area to establish an engineered sanitary landfill as required for local government units to comply with.
Republic Act 9003 otherwise known as the Solid Waste Management Act mandates LGUs to establish its own sanitary landfill.
According to the ENRO, there is a difficulty in locating for an area to establish an RCA due to the province’s topographic features of rolling terrain.
Areas found suitable are where water sources are also located, the ENRO reported. This is aggravated by the difficulty in obtaining social acceptability of the people.
The province is currently looking for an RCA model for better appreciation of townsfolk. **(PIA CAR)
Category:
Benguet
Itogon receives P1M for development projects
by Susan Aro
ITOGON, Benguet, Wednesday March 23 – This town will again receive P1 million corporate social responsibility fund from SN Aboitiz Power Benguet earmarked for development projects.
A memorandum of agreement was forged last week between SNAP Benguet and the LGU to pursue community projects on education, reforestation, capability building, and skills training.
This is apart from the town’s share of national wealth taxes derived from the operation of the Binga Hydroelectric Power Plant. This town hosts Binga dam operated by SNAPB since 2008.
According to SNAPB vice president for Corporate Affairs, Michael Hosillos, a yearly P1 million CSR fund is being allocated to the town intended for priority projects of the community.
SNAPB will ensure the proper utilization of the CSR-funded projects and will further undertake monitoring activities. * (PIA CAR)
ITOGON, Benguet, Wednesday March 23 – This town will again receive P1 million corporate social responsibility fund from SN Aboitiz Power Benguet earmarked for development projects.
A memorandum of agreement was forged last week between SNAP Benguet and the LGU to pursue community projects on education, reforestation, capability building, and skills training.
This is apart from the town’s share of national wealth taxes derived from the operation of the Binga Hydroelectric Power Plant. This town hosts Binga dam operated by SNAPB since 2008.
According to SNAPB vice president for Corporate Affairs, Michael Hosillos, a yearly P1 million CSR fund is being allocated to the town intended for priority projects of the community.
SNAPB will ensure the proper utilization of the CSR-funded projects and will further undertake monitoring activities. * (PIA CAR)
Category:
Benguet
Other Senate invitees can imitate Ligots
 | GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc |
et al thwarted them by foul means. Outside Congress she readied her rear guards too. Foremost is Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to quash any graft case against her and minions. Even when legally barred Arroyo posted loyalists, including a personal beautician and a gardener, in executive and judicial sinecures. The result of the 2010 election can only be the cumulative reaction to Arroyo’s transactional Presidency. Severest critic Noynoy Aquino won as President, as her party crumbled.
As congresswoman, Arroyo lingers in power but heads a puny minority. With the shoe on the other foot, her loyalists Monday tried to pin their dirty tricks on the new House leadership. The scenario was familiar, although it was their point person Gutierrez on the impeachment dock. They spread the text that the pork barrel will be withheld of congressmen who’d support Gutierrez. Then they used their concocted text to accuse President Aquino of buying the impeachment vote. When the tally came in — 210 to impeach, 47 against, four abstentions — they sniveled about cheap partisanship.
Arroyo and party feign to be aggrieved, but they actually scored points. Gutierrez should beware of their devious support. In spreading the text-canard, they were able to wangle from a defensive Malacañang the promise that even their pork perks as minority members were forthcoming. Thence they proceeded gleefully to delay what Gutierrez herself knew was inevitable impeachment. They must have phoned after the voting to condole that they did all they could for her. But now with their pork barrels at stake, she must depend on the other lines of defense that Arroyo had laid down.
* * *
For many first-term legislators, impeaching Gutierrez was a duty. Aware of the anti-corruption message of the 2010 poll outcome, they needed to be true to voters. Requests by certain religionists to be absent last Monday, and so have no quorum for the voting, were ignored. The young legislators consulted their constituents. Sectoral Rep. Angelo Palmones noted, “Gutierrez’s supporters may say all they want, but the message is clear. People want removal of the corrupt. In exercise of people power, the majority overwhelmingly voted for impeachment.”Former senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. opined that the voting was a piercing of Arroyo’s armor. Gutierrez was one of many booby traps left behind to deter the exposure of the Arroyo tenure’s anomalies. More lie hidden in government corporations and financial institutions, and in lower and higher courts. “With Gutierrez’s impeachment,” Pimentel said, “Arroyo can now be made to answer for her abuses in power.”
* * *
The fight now moves to the 23-member Senate, which will try Gutierrez for betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution. Hearings are set to begin in May, when Congress resumes sessions from this week’s recess.Betting is hot this early that Gutierrez will walk. The numbers favor her. She’d need only eight votes for acquittal; nine senators are in open opposition to Aquino. More evident is Gutierrez’s smug confidence in how the senators will vote for her. Because she lost in the House, she wails that Aquino bought the political vote. Because she’s positive of a Senate win, she’s saying she’ll get a fair political trial.
The Senate has first to grapple with an issue related to Gutierrez’s downfall — her abetting of plundering military comptrollers. Gen. Jacinto Ligot, wife Erlinda, and brother-in-law Edgardo Yambao have been mocking the Senate Blue-Ribbon Committee. By invoking rights to privacy and against self-incrimination, they refuse to answer even the most innocuous questions. Ignoring the Senate’s investigative power, Ligot is tight-lipped about where he resides, Linda about liking ballroom dancing, and jobless Yambao about the hundred million pesos in his bank accounts. Then, there’s the matter of whether to continue probing into possible unexplained wealth of a general who has killed himself. Future inquiries, including Gutierrez’s trial, will depend on how the Senate handles the matters.
* * *
Full-page newspaper ads, each worth nearly P200,000, purport to defend Gutierrez. Yet aside from raising suspicions about who’s paying, the ads expose the lameness of her alibis.About her inability since 2006 to indict Jocjoc Bolante for the P728-million fertilizer scam, Gutierrez says she has yet to finish questioning all 178 co-respondents. But then, she has also failed since 2008 to charge the euro-smuggling police generals, and there are only seven of them. She has found no one liable for the P1.3-billion Comelec automation scam, despite the justice department, the Senate and the Supreme Court declaring it anomalous.
* * *
Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ, (882-AM).E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com Reposted by Cordillera News Portal
Category:
opinion
A Woman’s Liberation
By CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO
Streetwise | BusinessWorld
Last March 8, GABRIELA, the foremost Filipino women’s alliance championing women’s rights, held a nation-wide mobilization to commemorate 100 years of International Women’s Day (IWD). Let us recall that it was Clara Zetkin, an outstanding German socialist and a fighter for women’s rights, who proposed in 1910 that an international working women’s day be held on March 8 of each year. March 8 marked the day when hundreds of women workers in the United States of America demonstrated for the right to suffrage and to build a powerful garments union.
The following year in March 1911, more than one million women and men in Europe attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, and hold public office, for equal pay for equal work, maternity and child benefits, and better working conditions as well as for the general upliftment, emancipation, and empowerment of women.
GABRIELA emphasized that this year, IWD would be commemorated as, worldwide, women join their menfolk in mass protests and uprisings “spurred by the burgeoning impact of protracted global depression” especially in poor and backward countries in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
Further, the alliance said, “Filipino women, like our toiling sisters in other countries, suffer from the same torment of poverty, hunger and violence caused by imperialism’s last ditch attempt to salvage its moribund existence by plundering poor nations and further enslaving the working class people.”
GABRIELA concluded that Filipino women must demand immediate respite from the Aquino government through urgent socio-economic reforms as well as join the rest of the Filipino people in struggling for fundamental change, for genuine freedom and democracy, against an elite-ruled and foreign-dominated social order.
At the March 8 rally, as I waited to deliver my speech to the thousands of women gathered at some distance from the Presidential Palace, I could not help but reflect on my own sojourn as a woman, from a carefree middle-class upbringing to one defined by the social and political struggles and upheavals of my generation.
I thought about how I had been surrounded by feisty, assertive, and articulate women all my life: a mother who transcended social stereotypes, was an outstanding operating room nurse and a working woman all her life; aunts who despite economic hardships guided their brood to stable and successful careers; sisters who are capable and personable individuals, accomplished in their own fields; friends and most of all comrades who have struggled to combine the roles of working/career women, activist/revolutionary and wife/mother/daughter — to varying degrees of success.
My father gave us a very liberal upbringing. He made sure his children had all the opportunities to excel in school and have an active social life. There was never any stereotyping of girls as good cooks, homemakers, fashionistas. But he did expect his daughters to serve him his coffee while the only boy was free to gallivant.
My education in an all-girls’ school run by socially oriented nuns, who were exacting in academic work and disciplinarians to boot, gave me the basic skills, self-confidence, and empathy for the poor and underprivileged that served me well in my adult life. It also provided the inestimable benefit of growing up in an academic environment where being a male was no advantage. There weren’t any.
In high school, I was introduced to the concept of women’s liberation by my eldest sister who left for the US to do graduate studies and eventually settled there. She had strained against the social conventions of her time that kept even middle-class, educated women from being equal to men and achieving their full potential as individuals. She became a feminist and an active participant in the US women’s liberation movement.
When I entered the University of the Philippines, the liberal arts program of the general education course (which UP has since abolished) reinforced my openness to feminist views from the West, my involvement in moderate social activism at the UP Student Catholic Action, and later, in more radical student activism as a member of the student council and while doing organizing work among jeepney drivers and the urban poor.
My stint at UPSCA was a major venue for male-female socialization. A milestone in my life took place in the friendly environs of Delaney Hall and the UP Chapel: that is where I met my first boyfriend who eventually ended up as my lifelong partner.
My husband deserves several sentences in this narrative. Being much older than me, he was mature where I was immature. Being an engineering graduate, he was practical-minded where I was an idealistic AB Psychology student. Being a patriot, a democrat, and a closet Leftist, he was supportive of my political activism.
And being the self-confident, loving man that he was, he let me pursue my passions and my commitments with nary a hint of jealousy nor insecurity even as he worried and watched out for me at every turn. (Yes, of course, we wrangled about the inherent dangers and the time away from family that was the offshoot of my political activities.)
As I grew more deeply involved in the national democratic movement, my ideas about egalitarianism, social progress, and commitment to a cause higher than oneself resonated with the movement’s Marxist philosophy, revolutionary political analysis and program and its mantra “Serve the People.”
This includes the presumption that being a woman is no barrier to being a dedicated activist and revolutionary. It also meant subordinating boyfriend-girlfriend relationships to political considerations.
It meant making independent decisions that entailed risks and sacrifices including the risk of being separated from one’s boyfriend or husband. This was a harsh reality especially during martial law when the tempo and direction of one’s life were altered in major, unanticipated ways.
The struggle for women’s emancipation from feudal culture as well as bourgeois stereotypes had to be carried through inside the “nd” movement. Notions of sexual roles were rapidly being transformed even as there was also resistance to change and the vestiges of old-type relationships persisted.
More important, the need to organize women who, as Chairman Mao said, “hold up half the sky,” to achieve their own liberation from economic, political, and cultural bondage was met by the conscious effort to build a distinct women’s movement integrated into the people’s movement for national and social liberation.
I will always credit and be grateful to the two major influences toward my liberation as a woman — the national democratic movement and the people — women and men alike — who fostered my full development as an activist/revolutionary and as an emancipated wife and mother. — Reposted by Cordillera News Portal
Streetwise | BusinessWorld
Last March 8, GABRIELA, the foremost Filipino women’s alliance championing women’s rights, held a nation-wide mobilization to commemorate 100 years of International Women’s Day (IWD). Let us recall that it was Clara Zetkin, an outstanding German socialist and a fighter for women’s rights, who proposed in 1910 that an international working women’s day be held on March 8 of each year. March 8 marked the day when hundreds of women workers in the United States of America demonstrated for the right to suffrage and to build a powerful garments union.
The following year in March 1911, more than one million women and men in Europe attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, and hold public office, for equal pay for equal work, maternity and child benefits, and better working conditions as well as for the general upliftment, emancipation, and empowerment of women.
GABRIELA emphasized that this year, IWD would be commemorated as, worldwide, women join their menfolk in mass protests and uprisings “spurred by the burgeoning impact of protracted global depression” especially in poor and backward countries in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
Further, the alliance said, “Filipino women, like our toiling sisters in other countries, suffer from the same torment of poverty, hunger and violence caused by imperialism’s last ditch attempt to salvage its moribund existence by plundering poor nations and further enslaving the working class people.”
GABRIELA concluded that Filipino women must demand immediate respite from the Aquino government through urgent socio-economic reforms as well as join the rest of the Filipino people in struggling for fundamental change, for genuine freedom and democracy, against an elite-ruled and foreign-dominated social order.
At the March 8 rally, as I waited to deliver my speech to the thousands of women gathered at some distance from the Presidential Palace, I could not help but reflect on my own sojourn as a woman, from a carefree middle-class upbringing to one defined by the social and political struggles and upheavals of my generation.
I thought about how I had been surrounded by feisty, assertive, and articulate women all my life: a mother who transcended social stereotypes, was an outstanding operating room nurse and a working woman all her life; aunts who despite economic hardships guided their brood to stable and successful careers; sisters who are capable and personable individuals, accomplished in their own fields; friends and most of all comrades who have struggled to combine the roles of working/career women, activist/revolutionary and wife/mother/daughter — to varying degrees of success.
My father gave us a very liberal upbringing. He made sure his children had all the opportunities to excel in school and have an active social life. There was never any stereotyping of girls as good cooks, homemakers, fashionistas. But he did expect his daughters to serve him his coffee while the only boy was free to gallivant.
My education in an all-girls’ school run by socially oriented nuns, who were exacting in academic work and disciplinarians to boot, gave me the basic skills, self-confidence, and empathy for the poor and underprivileged that served me well in my adult life. It also provided the inestimable benefit of growing up in an academic environment where being a male was no advantage. There weren’t any.
In high school, I was introduced to the concept of women’s liberation by my eldest sister who left for the US to do graduate studies and eventually settled there. She had strained against the social conventions of her time that kept even middle-class, educated women from being equal to men and achieving their full potential as individuals. She became a feminist and an active participant in the US women’s liberation movement.
When I entered the University of the Philippines, the liberal arts program of the general education course (which UP has since abolished) reinforced my openness to feminist views from the West, my involvement in moderate social activism at the UP Student Catholic Action, and later, in more radical student activism as a member of the student council and while doing organizing work among jeepney drivers and the urban poor.
My stint at UPSCA was a major venue for male-female socialization. A milestone in my life took place in the friendly environs of Delaney Hall and the UP Chapel: that is where I met my first boyfriend who eventually ended up as my lifelong partner.
My husband deserves several sentences in this narrative. Being much older than me, he was mature where I was immature. Being an engineering graduate, he was practical-minded where I was an idealistic AB Psychology student. Being a patriot, a democrat, and a closet Leftist, he was supportive of my political activism.
And being the self-confident, loving man that he was, he let me pursue my passions and my commitments with nary a hint of jealousy nor insecurity even as he worried and watched out for me at every turn. (Yes, of course, we wrangled about the inherent dangers and the time away from family that was the offshoot of my political activities.)
As I grew more deeply involved in the national democratic movement, my ideas about egalitarianism, social progress, and commitment to a cause higher than oneself resonated with the movement’s Marxist philosophy, revolutionary political analysis and program and its mantra “Serve the People.”
This includes the presumption that being a woman is no barrier to being a dedicated activist and revolutionary. It also meant subordinating boyfriend-girlfriend relationships to political considerations.
It meant making independent decisions that entailed risks and sacrifices including the risk of being separated from one’s boyfriend or husband. This was a harsh reality especially during martial law when the tempo and direction of one’s life were altered in major, unanticipated ways.
The struggle for women’s emancipation from feudal culture as well as bourgeois stereotypes had to be carried through inside the “nd” movement. Notions of sexual roles were rapidly being transformed even as there was also resistance to change and the vestiges of old-type relationships persisted.
More important, the need to organize women who, as Chairman Mao said, “hold up half the sky,” to achieve their own liberation from economic, political, and cultural bondage was met by the conscious effort to build a distinct women’s movement integrated into the people’s movement for national and social liberation.
I will always credit and be grateful to the two major influences toward my liberation as a woman — the national democratic movement and the people — women and men alike — who fostered my full development as an activist/revolutionary and as an emancipated wife and mother. — Reposted by Cordillera News Portal
Category:
opinion
On cityhood laws: Domogan ponders supporting LCP-led impeachment of magistrates
by Isagani S. Liporada
BAGUIO CITY, Tuesday March 22 – “Personally, I am not for impeaching justices of the Supreme Court (SC)… but if the League of Cities in the Philippines (LCP) have clear grounds for such action, I will support it.”
Thus said mayor Mauricio Domogan in the heels of a fourth motion for reconsideration (MR) this time filed by LCP asking SC to once again re-evaluate its recent decision.
The SC, in February, declared laws converting 16-municipalities into cities nil compliance to the income requirement set under the Local Government Code (RA 7160) “legal and constitutional” anew.
The ‘cityhood laws’ include Republic Act (RA) 9389 (Baybay, Leyte), RA 9390 (Bogo, Cebu), RA 9391 (Catbalogan, Samar), RA 9392 (Tandag, Surigao Del Sur), RA9393 (Lamitan, Basilan), RA 9394 (Borongan, Samar), 9398 (Tayabas, Quezon), and RA 9404 (Tabuk, Kalinga).
Likewise converting some municipalities into cities are RA 9405 (Bayugan, Agusan Del Sur), RA 9407 (Batac, Ilocos Norte), RA 9408 (Mati, Davao Oriental), RA9409 (Guihulngan, Negros Oriental), RA9434 (Cabadbaran, Agusan Del Norte), RA 9435 (El Salvador, Misamis Oriental), RA 9436 (Carcar, Cebu), and RA 9491 (Naga, Cebu).
The High Tribunal invalidated the bunch of laws in its ruling, on August 2010. But it in its February 15 resolution, reversed itself voting 7-in favor and 6-against to reinstate its December 21, 2009 decision affirming the constitutionality of said laws.
Said conversion measures were passed by the 11th Congress of which Domogan was member.
In a 38-page motion, LCP contested the recent SC declaration averring it lost jurisdiction to promulgate its February 15 resolution for want of any controversy to settle.
Domogan said he hopes the SC finally ends all controversies surrounding the cityhood measures after the LCP motion.
“There has to be an end to litigations,” he said adding, “The cityhood issue has dragged too long.”
Wondering why the high court managed to change its view favoring creation of new cities he added, “Even students of law are now getting dizzy.”
Earlier, about 40 chief executives – all members of LCP – protested the 180-degree turnaround of magistrates at the SC’s own backyard claiming they are not studying cases punctiliously.
They asked the Court to revert to its November 2008 diktat, even threatening impeachment viewed by some solons as “bullying tactics” to force the high court to rule in LCP’s favor.
LCP has been opposing the cityhood measures claiming it will greatly reduce its members’ Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) set aside for all cities under Section 285 of RA 7160.
They likewise averred said local government units (LGU) failed to comply with the P100
million income requirement under the RA 9009 for municipalities to be converted into cities.
More, LPC insists, the conversion is in violation of the Section 10 Article X of the Constitution which provides conversion of LGUs must be in accordance with requirements under the Local Government Code, subject to approval by the constituents of the LGUs affected through a plebiscite.*(PIO Baguio City//PIA CAR)
BAGUIO CITY, Tuesday March 22 – “Personally, I am not for impeaching justices of the Supreme Court (SC)… but if the League of Cities in the Philippines (LCP) have clear grounds for such action, I will support it.”
Thus said mayor Mauricio Domogan in the heels of a fourth motion for reconsideration (MR) this time filed by LCP asking SC to once again re-evaluate its recent decision.
The SC, in February, declared laws converting 16-municipalities into cities nil compliance to the income requirement set under the Local Government Code (RA 7160) “legal and constitutional” anew.
The ‘cityhood laws’ include Republic Act (RA) 9389 (Baybay, Leyte), RA 9390 (Bogo, Cebu), RA 9391 (Catbalogan, Samar), RA 9392 (Tandag, Surigao Del Sur), RA9393 (Lamitan, Basilan), RA 9394 (Borongan, Samar), 9398 (Tayabas, Quezon), and RA 9404 (Tabuk, Kalinga).
Likewise converting some municipalities into cities are RA 9405 (Bayugan, Agusan Del Sur), RA 9407 (Batac, Ilocos Norte), RA 9408 (Mati, Davao Oriental), RA9409 (Guihulngan, Negros Oriental), RA9434 (Cabadbaran, Agusan Del Norte), RA 9435 (El Salvador, Misamis Oriental), RA 9436 (Carcar, Cebu), and RA 9491 (Naga, Cebu).
The High Tribunal invalidated the bunch of laws in its ruling, on August 2010. But it in its February 15 resolution, reversed itself voting 7-in favor and 6-against to reinstate its December 21, 2009 decision affirming the constitutionality of said laws.
Said conversion measures were passed by the 11th Congress of which Domogan was member.
In a 38-page motion, LCP contested the recent SC declaration averring it lost jurisdiction to promulgate its February 15 resolution for want of any controversy to settle.
Domogan said he hopes the SC finally ends all controversies surrounding the cityhood measures after the LCP motion.
“There has to be an end to litigations,” he said adding, “The cityhood issue has dragged too long.”
Wondering why the high court managed to change its view favoring creation of new cities he added, “Even students of law are now getting dizzy.”
Earlier, about 40 chief executives – all members of LCP – protested the 180-degree turnaround of magistrates at the SC’s own backyard claiming they are not studying cases punctiliously.
They asked the Court to revert to its November 2008 diktat, even threatening impeachment viewed by some solons as “bullying tactics” to force the high court to rule in LCP’s favor.
LCP has been opposing the cityhood measures claiming it will greatly reduce its members’ Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) set aside for all cities under Section 285 of RA 7160.
They likewise averred said local government units (LGU) failed to comply with the P100
million income requirement under the RA 9009 for municipalities to be converted into cities.
More, LPC insists, the conversion is in violation of the Section 10 Article X of the Constitution which provides conversion of LGUs must be in accordance with requirements under the Local Government Code, subject to approval by the constituents of the LGUs affected through a plebiscite.*(PIO Baguio City//PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
Film screening, workshop highlight Baguio film fest
by Art Tibaldo
BAGUIO CITY, Tuesday March 22 - The Film Development Council of the Philippines and the city of Baguio has already laid the groundwork for the first ever film festival of its kind in this upland city.
According to City Tourism officer Benny Alhambra, the FDCP has chosen the summer capital as another venue for the Sineng Pambansa program with free screening of films, a film workshop, press briefing, and recognition night with guests and filmmakers.
Earlier, a memorandum of agreement between Mayor Mauricio Domogan and FDCP chairman Briccio G. Santos was finalized and said activity is set on March 28 up to the 30th at SM City theaters and selected barangays for outdoor screenings Alhambra added.
On March 28, a free film workshop will be held at the University of the Philippines-Baguio CSSR Hall from 1-4 p.m. with film director Mes de Guzman as the resource speaker. He will discuss “Pelikulang Homegrown: Ang Diskurso ng mga Kwentong nasa Gilid ng Laylayan.”
During the festival’s reception and opening night, FDCP chairman Santos will give a short talk on the rationale of Sineng Pambansa followed by a keynote address by Mayor Domogan.
Film screenings will then follow at Cinemas 1 and 2 with free tickets available from usherettes near the theatre entrance. At the end of the screening, the film directors themselves will be available for an audience interaction just like in movie premieres and film festivals.
The pre-selected films to be featured at the Baguio Film Festival are: Happyland (2010, Jim Libiran), Himpapawid (2009, Raymond Red), Emir (2009, Chito Roño), Two Funerals (2010, Gil Portes), Romeo at Juliet (2010, Adolf Alix Jr.), Bakit Dilaw ang Gitna ng Bahaghari (1994, Kidlat Tahimik) Mangatyanan (2009, Jerrold Tarog), Waking the Walking Journey (2010, Ferdinand Balanag) and Itim (1976, Mike De Leon).
On March 29, the film festival according to Alhambra will also have a recognition night at the Hill Station in Casa Vallejo where about forty filmmakers will be conferred with plaques of appreciation by the FDCP for their support in promoting Filipino culture and values through film.
An entity attached to the Office of the President, the FDCP is mandated to provide assistance to visionaries who want to push the boundaries of moviemaking as an art and way of life, the organizers are hopeful that the film fest will generate support from the community in promoting the growth and development of the local film industry. For more information about the film workshops, please get in touch with Art Tibaldo at baguionewseum@gmail.com. *(PIA CAR)
BAGUIO CITY, Tuesday March 22 - The Film Development Council of the Philippines and the city of Baguio has already laid the groundwork for the first ever film festival of its kind in this upland city.
According to City Tourism officer Benny Alhambra, the FDCP has chosen the summer capital as another venue for the Sineng Pambansa program with free screening of films, a film workshop, press briefing, and recognition night with guests and filmmakers.
Earlier, a memorandum of agreement between Mayor Mauricio Domogan and FDCP chairman Briccio G. Santos was finalized and said activity is set on March 28 up to the 30th at SM City theaters and selected barangays for outdoor screenings Alhambra added.
On March 28, a free film workshop will be held at the University of the Philippines-Baguio CSSR Hall from 1-4 p.m. with film director Mes de Guzman as the resource speaker. He will discuss “Pelikulang Homegrown: Ang Diskurso ng mga Kwentong nasa Gilid ng Laylayan.”
During the festival’s reception and opening night, FDCP chairman Santos will give a short talk on the rationale of Sineng Pambansa followed by a keynote address by Mayor Domogan.
Film screenings will then follow at Cinemas 1 and 2 with free tickets available from usherettes near the theatre entrance. At the end of the screening, the film directors themselves will be available for an audience interaction just like in movie premieres and film festivals.
The pre-selected films to be featured at the Baguio Film Festival are: Happyland (2010, Jim Libiran), Himpapawid (2009, Raymond Red), Emir (2009, Chito Roño), Two Funerals (2010, Gil Portes), Romeo at Juliet (2010, Adolf Alix Jr.), Bakit Dilaw ang Gitna ng Bahaghari (1994, Kidlat Tahimik) Mangatyanan (2009, Jerrold Tarog), Waking the Walking Journey (2010, Ferdinand Balanag) and Itim (1976, Mike De Leon).
On March 29, the film festival according to Alhambra will also have a recognition night at the Hill Station in Casa Vallejo where about forty filmmakers will be conferred with plaques of appreciation by the FDCP for their support in promoting Filipino culture and values through film.
An entity attached to the Office of the President, the FDCP is mandated to provide assistance to visionaries who want to push the boundaries of moviemaking as an art and way of life, the organizers are hopeful that the film fest will generate support from the community in promoting the growth and development of the local film industry. For more information about the film workshops, please get in touch with Art Tibaldo at baguionewseum@gmail.com. *(PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
Owwa reports more than 100 Cordilleran OFWs still in Libya
by Redjie Cawis
BAGUIO CITY, Tuesday March 22 - At least 128 overseas Filipino workers from the Cordillera Region are still in the conflict-torn country of Libya as reported by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration here.
OWWA Cordillera regional director Evelyn Laranang said she had talked with relatives of these OFWs and they reported that some OFWs are in areas that are not affected by the conflict in Libya. She said that they are in areas and provinces away from Benghazi and Tripoli that are the center of tension in Libya.
Although government is trying its best to bring home all the OFWs in Libya, some still want to stay in Libya.
There are also reported nurses and other OFWs in the medical field that are in Bengahzi but they refuse to go home and are helping victims of the war in hospitals there.
Laranang said that there are 321 OFWs from the Cordillera and 193 already repatriated back to the country. She added that the OWWA has been giving financial assistance of P10,000 to OFWs displaced in Libya.
Laranang said that the OWWA has already repatriated at least 8,000 OFWs nationwide. (PIA CAR)
BAGUIO CITY, Tuesday March 22 - At least 128 overseas Filipino workers from the Cordillera Region are still in the conflict-torn country of Libya as reported by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration here.
OWWA Cordillera regional director Evelyn Laranang said she had talked with relatives of these OFWs and they reported that some OFWs are in areas that are not affected by the conflict in Libya. She said that they are in areas and provinces away from Benghazi and Tripoli that are the center of tension in Libya.
Although government is trying its best to bring home all the OFWs in Libya, some still want to stay in Libya.
There are also reported nurses and other OFWs in the medical field that are in Bengahzi but they refuse to go home and are helping victims of the war in hospitals there.
Laranang said that there are 321 OFWs from the Cordillera and 193 already repatriated back to the country. She added that the OWWA has been giving financial assistance of P10,000 to OFWs displaced in Libya.
Laranang said that the OWWA has already repatriated at least 8,000 OFWs nationwide. (PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City
BSU to offer HRM
by Joseph B Zambrano
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, Tuesday March 22 -The Benguet State University is now offering Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management (BSHRM) this coming school year 2011-2012.
BSHRM is under the Department of Human Nutrition and Foods (DHNF) of the College of Home Economics and Technology (CHET) as an addition to the college’s three existing course offerings.
The BSU board approved the offering of BSHRM through Resolution No. 1913, series of 2010.
According to BSU president, Dr. Rogelio Colting, interested students should have a high school average of 85 percent and above and must pass the qualifying exam.
The college will accommodate 50-55 qualified incoming freshmen. In case more than the number have passed the qualification exam, the college will take the students on a first-come-first-served basis, Colting said.
“Since we are only starting, we will not accommodate transferees and shifters so that we will not have to adjust for irregular classes,” Colting explained.
He added that the course answers the increase in the demand for lodging, restaurant, and similar facilities due to the booming tourism industry in the Cordillera and in the country. *(PIA CAR
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, Tuesday March 22 -The Benguet State University is now offering Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management (BSHRM) this coming school year 2011-2012.
BSHRM is under the Department of Human Nutrition and Foods (DHNF) of the College of Home Economics and Technology (CHET) as an addition to the college’s three existing course offerings.
The BSU board approved the offering of BSHRM through Resolution No. 1913, series of 2010.
According to BSU president, Dr. Rogelio Colting, interested students should have a high school average of 85 percent and above and must pass the qualifying exam.
The college will accommodate 50-55 qualified incoming freshmen. In case more than the number have passed the qualification exam, the college will take the students on a first-come-first-served basis, Colting said.
“Since we are only starting, we will not accommodate transferees and shifters so that we will not have to adjust for irregular classes,” Colting explained.
He added that the course answers the increase in the demand for lodging, restaurant, and similar facilities due to the booming tourism industry in the Cordillera and in the country. *(PIA CAR
Category:
Benguet
Ambuklao Dam fully operational by September
Posted on | Sunday 20 March 2011 | No Comments
By Lito Dar
ITOGON, Benguet, Monday March 21, 2011 – Ambuklao dam, which is undergoing rehabilitation, is set to be fully operational this September assured SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP) – Benguet VP for Corporate Affairs. Atty. Mike Hosillos.
Hosillos, in an interview during the launching of the 9th Mt. Ugo Summer Climb, in Itogon , Friday said the First (Hydro Powerplant) Unit of Ambuklao Dam will be ready for operation this June, the second unit by July or August. As scheduled, all three units will be operational by September which can produce a maximum power 105 mega watts (MW).
As for the Binga Dam, Hosillos said rehabilitation will start April and will be completed in two years time or by 2013, with generating capacity to increase to 120 MW, from its present generating capacity of 100MW.
Now that the summer season is near, Hosillos assured they remain optimistic as far as the power generation of hydro power plants are concerned. “At this point maganda ang elevation ng tubig sa ating mga dam, maganda rin ang inflow ng water, since January which gives assurance na aabot sa normal high level ang tubig sa ating mga dam,” Hosillos said.
“Wala tayong dapat ikatakot, hindi katulad noong first quarter of 2010 na mababa ang level ng tubig. Ayon din sa projection ng PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration) magkakaroon tayo ngayon ng wet summer,” Hosillos added. (There is no cause for worry.Unlike during the first quarter of 2010 the water level is low. But PAGASA projects we will have a wet summer)
On the recent occurrences of earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan, Hosillos also assured the public that in partnership with the National Power Corporation (NPC), they are continuously inspecting and monitoring, the facilities of Binga and as well as that of Magat Dam, to ensure the maximum safety and security of the local communities.
Hosillos also assured that maintenance and rehabilitation of the dams are also kept on international standards. “Ngayong may sunod-sunod na paglindol ay tuloy-tuloy an gaming inspection at monitoring sa ting mga dam at wala naman kaming nakitang mga problema, na dulot ng mga insedente ng paglindol, na maaring maka-apekto sa mga local na komyunidad,” Hosillos assured.
SNAP – Benguet for the fifth consecutive year as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, is co-sponsoring Itogon Benguet’s 9th Mt. Ugo Summer Climb which is set on April 8 – 10, with a theme: Mountain Leisure Amidst Climate Change”.
Those who are interested to join, can contact the Department of Tourism (DOT-CAR) at telephone no. (074) 442-8848 or Ms. Liza Diase of the Itogon Mayor’s Office at cellphone number – 0910-5482678. * (PIA CAR)
Category:
Benguet
Mayor to DSWD: “Purge ‘poorest of poor’ list of sham aid claimants”
By Isagani S. Liporada
BAGUIO CITY, Monday March 21, 2011 – It is no disgrace to be poor… but others feigning poverty is awfully inconvenient for those who are truly impoverished.
Mayor Mauricio Domogan last week tasked City Social and Welfare Development (CSWD) chief Betty Fangasan to coordinate with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to push for inclusion of some 80-city sampled ‘poorest of the poor’ to replace the same number in the list of DSWD beneficiaries.
During the weekly ‘Ugnayan’ presser hosted by DZEQ ‘Radio ng Bayan’ Domogan revealed, “Of the total [513-potential] beneficiaries for the expansion program of the national government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), 80 should be purged from the DSWD-prepared list.”
“Those who must be delisted and replaced were found to be financially capable, deceased, have no dependents from 0-14 years old, or have moved residences outside the city,” Domogan added.
In 2009, DSWD conducted its National Household Targeting System (NHTS), a survey geared towards identifying the ‘poorest of the poor families with dependent children ages 0-14 years’ in the City of Baguio.
The survey list was to be made basis of the DSWD 4Ps expansion program. The 4Ps project awards cash grants for nutrition and schooling needs of kids belonging to indigent families.
P21-Billion in taxpayers’ money has been set aside for the 4Ps project which has been carried over from the Arroyo administration to the present.
In a separate interview, CSWD liaison to DSWD Marvin Venancio explained, “DSWD conducted an independent survey, interviewing potential conditional cash transfer beneficiaries in 2009.”
“However, since the city has its own inventory of impoverished families, CSWD in coordination with other concerned city departments conducted re-validation of said list where it was found 80-listed beneficiaries were in fact unqualified,” he added.
The city team Venancio mentioned included officers from CSWD, the Department of Education, Department of Health, and barangay-based nutrition scholars.
The same team identified 80-replacements to the apparently spurious names now being requested for delisting. All the beneficiaries, save for the 80 who are purportedly unqualified are supposed to get their grants, March 22.
Where there are three kids below 14-years old, a maximum of P1,400.00 in monthly grant over a 5-year period shall be given.
The four P’s project started in Baguio in 2008. The March awardees belong to the 2009 survey list and those who were identified in the 2008 survey but failed to claim their grants.
Domogan during the presser said he hoped there was closer coordination between DSWD and CSWD since the latter has existing database of indigent families.
He added, “Instead of creating a team of surveyors, DSWD could have made the task of identification much easier had they revalidated existing CSWD data.”
“As a result of non-coordination,” he added, “even those with 12-hectare properties, contractors, and even taxi operators with several units have been included in the DSWD list.”
He concluded the current system employed by DSWD may only serve to defeat the purpose of the 4Ps appropriation measure approved by Congress since there is almost nil participation of barangays and city departments in the indigent families’ identification process.
As of press-deadline, CSWD reported DSWD already sent recommendations on how the list can be purged of questionable beneficiaries. This time, with closer coordination with the city government.**(ISL,PIO Baguio City//PIA CAR)
Category:
Baguio City