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4Ps in Pagsanghan
town shows that government cares
By NINFA B. QUIRANTE July
4, 2009
CATBALOGAN, Samar
– The inclusion of some 715 beneficiaries in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is an indication that the
national government cares for us, said Cecila Aleman of Calanyugan,
Pagsanghan, Samar.
Aleman, 59 years old
and a grandmother of two children named Jeoffrel 9 and Jessa 8 has
cared for the two children since their tender ages left to her care.
The parents of the two
kids are Aleman’s children who now live elsewhere as the kids do not
like to leave their lola anymore.
Lola Sesing, weaves
mats as her livelihood. She said in her younger years, she can weave
two mats a week and earn P500 then.
The years though have
been unkind to Lola Sesing, her speed has suffered and now she can
only produce one mat a week giving her and her two apos only P300.
Her unfortunate state
qualified Lola Sesing for the program.
Another beneficiary
also from Barangay Calanyugan is a blind woman Ludensia Casaljay, 45
with an only child. She got blind some five years ago and her husband
left her with one more mouth to feed.
These are some of the
beneficiaries included in Pagsanghan’s list according to Ms Jean
Renola, the 4Ps Municipal Link.
4Ps is a poverty
reduction strategy that provides grants to extremely poor households
to improve their health, nutrition and education of children aged 0-14
years old. It is patterned after the successful Conditional Cash
Transfer Programs in Latin America and Africa.
Pagsanghan, a
recipient of the program is a 5th class municipality located northwest
of Samar’s capital town. It can be reached through a 30-minute river
cruise from Barangay Concepcion, Gandara (situated in Maharlika
Highway).
While Pagsanghan is
not found on the top ten list of the poorest municipalities in Eastern
Visayas, it ranked number six (6) in the list of the top twenty
nutritionally depressed municipalities as gleaned from the National
Nutrition Council (NC) 8 data. A town is considered nutritionally
depressed when it has a high nutrition prevalence vis-a-vis its
population.
The town has an access
to an all weather road constructed in the late 1990 during the second
term of then Governor Jose Rono. The 14 kilometer stretch at present
has highly deteriorated due to neglect in maintenance. The same road
said Mayor Violeto Ceracas has transported then Senator Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo to this municipality rich with molluscs, crustaceans
and other marine products. Pagsanghan townsfolk said the road does not
receive attention from the provincial government.
Pagsanghan is
basically an agricultural community, said Jun Borata, Municipal
Planning and Development Officer (MPDO). Townfolks rely on farming,
fishing and livelihood brought about by their abundant nipa palms.
Nipa has opened a trading partnership between the town and Bantayan
island in Cebu and has provided livelihood for its barangays.
With this brand new
program, 4Ps Pagsanghan folks like Lola Sesing and Ludensia are
hopeful that more programs from the national government will be able
to augment the initiatives being pushed by the LGU.
The real Best in the East
Even Bruce Lee
would’ve challenged Pacquiao
By ALEX P. VIDAL / PNS June
2, 2009
SAN DIEGO, California
– The best in the East.
This titanic title
once belonged to the legendary kung fu maestro Bruce Lee who as the
pride of the East even the best boxer in the world dared not to see
him eyeball to eyeball in his heyday in the early 70’s.
But after dismantling
Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton in the IBO light welterweight duel dubbed
“The Battle of the East and the West” in
Las Vegas,
Nevada
on May 2, Manny Pacquiao is now reputed as the best warrior in the
East in contact sports – including mixed martial arts and wrestling.
Had Pacquiao lived in
the era of Bruce Lee or vice versa, the founder of Jet Kune Do combat
form and Chinese’s cultural icon would’ve challenged the Filipino
lefty to a no-holds-barred duel to determine the real king of combat
sports in the East.
Bruce Lee had
humiliated seven-time world karate champion Ken Norton in their own
version of the battle between the east and west.
And although the
current darling of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is Lyoto
Carvalho Machida who is partly from the East, Pacquiao still stands
alone unmolested in the totem pole of prizefighting, making him the
most sought-after world champion in any multi-million dollar showdown.
Machida, who recently
upset Rashad Evans in a clash of unbeaten fighters in
UFC 98 billed as the “Ali-Frazier bout of
UFC”, also wants to be
known as the best in both the East and West.
Although a
Japanese-Brazilian, Machida, the current UFC light heavyweight
champion and Shotokan karate specialist, claims to be a product of
eastern full contact sports institutions having trained Muay Thai in
Thailand and participated in New Japan Pro Wrestling in
Tokyo before hitting pay dirt in the
UFC.
As this developed,
another pride of the west, Shane Mosley, have also expressed
willingness to engage Pacquiao in a slugfest “in a catch weight”.
Mosley’s Challenge
Mosley’s challenge
came after light middleweight upstart Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. dared
Pacquiao to a showdown before the end of 2009. Top Rank promotion had
also mentioned Miguel Cotto’s name as Pacquiao’s possible opponent.
“There are conflicting
reports from the Pacquiao camp an upcoming fight between me and Manny
Pacquiao. I want it to be known that I want to fight Pacquiao and I
want to fight him now. I’m willing to meet at a catch weight to make
that happen,” Mosley said.
“I know this is what
Freddie Roach wants as well, as he has previously stated this to
press. I am the best fighter in boxing and I am ready to reclaim the
title of number one pound-for-pound fighter.”
To end the guessing
game, it was the 30-year-old boxer-cum-politician from Gen. Santos
City, Philippines who broke the iceberg by declaring he was interested
and ready to face flamboyant Floyd Mayweather Jr. on October 17.
Mayweather,
meanwhile, is scheduled to fight Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18 at the
MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada and the Golden Boy Promotions announced
the winner will possibly challenge Pacquiao, who is currently the best
boxer in the world pound-for-pound.
Violence against
children in schools still prevalent
By JONNIE H. BUENAVENTURA (PIA
8)
May 28, 2009
TACLOBAN CITY –
The Plan Philippines, an international humanitarian, child-centered
development organization, recently sponsored a forum dubbed as
“Fostering a Caring School Environment” which centered on the abuses
sustained by children inside the school, at Leyte Park Hotel, Tacloban
City.
Plan Philippines
commissioned the Philippine School of Social Work (PSSW) of the
Philippine Women’s University to undertake a study on violence against
children (VAC) in public schools in areas covered by Plan programs.
A total of 2,442
children from 58 public schools in Masbate, Northern Samar and Camotes
Island in Cebu participated in the study and the result of the study
showed that at least 5 out of 10 children in Grades 1-3; about 7 out
of 10 in Grades 4-6; and about 6 out of 10 in high school, have
experienced some kind of violence in school.
The study showed that
verbal abuse is the most prevalent form of violence experienced by
children in all school levels. This includes being ridiculed and
teased, being shouted at and being cursed or spoken to with harsh
words.
Children peers, more
than the adults, are the perpetrators of violence in schools.
According to Mikee
Cojuangco-Jaworski, Plan Philippines Child Rights Ambassador and
daughter of business tycoon Peping Cojuangco and now President of
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), whatever effort a mother does in
order to protect her children against harm and from all forms of
abuse, still the school authorities specially the teachers have a
vital role in fostering children for they act as the second parents of
the child and most often the child follows what the teacher says.
"I believe that
teachers care and molding the children in becoming leaders of the
future is beyond compare. However, there are few teachers who hurt
their students because they believe that it is just a form of
discipline but indeed, the child suffers trauma from the abuses
sustained from the perpetrators," she said.
Mrs. Jaworski revealed
that the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) chaired by her father
conducted a study and it turned out that only 5% of the youth (35
years old below) population engage in exercise, 92% of the Philippine
population gain national pride thru sports (the likes of Manny
Pacquiao -boxing, Wesley So -Chess, Paeng Nepumoceno -Bowling etc.),
7% of the youth are into drugs and 30% of the youth is engage in sex
trade.
According to Iris Ann
Umacob, Child and Adolescent Psychologist, when students or children
in schools experience abuse there performance and self-esteem decline
which results from not going anymore to schools.
Ms. Umacob urged
Department of Education (DepEd) officials to look into the matter and
make strict monitoring from the start of the classes to the end
because dropping of students is not seen from the first few months in
the school but it can be observed during the 2nd quarter of the school
year onwards.
PGMA’s “One Town One
Scholar” Program makes pedicab driver and son cry
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
May
8, 2009
TACLOBAN CITY
– A pedicab driver and his son shed tears upon being told that the
son is among the first set of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s “One
Town One Scholar” Program.
|

President
Arroyo shakes hands with Mayor Roque Tiu of Tanauan, Leyte, during
the ceremonial awarding of the scholarship certificates for some
1,500 One Town One Scholar Program for 2009-2010. |
“I was anxious when a
neighbor told me last night that my son Argie and I are being
requested by the Mayor to see him at
8:00 o’clock in the morning today,” Mr. Mabag, a pedicab driver from
Cabuynan, Tanauan,
Leyte, said.
At exactly 8:00
o’clock in the morning, Mr. Mabag and his son Argie were at Mayor
Roque Tiu’s office.
Mayor Tiu then told
the father and son that Argie’s application to be a “One Town One
Scholar” has been approved by CHED and that the Mayor will accompany
him to Manila to receive the scholarship certificate from no less than
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the Malacanang Palace.
“I was shocked and at
the same time surprised to see they shed tears,” Mayor Tiu said
confiding that he was taken aback at the reaction of the father and
son.
He said that CHED
Region 8 called him up early evening of Monday informing him that
Tanauan’s “One Town One Scholar” will represent Region 8 in the
awarding of scholarship certificates at Malacanang on Wednesday, May
6.
Mayor Tiu who just
bought a ticket to Manila for Thursday May 7, immediately called up
the ticketing office to change his flight date and bought another
ticket for Argie.
“I never expected to
be able to pursue a college education,” Argie said. “Thanks to
President Gloria, my dream to become a professional so that I could
help improve the economic standing of my family will be realized,”
Argie said crying.
Admitting he has never
been to Manila, Argie said he is not afraid because he will be with
the Mayor. He is excited to see President Arroyo at Malacanang, he
confessed.
Argie said he learned
about the “One Town One Scholar” program of President Arroyo from
Mayor Tiu during the graduation exercises last March.
Knowing that his
parents cannot afford to send him to college because his father is
just a tricycle driver who every now and then would cook bread and
native delicacies to augment the family income, Argie wrote an
application letter and he took the written exam given by the local
government unit.
Argie, who graduated
as an honorable mention in his class, the first batch of graduates
from the Cabuynan Annex of the
Tanauan National High
School, topped the written exams and interview conducted by the LGU,
together with an equally bright student from his school.
Mayor Tiu said that
after he recommended Argie to CHED, he decided to take in the other
bright student applicant as a scholar of the Local Government Unit.
As a PGMA’s “One
Town One Scholar” grantee, Argie will receive a scholarship for a four
or five year college degree program, including free tuition and
transportation and living allowances, not exceeding P15,000 per
semester for School Year 2009-2010 and every year thereafter.
Northern Samar
commemorates 109th Anniversary of the Battle of Catubig
By TERESITA B. CARDENAS (PIA Northern
Samar)
April 18, 2009
CATARMAN, Northern
Samar – The municipality of Catubig, Northern Samar observed the
commemoration of the 109th anniversary of the Battle of Catubig by
holding a parade and followed by a program which was held at the
Municipal Auditorium on Wednesday,
April 15, 2009.
In her welcome
address, Catubig lady Mayor Hon. Cristina L. Vicencio said that “from
the installation of the National Historical Institute marker in 2007,
to the commemoration of the Battle’s 108th anniversary, to this 109th
observance of our people’s victory over the American invaders, all of
us are witnesses to the relentless efforts of former board member Mrs.
Leta Luto de la Cruz to ingrain this historic event in the civic
consciousness and nationalistic sentiments of every Catubignon and Las
Navasnon.”
She further stressed
that the occasion should be a time to reflect on those glorious days
in April 1900, so that Catubignons may be reinvigorated into joining
hands in order to start anew “where we have backslid, to work all the
way toward the progress of this land which these selfless men and
women a century ago protected. “
Governor Raul A. Daza
also in his message said that the
Battle
was a glorious choice made by Domingo Rebadulla and the Catubignons
when they stood to fight the Americans. The principled decision was
made even if they had to risk their lives, and thus once more validate
the Filipinos’ love of democracy and freedom.
“Principle over
comfort is ideal in preserving freedom not only during their time but
also in our time. Today we are not only under a threat from the
Americans and Spaniards but Filipinos against Filipinos. Every 15th
day of April of every year, we relive the spirit of the Battle of
Catubig, especially how the loyal and patriotic Catubignons risked
their lives. We should always keep in our hearts, the freedom and
their heroic acts, so let this be a binding to all of us and endure
not only during their generation but the future generations,” the
governor said.
The Battle of Catubig
was re-enacted in a historical drama played by the youth groups of
Catubig. After which was the awarding of recognition to Outstanding
Catubignons. The 2009 Outstanding Catubignons were given to former
congressman, the late Atty. Romualdo T. Vicencio, for his efforts to
improve the living standard of the Catubignons; Dr. Pacita R. Uy, for
her singular effort and perseverance as a working mother, in the
process producing seven professional children, five doctors of
medicine, one certified accountant, and one mechanical engineer; Arch.
Arnulfo P. De Asis, for his singular achievement as a high-caliber
architect and upscale building contractor; Atty. Mar P. De Asis, for
being the first Catubignon to become president of a state university;
and to Miss Sherylee Hiramia Sustiguer, for bringing honor to the
municipality as the first Catubignon and Nortehanon to win a beauty
contest at the national level.
During the program the
first Catubig Historical Club Officers were inducted by Gov. Raul A.
Daza, with Mrs. Leta Luto-De la Cruz as the president; Dr. Juanito E.
Tentativa as the vice-president; Mr. Neciforo E. Rubenecia, Jr. as
secretary; Hon. Maria C. Montealto as treasurer; Mr. Abner M. Orsolino
as auditor; Miss Luisa O. Rebadulla as
PIO; Board of Directors: Ms. Hope Llorey B. Glorioso, Mr. Romualdo L. Hipe,
Ms. Trinidad T. Espina, Mr. Rico D. De Asis, Hon. Zenaida P. Uy; Mr.
Manrico Embile as consultant; and Dr. Rodolfo T. Galit, Sr., Dr. Lydia
E. De la Rosa and Hon. Ma. Cristina L. Vicencio as advisers.
A closing prayer
highlighted by candle lighting at the Battle of Catubig Shrine which
was led by the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Cecilio P. Lucero concluded the
program.
Related readings: The
Battle of Catubig
Pangulong Gloria
Scholarship boosts employability of the 5,776 scholars in Region 8
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
April
6, 2009
TACLOBAN CITY – The Pangulong Gloria Scholarship Program which is being implemented by the
Techical Education and Skills Development Authority, is seen as a tool
that would increase the employability of
Eastern Visayas
folk.
As of March 29, 2009,
there are already 5,776 scholars have benefited from the Pangulong
Gloria Scholarship Program in Region 8, TESDA 8 Director Juan M.
Sabulao Jr informed.
Of the total number of
Pangulong Gloria Scholars in the Region, about 303 have graduated as
of March 29, 2009.
The Pangulong Gloria
scholars in Region 8 are studying in the various TESDA accredited
vocational-technical schools scattered in the 6 provinces in Region 8.
In Leyte province, there are 1,594 Pangulong Gloria scholars; 318 in
Biliran; 407 in Southern Leyte; 544 in Samar; 1,242 in Eastern Samar
and 1,671 in Northern Samar.
These scholar are
taking upshort courses on Bartending, Building Wiring, Call Center
Agent, Carpentry, Commercial Cooking, computer hardware servicing,
consumer electronics servicing, food and beverage services, health
care services, household housekeeping, Java, Korean language,
machining, medical transcription, massage theraphy, masonry,
pipefitting, plumbing, shielder metal arch weilding, automotive
servicing, driving, haircutting, small engine servicing, among others.
Right after
graduation, these graduates undergo assessment tests for them to be
given certification, an important requirement for employment or for
further training.
The Pangulong Gloria
Scholarship Program is TESDA’s response to President Arroyo’s
directives on government-business-labor initiatives against the global
crisis, Director Sabulao said.
Ang Pangulong Gloria
Scholarships is TESDA’s platform to link job training directly to job
recruiters, displaced workers and Overseas Filipino workers.
Director Sabulao said
the program is aimed at reducing the unemployment and underemployment
rate in the country by helping students and the local populace to get
immediate employment not only in their localities but even outside the
country.
This is the reason why
Director Sabulao really take time to encourage high school graduates
to avail of this free skills training under the Pangulong Gloria
Scholarship Program.
The training package
includes the training cost, institutional incentive package, training
allowance and assessment fees.
Availment of the
scholarship is on first-come first served basis, Director Sabulao
said. This is why he is encouraging interested
Eastern Visayans to visit the TESDA office nearest them, right away.
Interested applicants
must be at least 18 years old, with birth certificate preferably
issued by the National Statistics Office, physically and mentally fit.
Northern Samareños
avail of PAGCOR led PGMA Serbisyu Muna; 28 national, local government
organizations join caravan
By NENE A. MANZANARES (PIA Northern
Samar)
March 30, 2009
CATARMAN, Northern
Samar – If buntings decorated the whole area, it
could almost be mistaken as a town fiesta. People flocked at the
Sacred Heart Plaza in Catarman Thursday the other week to avail of the
services brought by the People’s Government Mobile Action (PGMA)
Serbisyu Muna with full caravan support.
The one-stop-shop
project provided clients the rare opportunity to seek the services
they wanted most in one area. Be it medical or dental services or mere
consultations with the representatives of the 28 national and local
government agencies in the “caravan”, the services were there for the
taking.
About twenty five
tents from the provincial government and one big tent from the Armed
Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were set-up on the sides surrounding
the Sacred Heart Plaza where the 28 participating agencies were given
a space to serve their walk-in clients. The bigger tents were
assigned to the medical and dental teams including the area assigned
for pharmacists.
The Catarman PGMA
Serbisyu Muna was able to provide medical services to 1,503
constituents and dental services to 361 beneficiaries. Eleven doctors
and 12 dentists were at hand to provide their assistance.
On March 17 or two
days prior to the Catarman event, medical and dental services were
provided simultaneously in the towns of San Roque and Catubig in the
second district of the province. In San Roque, 610 medical and 141
dental beneficiries were provided with services while in the town of
Catubig, 703 medical and 165 dental patients availed of the services.
It was the turn of the
towns of San Jose and Rosario on March 18 where both dental and
medical services were likewise simultanenously provided. In San Jose
town, some 705 medical and 104 dental patients were recorded while in
the town of Rosario, some 574 medical and 165 dental patients were
recorded.
The PAGCOR touch
During the short
opening program, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR)
Vice-President Remedios Petilla expressed her gratitude to Gov. Raul
Daza and the local officials of the
province of
Northern Samar
for hosting the PGMA Serbisyu Muna caravan. She also thanked the
participating national and local agencies who showed their commitment
and support to the project. PAGCOR is point agency in this on going
“caravan of services” project.
In an exclusive
interview with PIA, Pagcor Vice-President Petilla said that this is a
special project of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the latter’s
effort to provide the needed services in far-flung and depressed
provinces. This project is being supported by PAGCOR which provides
manpower, supplies and medicines. They also coordinate with the local
government units and different national agencies to ensure
participation in the event.
The charming and very
energetic Pagcor veep said that PGMA Serbisyu muna has already
provided services to Davao, Bicol, Agusan, Aklan, Masbate and other
provinces in Eastern Visayas like Biliran, and Eastern Samar. Petilla,
who was a former governor of Leyte said that the caravan of services
is not new to her as she had the same project during her stint as
chief executive of Leyte province. This has been continued by her son
Icot Petilla, who is now the incumbent governor of Leyte.
Describing the event
as “the project of the President”, Petilla is pleased whenever she
sees a great number of people in Serbisyu Muna. “Nalilipay ako kun
damo an mga tawo, kay karuyag sidngon, damo man an amon naserbihan” (I
feel happy when I see many people because this means that we were able
to serve a great number of people), the amiable Pagcor veep enthused.
Caravan of Services
Among the 28 agencies
that participated in the caravan of services were:
The Local Government
Units which played host to the project, come first in the list of
caravan of services. The Province of Northern Samar, and the towns of
Catubig, San Roque,
San Jose and
Rosario
provided meals and snacks to the working group behind the Serbisyu
Muna project. They also provided manpower augmentation such as
doctors, dentists, pharmacists and members of the secretariat.
The Department of
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) thru its OIC assistant regional
director Virginia Edano said that to address health, nutrition and
education concerns of provinces like Northern Samar, their agency has
implemented the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino (PPP) program. Ten
municipalities of the province are recipients of this program. These
are the towns of Silvino Lobos, Las Navas, Mapanas, Catubig, Lapinig,
Lope de Vega, Mondragon, Palapag, San Roque and Pambujan.
The PPP is a program
of the President that primarily seeks poverty reduction through social
assistance with investment in human capital. The said program issues
cash cards for beneficiaries which they will use to withdraw money
from the Land Bank of the Philippines. Cash grants are provided to
children who belong to extremely poor households. These are the health
and nutrition cash grant of P500/month or P6,000 a year; and the
education cash grant of P300 or P3,000 per school year.
The Department of
Health (DOH) has announced that they will provide facilities and
equipment to four hospitals in the province. DOH regional director
Dr. Edgardo Gonzaga said that such facilites and equipment willl be
provided to Northern Samar Provincial Hospital (P3 million); Dr. G.B.
Tan Memorial Hospital (P3 million);
Allen
District
Hospital
(P1 million); and Gamay District Hospital (P1 million).
The Department of
Health also gave awards to six barangays of the province, namely Brgy.
Narra, Brgy. Cawayan, Brgy. Bangkerohan, Brgy. Cal-igang, Brgy. Jose
Abad Santos and Brgy. UEP Zone I. Each barangay received P25,000 each
worth of medicines for their Botica sa Barangay.
The Department of
Labor and Employment (DOLE) conducted a Local and Overseas Jobs Fair
in coordination with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
(POEA) and the Province of Northern Samar.
Among the overseas
agencies which participated in the jobs fair were the Mothers Way
Overseas Manpower Specialist Corporation, New Era Placement Agency
Inc., Pacific Mediterrenian’ Treasure of Hope International Inc and
Unijobs International. The APAC Customer Services, Incorporated, a
local agency also participated in the said fair.
A Call Center Company
also joined the jobs fair seeking for applicants as call center agents.
Workers wearing blue
t-shirts from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) were
seen cleaning up and cutting overgrown grass from the side streets of
the first and second districts of the province. The DPWH also
provided mobility services to the PIA coverage team during the
three-day event.
The Philippine Army
through the 8th Infantry Division, 803rd Infantry Brigade and the 63rd
Infantry Battalion provided dental services and manpower support for
crowd control. The Army also provided tents during the three-day
dental and medical services in all of the five towns which
participated in the Serbisyu Muna in the province.
The Professional
Regulatory Commission (PRC) provided renewal services of professional
identification cards. New PRC IDs were likewise issued. Dioscoro
Lumagbas, the assigned regulation officer said that there are 42
professions being handled by the PRC.
The Catarman based
Philhealth thru its chief insurance officer Romeo Agus said that they
provided services to clients who asked querries on membership,
contributions and claims. They also provided application forms to
walk-in clients.
It was learned that
they are now screening indigent applicants who are qualified to become
members of Philhealth.
The Philippine
Broadcast Services (Radyo Ng Bayan) through Station DYOG provided a
blow by blow account of the three-day event. The three man team
headed by its station manager, utilized phone patch in disseminating
their reports live to
Calbayog
City.
The Philippine
Information Agency based in the province likewise provided information
support through production of print and broadcast releases with local
stations DYSM and Radyo Natin-San Roque as broadcast outlets. The
PAGCOR team was provided with copies of the produced materials.
Other members of the
caravan were the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes (PCSO); National
Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC); Social Security System (SSS); Public
Attoryneys Office (PAO); National Telecommunications (NTC); Department
of Agriculture (DA); Cooperative Development Authority (CDA); National
Bureau of Investigation (NBI); People’s Credit and finance Corporation
(PCFC); Philippine Overseas and Employment Agency (POEA); Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA); Training and
Livelihood Resource Center); National Food Authority (NFA); Philippine
National Police (PNP); and the Provincial Health Office (PHO).
The Bayanihan spirit
in the PGMA Serbisyu Muna project
As the tents were
folded up and the members of the team packed their bags, Nortehanons
would not only remember the doctors, the dentists, the free medicines
and the services provided by the caravan teams.
More than that,
they would remember the loving touch and the special care which the
bayanihan inspired project brought to their lives. They would keep a
special place in their hearts that one day in their lives, they saw
workers of government providing them the services they needed. And
that in this one day of their lives, they have truly understood what
public service is all about. (with reports from Ailene N. Diaz and
Teresita B. Cardenas)
HR manager, not the
employee, more affected by crisis
By RAFFY OSUMO, Leaders Link
March
27, 2009
CEBU CITY – The
human resources manager - not the employee - is more susceptible in
the current global economic crisis.
Human resources
managers are experiencing more headaches in managing people as
companies implement sweeping cost cutting measures like freeze in
hiring, across the board reorganization and even termination of
services.
With economic recovery
not expected until 2010, companies turn to their human resources
manager to come up with strategies to cope with the present crisis
seen by IMF experts as bad as World War II or the Great Depression.
Yet relief is readily
available for human resources practitioners.
“Surprisingly, while
other companies are starting to feel the crunch, most of them find
opportunities during the crisis,” pointed Zamyra F. Baguio, managing
consultant of Leaders Link.
Zamyra F. Baguio,
managing director of Leaders Link, spoke to more than 32 human
resources managers and practitioners during a forum on human capital
solution at Casino Español Friday afternoon last week.
Baguio said
opportunities are within the organization, others could be outsourced.
“Cebuano companies, as
well as other businesses in Visayas and
Mindanao have now learned to outsource some of their services to
consultancy firms. In the past, companies have to pay huge amount of
money to bring experts from Metro Manila, now we have our own pool of
experts in Cebu, that are more effective because they ‘speak the
language’ and understands our regional culture,” Baguio said.
During an HR café, she
moderated, a human resources manager said the crisis offered her
company more time for training as production slows down. She said this
opportunity wasn’t possible before.
Another human
resources manager said, “clients are demanding even more quality
service” reinforcing the need to train employees so they could cope
with more demands in the work place.
Another important
point discussed during the forum was about finding and hiring the
right people.
Caroline “Carl”
Borromeo, a noted human resources profiler, pointed out that it would
be more expensive for companies to hire the wrong person.
To avoid such a
mistake, Borromeo discussed the uses of Harrison Assessments, a proven
tool in finding, training and development of employees.
Companies affected by
the economic crisis have to address the issue of sustaining their
business as well as the work force.
Atty. Orville dela
Cerna, a trainer and human resources practitioner, argued that a
flexible work arrangement is the better alternative to retrenchment or
closure of the business.
“Anchored on voluntary
basis and conditions mutually acceptable to both the employer and the
employees, it is recognized as beneficial in terms of reduction of
business costs and helps in saving jobs while maintaining
competitiveness and productivity in industries,” dela Cerna said.
Dela Cerna further
said that companies might want to consider the following flexible
arrangement like compressed workweek, reduction of workdays, rotation
of workdays, forced leave and broken-time schedules.
There were two other
speakers during the forum. Nicolas M. Baguio, training consultant of
Leaders Link, spoke about strategic planning while Julius E. Romarate,
dean of Britech Computer College, presented the Dual Training System
(DTS) where IT students get training in both school and real work
place environment.
The DTS program
provides the student the venue where he applies what he learned in
school. On the other hand, the partner company gets the chance to
evaluate students that they may later hire as employees.
Leaders Link is a
training, consultancy and executive search company since 2003. It
offers organization and strategic solutions, human resources training
and development and headhunting services to various companies in the
Visayas and Mindanao.
For more information
about Leaders Link, please contact (032) 422-8505, (032) 422-5552 or
mobile phones 0917-620-7639 and 0923-327-8856.
'Mobile Kusina ni
Mayor Lo' starts brewing nutritious recipes
By NINFA B. QUIRANTE (PIA
Samar)
March 23, 2009
CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar
– The Mobile Kusina ni Mayor Lo of Daram, Samar has started brewing
with fragrant aroma coming from nutritious but low cost recipes.
Mayor Lo aka Daram
Mayor Lucia Astorga has been doing the rounds of seven pilot barangays
to deliver the nutritious but low cost/costless recipes sans seasoning
and expensive flavorings. All a Daramnon gets is natural and real
food!
|

Mayor Lo Astorga |
The innovation comes
from Anita’s Kitchen in
Davao. Some friends said Mayor delighted her with stories of such
kind, that she suggested ‘importing’ the same concept to her island
town.
As in Manila and
Marikina, where the project has been, mothers have to pay P30 to
participate in cooking and later in eating.
But in Daram, mothers
only bring the recipe ingredient available in their backyard and they
do not pay anything. Mayor Lo subsidizes the cost of the ‘cook-out’.
Mothers here also
imbibe the spirit of having fun while providing nourishment for the
family. Cooking need not be tedious, dull and perfunctory, meals
should be varied to tickle the appetite.
The chef mayor first
gathers all constituents preferably in a public place like the
barangay plaza. When all is set, a cooking demonstration ensues with
lectures on proper nutrition on the side.
The emphasis, said the
Mayor is to utilize food ingredients found in the area. And in the
process, she added, they discovered that vegetables are nil in some
areas. This prompted the Municipal Agriculturist to disperse vegetable
seeds to the barangays in need.
When asked why not
utilize the marine resources which Daram, being an island is known
for, the lady mayor replied that she wanted the fishing grounds of
Daram to rest for a while and perhaps re generate.
In the cooking demo,
participants practice volunteerism and bayanihan. Some barangay
officials like tanod would fetch water, others prepare the vegetables
and others assist in the grand cooking demonstration.
The event in the two
barangays San Roque and Cansaganay have raved waves that other
barangays wish to emulate the festive ‘cook-out’. The project is also
mentioned in Astorga’s Community-managed child nutrition improvement
where it features utilization of local materials for child
feeding/nutrition improvement activities.
Very soon with the
mobile Kusina ni Mayor Lo rounding off all 58 Daram barangays,
malnutrition may be addressed all in the spirit of fun and discovery
of innovative ways to prepare nutritious but costless menu for the
families of Daram.
Army Engineering Const
Battalion launches P45M Kalayaan Barangay projects in East Samar
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
March
18, 2009
TACLOBAN CITY –
Always upholding its motto “to build not destroy, to bring happiness,
not sorrow,” the 546 Engineer Construction Battalion of the 53rd
Engineer Brigade of the Philippine Army is set to formally launch on
March 18, the implementation of the P45,018,000 Million Kalayaan
Barangay Projects in Eastern Samar.
Lieutenant Colonel
Krestofel A. Kiamco informed that the launching will be held at
Barangay Waso, Llorente, Eastern Samar where the 546 Engineer
Battalion has already constructed a two-classroom school building
worth P706,727.46.
The Kalayaan Barangay
Project will benefit about 13 barangays in Borongan, Llorente and
Maydolong will benefit in terms of projects which will be implemented
therein, LtCol. Kiamco said.
The Kalayaan Barangay
Project of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo which is being
implemented by the Department of National Defense, the Armed Forces of
the Philippines and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the
Peace Process, aims to address the needs of the poor communities in
conflict areas or in areas which have peace and order issues, Lt.
Colonel Kiamco said.
This is a government
initiative which is a non-combat approach to solve the insurgency in
areas affected by the problem, he added.
Kalayaan Barangay
Project (KBP) was conceptualized to promote peace and development in
the countryside. Specific program interventions include, core
Infrastructure projects and services like improvements on
transportation, communication, road and rail network, electrification
and water supply facility as well as classroom buildings and
educational establishments.
Five barangays of
Borongan City are recipients of more than P22 Milion worth of
projects. One of them, Barangay Amantacop is recipient of
P4,500,000.04 worth of projects which include rehabilitation of Cainta-Housing
Resettlement Farm to
Market Road,
Barangay Electrification, construction of reservoir/water system
development, Construction of 59 units single chamber toilets.
Barangay Balacdas is
recipient of P4,336,037.00 of projects which include the
rehabilitation Cainta-Housing Resettlement farm to market road; spring
dev't & 5 units deep well installation; expansion & repair of barangay
street lights; construction of Day Care Center; and repair of 1-room
school building.
Barangay Cagbonga will
receive P4,499,964 worth of projects which include the rehabilitation
of Cagbonga-Bayobay Maypangan farm to market road, repair of 2-room
school building, Installation of barangay street lights,
rehabilitation of water system, and construction of 33 units single
chamber sanitary toilets.
Barangay San Gabriel
will have a total of P4,56,999.25 worth of projects to include
rehabilitation and upgrading of farm-to-market road, and repair of
2-room school building.
The fifth recipient at
Borongan is Barangay San Pablo which will be given projects like the
construction of San Pablo-Cagbonga farm-to-market road, improvement
and expansion of water system, and construction of 26 units single
chamber sanitary toilets, all in all amounting to P4,567,999.25.
About P1,113,814.71
worth of projects will be implemented in the six barangays of Llorente,
namely, Can-ato, Canduros, Camtomco, Hugpa, Magtino and Waso. The
projects include barangay electrification, construction of two-story
school buildings, water supply systems, barangay health center, and
improvement of access roads.
About P5,679,491.00
worth of Kalayaan Barangay Projects will be implemented in Barangays
Del Pilar and Tagaslian of Maydolong town. The projects include the
construction of one two-story school building, barangay
electrification and construction of Level II water system.
Maasin City records
zero rabies casualty in almost two decades
By PIA Southern
Leyte March
17, 2009
MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte – No casualty due to rabies virus recorded in
Maasin City
for almost two decades so far, City Health Officer Dr. Francilisa Tan
disclosed during the recent, Maasin City In Action radio program over
DyDM.
In celebration of the
Rabies Month, the Maasin City Health Units in coordination with the
City Agriculturist Office and the Office of the Provincial
Veterinarian campaigned for responsible pet ownership throughout the
province and to submit dogs for registration and vaccination.
Dr. Tan announced that
Salvacion Oppus Yniguez Memorial Provincial Hospital (SOYMPH) is
identified as the bite center in the province.
She gave instructions
in the first aide management of dog bite to wash the wound with soap
and water thoroughly in ten minutes, defying the traditional garlic
and vinegar medication on bite wounds.
Rabies is a zoonotic
disease caused by RNA viruses in the Family Rhabdoviridae, Genus
Lyssavirus (1--4). Virus is typically present in the saliva of
clinically ill mammals and is transmitted through a bite. After
entering the central nervous system of the next host, the virus causes
an acute, progressive encephalomyelitis that is almost always fatal.
The incubation period in humans is usually several weeks to months,
but ranges from days to years.
Meanwhile the City
Agriculture’s office here recorded four hundred heads of dogs
registered and vaccinated last December 2008, however, the office
conservative estimate of the city dog population must have reached
more than a thousand heads.
In line with the
nationwide awareness month celebration, City Agriculturist Acasio
reported of the scheduled two months long massive rabies vaccinations
commencing this month until April this year. The office also
structured 4 groups to undertake the campaign for massive rabies
vaccination in seventy barangays of the city.
The city has also
organized aggressive dog enforcers who catch astray dogs along the
streets.
Partnership: Key to
DENR 8 Success in 2008
By PURIFICACION S. DALOOS
February
17, 2009
TACLOBAN CITY – The
social mobilization and environmental advocacy strategies of the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources in region 8 has gained
grounds as it saw remarkable milestones and attained its goal and
targets for calendar year 2008.
Under the leadership
of then Regional Executive Director Alfredo S. Pascual, partners and
stakeholders from both the public and private sector were tapped to
work with the regional and field offices and line bureaus of the
Department in implementing its programs and projects towards
environmental protection and natural resources conservation.
Together with the
Philippine Army, Philippine National Police, some local government
units and concerned citizens, forest protection activities yielded the
confiscation of about 116.94 cu.m. of hot lumber. “This is the result
of 72 apprehensions wherein ten (10) units of conveyances and three
(3) units of equipments were also confiscated,” reveals Regional
Technical Director Felipe Calub of the Forest Management Service
(FMS).
Non-government
organizations have been contracted by the Department to undertake
plantation establishment activities in different watershed areas in
the region. A total of eight hundred thirty (830) hectares of forest
plantation was established within eight (8) identified watersheds
including Daguitan Watershed in Burauen, Leyte, Bulusao Watershed in
Lawaan, Eastern Samar and Catarman Watershed in Lope de Vega, Northern
Samar. These areas were planted with grafted fruit tree seedlings such
as lanzones, rambutan, mango, durian and mangosteen. Deep rooted
forest tree species and bamboo were planted along river banks, creeks
and denuded areas.
Seedling production
activities resulted in over 125,000 seedlings produced regionwide.
These were made available to various sectors of society including
religious groups, the academe, NGOs and socio-civic organizations who
are partners in rehabilitating degraded areas and in re-greening the
environment.
RTD Calub also shares
that rehabilitation activities of watersheds supporting the regional
irrigation system of the National Irrigation Authority were done in
the watersheds of Magon-bucan, Bito and Mainit all in
Leyte province.
Strong partnerships
with local government units have also contributed much to achieving
the work targets for 2008 of the Land Management Service. Close
coordination with the LGUs had resulted in the successful conduct of
Free Patent distributions regionwide under the Handog Titulo Program
of the Department. “We have distributed 16,316 free patents to
qualified beneficiaries in 2008,” says RTD for Land Management Service
Ramon Unay. “This covers an aggregate area of around 13,000 hectares
throughout the region,” RTD Unay adds. The distribution of Free
patents to qualified beneficiaries is one of government strategies
toward addressing the Labanan ang Kahirapan call of President Gloria
Arroyo.
“We have also sought
the support of the LGUs and other stakeholders in our implementation
of the Philippine Reference System ’92 (PRS ’92),” relates RTD Unay.
He goes on to disclose that the Department has requested these LGUs to
help in the protection and conservation of the Geodetic Control Points
(GCPs), commonly known as the mojon, and advocate to their
constituents the significance of the GCPs under PRS ’92.
Local communities have
likewise been engaged by the DENR in implementing its activities in
the past year. RTDa Ricardo Tomol of the protected Areas, Wildlife and
Coastal Zone management Service (PAWCZMS) shares the important role of
local residents in Palompon, Leyte in the assessment of Tres Marias
Island in that town. The information provided by local residents, as
well as monitoring activities conducted by field personnel of the
PAWCZMS resulted in its recommendation and declaration as a critical
habitat due to the presence of threatened species.
Ecosystems Research
and Development (ERD) activities were also implemented by the ERD
Service in 2008. According to RTD Edilberto Nasayao, their sector has
conducted a research for the rehabilitation of Bagacay Mines in
Hinabanagan, Samar. A variety of species have been planted in a 1,200
sq. m mined out area. These included wedilla, talahib and bahai, among
twelve (12) other species.
“While we recognize
the notable accomplishments of the past year, we must admit that there
is still a lot to be done, especially as we combat the effects of
global warming,” says current DENR RED Regidor De Leon.
“The task towards
creating a sound environment for all as well as the sustainable use of
our finite resources is a daily challenge, not just for the DENR, but
for each and every individual,” RED De Leon says even as he called for
the continued support of its partners in 2009.
Zumarraga OTOP now
operational
By NINFA B. QUIRANTE (PIA
Samar)
February 15,
2009
CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar
– After the successful mussel culture in Jiabong,
Samar which
ballooned into a multi-million industry, the Department of Trade and
Industry (DTI) Samar will embark on rock oyster (sisi) culture in
Zumarraga.
In a press release, by
Mrs. Ruthelma S. Samonte, Provincial OTOP Coordinator of DTI Samar, it
said that a convergence strategy has been employed to effect the
project known as Rock Oyster Culture and Processing Development
Project.
|

Zumarraga
women try their hand on a 'sanitized' fermentation process as
instructed by their trainer. Fermenting rock oyster has started in
this island town and is believed to generate jobs as One Town One
Product (OTOP) takes a vow. (Samar PIA/SSU) |
The converging
entities include LGU of Zummaraga through the leadership of Mayor
Edwin Neil Figueroa, Research Dept. of Dr. Felisa Gomba and College of
Fisheries and Marine Sciences (COFMAS) of Dr. Abdurahman Latip under
Pres. Simon Babalcon, Jr. of the Samar State University (SSU), DTI of
Dr. Asisclo T. Beleña and DOLE of Mrs. Fe Estrella.
The Zumarraga Sisi
Producers Association (ZUSI), its project proponent chaired by Mrs.
Gavina Doblon will have three (3) components: rock oyster culture,
improved sisi processing and market development.
It is said to directly
benefit about one hundred eighty six (186) surveyed sisi gatherers and
thirty (30) sisi traders not to mention the numerous other
opportunities that will be generated to the Zumarraganhons.
The rock oyster
culture component output is the installation of about twenty (20)
hanging raft oyster culture modules in strategically located barangays
in each of the four (4) clusters of Zumarraga.
To ensure a steady and
year round supply of sisi as a raw material once the Zumarraga
Production Center will be operational this year, an improved
technology introduced by Prof. Renato Diocton, Prof. Raul Cilmar and
Prof. Danilo Mabonga assisted by the LGUs counterpart MAO Alex Bitbit
and Mrs. Joy Cebu, AT is expected to produce 63 sacks of rock oyster
per module which not only productive but also environmentally
friendly.
The second component
is the standardization of sisi processing. As introduced by Mrs. Nora
Doncillo, Fish Processing instructor all sisi processors shall comply
with the food regulatory requirements of Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).
The third component is
the improvement of the packaging of sisi to increase its marketability
and competitiveness once the product will be promoted in trade fairs,
supermarkets and institutional buyers.
To ensure the
viability of the project, DTI prepared a Project Proposal and Business
Plan submission to DOLE which was facilitated by the PESO Manager and
DSWDO of Zumarraga, Mrs. Evelyn S. Hernando and approved for funding
by DOLE Samar under the PRESEED in the amount of P633,440.
The project started
late last year with the simultaneous conduct of the Rock Oyster
Culture and Processing Training from October 8-10, 2008 in Zumarraga
and the follow-up training on Skills Upgrading on Rock Oyster Stock
Density Enhancement in Brgy. Arteche, Zumarraga on January 26-27 and
Fermented Rock Oyster Processing Upgrading Training on January 27,
2009 in Zumarraga with a total of twenty five (25) and fifty eight
(58) respectively.
On the other hand,
product development activities to upgrade the quality of sisi include
the product testing of sample products in the laboratories of Iloilo
facilitated by SSU Mercedes Campus and the development of improve
packaging design by the Product Research and Development Center (PRDCP-DOST)
Head Office for the appropriate packaging of sisi.
Also initiated by SSU for Zumarraga was the P557,000 fund
support from NEDA-KR2 (National Economic Development Authority-Kennedy
Round 2) for the project "Enhancement and Standardization of
Fermentation Process of Rock Oyster (Sacosstrea cucullata) 'Sisi' for
Marginal Fishers in Samar".
Moreover, as
preparatory activities for the product’s exposure in local, regional
and national trade fairs and other marketing activities of DTI, a
marketing plan was prepared and presented to the ZUSI officers and
members. (with report from DTI)
Around 3,000
households in Basey has no sanitary toilets
By RICKY J. BAUTISTA February 12, 2009
BASEY, Samar – Would
you believe that around 3,000 households of this second class
municipality considered as “partially urban” in the Southwestern part
of Samar has no sanitary toilets?
Better believe it as
it was obviously observed during the latest survey conducted by the
local government unit of Basey arriving to a record that many
households in the 20 barangays in the municipality are denied access
to sanitary toilets. In a normal ratio, an ordinary household is
composed of six family members or children.
Basey population is at
43,809 and that is nine years ago, or taken during the May 2000
survey.
In fact, during his
State of the Municipality Address (SOMA), Mayor Wilfredo Olfato
Estorninos reported that in 2008 they had distributed some 1,413
toilet bowls, and another 1,387 toilet bowls now stocked at the
municipal compound were to be distributed soon to the barangays-recipients.
The general idea that
such a problem exists, especially in a very poor and upland barangays,
this was a clear indication that this does not involve just a few
children, but hundreds of families take us notice. When crosschecked
at the village chieftains, it became apparent that that most families
have not had toilets for the longest time. Thus, the question: Where
these families do their ‘wasting stuff’?
This problem on
sanitary toilets were earlier identified as one of the “20 priority
issues and concerns” during a workshop attended by the mayor himself,
his fellow elective officials, all the department heads, members of
the nine Barangay Integrated Development Zones.
Mayor Estorninos
informed that upon learning this problem, he immediately created the
Clean and Sanitation Task Force composed of the Municipal Health
Office, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Municipal
Tourism Office, among others and discussed on how to address this
problem. Thus, the project on toilet bowls was born.
Under his Health and
Environmental Sanitation Program, the mayor said he made some
improvements on the aspects of waste and sewerage system. He also
implemented the “Save Basey River Project” which includes the cleaning
of Basey Rivers from illegal houses and especially the toilets that
are considered as “public nuisance.”
Also in line with this
program, Mayor Estorninos initiated another developmental program that
aims not only to secure a clean and healthy environment for the
Baseynons but also to make the municipality a tourist-friendly LGU.
This is the demolition
of illegal structures including those already converted into
residential houses, along the town's seawall and in Camponao, Brgy.
Baybay up to the New Road Bridge, Brgy. Palaypay, to minimize
environmental hazards caused by the occupants of the said structures.
Some 200 units of lots
at the Brgy. Buscada have been reserved to those affected informal
settlers or illegal squatters under the Core Shelter program funded by
the DSWD. Also, some of them will be recommended to become recipients
of the Gawad Kalinga Program in collaboration with the Local
Government of Basey.
In this town,
beauty, historic sites, panoramic views, mystical caves and impressive
mat-weaving industry and the friendly and hospitable Basaynons are the
usual impressions of visitors coming from this place. This town is
also the current holder of the world’s longest banig record in the
Guiness Book of Records.
DOH: No mother should
die giving life
By ALICE E. NICART (PIA Eastern
Samar)
January 21, 2009
BORONGAN CITY –
Doctor Marian Isiderio, M.D. and Chief of the Technical Department of
the Provincial Health Office (PHO) here stressed that “no mother
should die while giving birth to her baby”. This, in her apparent
disgust over the reported incidence of maternal deaths in the province
despite government interventions.
Recent Maternal Death
Review (MDR) revealed that in 2008 ten mothers died from birth
delivery (maternal mortality or MMR) “which should have not happened
at all” the lady doctor said.
Dr. Isiderio points
back to mothers or perhaps their husbands’ annoying behaviors and
practices.
“Some couples tend to
stick to old and traditional birth deliveries – the “hilot” practice,
adding that they do not have money to pay for the professional care
givers”, she reported.
“Hilots (partira in
Waray dialect) should no longer be allowed to deliver, unless they are
supervised by a midwife”, the lady doctor emphasized during the
conference on Tuesday of the Child and Mothers Protection Council. “It
is true partiras are our partners in the barangays but they can only
serve as our advocates for maternal and child care, and better yet,
conduct the pregnant mother to the rural health unit”, she added.
Further, she reported
that 75% of maternal deaths was post partum (when mothers die a few
hours after the baby had been delivered) and 66% of this post partum
deaths is attributed to the humble partira- assisted deliveries.
“Indeed, the first 12
to 24 hours after delivery is the most critical hours of a mother,
which should not be taken for granted”, she explained. Thus, the need
for a professional health care giver”, she added.
However, MMR in the
province is rather low as compared to national figure, but it is still
high, thus the need for the policy-makers in the provincial government
to look into the issue.
One of 10 Filipino
nurses cleared by NY Court is from Region 8
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
January
18, 2009
TACLOBAN CITY – “I
am glad that it is finally over,” Mrs. Will Avila of Tanauan,
Leyte, said upon hearing that 10 Filipino nurses were acquitted by
a New York court.
“I immediately offered
a thanksgiving mass,” Mrs. Avila added.
Mrs. Avila’s beautiful
and intelligent daughter, Harriet, is one of the ten Filipino nurses
who were cleared by a
New York
court of criminal charges after they were accused of endangering
patients by resigning en masse from a Long Island nursing home to
protest working conditions.
It was not easy for
Harriet and the other Filipino nurses after they resigned, Mrs. Avila
said. While some of them were able to find employment elsewhere, a
number of them had the difficulty of getting other nursing jobs
because of a possible criminal trial.
The family supported
Harriet’s decision to resign from her work in 2006 because “we believe
that the cause my daughter was fighting for was right.”
Harriet has not yet
contacted her family since the court ruling, Mrs. Avila said, saying
that perhaps she still have so many things to attend to.
“I am sure that many
people are congratulating her and her companions,” Mrs. Avila added.
Harriet left her
family in Tanauan, Leyte when she, together with other Filipino nurses
were recruited in order to ease the shortage of nurses in the United
States. Harriet was optimistic that with the greener pasture in the
United States, she would be of help to her family which belongs to the
middle income group. Harriet's father is an employee of the local
government unit while her mother works at the City Health Office in
Tacloban.
However, after several
months, in April of 2006, she together with her companions, resigned
en mass from their jobs at a Smithtown facility run by Sentosa Health
Care because they were made to perform tasks they deemed demeaning and
below their job descriptions. There were also disputes about
scheduling and pay.
In the decision issued
on Tuesday, the court’s second appellate division also stopped the
prosecutor of Suffolk district county, where the original suit was
filed, from pursuing criminal charges against the 10 nurses and their
lawyer.
Acquitted, together
with Harriet, were her co-nurses, Elmer Jacinto who is a licensed
doctor and who topped the medical board examinations in 2004 but
studies nursing to be able to work in the US; Juliet Anilao, Mark de
la Cruz, Claudine Gamiao, Jennifer Lampe, Rizza Maulion, James Millena,
Ma. Theresa Ramos and Ranier Sichon, and their lawyer Felix Vinluan
who was accused of conspiring with the petitioners.
The New York court
granted the nurses’ petition to stop the
Suffolk
county from prosecuting them, saying that their resignation did not
endanger their patients as they did it after their shifts ended.
The court also noted
that the prosecution’s insistence that the nurses’ resignation
affected the welfare of their patients, which included children, were
“speculative” and that they had the “constitutional right to be free
from involuntary service.”
Stopping the nurses
from resigning their jobs was a violation of the Thirteenth Amendment,
which outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, the court said.
John Riley of
newsday.com described the case as “One of the most appalling cases“
which “unfolded a couple of years ago when some Filipino nurses
recruited by Sentosa, a nursing home outfit run by some generous
political donors, were not treated as they had been promised in the
US.”
He added, “the legal
theory was factually unsupported – no patient had actually been
endangered. It was a Yoo-like concoction pretty much unprecedented in
New York – people, even powerless foreign nurses, have the right to
leave their jobs. Real District Attorneys protect them, instead of
turning into marionettes and trying to teach them a lesson on behalf
of political benefactors.”
DILG enhance quality
of justice in the barangay level
By RICKY J. BAUTISTA November
18, 2008
BASEY, Samar – Mano
Pepe, 54, a three-termed chairman in one of the village here admitted,
that most of the time, he is hesitant from mediating disputes arising
from his barangay due to his lack of proper knowledge in handling
sensitive cases, and his being unacquainted on the legal aspects and
technical terms related to barangay disputes.
And like the majority
of the barangay chairmen in the remote areas, he feels so uneasy
whenever he conduct an amicable settlement in their barangay because
he is apprehensive that he might ended into a wrong judgment.
Receptive with this
situation, the local office of the Department of Interior and Local
Government (DILG) has, again, conducted a skills training “to equip
the barangay leaders an inexpensive and a more expeditious way of
settling disputes in the barangay level through mediation and or
arbitration.”
In Basey, Mayor
Wilfredo S. Estorninos issued a memorandum dated October 17 to all
51-barangay chairmen in his locality, including Mano Pepe, to attend
this kind of skills training. He said, at least 500 participants
composed of Punong Barangay, Brgy. Secretaries and Lupon Members
attend the activity on Saturday, November 15.
The DILG in
partnership with the Liga ng mga Barangay of Basey are closely
supervised the activity.
Basey MLGOO Jaime
“Mick” Dacurawat informed that Section 121 of the Republic Act No.
7160 otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991 mandates all
the city and municipal mayors to oversee the efficient and effective
implementation and administration of the Katarungang Pambarangay (KP)
Law.
“In fact, DILG
Memorandum Circular No. 2007-129 directed its compliance and
encouraged the adoption of measures such as but not limited to the
conduct of training for the KP and its value as an empowering tool for
the resolution of community and family disputes at the barangay
level,” Dacurawat said.
A primer of the
Katarungang Pambarangay Law defined the system as one of the few
issuances during the Martial Law Era that merited public approval. The
main objective of the law is to help relieve the courts of the docket
congestion; enhance the quality of justice dispensed by the courts;
promote the speedy disposition of justice; and implement the
constitutional mandate to preserve and develop Filipino culture and to
strengthen the family as a basic social institution.
Meanwhile, Mano Pepe,
when interviewed back by this writer, expressed his happiness and
willingness in attending the said training. He has, in fact, informed
his team of Lupon Members in his barangay to prioritize their
attendance.
“Maupay ine nga
okasyon, kay damo it amon mahibabaroan parte hin pagtuhay hit mga
nasasakupan ha barangay, ha sunod nga magkamay-ada man,” Mano Pepe
said in his local dialect.
PITAHC herbal plant in
Eastern Visayas, a medical tourism destination
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
November
14, 2008
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte
– The Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health
Care Herbal Plant in Tacloban City, Leyte, is a very good medical
tourism destination.
Imagine walking
through 22 hectares of lagundi, sambong, tsaang dagat and other herbal
plants and learning about their medicinal values. Better still, help
harvest the good leaves to be used in the manufacturing of herbal
tablets or herbal teas, or herbal soaps.
One could walk through
the different processes before herbal tablets are made, from the
washing of the good leaves to air drying to baking and making the
granules, up to the packaging and packing them into boxes.
Then one could go to
the Plant’s tea house and see how various herbal teas are bagged, and
then sit comfortably while sipping a delicious and soothing concoction
of ampalaya, niyog-niyogan or ulasimang bato.
Don’t forget to wash
the hands with herbal soap which are also manufactured by PITAHC, the
Akapulko Soap, Bayabas Soap, Calamansi Soap, Carrot Soap, Cucumber
Soap, Kamias Soap, Labanos Soap and Papaya Soap.
Away from the
maddening crowd, so they say, the Herbal Plant, with a little add-on
here and there, can truly be a medical hideaway.
The PITAHC Herbal
Plant in Eastern Visayas is located in a 36 hectares rolling hills at
Barangay Bagacay in Tacloban City. Called the Tacloban Herbal
Pharmaceutical Processing and Manufacturing Plant, it is one of the
four herbal plants operated by the Philippine Institute of Traditional
and Alternative Health Care. The other plants are in Cagayan Valley,
Davao and Cotabato.
Now able to produce
180,000 tablets per day, the Plant intends to manufacture lagundi,
sambong, tsaang gubat, yerba Buena, akapulko, ampalaya, ulasimang bato
tablets and garlic capsules.
The plant facilities
consist of buildings, machineries and equipment for drying and
processing of raw materials, dosage manufacturing, quality control,
animal production and Bioassay for animal pharmacological and
toxicological studies. The plant has a twenty-two (22) hectare land
area, eleven (11) hectares of which is planted to the first batch of
the five (5) priority plants to supply the plant with raw materials.
The personnel are all
local recruits who have been given special training in their
respective technical jobs.
The Tacloban Herbal
Pharmaceutical Processing and Manufacturing Plant is truly a major
milestone in the Philippine government efforts toward self-reliance
and basic pharmaceutical production from indigenous materials, a good
medical tourism destination.
Traditional herbal
medicines are being manufactured commercially in Tacloban
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
November
12, 2008
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte
– These days when Western medicines have become too expensive and
scarce, it is good to note that Filipinos can rely on herbal medicines
which are available in abundance, locally.
Available in
commercial quantities and at much cheaper price, in Tacloban City,
Leyte, are herbal medicines that are used as traditional and
alternative medicines in the Philippines.
This was learned from
Ms. Evelina Juaban, the Manager of the Herbal Processing Plant in
Tacloban City, of the Philippine Institute of Traditional and
Alternative Health Care of the Department of Health.
Ms. Juaban who was
guest of the Philippine Information Agency recently, at the cable
television program called Panindugan, said that there are many plants,
about 400 of them in the Philippines which have medicinal or
therapeutic values.
However, the
Department of Health through its Traditional Health Program has
endorsed 10 medicinal plants which have been thoroughly tested and
have been clinically proven to have medicinal value in the relief and
treatment of various ailments.
Today, the Tacloban
Herbal Plant of PTAHC has come up with the Lagundi tablets made from
natural Lagundi (Vitex negundo) which is known in English as the
“5-leaved chaste tree”. Its main use is for the relief of coughs and
asthma. The tablets are available in 300 mg.
There is the 250 mg.
Sambong tablet made from sambong leaves (Blumea balsamifera) - known
in English as Blumea camphora, a diuretic that helps in the excretion
of urinary stones and can also be used as an edema.
Both the Lagundi and
Sambong tablets are sold wholesale at a price of P150 per box of 100
tablets. This means that each tablet costs only P1.50 whole or P2.00
each at retail price.
Another is the Tsaang
Gubat 250mg tablet. Known with the scientific name Ehretia microphylla
Lam., this herbal medicine is effective in treating intestinal
motility and also used as a mouth wash since the leaves of this shrub
has high fluoride content.
The fourth is Akapulco
(Cassia alata) which is also known as “bayabas-bayabasan” and
“ringworm bush” in English. This herbal medicine is used to treat
ringworms and skin fungal infections.
The Ampalaya (Momordica
charantia), known as “bitter gourd” or “bitter melon” in English, is
most known as a treatment of diabetes (diabetes mellitus) for the
non-insulin dependent patients. Ms. Juaban said it is the leaves of
the Ampalaya which is used.
Bawang (Allium sativum),
popularly known as garlic, mainly reduces cholesterol in the blood and
hence, helps control blood pressure. Ms. Juaban cautioned the public,
however, that the potent substance in bawang is only soluble in oil,
thus, for those who are using bawang to reduce their cholesterol, they
should sauté the bawang in healthy vegetable oil. Eating the bawang
raw will only give one a heart burn.
Bayabas (Psidium
guajava) or “guava” in English, is primarily used as an antiseptic, to
disinfect wounds. Also, it can be used as a mouth wash to treat tooth
decay and gum infection.
Niyog-Niyogan (Quisqualis
indica L.) is a vine known as “Chinese honey suckle”. It is effective
in the elimination of intestinal worms, particularly the Ascaris and
Trichina. Only the dried matured seeds are medicinal. One should crack
and ingest the dried seeds two hours after eating (5 to 7 seeds for
children & 8 to 10 seeds for adults). If one dose does not eliminate
the worms, wait a week before repeating the dose.
Ulasimang Bato (Peperomia
pellucida) is also known as “pansit-pansitan.” It is effective in
fighting arthritis and gout. The leaves can be eaten fresh (about a
cupful) as salad or like tea. For the decoction, boil a cup of clean
chopped leaves in 2 cups of water. Boil for 15 to 20 minutes. Strain,
let cool and drink a cup after meals (3 times per day). Decoctions
must be made just for one day use only.
Yerba Buena (Clinopodium
douglasii) is commonly known as Peppermint, this vine is used as an
analgesic to relive body aches and pain. It can be taken internally as
a decoction or externally by pounding the leaves and applied directly
on the afflicted area.
There are other herbs
and herbal remedies like banaba, virgin coconut oil, mangosteen,
gumamela, luyang dilaw, silymarin, countless of them.
Long, before the
introduction of modern medicines and Western curative methods, herbal
medicines had been widely used in the
Philippines.
The curative effects
of the herbs were tested by traditional healers on their patient on
try-and-error basis. The knowledge and skills on the curative
application of any give herbal medicine has been handed down from
generation to generation.
Apart from prescribing
herbs medicines, the traditional healers were known to give
psychological comfort and moral support to their patients. In the old
days, they were well respected and enjoy high social status.
Through generations of
selective process, the herbs that were known to be effective were kept
alive. The ineffective ones were soon forgotten.
Just a word of
caution, though. There is no substitute for the services of a licensed
medical practitioner. Consult with a doctor knowledgeable with herbal
medicine or Philippine medicinal plants before taking or mixing herbs
with prescription and non-prescription drugs. Test show that some
herbal medicines have adverse reaction when mixed with other drugs.
No Idle Land, No Idle
Hand
By PURIFICACION S. DALOOS
October
24, 2008
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte
– Consistent with the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources’ thrust of poverty reduction and hunger mitigation under
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration, some 302 qualified
land claimants from Daram, Samar recently received Free Patent titles
covering an area of 694 hectares on the occasion of the town’s 59th
Founding Anniversary.
Daram Mayor Lucila L.
Astorga said that her municipality’s strategy in undertaking President
Arroyo’s thrust is thru their “No Idle Land, No Idle Hand” policy
where the distribution of the Free Patents is a big help. She thanked
the DENR and the Register of Deeds as well as the Department of
Agrarian Reform (DAR) for distributing the land titles and
establishing an Agrarian Reform Community in their town.
Mayor Astorga said
that through the help of the three government agencies, attaining the
vision of Daram which is, “A progressive agroforestry-based
municipality where God-loving people live in a secured environment
will be made easy. “The interventions of agencies like the DAR and
DENR will boost the progress of our town under our banner program
‘FAITH’ – Fisheries and agriculture development, Access to basic
social services, Infrastructure development, Total commitment to peace
and order and Human resources”, Mayor Astorga said.
Samar ROD Chief
Fernandina Reyes reminded the land title recipients of their
responsibility after receiving the Free Patents, to keep their title
safely for it is very expensive to reconstitute a land title. The
recipients are also responsible for the payment of real property taxes
which could help in the development projects of the municipality.
DENR Land Management
Service, Regional Technical Director Ramon Unay told the recipients to
cultivate their lots subject of the title to attain a progressive
life. It is advantageous to have a land title because untitled lots
are considered as dead capital and cannot be used in business and the
land must be productive.
DENR Regional
Executive Director Alfredo S. Pascual disclosed that the DENR under
the leadership of Secretary Lito Atienza is working hard on the
government’s mandate of reducing poverty especially in rural barangays.
Our strategy is fielding Deputy Public Land Inspectors to gather land
applications right in the barangays. That is making the DENR services
closer to the people in the barangays. RED Pascual added that, “there
are still about 326 lots in Daram which are potential for land
titling. PENR Officer George Guillermo who has jurisdiction of Samar
will work with other concerned government agencies for convergence of
services. This is what we will be doing in the entire region”
P130 M Isuzu-Plan
Automotive Training Center in Region 8 soon to be inaugurated
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
October
20, 2008
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte
– The P130 Million Isuzu-Plan Automotive Training Center in Region 8
is now on its finishing touches and will be inaugurated in November,
Director Juan M. Sabulao Jr., of TESDA Region 8 informed during the
Harampang Ha PIA held recently.
This is another good
opportunity to learn a skill, find a good job and uplift the Filipino
family from poverty, Director Sabulao told the media practitioners.
The Automotive
Mechanic Training Center and Scholarship Project in Tacloban City to
be undertaken jointly by Isuzu Motors, Plan International and TESDA
was launched on January 31 at Shangrila Hotel.
The Training Center
was supposed to be put up in Cebu, Director Sabulao intimated, but
because of some problems on the lot, Isuzo found TESDA 8 to be the
ideal location, instead.
The Training Center is
composed of a two-storey Workshop, a 160-bed Domitory, a Multi-Purpose
Center, a canteen, and a recreational facility.
Isuzu through the Plan
Philippines poured in $3 million to establish the Training Center
where every year, for the next five years, 80 scholarships will be
given for a two year auto-mechanic course, completion of which will
earn the scholar a National Certification IV.
The scholars, male and
female, will be chosen from the communities across the country with
the assistance of Plan International which operates in the most
depressed areas like Samar, Southern Leyte, Camotes Island in Cebu,
Masbate and Mindoro Occidental.
The scholars will be
chosen from the poorest and most marginalized communities and will be
asked to commit themselves to finishing the training course and taking
jobs in the automobile industry.
The first batch of
scholars/trainees is composed of 30 male and female youth from the
Plan-provinces of Samar, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Southern Leyte,
Masbate, Romblon and Camotes Island, Director Sabulao informed.
After six months,
another batch of 40 people will start their training, Director Sabulao
added, emphasizing that the Plan Philippines is the one recruiting the
trainees.
Isuzu Motors will
cover living and educational fees, the construction of a dormitory,
guidance for curriculum development and training facilities and
equipment. Isuzu pledged to extend more support beyond 2012.
Aside from the
financial assistance, Isuzu will provide expertise developed through
its automobile manufacturing business, including assessment of
technical competence of the proposed curriculum, improving the course
design and periodic assessment and evaluation of competence and
appropriateness of delivery of the course programs.
TESDA Region 8 under
the able leadership of Director Juan M. Sabulao, Jr., will be the main
resource organization for the technical training and will be supplying
the instructors and lectures.
The project will
follow TESDA's National Certification system as the legally mandated
and recognized accreditation and certification in the Philippines
which is composed of a set of requirements that the student must
accomplish before he could be considered a certified mechanic.
TESDA will also
provide the non-technical aspects of training like values formation,
basic literacy and personality development.
Plan International
and TESDA will conduct a customer satisfaction survey one year after
the hiring of the project trainees, the result of which will be used
in formulating annual operational plans and new policies for the
improvement of the training center.
UN MDG
Conference for Youth Leaders of Leyte and Samar
By DON
ELISEO LUCERO-PRISNO III September 20, 2008
|

The
conference speakers and some participants |
A youth
leadership conference was held at the LNU House in Tacloban City on
11 September 2008
to discuss the United Nations Millennium Development Goals before
youth leaders of Leyte and Samar. The conference with the theme
New Dimensions of Youth Leadership: An International Youth Conference
on Innovative Paradigms in Development-Oriented Leadership was
spearheaded by the Balud Project through its leadership program,
Building Alliances and Leaders through Understanding and Development (BALUD),
in cooperation with Imperial BlueCube and the
Leyte
Normal University. The aims of the conference were to introduce the
UN MDGs and share new learnings of managing youth and youth-oriented
organizations from international perspectives before youth leaders of
Region VIII who normally have no opportunities to attend similar
conferences in the capital or abroad. The participants were young
leaders from colleges and universities, community-based groups and
professional organizations.
The
conference presented a string of award-winning speakers lead by Dr Don
Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III of Cardiff University who is the 2008 British
Council Shine International Student Awardee and 2005 World Science
Forum Winner. He provided the introduction to the conference with his
lecture on Millennium Development Goals and the need for youth
organizations to help in fastracking the achievement of the MDGs.
Rutchelle
Enriquez, 2001 Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines (TOSP) and
a delegate to the Asia Pacific Leadership Program of East West in
Hawaii inspired the audience with her talk on how young leaders should
start from small beginnings. Two ECE students from De La Salle
University, Jayson Reggie Obos (Intel International Science and
Engineering Fair Grand Award Winner and Bryan Asis (Most Outstanding
Student of De La Salle University) gave presentations on the role of
the youth in climate change and new learnings in management for
project success, respectively.
Some of
the sessions focused on financing. The international speakers from
Imperial College London were Neha Obhrai (UK) who discussed social
development and finance while Ambarish Dash (India) and Steven
Chambers (UK, Intel International Science and Engineering Fair Grand
Award Winner) talked on venture philanthropy. Other Imperial student
speakers, Emma Thompson (UK/USA), Adam Aziz (UK/Libya) and Kristina
Östman (Sweden), were joined by Lisa Carter (UK) from University
College London in a panel discussion on the challenges of young
leaders in the context of globalization and other social innovations.
A special
development lecture was delivered by Dr. Evelyn Cruzada, a member of
the UNESCO Technical Working Group on Lifelong Learning Program for
Sustainable Development and President of the Leyte Normal University.
She gave a talk entitled, Addressing the MDG Challenge of Universal
Primary Education: The Role of the Academe. She emphasized in her
presentation the need for more concerted efforts in achieving this MDG.
The
conference also provided a unique and tangible example of how youth
organizations can move MDGs through partnerships. This was through
the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between the Balud Project,
Imperial BlueCube,
Leyte
Normal University for the benefit of the Balud Elementary School in
Basey, Samar, Philippines. The University will provide assistance in
the areas of teacher training and curriculum development being a
Center of Excellence of Teacher Education while the two organizations
will finance the scheme. The signing was witnessed by the pupils of
the
Balud
Elementary School themselves.
Challenging real Philippine social cases were provided to the youth
participants of the conference where they discussed possible projects
to address these social ills. The case studies were on promotion of
human rights specially of the LGBT group, tackling rampant vote-buying
during elections and pre-marital sex in the context of teenage
pregnancy and population growth. Their presentations were evaluated
by panellists composed of the conference speakers. The eventual
outcome of the gathering is a continuous dialogue and interaction
between international and local youth leaders to advance projects and
programs that will benefit their local communities in the context of
the achievement of the UN MDGs. The Balud Project and Imperial
BlueCube promised to fund sound project proposals that will come out
from the future plans of the participants present.
The
conference also provided opportunities for social networking as they
were entertained by the University of the Philippines An Balangaw
and dances presented by the Balud Elementary School Dance Group. The
Balud Organization of UP Tacloban composed the organizing committee of
the conference headed by its President Julie Jean Abude. More
information on the conference are available on
www.baludproject.org.
According to Dr Lucero-Prisno, the brain behind this conference, “I am
extremely happy to have brought the concepts of MDGs and new knowledge
in youth leadership to the grassroots. More than anybody else, we
have to help in nurturing the young leaders from the regions since
they are those who are in the forefront in the achievement of the MDGs.”
Pinabacdao garners
Panibagong Paraan grants anew!
By NINFA B. QUIRANTE (PIA
Samar)
September 1,
2008
CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar
– Pinabacdao town, a 5th class municipality of Samar has already
romped off with three grants from Panibagong Paraan.
|

Mayor Mario Quijano |
Last week, Mayor Mario
Quijano received two officials from the Philippines-Australia
Community Assistance Program (PACAP) who were in town to confirm the
grant to the municipality.
Though it was not
necessarily Pinabacdao that proposed the last two projects, still the
town stands to gain from it all as implementation will be done there.
Panibagong Paraan is a
unique bazaar of innovative ideas that provide solutions to the most
pressing social and economic concerns of our country; ideas that
deliver results and have the potential to be expanded or replicated.
In the year 2006,
Mayor Quijano has brought his constituents some P2M grant from the
World Bank and other funding agencies because of his innovations for
development project.
His proposal then of
an agro-forestry project to Panibagong Paraan Grant Competition gave
him some P2M, an extension of his Community Based Resource Management
Project (CBRMP).
A staff of the mayor
told PIA that the agro-forestry project is a vast farm planted with
mangoes and intercropped with other plants.
That is now history,
though and the development-oriented mayor seemingly gained some
following that both proposals identified his town for their basic
social services project.
One of which, Katungod
han Samarena Foundaiton Inc (KSFI) said they immediately thought of
Pinabacdao as Quijano was the only mayor who was willing to offer
financial counterpart for the project.
KSFI Executive
Director Myra Tambor said that in April, her organization proposed
“Minimizing Deaths and Debts: Leveraging Hospitalization Financing
Scheme to Set Up Community-Based Primary Health Care (Piso Ko,
Kalusugan Natin).
The project aims to
enhance promotive/preventive health sevices to reduce the illnesses
and the need for hospitalization. As funding has been limited to the
P1M gant by Panibagong Paraan and some P.5M from Pinabacdao LGU, two
barangays will be covered only. However, the project aims to expand as
more following is expected.
Meanwhile, the
Transparency and accountability Network (TAN), with the Department of
Interior and Local Government-Local Government Academy (DILG-LGA), and
the International Finance Corporation (IFC) chose the other project,
which the Institute for Democratic Participation in Governance (IDGP)
proposed: Bantay Sangkay, an LGU-led initiative seeking to imbed
social accountability mechanisms, adoption of Community Driven
Development (CDD) approach in local planning and public expenditure
management cycle to continue participatory processes and the gains of
Kalahi-CIDSS of which Pinabacdao is a recipient.
Beneficiaries are the
Barangay officials, community volunteers and CBO leaders of the 24
barangays. A critical mass of barangay volunteers will be developed to
energize participatory governance.
On August 20, 2008,
Mayor Quijano and his officials launched the two projects with some
PACAP officials and DSWD Regional Director Leticia Corillo in
attendance.
As to Pinabacdao’s
vision, it aims to hurdle the challenge that says: Pinabacdao is a
small town which could do more and would to do more if only the gaps
are filled, and filling the gaps will be Quijano’s greatest
challenge…with the help of both government and non-government
organizations believing in his cause!
Government energizes
Samar island villages
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
August
6, 2008
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte
– After the installation of the solar home package under the Spanish
government funded Solar Power Technology Support (SPOTS) projects of
the Department of Agrarian Reform, it is now goodbye to dark and risky
nights for the agrarian reform beneficiaries and other residents of
Majaba and Basiao islands barangays of Catbalogan City.
This is in line with
the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's 10-point agenda specifically
on the electrification of the villages in the countryside, DAR 8
Director Homer Tobias said as he disclosed that four other
un-energized villages in Calbiga Agrarian Reform Community, also in
the province
of Samar, will also be soon out of darkness as beneficiaries of SPOTS
project.
DAR Samar Information
Officer Teresa Tijol through Mr. Jose Alsmith Soria, DAR Regional
Information Officer, informed that the solar home system package have
already been installed in the month of July to about 70 households
within the Pangdan expanded Agrarian Reform Community which covers
said island barangays.
Samar Provincial
Agrarian Reform Officer Gregorio Fiel Jr. explained that those who can
avail of this service are members only of the cooperative in the area
that will manage the operation and maintenance of this project.
Prior to the
installation of the solar project, PARO Fiel said that residents
source out electric power from a power generator provided by a private
individual who charged the consumers up to P800 per month for a 7:00
o’clock to 10:00 o’clock in the evening consumption.
Families who cannot
afford to pay said amount satisfy themselves with a kerosene lamp
spending only about P200 per month. With the continuous increase in
oil price however, these people doubt whether they will still be able
to afford the kerosene lamp to light their homes at night.
With the installation
of SPOTS in the area, a recipient household needs only to pay a
registration fee of P420 and a monthly P220 dues for an 8-hour use of
electricity per day using four 8-watt fluorescent bulbs which are
already included in the project package.
Cell phone owners,
need no longer worry about their batteries getting drained as they can
recharge them for three hours every day even if they are in the
islands, Ms. Tijol said.
The Solar Home Package
System, PARO Fiel said, completes the four packages provided under
SPOTS. The other packages earlier installed were the Barangay Hall
lighting system; communal lighting system; and school learning system
package which included school lightings, audio visual learning
equipment and educational tapes for the learning needs of the
elementary pupils in the area.
The project
beneficiaries in Majaba and Basiao islands were provided with P1,200
capital for livelihood activities under the project’s agri-business
component to augment their income and to be able to pay their monthly
dues.
Aside from the
financial capital, the beneficiaries were also provided with a
motorboat and gill net for their “sisi” (small clams) production which
is the main livelihood in the area.
Provincial Health
Offices urges for continuous vigilance against dengue
By
Provincial
Media Relations Center (PMRC Leyte) July 22, 2008
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte
– The Leyte Provincial Health Office said there is no reason for the
public to relax their vigilance against dengue as provincial health
officials presently push for the “Brigada Pamilya” in waging an
aggressive public information campaign on the proper ways of
preventing and avoiding the disease.
Assistance Provincial
Health Officer Dr. Edgardo Daya said “Brigada Pamilya” against dengue
still employs the search and destroy operations on the breeding
grounds of dengue mosquitoes which must be carried out by each and
every home.
“The fight against
this disease should start at home by cleaning our surroundings. We
cannot leave the cleaning of our own homes and surroundings to the
authorities and wait till they do it for us. We have to do it
ourselves and help in the fight against dengue,” Dr. Daya said in an
interview.
The provincial health
office, he added, through their barangay and municipal counterparts
have already been tasked to enforce a clean-up and sanitation drive to
instill in the public consciousness the need to maintain clean,
healthy and sanitary surroundings and dissemination of the four
o'clock habit, which encourages residents to rid their surroundings of
mosquito breeding places such as empty bottles, cans, tires, vases and
others and to use personal protective gadgets such as mosquito nets
and repellants.
He also called on
residents to be wary of the disease and familiarize themselves with
the causes, symptoms and ways to prevent the diseases to stem the
further spread of the dreaded ailment.
The health department
is also reminding persons to seek medical treatment for themselves or
their loved ones if they suspect dengue symptoms. Among the symptoms
is recurring fever, which should be taken seriously if it occurs for
four days. Rashes are also a sign of dengue.
Dengue fever is an
infection caused by dengue virus, which is transmitted by the bite of
an infective female Aedes mosquito. Aedes mosquitoes are "day biters"
and biting activities peal at
6-8 a.m. and at
4-6 p.m.
The signs and symptoms
of dengue fever are: on-and-off fever lasting for two to seven days;
loss of appetite; nausea/vomiting; abdominal pain; body weakness;
small reddish spots on chest area, arms and legs; bleeding signs (nose
and gum bleeding, vomiting blood, bloody stools and abdominal pain);
restlessness; weak, rapid pulse; cold, clammy skin; and difficulty in
breathing.
Persons that manifest
these symptoms must remember the following: high fever should be
treated by sponging and giving paracetamol and not aspirin as it may
cause bleeding and/or gastric irritation and must increase fluid
intake or use oral re-hydration solution.
Patients with
persisting symptoms must be brought immediately to the nearest health
center or hospital.
Who's afraid of Valero's 24-0 record?
Mugabi was 25-0 (25 kos) when Hagler tore him to pieces
By ALEX P. VIDAL / PNS
July
2, 2008
LAREDO, Texas – In
boxing, what matters most is quality not quantity. Quality of the
opponents, not their quantity.
History has proven not
all boxers that are undefeated and knockout specialists are
invincible. To a certain extent, there has to be an ending to their
dominance in square jungle; and records reveal their imminent Waterloo
occurs during world championship tussles.
Former World Boxing
Council (WBC) light middleweight champion John "The Beast" Mugabi of
Kampala, Uganda was the most prominent among them.
Mugabi, perhaps the
deadliest warrior to grace the middleweight division in the mid-80's,
was 25 years old when he was pitted versus Marvelous Marvin Hagler,
then undisputed crownholder of the middleweight titles in WBC, World
Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF).
Because Mugabi was
ranked No. 1 contender in all the three world boxing bodies and
possessed an immaculate and fearsome record of 24 wins, no defeat with
24 wins by knockout, oddsmakers thought The Beast was the missing link
in the long quest to end Hagler's mind-boggling supremacy in the
division.
They were wrong. On
March 10, 1986, Hagler (62-3, 52 KOs) blasted the Ugandan to
smithereens in the 11th stanza of the 12-round battle for the
undisputed middleweight championship of the world at the Caesars
Palace in Las Vegas.
Although he knocked
out cold all his previous 25 rivals, Mugabi had no match to the vastly
incredible Hagler, then 31 years old, and was the darling of the
boxing community in his time.
Hagler ruled the world
unmolested and was unfazed by Mugabi's fearsome record. The Beast was
never the same again after being exposed by Hagler. He lost by
technical knockout (TKO) to Duane Thomas in his next fight, a WBC
light middleweight showdown also in the same venue.
On Nov. 3, 1984,
former WBC super bantamweight champion Jaime Garza was 40-0 with 38
knockouts when he lost his title by a shock first round knockout to
unheralded Juan Meza who had 41 victories against five losses.
Venezuelan phenom
Edwin Valero, 26, has caught the attention of Top Rank promoter Bob
Arum for possessing a nerve-tingling 24-0 ledger spiked with 24
knockouts (18 in the first round). He is next in line for WBC
lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao, who is fresh from toppling David
Diaz in the 9th round in the fight dubbed "Lethal Combination" at the
Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Experts said either
Valero will do a Jaime Garza or he will end up the next John Mugabi.
But Pacquiao (47-3, 36 KOs) said as a fighter, he will only do his
best and train hard, not to pick his opponent.
The inspiring story of
“The Almeria Seafarers Cooperative”
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
June
21, 2008
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte
– At this point in time when a great number of Filipinos are in dire
poverty and remain in that state despite government support and
intervention, the story of the Almeria Seafarers Multi Purpose
Cooperative stands as a refreshing and inspiring success story.
In a Media Forum
honoring the outstanding Overseas Filipino Workers in Region 8, a
petite young woman stood out not only because of her looks but because
of the story she bears – that of a cooperative which was able to put
into good use the “Groceria Project” of the Arroyo Administration to
become the Best Groceria in Region 8.
The young woman is
Anita Corto, the manager of the Almeria Seafarers Cooperative (ASEMCO).
Ms. Corto said that the Almeria Seafarers Multi Purpose Cooperative
was organized by seven seafarers and their wives in 1994 with an
initial capital of P12,600 assets and 42 regular members.
Today, ASEMCO already
has 232 regular members and 1,416 associate members and has over P57
Million in assets.
Starting on providing
financial products such as deposits and loans, ASEMCO opened a
pre-school learning center in June of 1999 with the aim of providing
quality early childhood education.
When the Overseas
Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) launched the Government’s
Groceria Project in 2004, the Cooperative availed of the grant of
P50,000 worth of grocery items to OFW groups.
Thus, the ASEMCO
Groceria and Meatshop was made available to the members and to the
community as a whole. The Groceria was inside the office of ASEMCO.
After one year, the
Groceria moved to a rented place. Today, the ASEMCO Groceria and
Meatshop already has an asset of P600,000, Ms. Corto revealed.
Today, 14 years after
its birth, ASEMCO has purchased a lot and has put up a three-story
building where the Groceria is located now. The building also houses
the ASEMCO office with 18 regular staff. The cooperative is in the
process of hiring additional employees.
Through the years,
ASEMCO has helped in the growth and development of the municipality of
Almeria and the neighboring towns. The Cooperative has made available
credit facilities to over 1,400 borrowers who totally availed of about
P39 Million loan portfolio through its microfinance, salary loans,
honorarium loans and Small and Medium enterprises for OFWs and their
families.
ASEMCO has entered
into pre-school service contracting service with the Department of
Education and is now providing pre-school service to seven public
pre-schools.
Meanwhile, the ASEMCO
Learning Center has expanded into a private elementary school this
school year.
Furthermore, ASEMCO
also engages in various programs for the welfare of its members in the
community through its Scholarship Program, Pamaskong Handog, medical
mission and Balik Eskuwela program.
Indeed, ASEMCO has
gone a long way not only in securing its members and their families
but also in inspiring people to replicate its fete towards a
sustainable economic development.
This OWWA scholar will
soon be a registered nurse
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
June
10, 2008
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte
– Jobelle Rosales was about to enrol in a state university when she
read from the newspaper about the OWWA Scholarship for the
beneficiaries of active OFWs.
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Ms.
Jobelle Rosales (left) is the first graduate
under OWWA 8 Scholarship Program while Mr. Hazef Sabrey R. Festejo,
an incoming 5th year civil engineering student, is the Outstanding
Scholar of OWWA in Region 8. (PIA
photo) |
She told about this to
her Mom and together they went to the Region 8 OWWA office. She took
the exams and she luckily passed the exams. As a scholar of OWWA under
the Education for Development Program, Jobelle received P30,000 per
semester, enough to tied her up through all her school expenses.
Jobelle said that OWWA
release only P20,000; the other P10,000 is released at the end of the
semester when the scholar shows her grades. She must pass all the
subjects otherwise, the P10,000 will no longer be given to her and her
scholarship will no longer be continued.
Last March, Jobelle
graduated Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the RTR Medical
Foundation in Tacloban City. She will soon take the nursing board
examinations in order for her to become a Registered Nurse.
Jobelle’s father
Ricardo, has been working as a fireman in Saudi Arabia for many years
already and she has seen him and has been with him for only one
Christmas and one New Year but she understands that it is not easy for
him to come home.
There was a time when
the only way to communicate with him was through letters, but with the
current technology, she and her younger sister are already able to see
him and communicate with him through the internet.
Although her father is
an OFW, Jobelle knows that her father is working so hard for the
family and she does not want to be an additional burden because he is
not earning that much, so she decided to take her chance at the OWWA
scholarship.
She never thought of
spending unwisely, the money that her father is sending the family
because she realized that it was hardly earned and she could see how
her mother is sacrificing, acting both as father and mother, in the
absence of her father.
Asked if she would
want to go abroad too, Jobelle said that as an OWWA or as a government
scholar, she has to stay and serve the country for four years since
her scholarship is for four years. Maybe after that, she will already
have the necessary expertise in Nursing that will qualify her to a
better job abroad, if she so decides.
Jobelle is one of the
nine OWWA scholars in Region 8. Every year, 100 slots are available
all over the country.
This coming school
year, four students in Eastern Visayas qualified and are among the 100
scholars for this year. This makes 12 the total number of OWWA
scholars in Region 8 because 1, Jobelle, graduated.
Jobelle, is a good
role model not only to the children of OFWs, but to all the students
in the Region.
Widening Gap between
salaries and cost of living a deciding factor for Migrant Workers to
go back home – Migrante ME
Press Release By MIGRANTE
Middle East June 2, 2008
An alliance of
Overseas Filipino workers’ organizations based in the
Middle East today said that the ever widening gap between salaries
ad cost of living in any Middle Eastern Countries is a deciding factor
for migrant workers including Filipino workers to going back home.
“The spiraling cost of
living in the cities of middle-eastern countries such as Dubai, Qatar,
Kuwait, Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia coupled with weak dollar
exchange is leading to a more tougher economic situation for migrant
workers and their families that would eventually decide them to going
back home, if not find another job in other countries,” said John
Leonard Monterona, Migrante Middle East regional coordinator.
Migrante’s Monterona
said that the Middle East or the Gulf region as it was popularly
known, has booming economies but inflation and skyrocketing prices are
making Migrant workers life tougher and less profitable.
“It is true that
salaries of migrant workers especially those in sectors such as
finance, advertising, IT and pharmaceuticals, engineering and
mid-level managerial positions have risen but this salary increases is
disproportionate as to how fast the inflation increases which means
migrant workers especially ordinary construction workers and others in
the service sectors have had to pay a cut,” Monterona added.
Monterona cited the
survey conducted by Bayt.com in conjunction with market research
specialists YouGovSiraj conducted early this year revealed that
expatriate workers in UAE and Qatar were the highest paid last year
and have enjoyed the highest annual pay raises in the Gulf Region,
with Qatar averaging 18 per cent a year and the UAE and Bahrain both
coming in at 17 per cent compared to 12 per cent in Saudi Arabia, the
region’s lowest average.
“Migrant workers
including our fellow OFWs are already complaining of the high rent of
houses ranging from 8,000 to 10,000 Riyals or for a bed space rental
cost of 700 to 850 riyals which is apparent in countries like Qatar,
UAE, Bahrain and even Kuwait and Saudi Arabia,” Monterona added.
“Even the price of
rice has already increased; a 2 kilo packed of rice is now sold in a
market in Riyadh or Jeddah to 20 to 25 Riyals from 15 to 18 Riyals
last month,” Monterona averred.
In Kuwait, for
instance, its Central Bank said on its website, the All Items Consumer
Price Index advanced to 127.1 points in the year to the end of
February 2008 from 115.4 points.
Inflation was 9.5
percent in January and 7.54 percent in December. Housing costs, which
account for 27 percent of the index's weighting - rose 16.1 percent,
the same as the month before, the data showed. Food costs gained 9.22
percent and beverages and tobacco 14.9 percent, Kuwait Central Bank
said on its website.
“It is worthy to note
that the Kuwait Interior Ministry has fixed a wage of KD 40 for all
domestic workers in the country that hardly followed by local
employers. KD 40 is certainly not enough in time of high inflation
rates,” Monterona added.
Monterona said that
government-sending migrant workers such as the Philippines, Sri Lanka,
Nepal, Indonesia, Bangaladesh, and India should demand from the host
government a fair wage increase for their respective migrant workers
especially those working in construction and domestic chores.
“The widening gap
between salary of migrant workers and the high cost of living in the
Middle East should prompt the Arroyo government to propose and
actively lobby to host governments for salary increase of our fellow
OFWs to commensurate the high inflate rates in the host country,”
Monterona added.
On October 29-30, the
Arroyo government will be hosting the upcoming Global Forum on
Migration and Development (GFMD) where migrant worker’ sending and
receiving countries will presumably discuss migration utilizing it as
a tool for development.
“Migrante, OFWs and
families are challenging the Arroyo administration to push and include
on its agenda a reasonable migrant workers salary or wage increase
during the October 2008 Global Forum on Migration and Development as
host of said event it has the advantage to push such concern,”
Monterona added.
“Failing to do so
means the Arroyo administration is hosting the GFMD only to help
perpetuate a market for cheap labor as it were currently selling cheap
labor of our fellow Filipino migrant workers,” Monterona ended.
Benjie’s saga in the
making
By CHITO DELA TORRE May
25, 2008
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte
– A 28-year old lanky man from Oras, Eastern Samar is happily making
progress in his chosen mercantile trade business even if it means
frequenting villages that have been known recently as a hotbed of
insurgency. Daily, he leaves his home in San Jose, Tacloban City
early in the morning to catch up with the first trip to his target
destination for the day, then, on reaching his target locations, he
walks from house to house, the heavy back pack of merchandise wrested
off his shoulders only at each auguring time for showing to his
prospective buyers. His wife and 5-year old child just wait for him
at home until his return which often is already past twilight.
Late afternoon last
Tuesday, he reached Tacloban almost consuming two-thirds of the
contents of the two flat Tanduay bottles (yapad) of pure honey which
he got from six farmers in Inuntan, a riverine
village of
Basey,
Samar. No, he didn’t buy the sweet, sticky substance. He just
bartered his tiendas the total worth of which he estimated to
approximate the price of the honey. He saw the farmers gathering near
an alat - an extra large native basket with a pair of straps
that are swung on one’s shoulders and a balancer strap tied to its
brim and let hung on the alat carrier’s chest for him to pull
down to balance or lighten his back load. How his eyes wiggled and
his lips moistened on seeing several honeycombs inside the alat,
from which one farmer was scooping out honey for a salivating buyer.
He used to buy honey
from drugstores in Tacloban or from walk-in traders, but he was sure
that was already impure, meaning, mixed with water and sugar. This
time, he was sure the honey was pure, fresh from the honeycomb. Some
larvae were still in the honeycomb, and a few bees were swirling and
buzzing inside the alat. He had to have some of this, not
only for its pureness and freshness but also because it was being sold
at a price almost half that which he could pay for in Tacloban.
He had refused to sell
one bottle when he reached the poblacion of Basey even if his would-be
buyer was offering to buy it for P250.
The farmers were
delighted to take his exchange offers - a blanket, a foreign-made
foldable mat, and a batuta or baton for use by a barangay tanod.
(The batuta is actually a smooth cylindrical imitation iron scabbard
for a long-handled sharp long knife that comes out when the handle is
turned and pulled away from the scabbard. They gave him two yapad
full of honey.
On his cutting trips
from Inuntan to Basey, and from Basey to Tacloban, he repeatedly
unscrewed the yapad cap and poured the honey into his mouth.
He would say ahhhh! after each pour, to express his contentment.
“Bangin waray ka na maipaagom hit’ im’ pamilya?” I jokingly remarked
to him. He was seated next to me in the bus-long passenger Tacloban-bound
jeepney that Tuesday dusk. “May’da pa man ak’ usa didi,” he
laughingly riposted, taking out another yapad of honey from his
back pack.
That is frequently the
day’s turnout of this Estehanon’s business. In case no one in a
village buys his wares - which includes every little item that one
would think every rural man and woman would want to own and therefore
buy, he was always ready to barter them with those which the villager
can heartily offer in return. Thus, at home, he has a sack of palay,
a big plastic container full of milled rice, chickens, rootcrops, 3
backyard pigs, and others. “Mas barato kaupay ini kontra paliton nimo
ha Tacloban,” he explained his preference for the barter, adding that
even if the transport cost were added still the price of the barter
item was much lesser.
But of course! He
always gains, even if his mark-up price for every item he sells is
only between P40 and P200. (Yes, even P250, such as the price pegged
for that batuta. I bought one for myself from another merchant at the
old bus terminal of Tacloban for only P100 although it was being sold
for P350, because the item I got turned out to be a bayonet and not a
long knife.)
This merchant, who had
been married for 6 years already to a Tacloban lass, started his
I-am-my-own-boss business with a small capital: P3,000, from his
earnings from selling peanuts and eventually, VCDs, music CDs and
videoke CDs at Tacloban’s wharf front.
This guy has not been
wholly happy though. He and his only sibling whom he left in Dolores,
Eastern Samar, were orphaned when they were yet innocent children. His
father died. Their mother left them 20 years ago. His younger
brother died in 2006 while saving three schoolchildren from being hit
by a speeding motorcycle driven by a drunken young man. He was
selling peanuts in Tacloban when the accident occurred to his
sibling. Severely struck by the late-coming word about that, he found
himself unable to move and crying more than one whole night.
Although today he is
not alone, as he has a wife and a kid to inspire him each day and as
he is contented with his business fortune, still he is praying to God
that one day soonest his mother would come to see him.
This lucky merchant
from Oras introduced himself to me when we reached Petron gas station
at the corner of Congressman Artemio Mate Avenue and Avenida Veteranos
at past 6 p.m. as Benjamin Montallana Jr. He told me to just call him
“Benjie”. When I told him that all the Montallanas that I have come
to know between 1968 and 2001 are all lucky and benevolent, he said
heard about that and added, smiling, he does feel he is like them
because many times each month, he could not refuse those who come to
him for any assistance.
I met Benjie for
the first time in Mabini (the farthest riverine barrio east northeast
of Basey) last May 15. We boarded the same small pumpboat up to
Wespal (part of barrio Guirang) and from there chartered a motorcycle
for Basey. Last May 20 was our second happenstance. As in the first,
he was always nice, and fond of telling his own experiences. What a
merchant in him!
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