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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. 6 July 19, 2013
DTI releases .712M to woodcraft assn
DOST staff installing the Water Level Monitoring Station (WLMS) in Seniora River, Lazi. This device will determine the water level of the river by sound wave and ultrasonic sensor and transmit the data to the central server.
LARENA, Siquijor-- The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Siqujor recently released P712,000 to the Larena Woodcraft Makers Association (LAWOMA) for the procurement of materials and equipment in woodcraft and furniture making. The fund is taken from the new program, Shared Service Facilities (SSF) under President Aquino’s administration. DTI Provincial director Nimfa Virtucio said the program aims to provide the micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (MSMEs) a common service area with better and new technologies and equipment. This is to improve the quality of goods and productivity, thus, increasing the competitiveness and helping them graduate into the next higher level where they could tap a better and wider market and be integrated in the global supply chain, she said. Trade and Industy development specialist and SSF program coordinator Percival Marchan added that to be a beneficiary of the program, an organization must be accredited by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) or other accrediting agencies to give them a legal identity. Engr. Marchan said the Siquijor Association of Food Entrepreneurs (SAFE) and two other associations from Napo of Lazi town and Cangmangki of Enrique Villanueva will also receive the same financial assistance. Materials and equipment for LAWOMA includes two units portable generator, six compressors with nail gun, four belt sanders, four routers, three chainsaws, two power planers, two portable band saws and two planers. L AW O M A P r e s i d e n t R o b e r t o Pajermo said that with the new acquired equipment, the association can enhance more the quality of its woodcraft products. Woodcraft is the identified One Town, One Product (OTOP) of Larena. L AW O M A i s a n a s s o c i a t i o n established in 2009 and is composed of 50 woodcraft makers. (mbcn/rac/PIA7Siquijor with reports from IAAbatayo)
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DOST, DepEd alert public on mosquito surge
OL traps covered 682 schools provincewide SIQUIJOR (PIA)—The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Department of Education (DepEd) have issued a warning against possible surge of dengue cases amid rainy season, especially in areas with stagnant water. As part of the extended DOSTDepEd Dengue Ovicidal-Larvicidal ( O L ) Tr a p P r o g r a m , a D e n g u e Ve c t o r S u r v e i l l a n c e R e f r e s h e r ’s Training and Website Aprreciation Seminar was held on July 17. This is in preparation for another
OL trap kits to be distributed right after the training which will already cover all public and private schools in the Siquijor. The DOST has distributed mid last year 1,364 ovicidal-larvicidal trap (OL trap) kits to 534 elementary schools and 148 secondary schools or 682 schools province-wide to help fight dengue upsurge in the province. Additional OL trap kits, DOSTProvincial Director Mario de la Pena said, will be deployed to all schools via a courier for installation right after the training. The seminar, he said is intended
to disseminate information to the school coordinators and train them in the use of the website for monitoring. Participants also include district Supervisors, division Heads and health personnel. O L Tr a p S y s t e m prevent the next generation of the mosquitoes carrying dengue virus. This simple technology, de la Pena said has only three components: a black container, a small strip of lawanit and OL Pellet Solution which is made of organic materials that dissolved in clean water. The scent of the solution attracts the female Aedes Aegypti to the lawanit and lays their eggs on the stick. When they get exposed to the solution, the eggs and larvae dies before transforming into adults. The process is simple, very safe and non-toxic, he said. DOST’s OL Trap also serves as a surveillance whether that area is now free from dengue transmission. Presence of eggs in the stick means the use of OL Trap should be continued, he said. Meanwhile, the DOST director is calling school coordinators to be serious in giving updates and reports of the OL trap system in their areas. Data gathered weekly should be reported to the DOST and DepEd office and will be posted at the website, he said. (mbcn/rac/ PIA7-Siquijor & PCL/MDP-DOST )
DENGUE VECTOR SURVEILLANCE: Dengue Vector Surveillance Refresher’s Training and Website Appreciation at the Department of Education-Siquijor Conference Hall. Photo shows (clockwise) Dengue Coordinator Ronya Mae L. Bayan of DOST 7 in her Website Navigation Tutorials, Ms. Elsa Rodriguez of DepEd-Siquijor giving her reaction to the OL trap project, Provincial Health Officer Redempta Cortes on Dengue Situationer in the province, and DOST7 Dengue Project staff Krissette Grace F. Campilan on the program update and refresher on vector surveillance. (RACalibo/ PIA-Siquijor)
PNoy orders DOST to host gov't websites President Benigno Aquino III has tasked the Department of Science and Technology Information and Communications Office (DoST-ICTO) to operate and maintain all the government web-hosting service. “The government recognizes the need for greater security and robustness in the internet technologies it uses to deliver reliable information and provide state of the art online services, which are free from impairment and disruption,” Aquino said in Administrative Order No. 39. Aquino said this will “ensure the government’s internet presence 24-hours a day, 7-days a week under all foreseeable conditions.”
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Siquijor rep open to P3-M plan for HRST LNAS school recently and interacted with the faculty, staff, employees and students of both the TESDA Provincial Office and the school. TESDA-LNAS officials said a blueprint for the building worth P3 million was submitted several years ago but has remained in hiatus since then. With the new dispensation, it is hoped that the plan would prosper in light of new curricular developments lined up in the academe, TESDA-LNAS officials said. Pernes was accompanied by congressional staff members, including her son and was welcomed by the agency led by engineer Samuel A. Jordan, Siquijor Provincial Office officer-incharge (OIC) and engineer Winefredo B. Salas, TESDALNAS OIC. A short conference followed after acquaintances were made as the lawmaker took the opportunity to share her views, plans and Siquijor Congresswoman Marie Anne Pernes (center) with her son Bryan Pernes (right) and opinions in bringing more Engr. LNAS Officer In-Charge Winefredo B. Salas (left) , and the Cookery trainees in the Cookery development and services Training training room. to the lone district. TESDA-LNAS officials expressed hopes that the district could be assured of a more effective delivery of health services for the people of the island as the newly-elected legislator The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-7) has achieved 99% of its target is a medical practitioner. seedling production in the region under the National Greening Program (NGP). Pernes’ late father Of the 13,009,433 seedlings targeted for this year in Central Visayas, DENR-7 reported that 12,844,993 in-law, Dominador Pernes, seedlings have been produced under NGP as of July 12, 2013. was an assemblyman during DENR-7 Information Officer Dr. Eddie Llamedo said the agency is set to fully complete the remaining his prime, being a member of balance of 160,000 seedlings by the end of this month to adequately address the planting of good quality the Pusyon Bisaya, Central seedlings. Visayas’ only opposition As of July 12, data released by the Forest Management Services (FMS) showed that Cebu province block which won seats in has already produced 4,215,020 seedlings and Bohol with 3,253,619 seedlings. the now-defunct Batasang Seedling production in Negros Oriental for the same period is at 5,638,142 while Siquijor, 37,000 Pambansa during the seedlings. Martial Law years. He left “This is a very big accomplishment for Region 7, now that we have almost completed our seedling the province a landmark production and the rainy season has just started, we are looking forward for a great performance also in our legacy having authored plantations,” DENR-7 Regional Executive Dir. Isabelo Montejo said. Batas Pambansa 833, Montejo added that as of July 12 also, plantation accomplishments have reached around 3,837.86 which, in 1983, created the hectares or 16% of the total target which is 24,361 hectares for 2013. Lazi National Agricultural Average survival rate of said plantation is pegged at 80 percent. School from the former Lazi Montejo said there is a need to establish plantations in a daily average of 230.74 hectares or Provincial High School. (fcr/ 1,617.53 hectares per week until October 30 in order for DENR-7 to reach its objective of reforesting 20,523.14 rac/JCM-TESDA-LNAS). hectares. LAZI, Siquijor (PIA) -- Siquijor’s newly-elected lady legislator is open to the proposal of constructing a Hotel and Restaurant Services Technology (HRST) building inside the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority-Lazi National Agricultural School (TESDA-LNAS) in Lazi. Congresswoman Marie Anne S. Pernes visited the TESDA-
DENR-7 achieves 99% of seedling production target under NGP
To accomplish this, Montejo said they will augment their personnel in the field. In an expanded executive committee meeting last July 15 attended by the four provincial environment and natural resources officers (PENROs) in the region, Montejo issued instructions to fast track the plantation activities in selected forest land areas. Montejo added that the government is at its full gear to undertake a massive greening program towards reducing or alleviating poverty while ensuring food security, biodiversity conservation, and address climate change. NGP aims is to plant 1.5 billion trees in some 1.5 million hectares from 2011 to 2016. This is more than twice the government’s accomplishment of 730,000 hectares for the past 25 years. It can be recalled that the Central Visayas region has planted around 8,070,042 seedlings covering 11,018.40 hectares in 2012. Among the areas targeted for planting under the program are forestlands, mangrove and protected areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservations, urban area under the greening plan of local government units, inactive and abandoned mines and other suitable lands. (rmn/JSME/PIA-Cebu/DENR-7)
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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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Greenpeace proposes roadmap to counter climate change
DUMAGUETE CITY (PIA)--Environmentalist group Greenpeace and scientists from Silliman University-Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences (SU-IEMS) and Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation (CCEF) have warned that Philippine’s rich marine ecosystem may be severely affected by climate change. The warning came as the Greenpeace ship Esperanza docked in Dumaguete City after assisting in a reef check to inspect the condition of the marine sanctuary in nearby Apo Island. Greenpeace Southeast Asia media assistant Aileen Dimatatac said the province's community-managed marine reserve and some of Apo Island’s reefs have borne the brunt of two strong typhoons. “Climate change and the use of fossil fuels are the ocean’s silent killers,” according to Mark Dia, Regional Oceans Campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia. “They warm the oceans and make the sea water more acidic, killing fragile and important marine species, such as plankton, the basis of the marine food chain. Since the Philippines relies so heavily on the oceans, it only makes sense to put resources that can increase the resiliency of the marine environment. "Our lives depend on it,” Dia went on. The scientists took turn to explain that climate change is considered a very serious threat to the oceans globally. Rising temperatures due to global warming causes thermal stress in oceans, and in particular causes coral bleaching when living coral turn white, weaken and eventually die. It is said that marine life is also damaged by ocean acidification, when excessive amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere cause sea water to become more acidic. Ocean acidification can cause mass extinction of marine species, food insecurity and damage to economy. In a recent of report of World Bank “ Turn Down The Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience” projects that extreme weather events are going to be more severe in Southeast Asia in the coming decades. By 2050, increased water temperatures will severely affect fish in the Java Sea in Indonesia as well as the Gulf of Thailand. In southern Philippines, maximum fish catch potential is predicted to decrease by 50 percent, the report read. Meanwhile, all coral reefs in the region are predicted to experience severe thermal stress by the year 2050, World Bank report stated. Experts have long noted the Philippine seas are set to suffer from the impacts of climate change such as rising sea level, increase in sea temperature, and more frequent and extreme weather. Communities, particularly those that rely heavily in coastal resources, such as in the Philippines, will bear the brunt of the impacts. “One of the effects of climate change that the Philippines is experiencing right now is the increase in the frequency and severity of typhoons,” said Dr. Janet Estacion of the Silliman University Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences (SU-IEMS). “Since most Filipinos live in coastal areas, they are directly impacted through the destruction of property and disruption of livelihood. Fisherfolk become more marginalized as the marine ecosystems they depend on are destroyed and fish migration patterns get less predictable,” said Dr. Estacion. However, in the central Philippines, including Apo Island, studies are ongoing to help marine ecosystems cope with the effects of climate change. Led by Dr. Aileen Maypa, Research Director of CCEF, research on how reefs can adapt to the impacts of climate change and how these can be mitigated is currently being conducted. The organization is developing a protocol for coral reef recovery, fisheries recovery and coral reef rehabilitation that can be used by local communities and LGUs. They are also looking into the redesigning of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), including the establishment of a network of MPAs, as a resiliency strategy to climate change. (mbcn/JCT/PIA7-Negros Oriental)
PIA News Digest
91% of 61K new teacher items filled as of July The Department of Education (DepEd) is almost done filling up the 61,510 new teacher items created in 2013 to keep pace with increasing enrollment in public schools nationwide. As of July 11, 55,848 items or 90.79 percent have been filled mainly due to a streamlined hiring process. Under the previous practice, the entire recruitment and hiring process takes approximately 8 months. By working closely with the Civil Service Commission and the Professional Regulation Commission, DepEd was able to reduce the hiring process to 5 months. However, some Divisions and Regions were able to fill up more than half of their allotted new teaching positions within 3 months. 102,603 new teaching positions have been created since 2010. Of these 91 percent are already occupied by new hires. (DepEd)
Palace assures transparency in PNoy's pork Amid reports of an alleged scam involving pork barrel funds of 28 lawmakers, Malacañang assured the public of transparency in the use of similar funds controlled by President Benigno Aquino III. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the President's Social Fund (PSF), commonly known as "presidential pork," is being used to provide additional assistance to those in need, such as families of fallen soldiers. Meantime, Malacañang washed its hands off on the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam in which priority development assistance funds (PDAF) of legislators were supposedly diverted to ghost projects but which mainly implicates potential political rivals of President Aquino’s Liberal Party (LP). Presidential deputy spokesman Abigail Valte denied the accusation of Senator Ramon Revilla, Jr. that the scam is nothing but another Malacañang operations to derail emerging political alliances for the 2016 presidential race.