one mindanao - september 30, 2011

2 Friday, September 30, 2011

C O N T E N T SNATIONAL• Aquino keynotes top-level forum of industry leaders in ASEAN meet• Aquino challenges ASEAN to keep up region’s growth• Aquino underscores importance of dialogue in addressing disputes• Aquino confident over impact of government re forms that have been implemented• Clear policy directions, close monitoring ensure Aquino’s directives are followed

Northern Mindanao• GSIS to establish own call center to further improve services• DSWD-10 to host the 22nd National Statistics Month Celebration in October• Another watch-listed drug personality falls into the hands of PDEA-10• NPA loses deological compass, resorts to banditry

Southern Mindanao (Davao Region)• Durian Festival goes to the barrios• Urinary screening for schoolchildren pushed• The Asia Foundation gives 6,175 to DavNor schools• Davao del Norte to put up own Provincial Library

Central Mindanao (SOCSKSARGEN)• Dengue cases in Region 12 at -81%• Philippine mango industry positioning “strongly” in world market• DOST 12 sets up 3 Automated Weather Stations• 1,300 na puno itinanim sa selebrasyon ng 11th Civil Service year• Transport strike sa South Cotabato, hindi naka-apekto sa daloy ng trapiko

Northeastern Mindanao (Caraga)• Crocodile Lolong: ‘Victim’ of illegal fishing in Agusan Marsh• Heads of gov’t agencies to join Moral Recovery Program Congress• DA to spearhead Consumer Welfare Month celebration in Caraga • ACE to discuss plans, commitment for ‘Clean Ground, Zero Waste’ Program• Surigao Norte PPOC to hold Super Quiz Bee today

Western Mindanao (Zamboanga Peninsula) • BasCOMNET forum tackles dengue, human trafficking• SP- Zambo Sur approves municipal ordinance of Dumingag• 12 more ZamboPen towns to implement KALAHI-CIDSS project -DSWD• Surigao City to craft Tourism Master Plan • P21-M relief assistance alang sa mga biktima sa “Pedring”

OUR COVER

Today’s coverfeatures the

Cagayan de Oro’sNight Cafe

EDITORIAL STAFF

An Electronic News Magazine published daily by Philippine Information Agency (PIA)

Mindanao Clusters

Executive Editor ……......... EFREN F. ELBANBUENA Cluster Head, Southern, Western and Central Mindanao Regional Director, PIA Region XI

Managing Editor ……......... ABNER M. CAGA Cluster Head, Northern and Northeastern Mindanao Regional Director, PIA Caraga Region

Associate Editors ……....... OLIVIA T. SUDARIA Regional Director, PIA Region XII NOEMI A. EDAGA Regional Director, PIA Region IX

RUTCHIE C. AGUHOB Officer-in-charge,PIARegionX

Regional Desk Editors …... Jocelyn P. Alvarez, PIA Region IX Elaine O. Ratunil, PIA Region X Rudolph Ian G. Alama, PIA Region XI Danny E. Doguiles, PIA Region XII Robert E. Roperos, PIA Caraga Region Nora CL Molde, PIA Caraga Region

Copy Editor ……………….. Robert E. Roperos, PIA Caraga Region

Layout Artists ……………... Gerie Mae G. Coco, PIA Caraga Region Richard D. Atillo, PIA Caraga Region

Editorial Advisers ……….... ATTY. JOSE A. FABIA Director-General Philippine Information Agency

SEC. HERMINIO “Sonny” B. COLOMA PresidentialCommunicationsOperationsOffice

3Friday, September 30, 2011

Cover Story:Cagayan de Oro’s Night Cafeby Elaine O. Ratunil

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Even before Cagayan de Oro became a city in 1950, Kagay-anons considered the Divisoria as the trade, recreation and entertainment center, especially during weekends.


The city leaders always saw to it that the Divisoria will al-ways retain its gaiety and vibrant atmo-sphere. Now known as the Golden Friend-ship Park, this rect-angular-shaped area extends from Mag-saysay Park along Corrales Avenue up to the Borja Monu-ment in Capistrano streets. The whole park is actually composed of mini-parks or is-lands contoured by busy streets. Next to the island hosting the Magsaysay Park are other islands that nestle the Bonifacio Park, the City Kiosk, formerly City Band-stand, Rizal Park, and the Fountain Park which was removed. At the sides

fronting the park are rows of business and commercial es-tablishments. How-ever, with the on-set of the mall era in the late ‘80s, the Divisoria slowly lost its magnetism. Kagay-anons became more and more attracted to the sights and sounds of the malls. The city started booming, but Di-visoria was dying. Other than serving as a venue for parades, civic observances, community debates and Sunday after-noon concerts during the day, it was an un-safe place at night-time.

The plan It was during the first term of Mayor Vi-cente Y. Emano that

the plan to restore Divisoria’s old glo-ry started and drew warm support, espe-cially from the busi-ness sector. The plan, as re-vealed by Mayor Ema-no to businessmen in a consultation called for the purpose, was to re-invigorate busi-ness by locating new investments in the

Cover Story:Cagayan de Oro’s......from page 3

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area. At the same time, it was to redevelop Divisoria into some-thing with small bits of New York, Paris or Vi-enna where enclosed and open or outdoor cafes abound, well lighted, safe and se-cured at nighttime. Warm support The gleaming

lights along Roxas Boulevard in Manila inspired city offi-cials to bring them to Cagayan de Oro to light up the entire stretch of the Divi-soria area. While the city awaited the ar-rival of the globe lights ordered from abroad, some busi-nessmen started in-stalling rope lights on the park’s trees, free of charge!

As earlier agreed dur-ing the consultation, business establish-ments surrounding the entire park prom-ised to either block-pave their frontage or repaint the facade of their buildings. Following the in-stallation of the im-ported lights, the Golden Friendship Park ‘Divisoria’ Night

Café Project was ready to take off. San Miguel Corpora-tion was among those who immediately an-nounced their support to the project by of-fering to install light-ed signage to partici-pating businesses. Launching The open-air café project was finally launched before the city fiesta on August 28, 2003. The Ka-gay-anons received it well. Friends who were there with their fami-lies during the open-ing commented that the place was just perfect and food and drinks were sold at relatively lower pric-es. All streets cross-ing the Divisoria were closed to traffic. Alert

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and well-armed policemen were strategically stationed in the area to keep watch. Presidential Visit On October 25, 2003, Night Café diners were surprised to see President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo smiling and waving at them. She was then accompanied by city officials led by Mayor Emano, Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon, Housing Secretary Mike Defensor, Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. and Secretary Marietta Jimenez of the President’s Projects. Impressed by what she saw, President Arroyo instructed Sec. Gordon to include Cagayan de Oro’s Night Café among the plac-es and events in the country being promoted under WOW Philippines! by the Department of Tourism. The effort to restore Divi-soria’s prestige as the city’s first commercial center is underway. Opened to the public Fridays and Saturdays from 7:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. the following day, Night Café late additions include night out parties with local bands, danc-ing, impromptu performances and acrobatic and break-dancing exhi-bitions, among others.



Aquino keynotes top-level forum of industry leaders in ASEAN meet


President Benigno S. Aquino III cited the Association of Southeast Asia Nation’s resiliency to withstand the global influx brought about

by “political unrest or economic uncertainty including the spring of revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa to the various financial crises engulfing Europe and the United States.

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Aquino keynotes top-level forum of industry leaders in ASEAN meet


The President made this statement during his speech at the ASEAN 100 Leader-ship Forum held at the Grand Ballroom of the Makati Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City Thursday night. “Understandably, countries all over the world are doing what they can to respond—to adjust accordingly to these rapid changes taking place. So I am glad to see many of our region’s brightest minds gathered here today, ready to share their ideas to push forward our region’s agenda,” the President said. He said that in-stead of following the global markets’ turmoil, the region has been marked with unprec-edented growth as evi-denced by the 14.5 per-cent, 7.8 percent, 7.6 percent and 7.5 per-cent economic growth of Singapore, Thailand,

Philippines and Laos, respectively in 2010. “In this period of global flux, it is good to see that the ASEAN re-gion is as strong as ever, standing as a solid pillar of stability and growth,” the President said. This growth has underscored investor interest in our region. Foreign direct invest-ment inflows in South-east Asia reached more than 70 billion dollars in 2010; and I am sure I speak for everyone here when I say we hope this will rise further this year and in the follow-ing years,” he added. The top-level fo-rum of industry lead-ers belonging to the 10-member Associa-tion of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been meeting for eight consecutive years to dialogue and debate ASEAN’s pave of inte-gration, prospects and discuss challenges.

This year’s ASEAN meet which, just like the previous ones, has been convened around the theme “One ASE-AN: How Close Are We?” The ASEAN meet aims to foster highly-insightful and intelli-gent discussions on the future of the Southeast Asian region – how the region can emerge as one of the world’s sig-nificant economic, so-cial, cultural, technical and administrative bloc with the Philippines as-suming its position as an Asian Tiger along-side Taiwan, Singa-pore, South Korea and Hong Kong. Joining the Presi-dent were Finance Secretary Cesar Puri-sima, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo and Presidential Communi-cations and Strategic Planning Office Sec-retary Ramon Caran-dang. (RCK)

Aquino keynotes......from page 9


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In his speech key-noting the ASEAN 100 Leadership Forum held at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel in Makati City Thursday night, the President said that the unprecedented growth experienced by the re-gion despite the global turmoil should not be taken to mean it was time to relax but to push on forward and seize the opportunity to better the lot of their respective peoples. “It is difficult not to be optimistic about the prospects of ASE-AN and the Philippines alike; but what I have always emphasized in the wake of such de-velopments is that our

work does not end with the initial wave of posi-tive results,” the Presi-dent said. “In this sense, we must treat these indi-cators of our impres-sive economic perfor-mance not as goals already achieved, but as benchmarks—so that our region’s and our countries’ growth can continue; so that we can go from suc-cess to success, further cementing our position in the global milieu,” he added. He pointed out that the Philippines has taken steps to build on this economic perfor-mance by “advocating and practicing good

governance.” “This concept champions inclusive growth—such that the gains that look so good on paper are truly reflected in the life of each Filipino. This means focusing spending on projects that can equip our people with the jobs, the education, and the health and social ser-vices they need to lead dignified, meaningful, and productive lives,” the President said. “And this is what we are doing right now. We have set aside al-most a third of next year’s budget just for social service projects, as we do not want the

President Benigno S. Aquino III challenged the members of the 10-country regional bloc to strengthen cooperation within its fold in order to bring ASEAN to where it deserves to be in the world.

Aquino challenges ASEAN to keep up region’s growth


.Aquino challenges....from page 12

economic benefits of growth to merely trick-le down to the last Fili-pino; we want the ben-efits to be felt by every last one,” he added. He further pointed out that the govern-ment has also taken measures to institute transparency and ac-countability on the side of business in order to ultimately level the playing field by “mak-ing it easier for com-panies to set up shop here by cutting signifi-cant amounts of red tape.” “It is significantly more convenient now, for example, to regis-ter a business name. What used to take end-less hours, if not days, is now cut down to a mere fifteen minutes. We’re also in the pro-cess of streamlining the Business Permits and Licensing Systems in 480 priority areas, and we have made notable

progress in this under-taking. Giving compa-nies the bureaucratic runaround used to be a source of income for some crooked bureau-crats—planting unnec-essary inconveniences in the process so they can solicit bribes from businesses; but we’re making sure that those days are over,” the President said. He invited all po-tential investors and business leaders pres-ent to invest in the Phil-ippines saying there are “plenty of opportuni-ties here, especially in the high potential sec-tors of infrastructure, agribusiness, tourism, and services.” “From the possible establishment of cold chain facilities in agri-business to the promo-tion of eco-tourism and medical tourism in this beautiful country, there are plenty of mutually beneficial projects that

can be undertaken, and we hope you con-sider working with us in the near future,” the President said. He called on ASE-AN to maintain peace, stability, and an envi-ronment that attracts investments “for us to all grow.” “I am aware that the diversity in the ASE-AN sometimes makes it difficult to completely agree with one anoth-er on some issues, but this has not stopped us from collaborating well on the economic front. Integration has always helped push our econ-omies, so I am hopeful that we can continue working together and build on our momen-tum,” the President said. “Let us work to further connect our businessmen and gov-ernments so we can avail of opportunities within ASEAN. There

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Aquino underscores importance of dialogue in addressing disputesPresident Benigno S. Aquino III underscored the

importance of diplomacy and dialogue in addressing disputes with neighboring countries saying that just by talking, world leaders can thresh out any differences and

discover that they have the same focus and advocacy in terms of governing their respective peoples.

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are plenty of opportu-nities for investment within our region — from rice production in Cambodia, infra-structure here in the Philippines, alternative energy in Thailand, to manufacturing in Viet-nam. Let us be the first to explore these op-

portunities,” he added. “As government, it is incumbent upon all of us not merely to do our jobs well, but to cooperate with one another, such that the sustained growth of all our countries is possible. Instability in one country affects

us all, and stability in our countries benefits us all. And so with the good of our people foremost in our minds, may we strengthen our cooperation fur-ther, and bring ASEAN to where it deserves to be in the world,” the President said. (RCK)

In his reply during the Q&A portion at the ASEAN 100Leaders Fo-rum held at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel Thurs-day night, the Presi-dent said that he and Chinese President Hu Jintao have discussed the issue of the West

Philippine Sea and that they both saw “eye-to-eye” on the topic. “The South China Sea or what we call the West Philippine Sea is-sue, has to be resolved but at the same time, when I talked to your leaders: President Hu

Jintao, Premiere Weng Jiabao and others, we did agree that this is not the sum total of our relationships,” the President said. He said that as neighbors, other is-sues such as global warming and piracy af-

.Aquino challenges....from page 13


fect the two countries but we have chosen to focus on that which is mutually supportive and beneficial to us.

“So in this par-ticular case, we are neighbors. The prob-lems that affect the Philippines also affect China. Global climate change will not be kept by our borders. Piracy is not solely our issue. Trying to uplift the lot of all of our country-men is also a common concern and in that as-pect, there are so many areas where there can be mutually support-ive, mutually beneficial activities at both ends

and I think your coun-try’s leadership is re-ally focused as we are. Why concentrate on the issues that cause disputes between us and neglect those that can really redound to the improvement of our peoples’ lot?” the President said. “So we are con-centrating actually on areas where we can co-operate and we do see eye to eye and try to minimize any conflicts that we could possibly have,” he added. The President also pointed out the Luneta hostage crisis last Au-gust 2010 as an “ex-emplar” of what good

dialogue can do to ease tensions between our countries. “The hostage cri-sis I think is exemplar. We talked with the leadership of China, the (Chinese) embassy here, various leaders in Hong Kong in what could have been trans-formed into a situation that could have been made worse, but rea-sonable and good dia-logues happened be-tween our respective officials and we have addressed that and minimized the poten-tial tensions between our peoples,” the Pres-ident said. (RCK)

Aquino confident over impact of government reforms that have been implementedPresident Benigno S. Aquino III expressed confidence that

the reforms his administration have been implementing, and will continue to implement in the way government is run has had a positive impact on the people’s perception

of the bureaucracy. 16

Aquino underscores....from page 14


He said that where once people appeared apathetic, jaded and cynical has now been replaced with optimism and cheer that has grown in the fifteen months since he assumed the Presidency. “I think I am hap-piest by the fact that our people have a new outlook whereas the--we were wondering if most of them were already apathetic, some of them were totally jaded and cynical who could not see any bright pros-pects in the coun-try from roughly one to fifteen or sixteen months we‘ve been in office,” the President told participants to the ASEAN 100 Lead-ers Forum held at the Makati Shangri-la Ho-tel Thursday night. “Now it seems we can do so many things

and the transforma-tion is truly night and day. And with that at-titude we think there are no objectives that we cannot reach,” he added. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations 100 Leaders Forum brings togeth-er the region’s most prominent figures to discuss the future of the Southeast Asian region, its pace of in-tegration, prospects and challenges. Now on its eight year, the forum’s theme is “One ASE-AN: How Close Are We?” The Chief Execu-tive pointed out that the Philippines has taken steps to build on the economic perfor-mance of his admin-istration by “advo-cating and practicing good governance.” “This concept

champions inclusive growth—such that the gains that look so good on paper are truly reflected in the life of each Filipino. This means focusing spending on projects that can equip our people with the jobs, the education, and the health and social services they need to lead dignified, mean-ingful, and produc-tive lives,” the Presi-dent said. “And this is what we are doing right now. We have set aside almost a third of next year’s bud-get just for social service projects, as we do not want the economic benefits of growth to merely trickle down to the last Filipino; we want the benefits to be felt by every last one,” he added. (RCK)

Aquino confident....from page 15


Clear policy directions, close monitoring ensure Aquino’s directives are followedPresident Benigno S. Aquino III said Thursday night that

by imparting clear policy directions to each of his Cabinet secretaries and closely monitoring their respective performance, he is ensured that his orders are taken

seriously and followed to the letter.

He however said that should any of his Cabinet members slip on assigned sched-ules and tasks, “then I call their attention to it.” The President told participants to the ASEAN 100 Lead-ers Forum held at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel Thursday night that although he would have wanted to be a “hands-on” leader, supervising 1.3-million bureau-crats would leave him nothing else to do. “So I’ve gotten a

lot of members in the Cabinet in particu-lar who are acknowl-edged experts in their respective fields, I give them the policy directions and moni-tor what they are do-ing and if somebody slips on the assigned schedules and tasks, then I call their atten-tion to it,” the Presi-dent said. “But at the same time, I do not think I should be crowd-ing anybody once their particular as-signments are being done. If I were to do

that, then it would have been better if I’d take over that partic-ular portfolio myself,” he added. “So the best way to do it is to give clear directions, check on them periodically and call the attention of those not meeting the assigned tasks and schedules,” the President said. In his speech keynoting the ASEAN 100 Leadership Fo-rum, the President said that the un-precedented growth experienced by the

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region despite the global turmoil should not be taken to mean it was time to relax but to push on forward and seize the opportunity to bet-ter the lot of their respective peoples. “It is difficult not to be optimistic about the pros-pects of ASEAN and the Phil-ippines alike; but what I have always emphasized in the wake of such develop-ments is that our work does not end with the initial wave of positive results,” the Pres-ident said. “In this sense, we must treat these indicators of our impressive economic perfor-mance not as goals already achieved, but as bench-marks—so that our region’s and our countries’ growth can continue; so that we can go from success to success, further cementing our posi-tion in the global milieu,” he added. (RCK)

Clear policy....from page 17PHOTO RELEASE


PHOTO RELEASE


The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) will be putting up its own call center to make the agency more responsive to its members.

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GSIS to establish own call center to further improve

servicesby Apipa Bagumbaran

The full-fledged call center will handle simple queries that will enlight-en members on the ser-vices that they can avail of or any assistance pro-gram that the GSIS has to offer, disclosed Robert Vergara, GSIS President and Chief Executive Of-ficer (CEO) during the GSIS Stakeholders’ Dia-logue held recently at

Mallberry Suites, here. He said the call center, which will oper-ate 24/7, will provide additional avenues for members to reach the agency. Vergara said mem-bers can just phone in their questions or seek clarification on their con-cerns right in the com-fort of their own homes.

With this, we hope we will be able to ad-dress the simple issues and concerns of our members, he added. Vergara also dis-closed they have imple-mented several changes to improve their acces-sibility to members. He said one of these changes is the deploy-ment of additional 500


GSIS to establish....from page 20

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GSIS Wireless Activat-ed Processing System (GW@PS) kiosks across the country where mem-bers can electronically access details of their memberships and apply for usual loans without personally going to the GSIS offices, thus saving them time and money. The CEO also an-nounced that GSIS has expanded its partnership with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to give

its members the choice to receive their benefits through a Landbank Au-tomated Teller Machine (ATM) or thru their elec-tronic card or eCard. Vergara said that this renewed partner-ship with LBP will make it more convenient to members and pension-ers, especially in the re-mote areas, to access their benefits and loans. With close to a thousand ATMs all over

the country operating 24 hours a day, in addition to the Union Bank’s net-work, Vergara said GSIS stakeholders can now withdraw their loan pro-ceeds and monthly pen-sions, at no service fee, anytime. With these chang-es, Vergara is confident that they were able to increase the number of access points in which members can transact with the agency.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Sept. 29 (PIA) – The Depart-ment of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will host this year’s celebration of the National Statistics Month in October.

DSWD-10 to host the 22nd National Statistics Month Celebration in Octoberby Rutchie Cabahug-Aguhob

One of the major activities of the celebra-tion is the launching of the National House-hold Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR ) Data-base, in Pearlmont Inn, Lim-ketkai Drive, here, this coming Oct. 6.

The NHTS-PR aims at promoting the use of the data-base for social protection programs and services, Atty. Araceli F. Solamillo, Regional Director of DSWD-10, said. It will also serve as avenue for coopera-

tion with national gov-ernment agencies, lo-cal government units (LGU’s) and other stake-holders, towards a har-monized implementa-tion and quality social protection programs, services and statistics for focused targeting.


DSWD-10 to host....from page 21

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Sept. 30 (PIA) – Another Watch-Listed Drug Personality (WLDP) has fallen into the hands of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the province.

Another watch-listed drug personality falls into the hands of PDEA-10by Juliet Cagaanan

This, after a buy-bust operation was conducted by the Mis. Or. Provincial Special Enforcement Team (PSET) in Barangay Sinai, Laguindin-gan, last Sept. 28, at about 4:00 p.m.. Led by Team Leader IA1 Rodolfo S. De La Cerna Jr. with the support of the Laguindingan Municipal Po-lice Station, the operation re-sulted to the arrest of WLDP Conrado Milo Aba, male, 42 years old, married, jobless, residing at the above-men-tioned place. Regional Director Ro-berto S. Opeña of PDEa-10 said Aba was arrested after

selling one (1) piece trans-parent plastic sachet con-taining white crystalline sub-stance believed to be shabu to a PDEA Agent who posed as poseur buyer. Recovered from the suspect’s possession and control were the following items: 240 pieces open plas-tic sachets, 10 rolls of used aluminum foil, three (3) pieces aluminum foil needle, and two (2) pieces, each of aluminum tooter and alumi-num foil strips. One (1) piece, each, of transparent plastic sa-chet believed to be shabu with an estimated weight of

0.04 grams, used aluminum foil strip with shabu residue, black ANTONOV lighter with inserted aluminum foil nee-dle, light blue RAC lighter, stainless forcep and big plas-tic cellophane with several plastic cellophane inside. Alleged pusher is now temporarily detained at PDEA-10 office for booking and documentation while drug and non-drug evi-dences were brought to PNP Crime Laboratory for com-prehensive examination. Opeña said charges of violation of RA 9165 is now being readied for filing in court against the suspect.

Meanwhile, the event is one of the major activities of the celebra-tion of the 22nd National Statistics Month (NSM) of October, this year, which will be hosted by

DSWD-10. Anchored on the theme: “Quality Social Protection Statistics for Targeting: Improving Outcomes, Changing Lives,” the launching will

be attended by members of the Regional Statisti-cal Coordination Board, the Planning Officers and Regional Statistical Coordination Committee (RCCC) Focal Persons.


CAMP EVANGELISTA, Cagayan de Oro City, Sept. 30 (PIA) -- Due to declining popular support and losses in armed confrontation with the government troops in the region, the New People’s Army (NPA) has now resorted to banditry where civilians are not spared.

NPA loses deological compass, resorts to banditryby Maj. Eugenio Julio C. Osias IV

This, as six (6) foam peddlers namely: James Mabaylan, Nel-son Bagares, Ronald Boiles, Segundino Dai-lo, Ernesto Callo Jr. and Julieto Sarsaba were abducted on August 10, 2011 at San Fernado Bukidnon, while ped-dling goods to earn a living to support their children in school in the midst of difficulties and economic crises. NPA spokesman in North Central Mind-anao- Bukidnon ALYAS Ka Ariel Inda Magban-wag simply alleged that the peddlers were mili-tary agents, was an old fashioned ploy to save their shameless faces to cover up their kid-napping operation to source out resources. For the NPA, it is

necessary that all their actions will be justified and makes it appear to the eyes of the people that such thing is nec-essary. Is kidnapping a necessity? The condemnable action purported by the communist NPA clearly manifests their culture of rudeness backed by their ruthlessness, igno-rance and deliberately ignoring the respect for human rights and dig-nity. These bespeaks that this evil organiza-tion is a nightmare of the Philippine society.Apparently the NPA is in the state of para-noia not even the foam peddlers in Bukidnon who sells goods were subjected as military spies taking along their sales amounting to

P70,000.00. Undeniably KAM-PANYANG AHOS or OP-ERATION ZOMBIE was implemented in Mind-anao in late 1980s that claimed some 1,800 lives of their own com-rades because of con-fusion that all of them were suspected as spies.While the continued de-cline of seasoned cadres in their ranks who pro-vide ideological motiva-tion loosen its discipline and are now engages in banditry for a desire to obtain money. In the light of the International Peace day celebration the 4ID will exhaust all the means to find the abducted in-dividuals to return to their respective fami-lies.


PHOTO RELEASES

Bukidnon State University President Victor M. Barroso cites civil servants’ contributions to development dur-ing the “Parangal at Pasasalamat” in celebration of the 111th Philippine Civil Service Anniversary. (Rodolfo D. Mendoza / PIA-10)

Town Mayor Benjie Y. Baguio, with the Kapatagan Sangguniang Bayan members, takes the 2011 Outstanding Agency award during the 111th Philippine Civil Service Anniversary. (Rodolfo D. Mendoza / PIA-10)


Pushing the drive to educate the taga-baryos, festivals of Tagum City usually run schedules of events in the barangays.

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Durian Festival goes to the barrios

Among those festivals which have barangay events is the Durian Festival which is being held in September of this year. The durian harvest for this year has occurred quite late unlike in the past years when it came either in July or August,

but the Tagum Tourism Council together with the Tagum City Tourism Office has never missed the scheduled Food Basket in the Barangay. When Durian Festival was opened on September 9, the series of Food Basket in the Barangay was then

held the following day, September 10 and on September 16 to 17. “Every time we have a festival gusto nato nga apil ang barangays nga dili sentro. Kadtong uban nga dili makaanhi diri, ato sila tagaan ug pagtagd. (we want to involve those barangays which

by Jeane Duron-Abangan


Durian Festival....from page 25

are not in the poblacion area. Those who cannot come, we want to give them attention) ,” Tagum City Tourism Council Chairperson Alma Uy said. The Food Basket in the Barangay is among the food preparation contests featured during the yearly Durian Festival which also stages competitions on mocktail and cocktail; desserts and cakes making; coffee-blending; and waiters’ relay, among others. In all food preparation events, Durian is the featured ingredient. But the Food Basket in the Barangay appears more exciting as residents bring their locally produced vegatables and livestock products to and heap them together at the barangay gym to be cooked by students who are competiting for the event. This year 17 universities, colleges and secondary schools in the Davao Region including those in the

nearby regions took part in various culinary competitions that were also held at Tagum City’s Rotary Park and at the Trade Center other than those held in the barangays. Together with their coaches, students competing for the Food Basket in the Barangay are not aware what barangay to go so they would have no way of linking with anyone from the barangay just to know what to cook. Empty handed with no food ingredients on hand, they are to decide, on the spot, what dish to cook out of the raw food stuffs that the barangay folks are bringing to their barangay gym where such event is usually held. Uy recalled how locales in the barangay got struck with the event. “’Kuyawa oi! Gigamitan man jud ug guwapong uniporme ang among gulay. (It’s fascinating! Our vegetables are being cooked by somebody in uniform.),’” she said

referring to students who are on cooking uniforms. She viewed such event as a way of promoting Tagum City down to the barangay level. “Tourism man gud ta so dapat ang makita dili lang sa sentro, dapat the whole of Tagum City. (We are in tourism so what should be seen should not only be those in the poblacion but the whole of Tagum City.) she said. Tagum City has 23 barangays and almost all of them except for those located near the poblacion, have experienced hosting the Food Basket in the Barangay. Together with all other menus collected from various culinary competitions conducted during the six years of holding the Durian Festival, menus collected at the barangay level will form part the Durian Recipe Book which Uy hopes to be published as soon as she gets funding from the Department of Agriculture.


Urinary screening for schoolchildren pushed

DAVAO CITY- A Davao City pediatric nephrologist is pushing for kidney screenings in Davao City schools to detect the onset of chronic kidney disease among school children

Speaking at the monthly Hermes Club Press Forum at Pearl Farm Marina, Dr. Michael Manalaysay said that in survey conducted in the 1990s by the Department of Health about 2.5 to 3 percent of children were found to have significant urinary findings, either they have blood and pus discharges. He said that most of these findings are often attributed to urinary tract infection but he suspects it otherwise as most of these children might already be suffering from Chronic Kidney Disease. These CKD if not

manage early could lead to End Stage Renal Disease when these kids become adults. Treatments would include dialysis and ultimately kidney transplant. Manalaysay said that CKD is hard to ascertain among many Filipinos as they do not show any symptoms. He says he had informally disclosed his proposal to have school screenings with Vice-Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and is open to the idea. Manalaysay said he is currently preparing to present his plan to the City Government which would include

a budget proposal for the undertaking. The pediatric nephrologist cited Japan where every prefecture has mandatory kidney screenings for s c h o o l c h i l d r e n . Manalaysay hopes that program can be replicated in Davao City. Aside from s c r e e n i n g s , Manalaysay is advocating the phase out of junk foods and other snacks which are high in sodium which is the main cause of Chronic Kidney Diseases. (RG Alama)


The Asia Foundation gives 6,175 to DavNor schools

by Noel Baguio

TAGUM CITY- More school children in Davao del Norte now have access to new books that will inspire them to develop their full potential.

The Asia Foundation, through its Books for Asia (BFA) program, donated some 6,175 new books to 132 public and private elementary and high schools, including two colleges, in four municipalities of the province. The recipient towns, which include Kapalong, Asuncion, B.E. Dujali and New Corella, were selected since they are enrolled in the Transparent Accountable Governance (TAG) project of the Foundation, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Philippines Books for Asia Director Efren N. Balajadia handed the books over to the school

administrators, during a turn-over ceremony at the Bulwagan ng Lalawigan on September 29, 2011. He said increasing the children’s access to books and reading materials is a good investment in human development benefitting the next generations. The donation of the books, as Balajadia puts it, serves as an invitation for all to work for quality education and eventually towards a promising future for the children of Mindanao. “As we equip our children with these books, we pave our society’s foundation for peace, progress and genuine development,” he said. On behalf of his

people, Governor Rodolfo del Rosario expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Asia Foundation and the USAID for giving the Dabaonons the opportunity to read good books and to learn from it for free. Through his development agenda, known as P.E.O.P.L.E, the governor has been maximizing the use of Capitol’s special education funds to improve classroom facilities and materials for instruction. He said the BFA program generously satisfies the need for quality books to increase the level of education standards among the schools in the province at no cost.


The Provincial Government of Davao del Norte will put up a Provincial Library in order to encourage more children to love books and cultivate a culture of reading and literature among the Dabaonon people.

Inspired by the donation of new books by The Asia Foundation to schools in the province, Governor Rodolfo P. del Rosario told members of the media that he is planning to establish a library to further boost the educational programs of the province. The Asia Foundation, through its Books for Asia (BFA) program, handed over 6,175 new books to over 100 public and private schools in the province, during a turn-over ceremony at the Bulwagan ng Lalawigan on September 29, 2011. Gov. del Rosario revealed that the proposed provincial library will take over the place of the old Provincial Women Development Center

(WDC), which is adjacent to the Technology and Livelihood Development Center (TLDC) at the National Highway in Tagum City. He said the WDC, together with the juvenile center, will be transferred to the Luntiang Paraiso Regional Rehabilitation Center (LPPRC) in New Corella town, which is now being operated under the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO). The governor said the location of the library will be more accessible to students, as it is also strategic since it is just a stones throw away from an existing mall, while another one that is being constructed nearby is slated to open late this year. The building, he added, is good enough as

a start up until such time that funds are available for the expansion of the reading center. He bared the Books for Asia (BFA) program is willing to provide books for the proposed library. “According to Philippine BFA Director Efren Balajadia, all we have to do is write them a letter,” del Rosario recalled. He said the province has the upper hand in getting the book support from The Asia Foundation since the recipient municipalities of Kapalong, Asuncion, B.E. Dujali and New Corella are now enrolled with the Foundation’s Transparent Accountable Governance (TAG) project, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Davao del Norte to put up own Provincial Library by Albert D. Cahilog


Food Basket 1 and 2: HRM and culinary students of various schools in the Davao Region are pitted against one another’s knack in cooking various vegetables and home-grown poultry products of barangay residents in the Food Basket in the Barangay which is one of the culinary events being staged in the yearly month-long Durian Festival in Tagum City. This year, Tagum City holds the Durian Festival in September. (jean duron-abangan)

PHOTO RELEASES

31Friday, September 30, 2011 31Friday, September 30, 2011

Dengue cases in Soccsksargen Region as of September 24 remained at 81% lower

compared to figures in the same period last year.

Dengue cases in Region 12 at -81%

Dengue cases in Region 12 at -81%

by Dani Doguiles

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This was according to the lat-est report of the Regional Epidemi-ology and Surveillance Unit (RESU) of the Department of Health- 12 (DOH 12). RESU-DOH 12 said that at the 38th week this year, the re-gion 12 had 2,077 dengue cases. At the same period last year, the region had 11,190 cases. Cases of dengue per area are as follows: 187 in Cotabato City, 378 in General Santis City, 575 in North Cotabato, 204 in Sarangani, 512 in South Cota-bato, and 212 in Sultan Kudarat. Two more deaths due to the mosquito-borne disease were re-ported this week, bringing the to-tal death to 18. Of these, 12 were from General Santos City, 3 from Sarangani, 2 from South Cota-bato and 1 from North Cotabato. Integrated Provincial Health Office chief Dr. Rogelio Aturdido yesterday clarified that the ad-ditional one reported from South Cotabato is not a recent death. He said, a 33-year old man died of dengue in April but was only reported to the IPHO last week.He added the latest casu-alty due to dengue in the

province was still in June. In an interview, Jenny Ven-tura, health education and pro-motion officer of DOH 12 said the region’s successful fight against dengue was due to combined ef-forts including massive educa-tion campaigns down to the vil-lage level, cleanup activities, distribution of treated nets and OL traps, and many others. (PIA 12)

Cases of dengue per area are as follows: 187 in Cotabato City, 378 in General Santis City, 575 in North Cota-bato, 204 in Sa-rangani, 512 in South Cotabato,

and 212 in Sultan Kudarat.

Dengue cases....from page 31


by Beverly Paoyon

GUMASA, Glan, Sarangani, Sept 30 (PIA)-- Mango industry players are positioning Philippine mango strongly in the world market by maximizing efficien-cy in the cost service and logistics areas, an industry officer said.

Philippine mango industry positioning “strongly” in world market

Philippine mango industry positioning “strongly” in world market

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Virginia de la Fuente, president of the Philippine Man-go Industry Founda-tion, Inc., also urged mango stakeholders – mango growers, contract sprayers/fi-nanciers, input sup-pliers, nursery op-erators, exporters/traders, processors and logistics pro-viders to “unite and actively participate in all our advocacies and undertakings for the improvement of, if not to save our mango industry and position our Philip-pine mango strongly in the world market.” She appealed to the Department of Agriculture to “em-power and capaci-tate the mango in-dustry associations and for any other industry associa-tion for that matter by consulting the industry leaders in planning exercis-es to prioritize and craft programs, pro-viding reasonable

grants to implement and achieve plans through the na-tional organizations and instituting con-trol mechanism.” De la Fuente said Mindanao has the “potential” for mango production with SOCSARGEN (South Cotabato-Sarangani-General Santos City) having the largest num-ber of hectarage and production. “Because of this climate change I am now campaigning that mango produc-tion will be made here in Mindanao,” de la Fuente told delegates at the 13th National Mango Congress Wednes-day (September 28). “Mindanao pro-duces only 35% of the total nation-al production but we have the po-tential,” she said. Sixty-five per-cent of the pro-duce is coming from Pangasinan and

the rest of Luzon. In a message to the delegates, Rep. Manny Pacquiao said the mango congress is an indication for a stronger partnership to “heighten com-mitment to increase the competitive-ness of the Philip-pine mango in world market and develop more production ar-eas in Mindanao.” Pacquiao also asked mango indus-try players “to maxi-mize the production and export poten-tials of the Philippine mango industry. We will utilize this man-go congress as a dynamic platform to learn as much as we can to ensure the strongest position in the world market.” The three-day mango congress being held at world-class Isla Jardin del Mar resort in Gumasa ends on September 30. (PIO Saran-gani/PIA General Santos City/CTA)

Philippine mango....from page 33


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KORONADAL CITY, Sept 30 (PIA) -- The regional office of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-12) has in-stalled automated weather stations (AWS) in three strategic locations in the region as part of the government’s nationwide disaster modernization mitigation program.

Dr. Zenaida P. Hadji Raof Laidan, DOST-12 regional director, said the AWS were installed at the General Santos

City airport, at the Peo-ple’s Palace compound in Cotabato City, and in Barangay Badyan-gon in the coastal town

of Palimbang in Sul-tan Kudarat province. “The AWS is a modern weather track-ing device that can do

DOST 12 sets up 3 Automated Weather Stations

DOST 12 sets up 3 Automated Weather Stations


DOST 12 sets....from page 35remote meteorologi-cal measurements and send data on a real-time basis,” she said.Director Laidan said the AWS, which costs P250,000 each, can also be used to issue a tsu-nami warning so that people in the coast-al areas can evacuate before it could strike. She said that the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astro-nomical Services Ad-ministration (PAGASA), of the DOST, is present-ly embarking on the es-tablishment of AWS na-tionwide in line with its modernization program.The project is in coordi-nation with the DOST’s Advance Science and Technology Institute (ASTI), which developed various instruments such as AWS to assist PA-GASA in weather moni-toring and forecasting. PAGASA, in addi-tion to the Doppler Ra-dar installation project,

needs the AWS to au-tomate its ground sta-tions in order to perform faster, more accurate and efficient data sys-tem to help in early warning and monitoring of potential disasters.The automation of data acquisition and trans-mission will decrease operational cost and minimize the possibility of errors brought about by manual instruments. The AWS project hopes to establish and maintain a nationwide environmental moni-toring network that will continuously pro-vide warnings for the mitigation of environ-ment-related disasters. Each AWS is equipped with sensors capable of measuring weather parameters, wind speed and direc-tion, air temperature, air humidity, air pres-sure, rain volume, du-ration and intensity. It will also help

in monitoring flood and typhoon that may affect the locality.There will be a total of 80 AWS stations that will be established in the differ-ent parts of the country. The nationwide set-ting up of AWS is under a special project dubbed “Development of Hy-brid Weather Monitor-ing System and Produc-tion of Weather and Rain Automated Stations.” It also seeks to support the disas-ter preparedness pro-grams of local govern-ment units, particularly their respective Disas-ter Risk Reduction and Management Councils. The AWS also aims to improve the climate change adaptation and disaster risk mitigation programs of the LGUs. To access DOST’s AWS nationwide, one can visit AWS Website: http://202.90.149.66/predict/stations.php. (DEDoguiles/PIA 12/


1,300 na puno itinanim sa sele-brasyon ng 11th Civil Service yearKORONADAL CITY, Setyembre 20 (PIA) -- Bilang pagdiriwang ng ika-111 anibersaryo ng Philippine Civil Service, nagtanim ng mahigit 1,300 na punong mahogany at assorted fruit trees ang mga empley-ado ng kapitolyo ng South Cotabato kahapon.

Mismong si Gov. Arthur Y. Pingoy Jr. and nanguna sa tree planting activity na isinagawa sa da-lawang lugar sa Koronadal. Ang unang grupo ay nagtanim ng 700 puno sa UP School of Health Sciences campus sa Ba-rangay Carpenter Hill sa-mantalang nagtanim na-man ng 600 na puno sa

golf course sa Barangay Paraiso ang isa pang grupo. Ayon kay Rudy Jimenea, executive assis-tant ng gobernador, ang gawain ay naaayon na rin sa greening program at reforestation project ng pa-mahalaang panlalawigan. ‘ Aniya, inuna nilang tinaniman ang UP cam-pus dahil sa kawalan

ng mga punong kahoy sa lugar. Ang mga na-turang lupain ay pare-hong pag-aaari ng pa-mahalaang panlalawigan. Hindi naman naputol ang serbisyo sa publiko da-hil may iilang mga tauhan na naiwan sa mga tangga-pan sa loob ng kapitolyo. (DEDoguiles/PIA 12)

Transport strike sa South Cotabato, hindi naka-apekto sa daloy ng trapikoKORONADAL CITY, Setyembre 20 (PIA) – Walang epekto sa normal na daloy ng trapiko sa Lungsod ng Kornadal ang isinagawang nationwide transport strike. Tuloy pa rin ang pa-mamasada ng mga tri-cycles, ang pangunahing sasakyan sa lungsod. Ka-hit na ang mga malalak-ing kompanya ng bus at ilang mga pampasaherong mga van ay bumiyahe rin sa iba’t-ibang bahagi ng lalawigan ng South Co-tabato at karatig-bayan. Ayon sa pulisya, maliban sa bayan ng Pol-omolok, ang transport

strike na pinangunahan ng lokal na grupong PISTON (Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opera-tor Nationwide) ay hindi gaanong naramdaman sa ibang bayan ng lalawigan. Ayon kay South Cota-bato Provincial Police Office spokesman Supt. Jemuel Siason, sa pangkalahatan, ang transport strike sa buong lalawigan ay hindi nagtagumpay dahil nag-

ing norman naman uma-no ang daloy ng trapiko. Hindi kagaya ng mga nakalipas na taong transport strike, walang inilagay na mga barikada ang mga nagpo-protesta, kung kayat naging nor-mal ang biyahe ng mga sasakyan at walang mga pasaherong na-stranded sa mga kalsada at ter-minal (ac agad PIA12)


Giant crocodile Lolong may be a “victim” of illegal fishing in Agusan Marsh, an expert said here during a forum.

39

www.piacaraga.blogspot.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/PIA-Caraga-Updates/165374590187484

[email protected][email protected]

by David M. Suyao

Crocodile Lolong: ‘Victim’ of illegal fishing in Agusan Marsh


Crocodile Lolong: ‘Victim’ of illega...from page 38

40

Dr. Rex Linao, Ex-ecutive Director of Agu-san Development Foun-dation, said one of the reasons why giant croc-odiles came out of their hiding areas in the Agu-san Marsh was because of illegal fishing. Dr. Linao, who is also co-chairperson of Agusan Marsh and Bio-diversity Management Committee, explained that illegal fishing is one of the threats to biodiver-sity in Agusan Marsh. “We all know that Agusan Marsh is very rich with its flora and fauna. Illegal fishing us-ing electric rod and other methods disturb the liv-ing things in the marsh area. Small and big fish-es alike are killed. Years ago when people did not yet practice illegal fish-ing, fresh water fishes--which crocodiles feed on--were abundant in all parts of Agusan Marsh,” Dr. Linao said. “But because of the disturbance and merci-less killing of fishes, they became scarce and the

crocodiles had to go to other areas in the marsh to look for food. That is why people can now see them, while some of them have already in-flicted harm to people and their farm animals,” he explained. Believed to be the biggest crocodile in cap-tivity, the 20-foot (6.1 metre) long crocodile was caught early Sep-tember after a three-week hunt. Prior to Lolong’s capture, a fish-erman went missing in July and was feared to have been attacked by a crocodile. His captor, Wildlife official Ronnie Sumiller, found no hu-man remains when he induced Lolong to vom-it. Other possibly larger crocodiles are feared to inhabit Agusan Marsh. A multi-sectoral group recently convened a forum to discuss the situation of and pros-pects for Agusan Marsh, which is tentatively list-ed as one of the world’s heritage sites by Unit-ed Nations Educational,

Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and one of the most im-portant wetland in the world. Dr. Linao said that Agusan Marsh need to be given attention be-cause of various threats of destruction that sur-rounds it. He identified other threats confronting Agu-san marsh, to wit: hous-es along the river banks and inside the marsh area, banks destruction, logging, mining in the upland areas, and the conversion of forest land into alienable and dis-posable land. “In 1991, the land area of Agusan Marsh as declared by the govern-ment was 111,000 hect-ares, but because of the conversion policy, a bill was passed in 1996, de-claring that the protect-ed area of Agusan Marsh is only 19,997 hectares,” Dr. Linao said. Panelists during the forum presented their organizations’ initiatives, funding and activities


Heads of gov’t agencies to join Moral Recovery Program Congress

BUTUAN CITY, Sept. 30 (PIA) -– The 13th National Moral Recovery Program (MRP) Congress is set on November 9-11 at the Balanghai Hotel and Convention Center.

by Jennifer P. Gaitano

that would contribute to the preservation of Agu-san Marsh’s diverse life. Among the panelists were Gov. Adolph Ed-ward Plaza, representa-tives of Congresswomen Maria Valentina Plaza (District I) and Evelyn

Plaza-Mellana, repre-sentative from the Pro-tected Area Management Board, representatives from the Department of Education (DepEd) and of funding agencies. Also in that forum, the program to inte-

grate Agusan Marsh en-vironmental concerns in the Elementary Science and Health subjects was launched. DepEd will be the main implementer of the said program.

As per Civil Ser-vice Commission (CSC) Announcement No. 26, series 2011, all heads of constitutional bodies, departments, bureaus, and agencies of the na-tional government, Lo-cal Government Units (LGUs), Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) with original charters, and State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) are directed attend and take part in the said

event. In a written state-ment, MROFI Chairman Job Sar Diasanta said that agency’s repre-sentatives, including all Moral Recovery Officers, Moral/Spiritual/Values Advocates/Promoters/Human Resource Devel-opment Officers are also enjoined to participate in the said seminar. Also, a cash regis-tration fee of P3,500 will be charged to each par-ticipant to cover the ex-

penses on food starting from dinner on day-0 (Nov. 8) to afternoon snacks on day-3 (Nov. 11), hotel accommoda-tion, kit/handout ma-terials, organized tour in Butuan City, hono-rarium of resource per-sons, supplies/materi-als/transportation of the secretariat. This year’s semi-nar is anchored on the theme: “Empower-ing the Filipino people through values”.

Crocodile Lolong:...from page 39


Department of Trade and Industry Car-aga Regional Director Breilgo Pagaran said the theme is anchored on the key policy area of the national government on food security and self-sufficiency. The month-long cel-ebration will be opened with a motorcade on October 4 at 8:00 a.m,

starting from the D&V Building Grounds to DA Motorpool.DA, together with DOH and DTI, enjoined rep-resentatives from busi-ness sectors and other government agencies to plan and conduct the activities for this month long celebration. CWM is celebrated every October as man-

dated in the Presidential Proclamation No. 1098 by former President Fi-del V. Ramos. It is initiated by the National Consumer Af-fairs Council (NCAC) to create Republic Act No. 7394 otherwise known as Consumer Act of the Philippines which aims to protect the interests of consumers.

DA to spearhead Consumer Welfare Month celebration in Caraga

BUTUAN CITY, Sept. 30 (PIA) –- This year’s celebration of Consumer Welfare Month (CWM) in Caraga will be spearheaded by the Department of Agriculture (DA) in partnership with the Department of Health (DOH), and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) with the theme, “Sapat, Ligtas at Abot-Kayang Pagkain Para Sa Lahat”.

by Maria Rebecca C. Ayaton


Caraga ex-ecutives will be dis-cussing their plans and commitments for the full implementation of the ‘Clean Ground, Zero Waste’ Program by the city government through the ‘No Segre-gation, No Collection’ Policy. This set to start on November 11 in all

the barangays of the city. The said program was launched on Sep-tember 11 in Butuan City during the simul-taneous clean-up activ-ity in all the barangays which was participated by the government em-ployees, private stake-holders, youth orga-

nizations, community volunteers, and resi-dents. According to De-partment of the Inte-rior and Local Govern-ment (DILG) Caraga Regional Director and ACE President Atty. Rene K. Burdeos, the ‘Clean Ground, Zero Waste’ Program is in line with the full imple-mentation of the Re-public Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. “The program aims to strengthen the partnership with all sectors towards the proper management of the city’s solid wastes,” Burdeos said.

ACE to discuss plans, commitment for ‘Clean Ground, Zero Waste’ Programby Jennifer P. Gaitano

43


The Association of Caraga Executives (ACE) is an organiza-tion of heads of offices from different govern-ment agencies in Re-

gion XIII which aims to further professionalize the corps of CESOs and eligibles. ACE members not only provide finan-cial assistance through

the members’ contribu-tions to civic groups’ pro-grams but also under-take outreach programs for the less privileged sector of the society.

Surigao Norte PPOC to hold Super Quiz Bee today by Dandy Lapura

SURIGAO CITY, Sept. 30 (PIA) -- Students various secondary schools in the province will vie for this year’s Super Quiz Bee competition around the slogan, “Knock Out Crime!” to be held this afternoon at Gateway Hotel, this city.

The activity, spearheaded by the Provincial Peace and Order Council of Surigao del Norte, is in line with the celebration of the National Crime Pre-vention Month with this year’s theme: “PiNoy Ako, Crime Prevention Misyon Ko!” Other high-lights include Post-er Making Contest,

Essay Writing Con-test, the award-ing of 2010 Lupong Tagapamayapa In-centives and 2010 Outstanding Baran-gay Peace and Or-der Committee. PPOC Chairper-son, Governor Sol F. Matugas is set to give an inspira-tional talk after the awarding ceremo-ny.

ACE to discuss....from page 42


PHOTO RELEASES


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Communicators from government and non-government organizations in Basilan would not keep their guards down even as dengue incidence slows in the country and the awareness of the citizenry on human trafficking

expands.

BasCOMNET forum tackles dengue, human trafficking

by Rene V. Carbayas


.BasCOMNET forum....from page 46

The Basilan Com-municators Network (BasCOMNET), a net-work of government and non-government information and com-munication officers gathered to tackle the issues of dengue and human trafficking in a forum held at the ISAWAD conference hall in Isabela City on September 21, 2011. Philippine Infor-mation Agency-BaSul-Ta Infocenter Manager Felipo Dave Malcampo emphasized the impor-tance of the forum as an opportunity where communicators and in-formation officers of various institutions in Basilan could share in-formation and tackle issues and gather in-formation that may be detrimental to people’s lives. In the forum, lo-cal health officials in Basilan were happy to announce that while dengue incidence is rising in other parts of the country, Basilan maintained low if no

incidence (except for some suspected cases) at all. Health officials agree that this is due to the continuous ad-vocacy campaign that the agencies have been conducting. Violeta H. Ramir-ez, heath education chief of the Isabela city health office said that the city has been con-ducting massive infor-mation-education drive versus dengue through clean-up in coopera-tion with the Bureau of Fire and the barangays. She said that these ef-forts had kept Isabela dengue-free so far. She reported that there is a drastic drop of dengue incidence since 2009. Based on their data, dengue in-cidence has dropped from 52 cases in 2009 to 46 cases in 2010 and only 2 suspected cases in 2011. Together with the provincial health office, the Child Fund Philip-pines, and the Depart-ment of Interior and Lo-cal Government, health

officials have enjoined the communicators to undertake advocacy on health and sanitation for dengue prevention and other mosquito-related diseases. The city health of-fice also announced that the blood donor program with the Phil-ippine Red Cross is on-going and also en-couraged individuals to donate blood. Ramirez particularly encourag-es women to also do-nate blood, as donors mostly come from man. She said that aside from saving lives, do-nors also benefit from donating blood every three months as their blood cells are replen-ished with new and healthy blood cells that the body produces. During the forum, the participants were also shown a video on the newest technology the Department of Sci-ence and Technology proposes to eradicate dengue-carrying mos-quitoes. The video ex-

48


plained the Mosquito Ovicidal Larvicidal (OL) Trap that works by at-tracting dengue-carry-ing Aedis Aegypti mos-quito through the trap’s black color and organic solution, to lay its eggs in the trap. The solution then kills the eggs and the larvae, thus elimi-nating the next gener-ation of mosquitoes. According to the DOST, the OL Trap is one of its research and development strate-gies in addressing den-gue and is part of the government’s multi-pronged approach in fighting said fatal dis-ease. Last August, the DOST has distributed

this technology to vari-ous areas in the coun-try that is identified to be dengue-infested. Some participants from the health de-partment, however, doubts if the technolo-gy is effective, since it only kills the “kiti-kiti” (mosquito eggs, lar-vae), but not the adult female mosquito. Un-fortunately, the local DOST did not respond to the invitation of PIA to be the resource per-son on the said pro-gram, thus questions from participants were left unanswered. Meanwhile, ICM Dave Malcampo gave an update on the an-

ti-human trafficking efforts of the govern-ment. He lamented that some people do not only trafficked wildlife animals like the Phil-ippine gecko, but they now engage in women and child trafficking.His updates also include significant accomplish-ments in the arrest and prosecution of human traffickers, the estab-lishment of the 1343 ActionLine Against Hu-man Trafficking, and strengthening partner-ship with multi-agency collaboration. Data shows that since 2005 to May 2011, 49 counts of conviction with 57 persons con-victed were recorded. A d m i n i s t r a t i v e cases were also filed against several gov-ernment officials, in-cluding those from the Bureau of Immigration, National Bureau of In-vestigation and Phil-ippine Overseas and Employment Adminis-tration. Some of these officials preventively suspended from the service and relieved of duties.

.BasCOMNET forum....from page 47


SP- Zambo Sur approves municipal ordinance of DumingagPagadian City, Sept. 30 (PIA) – On its 58th regular session on Thursday (September 29), the Sagguniang Panlalawigan of Zamboanga del Sur has approved the request of the Sagguniang Bayan of Dumingag to review the Municipal Ordinance No. 6, dated May 30, 2011 entitled “An Ordinance Creating Dumingag Institute of Sustainable Organic Agriculture (DISOA) in said town.

Board Member Roger Saniel said after reviewing Municipal Ordinance No. 6, the joint committee made a report on the follow-ing observations: 1. This ordi-nance will create an institute that will pro-mote organic agricul-ture which is in line with the recommenda-tion of the provincial government to adopt organic farming in the province. As mandated in RA 100681 other-wise known as the “Or-ganic Agriculture Act of 2010” which declares that it is the policy of the state to promote, propagate and devel-op further, implement and practice organic agriculture here in the

Philippines. And that this will help in the re-conditioning of the soil, increase farm produce, decrease pollution and helps protect the envi-ronment. 2. The estab-lishment of this insti-tute or school shall provide benefits to the farmers, out-of-school youth, high school graduates and other students who can not afford to enroll in col-lege. 3. It also aims to capacitate the farm-ers through Sustain-able Organic Agricul-ture Education and Technology Transfer, local technicians will be trained and advo-cacy on sustainable organic agriculture will

be strengthened. Based on the above mentioned ob-servations, the SP joint committee unani-mously recommended that Municipal Order No. 6 of the Sagguni-nang Bayan of Dum-ingag was declared as valid and operative. The joint com-mittee is composed of BM Miguelito Ocapan, chairman of SP Com-mittee on Agriculture and Fishery and a mem-ber of the SP Committee on Education, Culture and Arts and BM Erib-erto Sumalinog, vice-chair SP Committee on Education, Culture and Arts and member SP Committee on Agriculre and Fishery with BM Roger Saniel.

by Claro A. Lanipa


12 more ZamboPen towns to implement KALAHI-CIDSS project -DSWDPagadian City, Sept. 30 (PIA) – Another twelve municipalities in the Zamboanga Peninsula were identified to implement the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) project, a community-driven development approach to poverty, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-9) reported.

The municipalities identified were Naga, Malangas and Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay; Tukuran, Dumalinao, Tigbao and Tabina, Zamboanga del Sur and Sibuco, Sirawai, Salug, Baliguian, and Manuel Roxas, Zamboanga del Norte. These munici-palities were chosen for having a high pov-erty incidence. DSWD-9 Assistant Regional Director Ze-naida Arevalo said that the municipalities will be engaged formally next year for the proj-ect. However, enrol-ment and other start-up procedures will be conducted as soon as the municipalities will have been properly oriented, hopefully this

October. Since 2003, 21 municipalities in the region were or are cur-rently covered by the project and its varia-tion – the Makama-sang Tugon. A total of 756 community in-frastructure and non-infrastructure devel-opment projects were identified, success-fully implemented and maintained by pro-gram-organized volun-teers, with a majority of whom live in hard-to-reach areas. The project in-volves every mem-ber of the community in the development framework. Through a process, known as the Community En-hanced Acitivity Cycle

or CEAC, residents are able to identify among themselves problems that exist, and even-tually how to address and resolve them. The most persis-tent problem identified is poverty, which has its roots on social, eco-nomic and infrastruc-ture inequities. For example, the lack of water is seen as a cause to poor health, hence community folks’ abil-ity to work regularly is affected. In the KA-LAHI-CIDSS process, community members outlined these and oth-er problems, and as a result, various infra and non-infra develop-ment projects were re-alized by them. Meanwhile, fund-

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Sa ingon usab, ang DSWD mipagula sa du-gang P3.9 milyon isip standby funds ngadto sa DSWD Regions I (P1.4 milyon), II (P500,000) ug III (P2 milyon) alang kini sa pagpalit ug relief supplies. Sa pagka-karon, mokabat sa P2.7 milyon nga bili sa relief goods ang gipadala sa nagk-alain-laing rehiyonal bu-

hatan sa DSWD gikan sa National Resource Op-erations Center sa Pasig City. Naglangkob kini sa P650,460 nga bili sa re-lief supplies nga adunay 1,500 family food packs, 1,000 ka buok mga bag-ong habol ug 1,000 ka buok bag-ong plastic mats alang sa NCR.Laing P2.1 milyon nga bili sa relief goods nga gilangkoban sa 1,000

packs saginamit mga sanina ug 8,000 ka mga family foods packs alang sa Rehiyon III ug 150 family food packs alang sa Rehiyon IV-A. Gipasayon usab sa DSWD ang pagpagula sa 10,000 ka sakong bugas ng adunay bili sa P13.5 milyon gikan sa National Food Authority (NFA) ngadto sa DSDW Field Office V aron sa

ing comes through a counter-parting scheme from the na-tional government. Local government, communities and oth-er stakeholders. The funds, amounting to hundreds of thousands up to millions, are handled by the com-munities. The volun-

teers, most of whom have not finished pri-mary education, were capacitated through crash courses.The most common question with regards to project implemen-tation in the commu-nities is sustainability. However, in KALAHI-CIDSS, sustainability

is virtually a no-issue. This can be attributed to the sense of own-ership that the com-munity folks develop – they own the proj-ect since it is they who built them, hence they personally take care of the fruits of their labor. (JPA/DSWD-9)

P21-M relief assistance alang sa mga biktima sa “Pedring”Manila, 30 Sept. (PIA) – Sukad ning buntag, ang kagamhanan nakapagula na sa kapin sa P21 milyon nga bili sa mga hinabang alang sa mga biktima sa bagyong “Pedring” gikan sa nagkalain-laing tinubdan, sa Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) mikabat sa P9.5 milyon, hingtungdan kagamhanang lokal (LGUs) P11.5 milyon ug Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) ug ubang mga organisasyon sa kagamhanan P53,387.

by Claro A. Lanipa

12 more ZamboPen....from page 50

52


pagtubag sa mga kinah-anglanon sa apektadong mga pamilya sa Bicol Region. Samtang, si Secre-tary Dinky Soliman miin-gon ang joint DSWD-Cen-tral Office ug DSWD-NCR rapid assessment team nga anaa sa mga evacu-

ation centers ang gipa-lihok aron sa pagtantiya sa kahimtang ug pagtu-bag sa mga hinanaling kinahanglanon sa mga apektadong pamilya. Sa pagka-karon, adunay 439 evacuation centers sa mga rehiyon apektado sa Pedring ug

nagpadayon sa pagsilbi sa 30,752 ka mga pami-lya diin 76 anaa sa Natio-anl Capital Region, duha sa Rehiyon II, 269 sa Re-hiyon III, 30 sa Rehiyon IV-A, napulo sa Rehiyon IV-B, siyam sa Rehiyon V ug upat sa CAR.

ICM Dave Malcampo gave an update on the anti-human trafficking efforts of the government. He lamented that some people do not only trafficked wildlife animals like the Philippine gecko, but they now engage in women and child traf-ficking. (Rene V. Carbayas, PIA9-BST)

PHOTO RELEASES

P21-M relief....from page 51

Violeta H. Ramirez, heath education chief of the Isabela city health office said that the city has been conducting massive information-education drive versus dengue through clean-up in cooperation with the Bureau of Fire and the barangays. She said that these efforts had kept Isabela dengue-free so far. ((Rene V. Carbayas, PIA9-BST)


Violeta H. Ramirez, heath education chief of the Isabela city health office said that the city has been conducting massive information-education drive versus dengue through clean-up in cooperation with the Bureau of Fire and the barangays. She said that these efforts had kept Isabela dengue-free so far. ((Rene V. Carbayas, PIA9-BST)

Philippine Information Agency-BaSulTa Infocenter Manager Felipo Dave Malcampo emphasized the importance of the forum, an opportunity where communicators and information officers of various institutions in Basilan could share information and tackle issues and gather information that may be detrimental to people’s lives. ((Rene V. Carbayas, PIA9-BST)

one mindanao - september 30, 2011

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