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iSIQUIJOR Information is our business.

THE OFFICIAL E-NEWSLETTER OF THE PHILIPPINE INFORMATION AGENCY - SIQUIJOR | WWW.PIA.GOV.PH and the DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - SIQUIJOR | WWW.DOST.GOV.PH VOL. 3 | NO. 33 September 21-30, 2015

RDC endorses P1.2-B road, infra projects for Siquijor

by Rizalie Anding Calibo

SAN JUAN, S i q u i j o r, S e p t e m b e r 26 (PIA) – Regional Development Council (RDC-7) is endorsing some P1.2-B worth of road projects and other infrastructure facilities for funding from the Special Local Road Funds of Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and other fund sources.

Consisting of about 97.30 % of road concreting and widening, and 3% for other infrastructure facilities proposed by the the Provicnial Development Council (PDC) of Siquijor, the projects were

identified during the Value Chain Analysis (VCA) conducted by the Coordinating Roads and Infrastructure Investment for Development (CR+ID) project that considered tourism and agricultural production as the province’s growth drivers.

CR+ID identified priority road projects infra concreting and widening of San Antonio-Cantabon-Bandilaan-Cang-apa (Cabilao road; Banban-Pili-Canghunoghunog-Cantabon; Pulangyuta-LambojonSan Antonio-Tebjong-Ponong-Cangasa; Canggomantong-Bandilaan-Cantabon roads; Bolos-Cang-ading-CaipilanCaticugan-Tinago-Cang-alwang AirportPasihagon; Pangi-Poblacion; Canal – Calalinan; Cantabon-Tebjong roads and the municipal streets of Siquijor town.

Larena town has CanlamboPonong-Manan-ao-Balolong-Balolang Road, Basac-Candigum-Cang-agong, and Basac-Catamboan-Cang-apa roads.

For the municipality of Maria are Lilo-an-Minalolan-Saging Provincial Road

3rd quarter full council meeting of the Regional Development Council (RDC-7)@ CocoGrove Resort Hotel in San Juan, Siquijor. via Kagusuan Beach Resort, Salagdoong Beach Resort road, and its municipal streets.

EnriqueVillanueva town has Poblacion-TulaposMarine Sanctuary Road via CVRP and Libo-Parian-Olave roads while for San Juan town are Balikbayan and Adayo Cove Beach Resort road to Tambisan Port and Tubod Highway-Lugnason Fall road in Napo.

For Lazi municipality, TigbawanCangclaran-Linamandagan-Kimba-Cangatuyom Road and municipal streets.

Other infra facilities for funding are, namely: Construction for Siqijor Tourism/Information office; development of Siquijor Psalubong Center inside its port area; procurement/installation of directional road and tourism sites signages; reconstruction of Mt. Bandilaan Viewing Tower; construction of additional multi-purpose pavement for Siquijor ,

Maria and Lazi towns; Canggomantong Spring Development-Diversion of Water for Banana Plantation in Gabayan and Ctamboan in Lazi; construction of deepwell pump for irrigation in Lotloton, Enrique Villanueva; and construction of Tissue Culture Laboratoryand equipment for banana at the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist in Helen, Larena, Siquijor.

CR+ID coordinates and rationalizes road investments through the use of VCA in identifying strategic road links (SRLs) that are interconnected roads which are most often used in transporting goods,services, and people.

It springboards on private sector-local government partnerships with support from national agencies to mobilize resources and funding for the identified priority road network vital for the local economy. (rmn/rac/PIA7-Siquijor)

iSIQUIJORGOVERNMENTNEWS

New composting facilities to boost organic agriculture

The facilities will help farmers reduce the dependence on chemical fertilizers, which will cut costs and produce safe food while promoting the protection of the environment.

In a recent national orientation on the establishment of composting facilities in local government units (LGUs), Silvino Tejada, director of the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Soils and Water Management (DA-BSWM), said that the DA’s National Organic Agriculture Program encourages the the use of organic fertilizers in composting facilities to increase crop production.

The DA implements the National Organic Agriculture Program in support

of the National Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 (10068), which was authored

by DA Secretary Proceso Alcala.

According to the DA-BSWM, the Philippines has become one of the top performing countries in organic agriculture since the country enacted the National Organic Agriculture Act in 2010. In 2010, 14,150 hectares of land was devoted to organic agriculture.

As of 2014, this production area has

Feature: From hobby to business

increased to more than 83,000 hectares.

The Philippines now also has at least 40 locally certified farms and almost 50,000 practitioners and adopters of the program, which has enabled the country to reach last year’s production of 417,879 metric tons, or more than 90% increase from 2010 production.

Cheaper and safer food production

Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food said that project will help farmers increase their income as fertilizers used on their farms can now be sourced within their community at lesser cost.

The DA-BSWM added that with the project aims to reduce dependence on chemical fertilizers.

It will also assist rural and urban communities in promoting environmental protection while producing safe food.

The project is implemented through the collaboration of the DA, the DA-BSWM and the Villar SIPAG Foundation. A series of training on the operation of the composting facilities will be conducted in collaboration with the DA-Agricultural Training Institute after the signing of the memoranda of agreement among the DA-BSWM, DA regional offices and LGUs. The partner LGUs have to meet a set of criteria for pre-establishment before the composting facilities will be awarded to them.

(– From the Department of Agriculture)

by Engr. Reinhold Jek Abing

SIQUIJOR, Sept. 21 (PIA) -- It started with a wife’s simple hobby that led to her acquiring her family’s business skills and make a different formulation of personal care products.

At first, DanMild owner Mildred Bation and her husband produced herbal beauty soap and dish washing liquid for their own personal consumption without intention to attract certain customers or market. Having tested their products, a neighbor convinced the couple of the product’s potential and introduced them to the market. This encouraged them to produce more and register their business.

In 2008, the firm started producing herbal beauty soap like papaya, tomato, carrots and glutathione soap. It was also on that same year that she registered her firm with the local government unit of Siquijor, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). With complete documents, the firm started mass producing dish washing liquid soap, car shampoo, detergent powder, liquid hand soap, fabric conditioner and bleach. They started selling the products to their neighbours and friends. Their network of clients expanded until DanMild became known to the province of Siquijor.

Eventually, they received orders from Zamboanga and Basilan where Midlred is from. But they cannot supply in bulk because they were only producing with limited production equipment. Molding of the soap solution was done through the use of improvised molds while knives/bolos were used to cut soap bars and the resulting packaging materials are not appealing to the market.

When the owner heard of DOST’s Small Enterprise technology Upgrading Program (SET-UP), they decided to approach DOST Siquijor to ask for possible intervention. They understand the cost of technologies involve in expanding production capacity and improving product quality which lead to the decision to avail the package of assistance of DOST under the program. Luckily, they were granted.

Through SETUP, DanMild was able to purchase an air soap cutter, triple loaf soap mold, mixer and essential oil extractor.

The air soap cutting machine enabled cutting soap bars into accurate lengths, sizes and forms. The triple loaf soap mold can hold a capacity of nine pounds which increased volume of production. It is also easier to clean and dismantle compared to the improvised mold. The electric-powered mixer blended the ingredients efficiently while the essential oil extractor made oil extraction a lot easier.

As a result, production volume increased by 50% due to the efficient soap making technology which translated to an increase in sales by 30%. Before she only has herself as both worker and the proprietor. Now, she employs four additional workers.

Currently, the owner is able to meet the demands of the customers. Some of them visit her production area and display outlet to buy some of her products. DanMild soap, detergents and other solutions are now available in grocery stores in the province. (rmn/rac/PIA7-SIquijor with reports from Engr. Reinhold Jek Abing/DOST-Siquijor)

iSIQUIJORGOVERNMENTNEWS iSIQUIJOR GOVERNMENTNEWS

School, teacher empowerment vital for better education - DepEd

(PIA) -- Department of Education (DepEd-9) Regional Director Dr. Nalcom Garma said that to uplift education and achieve educational justice, there is a need to improve resources that include educators, schools, and other learning institutions.

Garma said that educational justice is putting all the resources to improve necessity and accessibility to education to cater to the needs of all who desire to be educated.

“We should clearly examine schools as the focal place towards educational justice. If this is where problems exist, we should intensify school-based

management,” Garma stressed.

“If we want to do justice to education let’s go back to school as the focal place for e d u ca ti on,” Gar m a added.

He further said there is a need to improve instructional decision making as one of the critical measures for education.

“Empower teachers to desire for relevant instruction. There should be a culture for efficiency and effectiveness ,” Garma said.

He added that good teacher, conducive learning institutions, quality learning facilities are among the factors essential to achieve

efficiency and effectiveness in the education process.

Garma said that teachers should also be enhanced further.

“Let us re-dignify our teachers, kailangang masaya ang guro para masaya ang estudyante,” he noted.

“If we want to achieve justice for education, we have to improve learning institutions,” Garma concluded.

Dr. Garma is in Cebu as the keynote speaker during the opening of the three-day National Literacy Conference that started on September 30. (rmn/ays/PIA7)

Brewing an amazing twist to the annual Regional Association of Development Information Officers (RADIO) Assembly -- ‪#‎AdventureConvention‬. This time information and tourism officers will have hands on gathering of details while conquering challenges discovering the island. ‪#‎SensationalSiquijor‬

Concreting for Siquijor airport project done

The concreting of apron and taxiway of the Siquijor Airport Development Project in Barangay Cang-alwang in Siquijor town was completed in August 2015.

The 10.6 million project, funded by te National Government was implemented by the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC).

The project completion of the concreting of the runway and construction of a passenger terminal building, worth P63 million is expected to be bidded out this year.

The development of the airport will encourage more tourist arrivals in the province, thus improving its economy. (NEDA report)

iSIQUIJORGOVERNMENTNEWS

Government seeks more partnerships with education stakeholders

The Department of Education has released the guidelines in forging partnerships with education stakeholders for the nationwide implementation of the K to 12’s Senior High School (SHS) Program in 2016.

Education Secretary Armin A. Luistro said the guidelines were designed to help the personnel of the Department of Education (DepEd) follow a procedure in building partnerships with the private sector, nongovernment organizations, and other government agencies that will aid in the full implementation of the K to 12 Program.

“Our partnership-building activities shall include research and needs analysis, identification of

potential partners, meeting with potential partners, designing and finalizing formal agreements—either through Memorandum of Agreement or Memorandum of Understanding— and managing, monitoring and evaluating the partnerships,” he added.

DepEd, through its assigned focal persons from its field offices and schools, will form linkages with different stakeholders and organizations for work immersion opportunities for SHS students. The work immersion will expose SHS students to actual workplace setting, which will enrich their learning and competencies.

Other areas of partnership include the use of company facilities and equipment, additional training

opportunities for teachers, and additional resources in the form of donations. Donations may be in the form of parcel of land, infrastructure such as building, classroom, machinery, tools, equipment, training, consultancy, logistics and other technology support.

Among the target partners in the K to 12 program are local government units, national government agencies such as DOLE, DTI, TESDA, DPWH, private companies and business establishments, nongovernment and/or faith-based organizations, cooperative and microfinance institutions, other schools and training institutions that will not offer basic education program. (from the Department of Education)

Cebuano News

DA milagada sa bag-ong Fisheries implementing rules, regulations

(PIA) — Gilagdaan ni Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala niadtong Setyembre 22 ang gi amendar nga Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) sa Philippine Fisheries Code.

Ang 89 ka pahina nga Republic Act (RA) No. 10654 nga mi amendar sa na unang RA 8550 nga Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 natuman sulod sa 20 ka adlaw nga pakiglambigit ug pakig sabot-sabot sa mga commercial fishing companies, government, civil society organizations, academe, non-government organizations (NGOs) ug mga representante gikan sa grupo sa mangingisda.

Diha sa maong IRR gilatid ang silot nga ipahamtang sa mohimo ug illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities. Nalatid usab ang balaodnon mahitungod sa fisheries conservation

measures.

Usa sa mga importanteng balaodnon sa IRR ang pagpahigayon ug vessel monitoring measures (VMM) sa mga Philippine-Flagged commercial fishing vessels nga mangisda gawas sa kadagatan sa nasud ug sa mga fishing vessel nga may gibug-atong 30 gross tons(GT) nga gitugotan pag pangisda sulod sa kadagatan sa nasud.

Ang mga balaodnon sa IRR ipatuman human sa 15 ka adlaw nga pag manatala sa bisan unsang newspaper of general circulation.

Ang BFAR mohimo usab ug duha ka bulan nga information and education campaign (IEC) aron maseguro nga mahibal-an sa mga fishery stakeholders ug sa kinatibuk-ang publiko ang mga balaodnon sa Philippine Fisheries Code. (lpp/PIA7/Negros Oriental)

iSIQUIJOR

is the Island of Siquijor’s first electronic newsletter produced by the Philippine Information Agency-Siquijor Information Center and the DOST - Provincial Science and Technology Center.

It contains snippets of information about Siquijor, Central Visayas and the Philippine Government.

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