VOL. 2 l NO.9 l March 1, 2012
DA-7 urges Pinoys to eat more rootcrops ...and help the country achieve zero rice importation target By Fayette Riñen CEBU CITY, February 27 (PIA) -- Pinoys are urged to eat more root crops like kamote, cassava and bananas as substitutes for rice and help the country achieve its aim of “zero rice importation” by 2014. Angel Enriquez, regional technical director of the Department of Agriculture (DA) 7 said their agency is promoting the consumption of food staples such as “kamote,” cassava and banana and eat it with rice. “If we consume more food staples and eat it together with rice, then our need for rice will be lessened,” according to
Enriquez. These staples are good substitutes for rice as they are also carbohydrates. On top of that, these staples are nutritious and promotes our health, Enriquez stressed. The DA is extending its time target of achieving its zero rice importation by 2014 instead of 2013 although the volume of rice importation this year is much less compared to last year. Rice importation target set by the DA this year is at 500,000 metric tons, which is much less than the 860,000 metric tons imported in 2011. Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala earlier said the lower rice import target is in
MOTIVATING HEALTH VOLUNTEERS. Trinidad Mayor Roberto Cajes, assisted by wife Judith hands in rubber boots and raincoats to Trinidad BHWs during the recent BHW Congress. The small gesture of appreciation, according to Mayor Cajes, should motivate these workers to advance the town’s health care services to the remote areas of town in all weather. (contributed photo/RAC)
line with the Aquino Administration’s goal of zero rice importation after 2013. Enriquez also called on the public to cook and eat only the substantial amount of rice one needs in order to prevent wastage. “We should not get more rice if we cannot eat it all. We should discourage leftovers,” Enriquez declared. Likewise, in rinsing rice, we must be careful that when we throw out the water, rice must not be included as well, the DA 7 official bared. Jorge Paculba, DA 7 chief of the crops division on the other hand, lauded the ‘Saksak’ program of Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia. The ‘Saksak’ program encourages the consumption of ‘kamote’ or sweet potatoes with rice. “Cebu is only 3 percent rice sufficient while rice sufficiency level in the region is at 25 percent,” Paculba disclosed. Paculba echoed Enriquez statement that in order to achieve rice sufficiency, we must encourage the consumption of root crops as a substitute to rice. Meanwhile, the DA wants to increase rice production for this year and is promoting the use of quality seeds to improve harvest yield. Among its other interventions to increase rice production are the expansion of rice areas through the establishment and rehabilitation of irrigation facilities; provision of farm mechanization and post-harvest facilities; establishment of community-based seed-banking scheme to improve usage of quality seeds; strengthening of farmers’ and irrigators’ associations; and pro-active pests and diseases prevention and control. (PIA-Cebu)
Search for 'Happiest Pinoy' 2012 launched in Cebu By Fayette C. Riñen
CEBU CITY, February 27 (PIA) -- Giving emphasis on Filipinos’ resilience in the face of calamities, a private company is launching its second nationwide search for ‘The Happiest Pinoy’ 2012. “We want to rekindle the age-old values of hope, resilience and optimism that is innate in Filipinos despite the challenges in life and the calamities” that strike us, Jonathan Batangan, general manager of Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions said. The search aims to give recognition to the country’s most optimistic and passionate Filipinos who overcame difficulties and exhibited resilience amid life’s challenges, without losing their cheerful attitude. The Department of Tourism (DOT) endorsed the company’s initiative when it first launched its search in 2009 because of its objectives which is promoting Filipino values of optimism, hope and resilience, Batangan said. “We hope to again get the endorsement from the DOT as it runs analogous to the DOT theme of ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines,’” Batangan bared. Pinoys are naturally happy people and full of hope. This is proven when the Philippines currently ranks 13th place in the list of Happiest Countries globally by the NationMaster.Com,” according to Batangan. “No amount of Typhoon Ondoy or Sendong and even the recent strong quake can destroy the inherent values that Filipinos generally possess,” Batangan added. Ten happiest pinoys will be chosen but only one will emerge as the top winner and cart away with P250,000 in cash prize plus trophy while the other nine runners-up will receive P25,000 each plus a trophy. “Who knows, the next Happiest Pinoy might be a government employee or a market. Vendor,” Batangan said. Criteria for judging are: a) a constantly cheerful face and optimistic outlook b) proven ability to rise above life’s challenges and c) positive impact in the lives of others. Nominations are accepted until May 30, 2012 while forms can be downloaded at www.happiest-pinoy.com.
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NEGROS ORIENTAL
GSIS allocates college scholarship slots for Visayas By Jennifer C. Tilos
AGIO-7 FORUM. DOH-7 Regional Director Susana Madarieta (left) informs the media that DOH will send two teams namely, Water and Sanitation Team and Psychosocial Team to Negros Oriental to assist the earthquake victims while Dr. Joar Gumapon (right) of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) discusses on how to prevent heart diseases since this month celebrates "Healthy Heart Month" held recently at the DOH-7 Compound, Cebu City.(PIA7/hfg)
GSIS FORUM. GSIS Regional Manager Ma. Fatima Alvarez updates the members of the Association of Government Information Officers (AGIO) and Cebu Association of City and Municipal Public Information Officers (CAOCAMPIO) on the GSIS services on the occasion of its 55th Anniversary held at the GSIS Bldg., Cebu Ciy.(PIA7/hfg)
DUMAGUETE CITY, Feb. 26 (PIA) -- The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has allocated 37 slots for the Visayas applicants of the 200 college scholarship slots nationwide this year. Active members of GSIS in Negros Oriental are encouraged to join the GSIS Scholarship Program. The 200 scholarship slots are made available in National Capital Region (61 slots), Luzon (58), Visayas (37) and Mindanao (44) for school year 2012 to 2013. To join, members need to fill in an application form available at all GSIS offices nationwide or can be downloaded at the GSIS website, http://www.gsis.gov.ph. Under the program, winning members will select any incoming college freshman or current college student of their choice to be the beneficiary of the scholarship. Duly accomplished forms must be submitted to any GSIS office for processing. Winning members will be drawn through an electronic raffle. The scholars will enjoy tuition and miscellaneous fees of P20,000 per semester and a monthly stipend of P2,000. The member grantee will be given 30 days from the first day of publication of winners in newspapers within which to submit the nomination form and requirements. This GSIS Scholarship Program is one of the major corporate a social responsibility which is to assist the youth achieve their goals to finish their desired course by providing them free tertiary education. GSIS scholars may enroll in any school or degree of their choice. (MBCN/ PIA/JCT-NegOr)
Phivolcs installs add'l seismograph stations in NegOr By Jennifer C. Tilos
N E G R O S O R I E N TA L , Dumaguete City, Feb. 26 (PIA) -- The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) added five more digital seismograph stations in Negros Oriental after the magnitude 6.9 earthquake devastated the northern part of the province. Philvocs Chief geologist and geophysicist Dr. Arturo Daag in a media briefing said that the seismographs installed determine the correct sites of potential earthquakes and to monitor tectonic quakes. The new seismograph stations are located in the Tayasan, Vallehermoso, Mabinay towns in Negros Oriental, and neighboring areas of Kabankalan and Badian, Cebu other than that in Sibulan. Dr. Daag said that since nobody can predict the occurrence of
earthquakes but with some equipment that can measure its effects. The unidentified fault line triggered the intensity 7 earthquake that rocked Negros Oriental and nearby provinces, said geologist Daag. The magnitude of an earthquake depends on the amount of energy released during the earthquake; the intensity is based on the damaged felt in an area, Daag explained. He added Phivolcs’ earthquake intensity scale uses roman numerals from 1 to 10, where 10 is completely devastating and 1 scarcely perceptible; 7 is destructive or damaging. Since the country is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, it experiences more than three earthquakes daily of varying intensities, thus many fault lines are yet to be mapped out, Phivolcs official said.
The significant destructive earthquake in Negros Oriental had caused major damages with about 15,000 houses shattered and 53 deaths with 60 persons still missing as reported by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) as of February 21, 2012. Some 62,700 families or more than 300,000 persons were affected in 166 barangays from the nine local government units. Relief operation centers recorded P38.8 million cost of assistance needed, said PDRRMC Executive Officer Adrian Sedillo. (mbcn/JCT/PIA-NegOr)
BOHOL
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Bohol tourism gets help from Dutch expert By Rey Anthony Chiu
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Feb. 24 (PIA) -- The German Technical Cooperation or Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) lends to Bohol the technical expertise of Nanda Ritsma, a Dutch national who has been assisting eco-tourism projects in Netherlands and in Bhutan where she worked for the tourism value chain in the Himalayas in the last six years. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Provincial Director Maria Elena Arbon presented Ritsma at the tourism core group meeting at the DTI Conference Hall recently. The core group members gathered to review the outputs of the earlier tourism strategic planning workshops. Ritsma is the latest foreign worker who lends her technical expertise following a help the provincial tourism program got from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) through couple David and Fiona Aaron. The Aarons worked with PROCESS, a non-government organization largely involved in implementing AusAID projects on community development and eco-tourism. At the meeting attended by tourism, government and business sector representatives, Ritsma who admitted she still has to immerse herself in the communities here said she is excited especially when she finds a new kind of sectoral partnership which may be different from her past experiences. In the same meeting representatives
sifted through the tourism strategic planning workshop outputs and mapped out the next steps to advance Bohol eco-tourism industry. “Not only as a sustainable industry that works out for the improvement of the people’s lives but also retaining the communities’ cultural identity,” Arbon said. The core group agreed that the province needs a massive Information Education and Communication program which should center on the new National Tourism Law and the Access Law (Republic Act 9442). The group said the IEC must delve into the issues on Culture of Tourism; Environment Conservation; National Tourism Law and the National Tourism Development Program; Culture and Heritage Preservation and Product Development for Local Government Units and Eco-tourism. The issue on lack of rooms also surfaced during the group’s evaluation. With a little more than 3,000 rooms available for Bohol and faced with an ever increasing tourist arrivals and stretching stay average, lack of rooms surfaced as a sore issue. Next steps according to the group include Training Needs Assessment (TNA) for front office, housekeeping, kitchen staff and stakeholders interested in a home-stay program in Bohol. The group also tackled future eco-tourism directions in Culture and Heritage tourism, Sports and Recreation tourism like emerging new products for Bohol. (MBCN/RAHC/PIA-Bohol)
AWAKENING PRIDE OF PLACE : TAMBLOT THE MUSICAL comes to Silliman University in Dumaguete City Feb. 27 for the TheaterFestival. The play, written by PIA Bohol was in support of the government’s empowering the people in the communities as support to tourism, while awakening cummunities' pride of place. (PIABohol/RAC)
Efficient business licensing, tax collection systems aces Bohol in economic growth By Rey Anthony Chiu
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Feb. 26 (PIA) -- Other than its Business OneStop-Shop (BOSS) attaining a record P1.4-billion new investment in 2011, Bohol keeps two more aces in economic growth. According to Bohol Trade and Industry Specialist Blair Panong showing an efficient business enabling environment, the Business Permits and Licensing System (BPLS) and its Electronic Tax Revenue Assessment and Collection System accounted to record increases in new investments in Bohol. At the Kapihan sa PIA, Panong said Bohol’s “exceeding the expectations” in its P1.6-billion investments to date can only mean brighter future for Boholanos. BOSS records showed that while the office gathers investment data, it shows minimum capitalization average of P3,000 for micro-business and P200 million for medium enterprise in 2011. “Even then, each of these would demand workers, which could significantly cut Bohol’s unemployed,” Panong said. Panong added that people receiving regular pays improve their purchasing power and the economy ultimately rises with it. “All of this for streamlining the business processes and showing that the government is serious in generating funds for its service delivery,” Panong said. In a State of the Province address last week, Bohol governor Edgar Chatto said, beyond the relative ease in starting business at the BOSS a parallel BPLS is being set in 26 out of the 47 towns. The BPLS is a government-led intervention for responding to the high cost of making business in the country due to bureaucratic red-tape. Seeing this as a constraint to competitiveness Bohol pushed to standardize the processes in acquiring business permits to significantly cut time and nip corruption by reducing the number of signatories and potential grease money needed. “Bohol targets getting the BPLS adopted in the remaining 21 more towns,” according to Chatto. Sources said breaching the P2 billion new investments mark in 2012 is possible for Bohol. Boholanos also believed the Enhanced Tax Revenue Assessment and Collection System (eTRACS) could have impressive revenue generation records this year. “This increase in revenue, of course, can only redound to the improved delivery of basic services,” the governor proudly said. (MBCN/RAHC-PIA7 Bohol)
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SIQUIJOR
Siquijor is country's first agrarian reform community cluster By Rizalie Anding Calibo
SIQUIJOR, Feb 26 (PIA) – Siquijor is the country’s first Agrarian Reform Community (ARC) cluster following the approval of the Siquijor Agrarian Reform Community Cluster Development Plan (ARCCDP) called ‘Integrated AgriTourism Cluster’. The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-Siquijor information officer Richard Leduna bared this in an interview with PIA. Previously he said there
were only eight ARCs that covered 71 barangays in Siquijor. Leduna however, noted that due to the bigger concentration of Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) balances and the presence of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) in adjacent barangays, additional 21 barangays were rationalized and included in the ARC Cluster Development Plan. “This is also in line with the DAR directives to further enhance ARB reach,” he said. The ARC connectivity includes
six regular ARCs namely; the Cangatuyom, Olo, Timbaon, Bogo, Larena and SimNag or (Simacolong and Nagerong) ARCs and the two special ARCs of Siquijor and Maria towns, Leduna reported. Leduna said it was the provincial Agrarian Reform officer, Stephen Leonidas that made representations for the ARCCDP approval during the deliberation of the National Agrarian Reform Communities Task Force (NARCTF) in its central office. (mbcn/ rac/PIA-Siquijor)
ANNIVERSARY. Celebrating 17 years of service, PhilHealth Regional Office VII held a medical-dental mission at the Gawad Kalinga site in Brgy. Budlaan, Cebu City, lead by its regional VP Mr. William Chavez (center). The Regional Office first visited the site bearing paints and paint brushes. This time, a team of doctors and dentists, in partnership with the Philippine National Red Cross and the Philippine Dental Association Cebu chapters. (PIA-7/contributed photo)
CSC rolls out training programs By Rizalie A. Calibo
SIQUIJOR, Feb. 27 (PIA) -- The Civil Service Commission-Siquijor Field Office will conduct training in April and July this year. CSC provincial director Atty. Gina Crucio said in a press release that a Values Orientation Workshop is scheduled on April 2-3, 2012. A follow-up training on Public Service Ethics and Accountability will be held on July 5-7, 2012. Venue will be within Siquijor Province and will be announced later. Training fee for these live-out courses is P1,800 per person per training to cover snacks, meals, hand-outs and related expenses. Interested participants are enjoined to register early because the slots are limited and trainees will be taken in only on a first-come, first-served basis, said Crucio. For details, please visit the CSC Field office at the Old Capitol Building in Larena, Siquijor. The CSC held a seminar on Administrative Justice on February 21-22, which focused on updates on the Rules on Administrative Cases in civil service. (mbcn/rac/PIA-Siquijor & CSC)