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iSIQUIJOR 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. 2 | NO. 5 February 1-8, 2014
DA commits support for Siquijor agri, fisheries SIQUIJOR (PIA) --- The Department of Agriculture (DA) here recently committed to support the development of agriculture and fisheries in the province of Siquijor during the 1st Provincewide Development Summit last week at Salagdoong Convention Center in Maria, Siquijor. “We are here because we are in support for the development of Siquijor in terms of agriculture and fisheries, and you have our 101% support especially coming from our Secretary of Agriculture,” DA-7 regional director Angel Enriquez said in her message.
Siquijor, Enriquez said, has a big comparative edge in terms of livestock and corn despite some farmers’ “notso-receptive” attitude towards the new technologies introduced by the department. She lauded Siquijor for being the only province in Central Visayas that was declared “rabies-free”, for having the highest yield in rice and the first to come up with commodity roadmaps that will guide the mayors for the determination of any development on agriculture. She attributed these achievements to the “good relationship between the provincial government and agriculture
office and the strong leadership of both Provincial Agricultural Officer Ramon Taroc and Provincial Veterinarian Bernadita Tabada,” Enriquez said. Farmers are improving and technologies are adapted, she said. Enriquez challenged Siquijor folks to work together to educate farmers so that they will welcome new technologies especially in the use of high yield varieties for corn. “At the end of the day we are for the betterment of lives especially of the farmers and fisherfolks,” Enriquez said. (rmn/RAC/PIA-Siquijor)
(Clockwise) Provincial G o v e r n o r Zaldy Villa, Vice-governor F e r n a d o “Dingdong” Avanzado Jr., Siquijor town mayor Mei Ling Quezon, vice-mayors James Monte of Lazi and Gold Calibo of Larena, Mayors Gerold Paling of Enrique Villanueva, Wilfredo “James” Capundag Jr of San Juan, and Meynard Asok of Maria, all expressing support to the provinces’ programs for development. (PIA-Siquijor)
iSIQUIJOR GOVERNMENTNEWS
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
DOST-DOLE partners to open more technologydriven jobs for disaster-devastated communities More technology-driven jobs are in the offing as the science and labor departments join forces in a nationwide livelihood program that will be technology-driven, resource-based and sustainable. Priority of said livelihood program are Filipinos who are economically displaced and marginalized due to natural and man-made calamities, including returning or displaced OFWs and their families. “We do not only aim to rebuild communities,” said Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Mario G. Montejo, “but also to enhance the resilience of our communities with the aid of technology.” The program, also in collaboration with the trade and agriculture departments, will have several components, including the establishment of community-based enterprises, business incubators, business and technology centers, innovation and knowledge centers, and promotion of climate change
mitigation to increase community disaster resiliency. Said component programs, according to Sec. Montejo, are built upon the “Filipino’s spirit of self-reliance, resilience, and ingenuity.” Business and technology incubators will provide a package of support services to start-up enterprises while business and technology centers will serve as alternative sites and technology terminals to create new or revive enterprises. Innovation and knowledge centers, meanwhile, will provide relevant information on science, technology, and innovation. As well, the Department of Labor and Employment will provide working capital in the form of raw materials, equipment, tools and jigs; trainings on skills and entrepreneurship, and organizational development, as well as on productivity, safety and health; and facilitate entrepreneurs’ enrollment to micro-insurance.
Convergence for Technology-driven, resource-based and sustainable livelihood. DOST Sec. Mario G. Montejo (middle, in white) sealed an inter-agency Memorandum of Agreement with DOLE Sec. Rosalinda D. Baldoz (seated, second from left) to pool resources and efforts to open more livelihood and job opportunities to displaced and marginalized calamity victims and OFWs. Key officials and regional directors of both DOST and DOLE (seated and standing) witnessed the MOA signing. (Photo by Framelia V. Anonas, S&T Media Service, DOST-STII)
‘School opening in August spares academe from rainy season’ - PAGASA
‘ CEBU CITY(PIA) --- Moving the school year to August will spare students and teachers from two months of rainy days. Alfredo Quiblat, Jr., Senior Weather Specialist of the PAGASA Mactan, s a i d t h a t r a i n s a r e e x p e c t e d t o i n c r e a s e i n t h e m o n t h s o f J u n e a n d J u l y. Weather disturbances are also expected to occur in these months. Some private universities have recently announced moving t h e i r o p e n i n g o f c l a s s e s f r o m J u n e t o A u g u s t e f f e c t i v e t h i s y e a r. Quiblat said the local Pagasa offices were not consulted on this matter but he is sure that there were consultations done at the national level. Quiblat, who was among the guests of this week’s Kapihan sa PIACebu said that based on the weather pattern, they are expecting this year to be an “inactive” year, with lesser than the average number of tropical depressions. Last year, the number of typhoons that c r o s s e d t h e P h i l i p p i n e A r e a o f R e s p o n s i b i l i t y ( PA R ) r e a c h e d 2 5 . Quiblat also said that it will get warmer in the months of March and April this year as there is a 50% chance of a mild El Nino occurence. Quiblat added that PAGASA is vigilant in sending out needed information in terms of regular forecasts and weather advisories through Short Messaging Service (SMS). “We have the technology and also the means of communication, “Quiblat said. Also present during the forum were Neil Sanchez of the Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) and Simeon Romarate of the Cebu CDRRMC who reported that they already have a concrete set-up for disaster response. (rmn/FCC/PIA-Cebu)
Agreed responsibilities of said agencies are sealed in the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement on Jan. 23 this year at the Occupational Safety and Health Center in Quezon City attended by the heads, regional directors, and key officials of the involved agencies. Within the next 30 days, DOST and DOLE regional offices will conduct consultations with possible beneficiaries and come up with a detailed action plan. Priority technologies for livelihood DOST’s priority technologies to be included in the livelihood program include indigenous handicraft making, fiber glass bancas, foldaway shelter, ceramic water pot filter, bakery products, charcoal briquetting, vegetable noodles, waste recycling, and complementary foods for babies. For the fishery sector, livelihood packages include smokehouse kits, fish canning and bottling, fish and squid drying, vacuum packing, fish fillet, and minced fish. While DOST will provide appropriate technologies and livelihood training, DOLE will handle the employment aspect. The Department of Trade and Industry will take care of the market side, and the Department of Agriculture will manage the agriculture and fishery aspect. Joint forces to help Yolanda victims This program is a convergence of government agencies, said Sec. Montejo, to maximize r e s o u r c e s a n d e n s u r e s u s t a i n a b i l i t y. This is echoed by DOLE Sec. Rosalinda J. Baldoz who said that the four agencies, all in the livelihood, employment and commerce cluster, have forged this program in the cabinet level. She shared that in her visits to Yolandahit areas, she found out that employment is now the top need of communities. “People in the devastated regions are already looking for jobs,” she bared. This is why the agencies came up with this convergence program, she said, which is a part of the RAY or Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda. T e c h n o l o g y - d r i v e n , resource-based, sustainable “The use of technology (in the livelihoods) will create value,” Montejo stressed. “The convergence of agencies ensure that there will be markets, and value-adding through technology ensure the program’s sustainability.” On resource-based livelihoods, he explained, “Whatever we find in a certain area, we will create a product out of it using technology, add value to it, and find market for it.” As an example, he shared that in his meetings with the local officials in Jaro, Leyte, they planned to package their local lechon (roasted pig) as “Yolanda-brand” and find market for it in Manila. In Basey, Samar, meanwhile, their abundant root crop camote (sweet potato), can be processed into chips, and appropriately package it to make it competitive in the market, he told. “President Benigno S. Aquno III’s instruction is clear: All initiatives must be sustainable so that we will see better communities in the future,” Sec. Baldoz told. “The reforms pushed by the President are not great changes but reform on how we do things—that these initiatives will go on even after this administration.” The programs, being technologybased, make us confident that these will be sustainable, according to her. “Sustainability ensures the transformation of beneficiaries to better families, communities and country, leading to inclusive growth. (Framelia V. Anonas, S&T Media Service, DOST-STII
iSIQUIJOR GOVERNMENTNEWS
Circulate clean money, deposit unfit bills - BSP CEBU CITY (PIA) --- Most Filipinos have a penchant for keeping clean, crisp notes and using instead the crumpled, worn out bills in their everyday transactions. H o w e v e r, i t s h o u l d b e t h e other way around, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). “BSP wants the clean notes to circulate and the unfit ones should be deposited in the bank. The public should make this a habit,” said Atty. Ma. Lux Berciles, BSP-7 Regional Director. Berciles noted that Filipinos tend to keep the crisp bills in their wallets and use the unfit or mutilated bills when making their payments. A bill is considered unfit if it is crumpled, contains markings, heavily creased, soiled, and has a rag-like appearance. Mutilated bills, on the other hand, are notes that have been torn and joined together with adhesive tape, damaged, defaced or perforated, scorched or burned to the extent that it is frail and brittle, split edgewise, and lost all the inscribed signatures. Circulating the fit notes are also one way to easily detect counterfeit money. “If dunot na kaayo ang kwarta, dili na visible ang security features (When a bill is already too damaged, its security features are hardly visible),” said Hazel Arante, BSP-7 Bank Officer 1.
The central bank officials also discouraged the practice of stapling money which is common among tellers and cashiers. “Bills should not be stapled. From time to time, we conduct seminars and briefings to tellers, especially new ones, to tell them that they shouldn’t continue with the habit of marking the bills and stapling them,” said Berciles. Those in possession of unfit notes can have it deposited in their bank accounts, or have it exchanged at central bank. Mutilated notes, on the other hand, can only be exchanged with BSP and not in any other banks. BSP in Cebu regularly retires billions of unfit notes, a process where unfit notes are punched with holes and shredded. “Next to Manila, Cebu is the hub, holding the largest money circulation,” said Berciles. Meanwhile, Berciles stressed that the ten-peso bill is still legal tender amidst reports that they are no longer being accepted. “This is a misconception. We get to receive from the banks crisp ten-peso bills because they thought it’s no longer accepted, but it’s still legal tender,” said Berciles. She added that although the central bank has stopped printing the ten-peso bill, it has not yet been demonetized. (RMN/PIA Cebu)
DOT-ADB-Canada to help address skills mismatch in tourism industry CEBU CITY (PIA) --- The Department of Tourism (DOT) along with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Canada has announced the financial support for skills training of Filipinos in the tourism industry. The skills training scheme is part of a larger Canadian $7-million support initiative to DOT for improving competitiveness in tourism over the next three years. The project known as Philippines Improving Competitiveness in Tourism is designed to complement the efforts of the government in reaching the target of 10 million tourist arrivals by 2016 and creating quality employment in the sector. The project focuses on three outputs, namely: Output 1, assisting local governments to reduce red tape affecting businesses operating in the tourism sector; Output 2, support to industry to raise standards through DOT’s new hotel and resorts quality assurance and accreditation framework, and Output 3, tourism industry skills development program. The project activities will be piloted in four destinations - Cebu, Palawan, Davao and Bohol.
“The ADB-Government of Canada assistance to DOT will pilot exciting and innovative approaches to incentivise employers and employees to upgrade skills, services standards, and create career paths for tourism workers through the development of quality education and training curriculum, and for local governments to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden on tourism enterprises in four destinations” said Assistant Secretary Rolando Canizal of the DOT. “If successful, these would be schemes the DOT would want to consider rolling out nationally,” he added. Today’s workshop here is the first of a series and will inform industry participants on DOTs industry skills development program and the application process for support to tourism enterprises to upgrade employee skills and service standards. “Cebu has a fast growing tourism industry and a major mismatch in skill is now evident. We hope that the employerled skills development program and support scheme will be an important step towards addressing this mismatch in the industry by upgrading the skills of young Filipinos on par with the best in the ASEAN region” said
Febr uar y is Civil Registration Month With February set as Civil Registration Month, government agencies have scheduled several activities to mark the observation and promote timely registration. Ofices that are spearheading the observation are the Philippine Statistics Authority, formerly National Statistics Office, and Local Civil Registry Offices across the country as provided for under the Civil Registry Law of the Philippines. T h e t h e m e f o r t h i s y e a r ’s celebration is “Ikaw at Ako Tungo sa Wastong Pagrerehistro”. Activities include the conduct of information dissemination and symposia on Civil Registry Matters in different educational institutions, mobile registrations in different barangays/ municipalities, radio interviews, hanging of streamers, free issuance of certifications, and motorcade in partnership with the Local Government Units (LGUs) provincewide. Civil registration is a continuous, permanent and compulsory recording of vital events occurring in the life of an individual such as birth, marriage and death, as well as court decrees and legal instruments affecting the civil status of an individual. Simultaneously, NSO is informing the public that by virtue of Republic Act 10625 (Philippine Statistical Act of 2013) which took effect last December 29, 2013, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) was created by merging the major statistical agencies of the government, comprised by NSO, National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) and Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS). RA 10625 also provides for the creation of the Philippine Statistical R e s e a r c h a n d Tr a i n i n g I n s t i t u t e (PSRTI) to replace the Statistical Research and Training Center (SRTC). Last January 9, 2014, Hon. Carmelita N. Ericta was designated as the officer in charge National Statistician of PSA and the OIC Executive Director of PSRTI. For now, the affected offices are still in hold-over capacity in order to continue to produce quality and timely statistics and civil registration and services. (rmn/ECB/PIA7-Bohol/PSA) Kelly Bird, project manager from the ADB. The Philippines Improving Competitiveness in Tourism is a 38-month program funded by the Government of Canada and administered by the ADB. Workshops will also be held on Feb. 17 in Davao and Puerto Princesa in Palawan, while a fifth workshop will be held in Coron on Feb. 26. (PIA-7)
iSIQUIJORGOVERNMENTNEWS
DOH: Leprosy is curable
CENTRAL VISAYAS (PIA) --- The Department of Health (DOH-7) assures the public that leprosy is now curabled. In a recent Association of Government Information Officers (AGIO) Forum in line with the Leprosy Week Celebration in Central Visayas, Dr. Jaime Bernadas, regional director of DOH-7 said the medicines for total cure of leprosy are now available at all health service units. “Although this is a long standing disease that can cause physical deformities we would just like to inform the public that there is still life for those suffering from leprosy as there are now discovered medicines that can cure leprosy,” Bernadas said. Regional Leprosy Program Coordinator Dr. Joanri Riveral added that public has nothing to worry because physical deformities and nerve damaged due to leprosy bacteria can also be prevented through early stage medication and treatment. He also said that depending upon the status of the bacteria after taking the medicine for one month, patients with leprosy can no longer transmit the bacteria to other people. Riveral revealed that it was in 1980s when experts started to search for leprosy cure and as years passed the medicine was enhanced to be more effective. “There are now applicable medicines that can kill or weaken leprosy bacteria,” Riveral confirmed. “Dili angay mahadlok sa leprosy (there is nothing to be afraid of leprosy), and even to people or patients affected by leprosy,” he stressed. He urged the public to report observed skin color and form changes like white and red spots as these are early symptoms of leprosy. DOH informed the public that health centers are now provided with free medicines for leprosy if only there are reported cases in that area. Experts form DOH also trained local health units to diagnose and detect early symptoms of leprosy. (mbcn/AYS/PIA7)
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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Representatives of the various government and non-government organizations participating in the 1st Provincial Summit at the Salagdoong Convention Center, Maria, Siquijor. The summit hopes to bring in together all plans, projects and strategies and come up with a comprehensive blueprint for the development of Siquijor island
Cebuano News: Pagmugna ug trabaho alang sa mga Pilipino padayon TA G B I L A R A N C I T Y, B o h o l ( P I A ) - - G i s e g u r o s a M a l a k a n y a n g n g a padayon ang gobyerno sa paghimo og mga lakang aron makamugna og daghang trabaho alang sa mga Pilipino dinhi sa nasud aron makab-ot ang inclusive growth. Ta l i w a l a k i n i s a g i p a g a w a s n g a t a h o s a S o c i a l W e a t h e r S t a t i o n s (SWS) nga nag-ingong nagpabiling taas ang gidaghanon sa mga Pilipinong walay trabaho base sa survey nga ilang gipahigayon sa ika-upat nga kwarter sa 2013 diin nigawas nga halos naa sa 27.5% o kapin 12 milyong indibidwal ang walay trabaho. Sa gipahigayong press briefing sa Malakanyang kagahapon, miingon si Presidential Spokesperson Sec. Edwin Lacierda nga nisaka n g a d t o s a 6 k a p u n t o s k u n i t a n d i s a n i a g i a n g r e s u l t a s a m a o n g s u r v e y. Kini tungod na usab sa kadaot nga nahiagoman sa nasud sa mga milabay nga kalamidad ilabi na sa pagpanghasi sa bagyong Yolanda sa Kabisay-an. Dugang pa sa tigpamaba sa Presidente, tungod na usab kini sa mga nangagubang establisyemento nga naka-ingon sa pagtakop sa mga negosyo nga ni resulta sa daghang nawad-an og trabaho. Apan bisan pa niini, dungan sa pagmando ni Presidente Aquino sa Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), giseguro sa gobyerno nga may igong programa kini aron tabangan ang mga walay trabaho sa nasud sama sa cash-forwork program ug paggahin og mga bag-ong trabaho sa mga nakalampos ubos sa mga job fairs aron matubag ang panginahanglan sa matag pamilya. (PIA7-Bohol/ECB)
Listahan sa mga lalawigang kuyaw maigo sa kalamidad gipagawas sa WWF MANILA, Feb. 3, 2014 (PIA) -- Gipagawas sa World Wide Fund for Nature ug Bank of the Philippine Islands ang listahan sa mga lalawigan nga kuyaw maigo sa kalamidad base sa resulta sa gipahigayon nilang hugot nga pagtuon kalabot sa climate change. N a g - u n a s a l i s t a h a n a n g B a g u i o , D a g u p a n u g Ta c l o b a n s a gitumbok nga grabeng apektado sa mga epekto sa climate change. M a t u d p a s a W W F, 1 2 k a l a l a w i g a n a n g n a h i a p i l sa mga gikahadlokang grabeng maigo sa kalamidad. Nahiapil usab niini ang Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Zamboanga, Naga, Laoag, Davao, Batangas ug Angeles. Gipasabot ni WWF-Philippines vice chair ug CEO Jose Maria Lorenzo Tan nga tuyo sa ilang organisasyon nga tabangang makapangandam ang mga nahisgotang lalawigan sa pag-abot sa bisan unsang kalamidad. (PIA7-Bohol/ECB)