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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. 1 | NO. 15 September 20, 2013
NAPC head dares Siquijor officials anew: Fulfill at least 3 of your promises By Rizalie Anding Calibo SIQUIJOR (PIA)—National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary and lead convenor Jose Eliseo Rocamora challenged anew all elected officials in the province of Siquijor to fulfill at least three of their campaign promises before their term ends. Rocamora was the Keynote Speaker during the Festival of Festivals that highlighted the 42nd Araw ng Siquijor grand celebration, Tuesday (September 17) at the Siquijor Capital Square. The celebration’s theme is “Pagbag-o Alang sa Kauswagan”. (Change for Development) In his brief speech, Rocamora reminded all elected officials of their promises made when they were yet campaigning for election.
Improvement of the hospital, water and electricity for all Siquijodnons are at least three of the most concerns that the officials should focus and look into, he said. It must be recalled that upon assumption into office, the new leaders of Siquijor have outlined and presented to the Siquijodnons programs and legislative agenda to hasten the process of transformation and fast-track socio-economic development in the island province. Among other priorities and programs promised were job generation, poverty alleviation through livelihood and other income generating projects, corrupt-free governance, tourism development and other strategies that to improve the lives of every Siquijodnon. (mbcn/RACalibo/PIA7-Siquijor)
CSC spearheads gov't agencies' tree growing activity By Rizalie Anding Calibo
LARENA, Siquijor (PIA)—The Civil Service Commission (CSC) spearheaded on September 14, the Tree Growing of at least 1,000 rattan seedlings at Barangay Olang, Maria, Siquijor, one of the identified sites for the National Greening Program (NGP) by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-Siquijor. CSC-Siquijor Supervising Personnel Specialist Resil Daniot, said the activity is in celebration of the 113th Philippine
Civil Service Anniversary for the month of September 2013 with the theme: “Tatak Lingkod Bayan: Isabuhay, Ipagmalaki at Ipagbunyi.” Daniot in a short program prior to the actual tree planting, thanked all national and local government agencies for their participation and support to the activity. She said Region-wide Tree Growing is only one of the activities spearheaded by the CSC with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the month-long celebration that encourage
public servants to transcend from being ordinary civil servants to being servant heroes. It supports the National Greening Program pursuant to Executive Order No. 26, s. 2011 which mandates every government personnel to plant 10M trees a year, and highlight servant heroes’ efforts in climate change mitigation, she said. With the activity being held on a Saturday, agency heads may grant compensatory timeoff to their participating employees equivalent to the number of hours spent for such activity, Provincial Director Merlinda Flore-Quillano said in her letter to all national and local offices. Simultaneous with the Tree Growing, a community tree planting was also conducted by Barangay Tulapos of Enrique Villanueva, Siquijor at the new water sources in barangay Manan-ao of the same town. Each family was provided with at least five seedlings to be planted at the identified sites. The community tree planting was also done in support to the 42nd Araw ng Siquijor celebration. (mbcn/RACalibo/PIA7Siquijor with CSC-Siquijor reports)
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PIA-Siquijor staff join the Tree Growing Activity by planting 10 rattan seedlings at the PIAassigned site in Barangay Olang, Maria-Siquijor. Spearheaded by the Civil Service CommisionSiquijor, the activity is part of the celebration of the 113th Philippine Civil Service Anniversary and the 42nd Araw ng Siquijor. It also supports the National Greening Program of the government. (mbcn/rac/PIA-Siquijor)
iSIQUIJOR NATIONALNEWS
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
DOH continues monitoring rainy season diseases
“Our monitoring of dengue and leptospirosis cases continues even after the rainy season,” Secretary of Health Enrique Ona said. As the rainy season draws to a close in the next few weeks, the trend of increasing cases of dengue and leptospirosis appears to have been deterred with effective interventions initiated by the Department of Health (DOH). A total of 117,658 dengue cases
were reported from January 1 to September 7, 2013. This is 5.25% lower compared to the same time period last year. Most of the cases came from Regions VI (14.28%), Region IVA (13.98%), Region VII (9.38%), Region XII (7.98%) and Region III (7.82%). Metro Manila benefited most from the interventions initiated by the DOH as it reduced the number of dengue cases from 23,957 cases in 2012 to 7,909 cases in 2013. This represents a drop of 67% compared to last year. A similar
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
DepEd to award school teachers of financial saving In its timely celebration of the National Teacher’s Month, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), through the Department of Education (DepEd) Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE) and the), launches the 2013 GURO ng PAG-ASA (Gantimpala para sa Ulirang Pagtuturo ng PAG-iimpok at Araling PanSAlapi) to recognize outstanding teachers who exhibited exemplary dedication in teaching the habit of saving money among their students. Secretary of Education Armin A. Luistro said that public school principals and school heads are encouraged to nominate elementary school teachers who have been using the teaching guides on Financial Education in any of subjects in Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (EsP), Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan (EPP), and Araling Panlipunan (AP). “It’s never too early to teach our young students the importance of
money and the hard work that goes into saving it. That is why I am persuading our school heads to choose teachers who have displayed devotion in helping our students understand financial responsibility, the significance and value of money,” Luistro said. The search starts on October 2013 followed by a set of scheduled activities–from submission of nominations to the selection of winners. Awarding ceremony is scheduled on January 2014. Deadline of nomination form submission and other required documents is on or before October 4, 2013. For further information and inquiries, contact Jetzer M. Tan of the BSP at telephone no.: (02) 708-7140 or Dr. Rogelio O Doñes of the BEE at telephone no.: (02) 638-4799 or send a message through any of the email addresses: jmtan@bsp. gov.ph;rogelio_dones@yahoo.com.ph
trend was observed in the number of deaths from dengue which was reduced from 107 cases last year to 11 cases today. In a similar fashion, leptospirosis cases were 72.13% lower compared to last year. There were a total of 5,658 cases last year compared to 1,577 leptospirosis cases in this current year. The regions affected came from the NCR (27.65%), Region III (14.39%), Region VI (13.82%), Region IV-A (9.07%) and Region XI (8.56%). Despite the relative concentration of cases in Metro Manila, the number of cases decreased from 2,150 cases last year compared to 436 cases this current which represents an 80% decrease. Current interventions such as the aggressive campaigns to prevent dengue such as cleaning possible mosquito areas as well as self protection measures were all contributory to the decrease in dengue cases. Other interventions, such as the ovitraps which was highlighted in the SONA of President Aquino, appear to be an effective method in curtailing the rise of dengue cases. In a similar manner, preventive measures by giving Doxycycline as prophylaxis against leptospirosis was initiated by DOH in coordination with the local government units (LGUs). Doxycycline was released by the National Center Pharmaceutical Access Management – DOH especially to high-risk groups. Also, leptospirosis cases were decreased significantly due to the less flooding in flood prone areas through the efforts of the DPWH in improving the drainage systems. “Vigilance against vectors of dengue and leptospirosis should be a year-round commitment of every Filipino household”, the health chief emphasized. (doh.gov.ph)
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT
P82,505,515 worth of DSWD assistance for Zambo evacuees In its timely celebration of the National Teacher’s Month, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), through the Department of Education (DepEd) Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE) and the), launches the 2013 GURO ng PAG-ASA (Gantimpala para sa Ulirang Pagtuturo ng PAG-iimpok at Araling PanSAlapi) to recognize outstanding teachers who exhibited exemplary dedication in teaching the habit of saving money among their students. Secretary of Education Armin A. Luistro said that public school principals and school heads are encouraged to nominate elementary school teachers
who have been using the teaching guides on Financial Education in any of subjects in Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (EsP), Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan (EPP), and Araling Panlipunan (AP). “It’s never too early to teach our young students the importance of money and the hard work that goes into saving it. That is why I am persuading our school heads to choose teachers who have displayed devotion in helping our students understand financial responsibility, the significance and value of money,” Luistro said. The search starts on October
2013 followed by a set of scheduled activities–from submission of nominations to the selection of winners. Awarding ceremony is scheduled on January 2014. Deadline of nomination form submission and other required documents is on or before October 4, 2013. For further information and inquiries, contact Jetzer M. Tan of the BSP at telephone no.: (02) 708-7140 or Dr. Rogelio O Doñes of the BEE at telephone no.: (02) 638-4799 or send a message through any of the email addresses: jmtan@bsp. gov.ph;rogelio_dones@yahoo.com.ph
NEGROS ORIENTAL
iSIQUIJOR GOVERNMENTNEWS
DPWH encourages LGUs to avail its infra programs, projects by
Roi Lomotan
DUMAGUETE CITY (PIA) – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Negros Oriental appealed to municipal and city information officers in the province to inform their mayors on DPWH’s programs and projects that can bring development to their areas. In a recent briefing-orientation of the Association of Negros Oriental Public Information Officers (ANOPIO), Engr. Edna Ravelo, Information Officer of DPWH NegOr Engineering District II encouraged city and municipal information officers to urge their leaders to avail of the department’s programs. “In your end, help your locality to avail of these programs because the focus of the President is to use the money (of the government) for the people,” Ravelo told ANOPIO members. She said the DPWH is ready to partner with the local government units (LGUs) in constructing roads and other public facilities that will benefit the public. Ravelo also shared infrastructure projects the DPWH is implementing together with other national government agencies. One of these projects is the Department of Tourism (DOT) Convergence Project that aims to concrete all roads leading to tourist destinations in the province for better tourism access.
In the second district, the DPWH has started concreting roads to six tourist spots identified by the DOT such as the roads going to the Twin Lake in Sibulan; Casaroro falls and the Japanese shrine in Valencia; the board walk in Tanjay City; the road going to the port near the whale watching site in Bais City and the roads leading to the network of crystal caves in Mabinay. DPWH aims to complete the all concreting projects of these roads by 2016. Ravelo added that the President directed the DPWH to complete the construction of all national roads by 2016. In line with this, the DPWH NegOr Engineering District 2 is now focusing on the completion of the Mabinay-Kabankalan, Negros Occidental national highway; Bayawan City-Mabinay national highway; Dumaguete-Tanjay-Pamplona-Sta. Catalina national highway and the Mabinay-Ayungon national highway. She said the DPWH NegOr Engineering District 2 has P623 million for the regular infrastructure projects to be used for the completion of these national roads. On the other hand, the DPWH is also in partnership with the Department of Health (DOH) in constructing health centers and extension of health facilities in every
town in the province. “The DPWH is implementing DOH projects like health centers. You just have to write to us if there are health centers that needs expansion or construction,” Ravelo advised ANOPIO members. Aside from these, the DPWH also help in constructing comfort rooms in different schools in partnership the Department of Education (DepEd). Meanwhile, the bidding for 2014 infrastructure projects will start in November. “The directive of DPWH Sec. Rogelio Singson is to start the bidding of 2014 projects on November then award the project (to contractor) by January 2014. We will start the project by January and will be finished by December 2014,” Ravelo said. Ravelo also told ANOPIO members that DPWH implements 54 infrastructure projects within the year. She even clarified that some of the funding came from the pork barrel of the congressman in the second district of the province. Ravelo was the guest speaker in the recent ANOPIO briefing orientation at the PIA -NegOr Provincial InfoCen. ANOPIO is an organization of information officers from different towns and cities in Negros Oriental including those in the national government agencies that have offices here. (mbcn/RAL/PIA7-Negros
GSIS lifts suspension of EC survivorship benefit By Amor Y. Saludar
Cebu City (PIA) --- State pension fund of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) recently announced the lifting of the suspension of payments for survivorship pension of qualified Employees’ Compensation (EC) pensioners and dependents. This came after the Employees Compensation Commission (ECC) resolved to lift the suspension of its payment beyond the five-year guaranteed period. As granted under Employees’ Compensation program implemented by ECC, the EC survivorship pension mandated under Presidential Decree 626, is among the benefits given to employees who died from workconnected accident, disease, or disability. It can be recalled that in 2006, the previous GSIS administration suspended the payment of the pension after the five-year guaranteed period. In a report from GSIS, agency’s President and General Manager Robert Vergara said that qualified EC survivors whose pension has been stopped as of
August 2012 and those who should be receiving their pension beginning August 2012 will benefit from the ECC resolution. Letters have been sent to EC survivorship pensioners with list of requirements to comply. GSIS requires surviving legitimate spouses (of deceased EC pensioners) to submit a certificate of no marriage (CENOMAR) issued by the National Statistics Office. GSIS clearly stresses that ECC board resolution disqualifies them from the benefit if they remarried. All qualified EC survivorship pensioners will also be asked later to enroll for eCard, through which their monthly pension will be credited, after the GSIS has created their pension records. When submitting documents to the nearest GSIS office, pensioners are further advised to bring two valid government-issued identification cards and a copy of the letter from the GSIS for easy reference. Under PD 626, EC contributions are paid solely by employers in case of work-related contingencies incurred by their employees, such as accident,
disease, disability, or death. Employees do not contribute to the Employees Compensation Insurance Fund. The GSIS and the Social Security System are the implementing agencies and fund managers of the EC Insurance Fund for the public and private sectors, respectively. Questions on the EC survivorship pension may be directed to the GSIS Contact Center at 8474747. Qualified EC pensioners may also send an email to ecc_mails@ yahoo.com oreccpension@gsis. gov.ph. (mbcn/AYS/PIA7-Cebu with report from GSIS)
iSIQUIJOR
is a weekly electronic newsletter produced by the Philippine Information Agency-Siquijor Information Center and the DOST Provincial Science and Technology Center with stories submitted by local and national government agencies and from other Provincial Information Centers in Cebu, Bohol and Negros Oriental.
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iSIQUIJOR GOVERNMENTNEWS President Benigno S. Aquino III assures that the government have sufficient funds for the rehabilitation of Zamboanga City damaged by the standoff between the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and government forces during the media briefing at the Zamboanga City Airport on Thursday (September 19). The President reiterates the government’s prime objective in safeguarding the life of remaining hostages of the MNLF. In photo are Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman and Education Secretary Armin Luistro. (Photo by Robert Viñas / Malacañang Photo Bureau)
PIA News Digest Aquino says attaining peaceful and prosperous country rests in the hands of citizens, especially youth
President Benigno S. Aquino III said attaining the goal of establishing a peaceful, stable, and prosperous country rests largely in the hands of the Filipino citizens, especially the younger generations. "As future leaders, the youth must be guided to become responsible, conscientious individuals who are ready to perform their respective roles in society," the Chief Executive said in his message to the Philippine Society of Young Good Citizens on the occasion of "I Transform! Young Leaders Convention: Believe, Excel, Serve, Transform! (B.E.S.T) Mindanao Wave." The Philippine Society of Young Good Citizens opened on Friday the four-day convention which has for its theme: "United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UNMDGs): Global Action. Innovation. Peace and Solidarity" at the Ritz Hotel at Garden Oases, Davao City. "Your government considers the involvement of our youth crucial in this time of our revitalization, as their idealism and energy serve as fuel to sustain us on the straight and righteous path," the President said. "May you all emerge from this event more passionate and committed in our collective responsibility to improve the lot of our people. May integrity, excellence, and compassion continue to characterize all of our pursuits, that we may bequeath a better, more equitably progressive Philippines to future generations," he stressed. The activity aims to give young Filipinos the avenue to share innovative ways to address pressing social problems at the local level using the framework of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The "I Transform..." campaign was launched in September 2012 in Tagbilaran City, Bohol where 650 youth leaders representing 130 organizations were participants. PND (js)
Minority wants Ombudsman to finish 'pork' probe by Christmas
A minority lawmaker urged Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to finish the preliminary investigation of the controversial pork barrel scam case before Christmas, adding that the Ombudsman only need to find the existence of probable cause. Morales earlier said it will take less than a year to finish the preliminary probe for the pork barrel scam case, but House Minority leader Ronaldo Zamora said the Ombudsman must resolve the plunder, malversation of public funds and others charges filed against legislators and other personalities involved in the scam by Christmas this year. Zamora also threatened the Department of Justice and the Ombudsman that they will grill the sponsors of their budgets regarding these matters during the budget deliberations in Congress which are scheduled next week. The Minority bloc is also urging the Ombudsman to ask the Court of Appeals to freeze the assets of lawmakers accused in the pork barrel scam.
Aquino administration used P15B Malampaya fund to implement 10-energy related projects
The government used the Malampaya funds to carry out 10 energy-related projects since President Benigno S. Aquino III took over in June 2010, the Palace said on Friday. The administration started to source from the Malampaya fund in 2011 with a total amount of P15,255,416,490, Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a press briefing in Malacanang. Valte clarified that all the 10 projects that used the fund are all energy-related projects based on the requirement of the law. Among these projects include the fuel requirement for Small Power Utilities of the National Power Corp. (NPC), Pantawid Pasada Program, acquisition of the Hamilton-class cutters for the Philippine Navy, fuel requirement for generator sets lease rental and capital expenditures of NPC, Upgrading capabilities for the security and protection of Malampaya natural gas projects; sitio electrification, shortterm facility of NPC, missionary electrification, barangay line enhancement and sitio electrification projects and the transfer ride docking periodic haul maintenance costs. According to the energy department, the current balance is P130 billion. PND (as)