One Mindanao - October 3, 2011

2 Tuesday, October 4, 2011

C O N T E N T SNATIONAL• Aquino wants stricter enforcement of ‘forced evacuation’ from affected areas• Aquino wants probe on Manila Bay seawall failure• DA assures availability of rice supply• Aquino wants subsistence for fisher folks during hazardous weather conditions

Western Mindanao (Zamboanga Peninsula)

• Youth Commission concludes Peace Month celebration• Simultaneous Pantawid Pamilya cash card distribution conducted in Bayugan, Barobo• Surigao del Sur GPK evaluation, assessment starts today• DSWD conducts convergence caravan• RAFI Triennial Awards calls on entries for blogging contest

Northern Mindanao

• DSWD’s KALAHI-CIDSS shows that the poor can manage million-peso projects, achieve community development• City commends blood donors for ‘bloodiest’ Sunday ever • City dad hails 1st kidney transplantation in Zambo• “Pesca Kita”, high-lights 2nd day of Fiesta Hermosa • ‘Solamente’, ‘Rockista’ unveiled Oct. 1

Southern Mindanao (Davao Region)

• DENR-10 creates TF Iponan River to stop illegal mining in the area• Repair of Mambatangan Section of Sayre Highway seen to improve transport services – Congressman Rodriguez• BSP conducts financial education expo in Cag. de Oro• 4th ID Hosts PA Civilian Personnel Basic Supervisory Training Course• Cag. de Oro LGU accepts PPP’s Project EMPOWERING

Central Mindanao (SOCSKSARGEN)

• 8,000 books turned-over to DavSur schools• RDR expects a more professional prov’l jail under BJMP• Siayan town urges stores, food establishments to sell iodized salt • Text prostitution on the rise-NGO• Panabo wharf road closure mulled

Northeastern Mindanao (Caraga)

• DSWD 12 launches NHTS-PR database • NFA South Cotabato naghahanda sa pagdagsa ng produktong palay• SP ng South Cotabato siniguro ang suporta sa pagpapatayo ng anneng provincial hospital sa Surallah

OUR COVER

Today’s coverfeatures

USEP gymnasiumDavao City’s

largest sports facility

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

3Monday, October 3, 2011

Cover Story:USEP gymnasium- Davao City’s largest sports facility

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Davao City with its land area, population, economy and strategic importance in the region should have a large civic center, a coliseum or indoor sports complex that could accommodate at least 10,000 persons.

4 Monday, October 3, 2011

U n f o r t u n a t e -ly the City currently doesn’t have large indoor sports cen-ters, the largest is the Rizal Memorial Col-leges Gym can seat about 4,000 people. while the CYO (Holy Cross of Davao Col-lege) gymnasium can accommodate 3,000 persons. The City has its newly renovated Almendras gym or the Davao City Recreation Center which is small-er than the CYO. Other small cities in Region-XI like Di-gos and Panabo now boasts of spanking new gymnasiums big-ger and better than our existing sports facilities. In the year 2000 the City Gov-ernment under then City Mayor Ben De Guzman took out a

loan from Land Bank and start-ed the con-struction of a P330-million sports com-plex named as the Artica Dome that is supposed to seat around 15,000 peo-ple. However a l legat ions of irregulari-ties led to the abandon-ment of the expensive project. In 2008, Perfecto Alibin Ph.D. president of the University of Southeastern Philip-pines (USEP) thought of building a large gymnasium for the school, the idea came into fruit when it was backed by then House

Speaker Prospero Nograles (also Davao City’s 1st District Rep-resentative) who pro-vided the seed fund to start the construction of the said project. USEP Gymna-sium was planned to accommodate 7,000- 8,000 people. It would be aircon-ditioned unlike RMC

Cover Story:USEP gymnasium......from page 3

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and CYO which are steaming ovens. It can now host Philip-pine Basketball Asso-ciation (PBA) games whose Davao sorties are being played in the modern gyms of Digos and Panabo. The gymnasium would also be a rev-enue-generator for

the school. The income derived from the rentals (including the commercial spaces in-side the gym) would be plowed back the university for fund more scholarship grants and other devel-opment proj-ects. The funding

for the gymnasium is about P120-million, with P10-million ad-ditional funding for 2011 as pledged by Congressman Karlo Nograles, Speaker Prospero’s son who won the 2010 elec-tions. According to Dr. Alibin the P10-million will be used to put

the finishing touches to the gymnasium as well as adding the PBA-standard basket-ball court. The construc-tion of the gym was done in three phases, Phase 1 involved the superstructure and substructure, Phase 2 involved the walls, flooring and bleach-ers, comfort rooms and the commercial spaces while Phase 3 included the aircondi-tioning, lighting and electrical systems. While Phase 4 would include the finishing works including the provision of a modern basketball court. Phases 1 and 3 are already complete Alibin said. The gym-nasium can already be used minus the bas-ketball court, which he

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says will be included in the additional bud-get from Congress-man Nograles.The construction took so long because of bud-getary problems. but despite the setbacks the project plodded on.

If it will be com-pleted, it will become the largest indoor multi-purpose gym-nasium/sports com-plex not just in in Davao City but also in the whole region. He says a management group will be creat-

ed to run the facility which will bring in ad-ditional revenues to the university. The USEP Gym-nasium could indeed provide a much-need-ed decent venue for sports events like PBA games, concerts and conventions. Accord-ing to then Philippine Sports Commissioner Butch Ramirez Davao City should have at least a 15,000-seater coliseum but the pri-orities of our city gov-ernment is focused more on building and providing essentials infrastructure and ba-sic services such as improving the peace and order (Central 911 Emergency Re-sponse System ), traffic situation (traf-fic signalization sys-tem) and drainage/flood control.

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The gym would also complement the on-going con-struction of conven-tion centers par-ticularly the Davao SMX with a capac-ity of around 5,000

people and build by SM Hotels and Con-ventions Then there is Davao Interna-tional Exhibition and Convention Center which is planned to accommodate

3,000-5,000 peo-ple. These facilities all geared in cap-turing the booming Meetings Incen-tives Conventions and Exhibitions (M.I.C.E) market.



Aquino wants stricter enforcement of ‘forced evacuation’ from affected areasTo lessen the incidence of people getting

stranded in an area severely affected by calamities, President Benigno S. Aquino III said Sunday that he wanted the authorities to

strictly enforce the “forced evacuation” warnings. 9

9Tuesday, October 4, 2011

In an interview, Presidential Spokes-person Edwin Lacier-da said the President wanted this law imple-mented further to save the lives of the evacu-ees. “The President wants a stricter en-forcement of the forced evacuation primarily because the residents keep on refusing to evacuate the premis-es,” Lacierda said. “The President wants the PNP to strict-ly enforce the forced

evacuation for the pri-mary reason that he wants the evacuees to be saved—for their own security,” he added. Lacierda also said that in order to ensure the peace of mind of the evacuees on the safety of their proper-ties, the President has directed the Philippine National Police to post their personnel in af-fected areas. “And in order to protect their belong-ings, the President al-so—in conjunction with

the forced evacuation order—has also tasked the PNP to make sure that while the evacuees are moved out of their residences, that there will be police presence in the areas where they left,” Lacierda said. “So that’s a two-pronged approach so that the people will not be going back to their areas where there’s already flooding in or-der to protect their be-longings,” he added. (RCK)

Aquino wants......from page 8

President Benigno S. Aquino III has directed the Department of Public Works and Highways and other concerned agencies to look into why the Manila Bay seawall failed

to prevent a storm surge from flooding a large portion of Roxas Boulevard and nearby areas at the height of typhoon “Pedring’s” onslaught last week.

Aquino wants probe on Manila Bay seawall failure

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The President told DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson in a briefing at the National Disaster and Risk Reduction Manage-ment Council (NDRRMC) in Camp Aguinaldo Sun-day that he wanted the agency to collaborate with law authorities and other concerned agen-cies to get to the bottom of the issue in order to prevent a repeat of what had happened. Singson concurred but said an initial probe into the failure of Manila Bay seawall showed that “changes” were made to the original design of the seawall that did not con-form to regulated sea-wall design standards.

He said the design of the seawall, which looks like an inverted “L” had a sharp angle to the horizontal bar instead of a steady slope that would have helped ease the power of the waves directly hitting it and re-direct it back to the sea. “So, with the series of storm surges it expe-rienced during Pedring’s wrath, natuklap ito to-gether with its concrete dockings,” Singson not-ed. Singson added that the design of the seawall was outdated as its con-struction was based on 20 to 25 year old flood data when it should be 50 year old flood data.

“We are now seri-ously looking at about 50 year old flood data because with the climate change, tides are rising (more than expected). Hindi na pwede yung old flood data,” Singson said. “When we restore this, we will have to raise the seawall (‘s height). We are now determin-ing how much higher it would be,” he added. Because of these findings, the President told Singson that he wanted to know who made the modifica-tions and why the modi-fications were made. (RCK)

Aquino wants probe......from page 9

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The Department of Agriculture assured Sunday the availability of rice and other agricultural products despite the pummeling the country’s plantation fields in Northern and Central Luzon

got as a result of two weather disturbances passing through one after the other last week.

DA assures availability of rice supply


DA assures availability of rice supply

In a report to the President presented at a briefing held at the National Risk Reduc-tion and Management Council in Camp Agui-naldo, Agriculture Sec-retary Proceso Alcala said that the staple could be sourced from Mindanao. “Hindi po dapat

mabahala ang ating mga kababayan be-cause we have enough supply of rice. Napaka-ganda ng harvest natin ng palay sa Mindanao,” Alcala said. He added that his agency was still in the process of estimating the damage wrought by typhoons “Pedring”

and “Quiel” on the country’s agricultural sector but assured he would have the num-bers soon. “He said the DA was ready to extend any assistance to the farmers and their fam-ilies whose plantations were affected by the typhoons. (RCK)

DA assures.....from page 10


President Benigno S. Aquino III has directed the Department of Social Welfare and Development to look into how the government can provide subsistence to fisher folk as a deterrent to fishing during extremely hazardous weather

conditions.

Aquino wants subsistence for fisher folks during hazardous weather conditions

The President gave his directions to DSWD Secretary Cora-zon “Dinky” Soliman during a briefing on the effects of typhoons Pedring and Quiel held at the National Disas-ter Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) in Camp Aguinaldo Sunday.

“Can the DSWD study if the marginal fisher folk …if they will not be allowed to ven-ture out (to fish), can we give them some subsistence for the days that are extremely haz-ardous?” the President asked, adding whether a mechanism could be determined and funds

be made available for this purpose. The President has expressed concern over the country’s fisher-men who, despite be-ing warned in advance of an incoming weather disturbance, choose to take a chance and go out to earn their living. (RCK)


Aquino wants subsistence for fisher folks during hazardous weather conditions

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In its years of implementation in the poorest munici-palities including those within Western Mindanao. KALAHI-CIDSS has shown that the poor can imple-ment their own development projects worth up to

millions of pesos, and bring development to their own com-munities, said Development of Social Welfare and Develop-ment-IX Regional Director Teodulo Romo, Jr.

DSWD’s KALAHI-CIDSS shows that the poor can manage million-peso projects, achieve community development


DSWD’s KALAHI-CIDSS....from page 19

This announcement was made during the DSWD orientation-forum with municipal mayors for newly identified KALAHI-CIDSS areas held in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay re-cently. KALAHI-CIDSS is recognized by independent international development agencies such as the World Bank to be one of the top 5 most effective poverty-reduction strategies in the world. According to Direc-tor Romo, the success of the project is attributed to the dedication of the com-munity volunteers who rendered their services to uplift the poor socio-eco-nomic conditions in their barangays. KALAHI-CIDSS “is not just about ‘projects’ or infrastructures, but of empowering our people to take direct ownership of their problems, and become development ac-tors in their communities,” shared Director Romo. In Region IX alone, 756 community sub-proj-ects were implemented by the volunteers from the poorest communi-

ties. These amount to Php787,138,431.82 (com-bining local counterpart contributions from the LGU and communities, and grant funds from the World Bank through the DSWD). These projects range from simple livelihood trainings to more complex ones such as water systems, roads, bridges, day care centers, health stations, electrifica-tion and more. The volunteers were simply trained in concepts such as problems analyses, engineering, procurement, finance and operation and maintenance. These volun-teers, most of whom have not completed even pri-mary education, have suc-cessfully addressed their communities’ inequities and implemented projects worth huge sums of money in a relatively short span of time (the KALAHI-CIDSS project requires a time-frame for the completion of the community projects, depending on their specifi-cations, on an average of 120 days). “By introducing this innovative community-driven process into your municipalities, we hope

that finally, the poor peo-ple, even the poorest of the poor will become our part-ners in the fight against poverty since they have demonstrated this very efficiently in the previous KALAHI cycles,” said Direc-tor Romo. Last year, municipal mayors from KALAHI-CI-DSS areas nationwide ap-pealed to President Aquino to mainstream KALAHI-CI-DSS as a national strategy for poverty reduction. The President then ordered a cabinet cluster to study the mechanism for its in-stitutionalization. Meanwhile, the mu-nicipalities of Naga, Malan-gas and Ipil in Zamboanga Sibugay; Tukuran, Dumali-nao, Tigbao and Tabina in Zamboanga del Sur; and Sibuco, Sirawai, Salug, Baliguian and Manuel Rox-as in Zamboanga del Norte are expected to begin the KALAHI-CIDSS enroll-ment process on Novem-ber, this year. As soon as the enrollment is approved and all requirements have been submitted, engage-ment will begin on January 2012. (JPA/DSWD-9/CAL/PIA9/ZamboSur)


City commends blood donors for ‘bloodiest’ Sunday ever by Vic Larato

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Oct. 3 (PIA ) - -The city has commended the 300 students, law enforcers and civic group members who responded to the mass blood-letting activity yesterday, making it the “bloodiest” Sunday ever in Zamboanga City.

“Este dia alegre el ciudad kay ya vene ustedes para dona sangre. Gracias gayotpor el de ustedes par-ticipacion ,” (Today, the city is happy because you came over to do-nate your blood. Thank you very much for you participation) City May-or Celso Lobregat said. The blood dona-tion, which was conduct-ed in coordination with the local Red Cross and the Zamboanga City Blood Council, was one of the activities lined up for the Fiesta Hermosa Festival this October.

Among those who donated blood were students from the Zam-boanga State College of Marine Sciences and Technology, Universi-dad de Zamboanga, policemen, Air Force Reservists, firemen, Montero Bikers Associ-ation members, Suzuki riders and some Tyrog-in fraternity members. Red Cross Admin-istrator Victor Liozo Jr. described yesterday’s mass blood donation as the biggest gather-ing of heroes, referring to the blood donors, and said that the activ-

ity initiated by Mayor Lobregat as Red Cross governor broke the re-cords of previous spon-sored blood-letting activities in the city. According to him, the highest record of individual sponsored blood donation was that of the Universi-dad de Zamboanga with 232 blood donors. “Today, the may-or’s blood-letting mus-tered 271 donors so far (as of 4 pm yesterday) and counting with the target of at least 300 do-nors,” Liozo said, add-ing the blood donation

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continued until 5 pm. “This is also the biggest blood donation ever initiated by a Red Cross governor in the person of Mayor Lobregat.” Present during the blood-letting activity held at Red Cross So-

cial Hall in Pettit Bar-racks were Councilors Lilia Nuno, author of the ordinance creating the Zamboanga City Blood Council, Rudy Lim, Myra Paz Valderro-sa-Abubakar, who also donated blood and be-

came a galloner, City Health Officer Rodel Agbulos, City Social Welfare and Develop-ment Officer Francisco Barredo, City Hall Chief Executive Assistant Ma-rio Roca and member of the blood council.

City dad hails 1st kidney transplanta-tion in Zambo by Sheila Covarrubias

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Oct. 3 (PIA) – City dad Mayor Celso Lobregat has hailed the Western Mindanao Medical Center for launching the first ever kidney transplantation procedure in Zamboanga Peninsula and neighbouring regions 10 and 11.

Mayor Lobregat, who graced the short program prior to the ac-tual operation Saturday together with Council-or Nonong Guingona and City Health Officer Rodel Agbulos, was ec-static that the first kidney transplant procedure in Western Mindanao held at the WMCC, a private

institution, is by coin-cidence held the same day as when American surgeon Henry E. Mur-ray performed the first successful transplant of a human kidney in Oc-tober 1954 with 24-year old identical twins as the donor and recipient. “Probably by co-incidence, today, the 1st

of October, the West-ern Mindanao Medical Center, scores the first kidney transplantation procedure. Thus, we join with this health care institution in celebrat-ing this feat”, the mayor said in his message dur-ing the program held at the Atoa restaurant pri-or to the actual opera-

City commends....from page 21


City dad hails...from page 22

tion held at the WMCC. The mayor stressed that the first kidney transplant procedure is another milestone not only for the WMCC but also Zamboanga City in health care program. He likewise ex-pressed jubilation that the first ever proce-dure is held as the city of Zamboanga starts its Fiesta Hermosa 2011, the city’s grandest fes-tival in honor of Nues-tra Señora La Virgen del Pilar whose feast day is on October 12. Like WMCC, the city government is also prioritizing health care, the mayor stressed. “As we celebrate Fiesta Hermosa, the city gov-ernment is not only fo-cusing on social activi-ties but also on health as we also have lined up a blood letting ac-tivity on Oct. 2 and free

medical services on Oct. 5”, he emphasized. The blood letting activity, held yesterday at the Red Cross train-ing center was intended to support and assist the Red Cross in its blood services program while the medical mission dubbed “Fiesta Medi-cal” set to be held City Health Office compound in Pettit Barracks from 8am to 2pm on October 5 is intended to provide free medical, dental and minor surgical services to poor but deserving residents of the city. Meanwhile, the mayor took pride in personally presenting to the crowd during the program, the members of the team that con-ducted the first kidney transplant in Zamboan-ga. The team included Dr. Michael Abutazil, head of the WMMC

hemodialysis unit. The first ever pro-cedure was witnessed by Dr. Antonio Paraiso, program manager for operation, Philippine Organ Donation Pro-gram of the DOH rep-resenting the Secretary Enrique On as well as Dr. Benito Puruganan, chairman, Department of Organ Transplanta-tion, National Kidney and transplant Institute. Also present dur-ing the program were Dr. Joshua Brillantes of the Center for Health Development-9; PCS-CO-Chief Lottery Op-erations Officer Raul Regondola, Dr. Paterno Cabrera III, President of WMCC Inc.; Dr. Nida Tan- WMMC Assis-tant Medical Director; WMMC Hospital board of directors; consul-tants and hospital staff.


“Pesca Kita”, high-lights 2nd day of Fi-esta Hermosa by Vic Larato

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Oct .3 (PIA) - - “Pesca Kita na Boulevard”, a fishing competition now on its 3rd year and initiated by the Zamboanga-Chabacano Anglers Club in cooperation with the city government highlighted the second day of Fiesta Hermosa 2011 yesterday.

The fishing competition was held at the R.T. Lim boulevard with al-most 60 partici-pants. The tilt started 7am and wrapped up at past 1pm. Winners of the Off Shore Category with 38 competitors were: Hussein Men-dizabel- champion; Jose Carlo Garcia- 2nd placer; Marvin Macario- 3rd plac-er; Jamil Askalani- 4th placer; Jing Fer-nandez- 5th placer; Jeffrey Ranin- 6th placer and Ramon Espiritusanto- 7th placer. Also in the Top 10 were Phillip B. Patino- 8th plac-

er, Jonas Zarago-za- 9th placer and Leopoldo Saave-dra- 10th placer. Top in the On Shore Category with 19 participants were: Seidrick Ray Malinao- champion; John Barraca- 2nd placer; Raul Car-pio- 3rd placer; Bri-gitte F. dela Cruz- 4th placer; Mike de Leon- 5th placer; Joel Patalinghug- 6th placer; Marco Roble- 7th placer; Jame Ibanez- 8th placer; Joel Canseco- 9th placer and Nikko Mares- 10th placer. Mayor Celso Lobregat awarded the winners with

trophies and fish-ing gears during the simple cere-mony held at the R.T. Lim Boulevard. He thanked the local fishing enthusi-asts for their support and participation in the activity as he invited them to also witness all other fes-tivities for Fiesa Pilar. Now on its third year, the sport fish-ing competition was sponsored by the Department of Tour-ism regional office 9 and the city govern-ment of Zamboan-ga in coordination with the Zamboan-ga-Chabacano An-glers Association.


‘Solamente’, ‘Rockista’ unveiled Oct. 1ZAMBOANGA CITY, Oct. 3 (PIA) -- “Solamente Zamboanga”, an art exhibit was launched Saturday, October 1st as part of the opening salvo of Fiesta Hermosa 2011.

Some 15 Zamboangue¬ño art-ists are participating in the exhibit which runs until the end of the month at the Gar-den Orchid Hotel lob-by in Gov. Camins. Organized by the City Govern-ment in cooperation with Rameer Tawa-sil-an internationally multi-awarded Zam-boangueño artist, the 15 local artists corrob-orated their efforts, creating more than 30 artworks that mainly carry an “exclusive Zamboanga” motif. Romel Racho, Sandra Jamiro, Fran-

cisco Lorenzo, Chi-to Alvarez, Maridol Vasquez, Mark Burda, Ahl-Qasmi Lakibul, Teofilo Torino, Claire Lukban, Chrisel Babol, Sheena Cascon, Shar-iff Morales, Moh. Reza Abbas, Buds Lacho and Wilhelmina Sia-sico were 15 artists who created the eye-catching artworks that go on display until the end of the month. Majority of the collec-tions are also for sale. Mayor Celso Lo-bregat, who graced the opening ceremo-ny together with other city officials and other guests, praised the ex-

hibit as an activity that showcases the best of Zamboangueño cre-ativity and genius. Councilor Myra Paz-Abubakar and Department of Tour-ism Regional Di-rector Mary June Bugante led the rib-bon-cutting ceremony. Also in atten-dance were Council-ors Rudy Lim, Non-ong Guingona, Gerky Valesco, Mel Sadain, Rudy Bayot, City Po-lice Director Col. Edwin de Ocampo and Task Force Zam-boanga Commander Buenaventura Pas-cual, among others.

niRichard Aliangan

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“Solamente’,’Rockista.....from page 25

Meanwhile, four amateur bands battled off the first elimination round of a Chabaca-no rock band contest dubbed Rock the Fort-Rakista Zamboanga at Plaza del Pilar Satur-day night, also as part of the opening salvo of Fiesta Hermosa 2011. Down Syndrome, One Piece, TSEL’X, and Musiamatics showed off their musical skills to the delight of the cheering crowd who thronged the venue for the electrifying free entertainment. Judging from the given criteria of the contest which include Originality 30%, Showmanship 25 %, Audience Impact 25% and Musical Ability 20%, Down Syndrome and One Piece got the judges’ approval to

compete for the semi finals on October 10. The chosen bands are just 2 of the 12 groups that will out-play each other for the semis on October 10. The 12 qualifiers will still be battling for the super six who will be contesting for the final rounds on October 11. Last Saturday’s tiff was the first of the 6-night elimination rounds where each night two band will be declared worthy for the second level of the competition. All bands in the elimination rounds whether they will win or lose were awarded with Urban-dub Concert tickets plus one case of San Miguel Beer products. Free concert tickets and Smart

water bottles were also awarded to sev-eral lucky spectators who gamely joined the trivia gimmicks of the event. One winner took home a brand new cell phone courtesy of Smart C o m m u n i c a t i o n s . San Miguel Brew-ery, Inc. and Smart Communications are the major sponsors of the show that gives young band perform-ers to show off their musical talents while promoting the use of Chabacano language among the youth. With the suc-cess of the first eve-ning, the hype of the rock-banging event is expected to raise the excitement of the succeeding days of this year’s Zamboan-ga Hermosa Festival.


A unified task force has been created by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), region 10, to put a stop to the illegal mining activities in Iponan

River, Opol town, this province.

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by Rutchie Cabahug-Aguhob

Dubbed Task Force Iponan River, the body is created to formulate the operational plan, to-gether with the law en-forcement agencies. It will be headed by the Mines and Geosci-ences Bureau (MGB), as the steward of the coun-try’s mineral resources who has direct charge in the administration

and disposition of min-eral lands and resources and the promotion of sustainable mineral re-sources development, sensitive to the known environmental impacts of mining. Composed of more than 20 government agencies and non-gov-ernment organizations, members of the task

force will work in close cooperation with each other to resolve the ex-isting problems of the area. ”Foremost of these problems are the discol-oration, damage to envi-ronment and illegal small mining in the river and its vicinities,” Officer-in-Charge/Regional Direc-tor Alfredo T. Relampa-

DENR-10 creates TF Iponan River to stop illegal mining in the area


.DENR-10 creates....from page 27

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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Oct. 3 (PIA) – Transport of goods and services along the Puerto-Mambatangan-Alae Section of the Sayre Highway, is expected to improve in the next few months.

Repair of Mambatangan Section of Sayre Highway seen to improve transport services – Congressman Rodriguez

gos, of MGB-10 said. Relampagus, who newly assumed as MGB-10 head, said small scale mining activities, partic-ularly using hydraulick-ing method in extracting placer deposit along Ip-onan River and its vicini-ties from Tawasion, Opol has resulted to continu-ous soil erosion and the uprooting of trees and other vegetable cover along the river bank and severe or heavy siltation of the river. This has also af-fected the quality of wa-ter in Iponan River which has continued to deteri-orate and may affect the Macajalar Bay, as well. Thus, he said,

MGB has planned to is-sue deputation of the task force members to apprpehend the illegal mining activities in the area and provide techni-cal knowledge on possi-ble appropriate methods of responsible mining in the area. Meanwhile, Relam-pagus said the task force members are the region-al/provincial heads of the following GO/NGO’s: E n v i r o n m e n t a l Management Bureau (EMB), Provincial En-vironment and Natural Resources Office (PEN-RO) of Mis. Or., Commu-nity ENRO of Cagayan de Oro City (CDO) and Iligan City.

Local government units (LGU’s) of Mis. Or., and two (2) of its towns, namely: Opol and Man-ticao, and the cities of Iligan and CDO. Philippine Air Force’s Tactical Opera-tions Group, Northern Mindanao, (PAF, TOG-10), Philippine Army’s 1st and 4th Infantry Division, and the Philippine National Po-lice (PNP), Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro and the Philippine Information Agency (PIA). Task Force Iponan is expected to meet, as necessary, to review and address the issues within the contest of its pur-pose, Relampagus also said.


This assurance came from Congress-man Rufus B. Rodriguez of the 2nd District of Ca-gayan de Oro, during the recent ground-breaking ceremony for its repair held in Barangay Mam-batangan, this city. The Sayre High-way serves as the arte-rial road that connects to other provinces in the southern most part of Mindanao, such as, the Davao and Cotabato provinces and cities like Malaybalay, Valencia, Gen. Santos and Tagum, among others. “We have consid-ered this section of the highway very important, as it is being used, not only by the commuters, but most especially, by the businessmen from down south who want to ship their goods to oth-er points of the coun-try, through the Mind-anao Terminal Container Port (MTCP) located in Tagoloan, Misamis Ori-

ental,” he said. Goods like vegeta-bles, fruits and fish and other agricultural prod-ucts need to be trans-ported fast, he said. Spanning the road from Barangays Puerto and Mambatangan to-wards Barangay Alae in the Bukidnon bor-der, the project involves the removal of existing damaged asphalt and concreting of road pave-ment, 3.927 km. long, 6.70 m. wide and 0.34 m., thick. The allocated amount for the projects is Php118.297 million sourced out from the regular infrastructure funds of the Depart-ment of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), this year. Rodriguez, how-ever, said the con-tract amount for the project was only Php60,709,621.16 mil-lion, to be completed within 210 calendar days

by SOCOR Construction Corp., the winning con-tractor. “This means the government was able to save almost Php40 mil-lion, which can still be used for extending the length of the project,” the Congressman said. Meanwhile, Engr. Norma Geronilla, Re-gional Director of DPWH, region 10, said the proj-ect will be done under the Rehabilitation/Re-construction/Upgrad-ing of Damaged Paved National Roads Gener-ated From Pavement Management System/HDM-4 Project Analy-sis, Intermittent Sec-tion National Arterial, Puerto-Mambatangan-Alae Section, Cagayan de Oro II. It is expected to be completed by the end of April, as stipulated in the contract, Geronilla said. (Rutchie Caba-hug-Aguhob)

Repair of Mambatangan....from page 28


CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Oct. 3 (PIA) --- To highlight the importance of financial education in building a stronger economy, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) conducted a financial education (Fin-Ed) expo for the academe and the working sector, here, last Sept. 29-30.

BSP conducts financial education expo in Cag. de Oro by Apipa Bagumbaran

The 2-day Fin-Ed expo was aimed at pro-viding the participants basic understanding about the Philippine Fi-nancial System (PFS), as well, as the consumer protection initiatives and consumer assistance mechanism of the BSP. The expo also sought to equip the par-ticipants with the basics of saving, investing, and borrowing, the different financial products avail-able in the financial mar-ket, and demonstrate to them the proper han-dling of physical money. “The BSP began holding the expo in 2009 in line with our advocacy towards financial aware-ness and literacy,” said

Atty. Thelma C. Pantig, Deputy Director of BSP – Cagayan de Oro City branch. It is principally an-chored on the belief that the efforts of the BSP to promote financial stabil-ity and to strengthen the economic and financial system will have a bet-ter chance of succeed-ing, if they go hand-in-hand, with the efforts to protect and educate the public, she added. With a theme “Fi-nancial Education: Build-ing Block for Stronger Economy,” the expo fea-tured mini sessions and lectures conducted in learning booths covering topics on the PFS, finan-cial consumer protec-

tion, currency concerns, personal finance, finan-cial products, and finan-cial regulators. There was also a primer hub where prim-ers, advisories, and oth-er information materials were displayed. Primer hunt, cen-tavo guess, knowledge bowl, and other interac-tive activities related to the different mini-ses-sions and lectures were also featured in the prim-er hub. The said expo is one of the advocacy initiatives conducted nationwide by the Financial Consumer Affairs Group (FCAG) of the BSP to support the interest of the public on financial literacy issues.


CAMP EVANGELISTA, Cagayan de Oro City, Oct. 3 (PIA) – At least 23 civilian personnel from the different Philippine Army (PA) components in Mindanao attended the 4-week Civilian Personnel Basic Supervisory Training Course (BSTC), held here, recently.

4th ID Hosts PA Civilian Personnel Basic Supervisory Training Course

Conducted by the PA Chief Civilian Per-sonnel Office (CPO), the training was facilitated by the 4th Infantry (Di-amond) Division, under Maj. Gen. Victor A Felix, in coordination with the Mobile Training Team, Special Training Depart-ment, Combat Service Support School, Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) PA. The activity took place at the Multi-Pur-pose Hall, 10th Region-al Community Defense Group (10th RCDG), Army Reserve Com-mand, PA, here, inside the camp. . The training was aimed and crafted to equip and enhanced the participants with the ba-sic knowledge on lead-ership capability, duties and responsibilities to be developed as effec-

tive leaders in their re-spective units. The first time ever to be conducted in the Army Divisions of the Mindanao area, the man-datory training course, also provides the em-ployees the opportunity to avail of the training to uplift their knowledge and hone their capabil-ity to be promoted to the next higher positions in the government service. The training was also designed to moti-vate one’s attitudinal be-havior that implies to im-prove the traits, behavior and beliefs in the perfor-mance of duties as effec-tive public servants. Acquiring skills is a tool for good leadership in shaping-up the forms as effective leader in career service, in accordance with the principles and norms implied in the Civil

Service Laws and Rules. The concepts of the course covered the fol-lowing: Basic Concepts of the Organization, Princi-ples of Leadership, Value Formation, Development and Communication Pro-cess, Develop to Hone-up the Communicative Skills on Public Speaking and Developed Skills on Ef-fective Writing Ability. The pool of training instructors and facilitators included Dr Edna Sajo, Sophia L. Ay-ad, Civilian Personnel Training Officer, (CPO), Maj. Jose Francis de la Fuente, Course Di-rector and concurrently the Commanding Of-ficer, TRADOC Special Training Department, Combat Service Support School and TSgt Alex Rufino, Training Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO), also of TRADOC. (4CMO/PIA-10)


CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Oct. 3 (PIA) – The City Gov-ernment of Cagayan de Oro (CDO) has accepted the public-private partnership (PPP) initiated by STEAG State Power Inc. for project EM-POWERING or Empowering Monitoring System on Poverty Watch for a more Effective and Responsive Approach in Governance.

Cag. de Oro LGU accepts PPP’s Project EMPOWERING

City Mayor Vicen-te Y. Emano of CDO, in his message read by City Planning and Development Officer Telly Sagaral, during the recent launching of the project, said he has gladly ac-cepted with profound gratitude, Project EM-POWERING and the responsibilities that come with it. ”This will in-deed augment and enhance the local government’s devel-opment planning ar-senal,” he said. Funded by Steag with some € 277,125.32 or ap-proximately Php16.9

million, the project is expected to run for 18 months, starting September, this year, and involves pass-ing over to the tar-get municipalities to create sustainability, technical assistance and preparation of case studies. Particularly, it will focus on updating the database and in-formation system of the Planning Offices of Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro City that includes the following: Assessment and validation of the data available in the tar-get municipalities, to

include assessment of community-based monitoring system (CBMS) Implementa-tion, Data Collection and Determination of the general informa-tion system (GIS) re-quirements. Converting of the data into tabular forms using the CBMS software, Data en-coding and digitizing to include data pro-cessing and valida-tion of CBMS results, development and in-tegration of GIS. The installation of data from the CBMS will, further, improve the data banking sys-tem of the city and

33


will further enrich the data base that we have in the GIS, the CDO Mayor said. Implement ing the CBMS and main-taining the GIS entail a lot of resources, but the cost is worth it, considering the per-spective that it affords the public and private sectors in determin-ing and addressing needs, and assessing the scope and degree of response. “It saves us both time and money and ensures the quality of the service deliv-ered,” Mayor Emano also said. Meanwhile, the City Mayor also thanked the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), represented by Undersecretary Auster Panadero, for introduc-ing CBMS to the LGU’s and for its facilitation

and unfailing support. In the same way, he thanked Dr. Bodo Goerlich, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of STEAG. for ex-tending their extensive resources to this project and to Fr. Robert Yap, President of Xavier Uni-versity for always being the city government’s partner in working for a

better Cagayan de Oro.“Rest assured, your ef-forts and ours will not be for naught. We will work very hard to maintain and sustain this project, which embodies your best hopes and inten-tions for the city and citizens of Cagayan de Oro,” Mayor Ema-no concluded. (PIA-10)

Cag.de Oro LGU....from page 32


8,000 books turned-over to DavSur schoolsDIGOS CITY, Davao del Sur, Oct. 03 (PIA) – Some 162 pub-lic and private schools here and in three municipali-ties of the province recently received almost 8,000 new reference books from The Asia Foundation in a series of books distribution in the region.

by Carina L. Cayon

35


36

TAF officials hand-ed over a total of 4,930 books to the school re-cipients from the towns of Malalag, Matanao and Sta. Cruz, of which turn-over rites were witnessed by Governor Douglas Cagas and other offi-cials of said municipali-ties and the Department of Education last week. Malalag town got 850 books for distribu-tion to 17 public ele-mentary and secondary schools, while Matanao received 1,800 for the 36 schools from both ele-mentary and high school. In Sta. Cruz, 1,450 books were given to 27 public elementary and secondary schools and two private schools. Four public librar-ies in the province re-ceived 230 reference books while one college school got 275 books. In a separate dis-tribution activity in Di-gos City, some 61 pub-lic and private schools from elementary to col-lege were handed over a total of 3,030 books. The bulk of which with about 2,500 went to

50 elementary schools. Some 150 books were also sent to six sec-ondary schools and 250 books were received by five college schools, while the Digos City Library obtained 130 books. TAF Books for Asia director Efren Balaja-dia explained that the books mostly composed of reference books for English, Math, Science, Reading Comprehen-sions, and dictionaries. Balajadia told the local media in Digos City in an interview that the books distribution in the province was part of an-other TAF program un-der the Transparent and Accountable Governance (TAG) which provides technical assistance to local government units. He said that the TAF-Books for Asia has been providing support to the education pro-gram of the country for more than 50 years, particularly in promot-ing the English lan-guage literacy. “There’s no other mission, but to help the government in its education pro-

gram,” Balajadia stated. He said that they in-vest for the education of the children, espe-cially in far-flung areas. TAF-TAG project co-ordinator Cora A. Gumba said that the town recip-ients Sta. Cruz, Malalag, Matanao and Digos City are part of the TAG-4 project which availed of the technical assistance for the improvement of their governance. Gumba bared that both towns of Matanao and Malalag have ongo-ing review with TAF-TAG on the local revenue code, that aims to en-hance the towns’ respec-tive local enterprises. Sta. Cruz, mean-while, availed of a train-ing on devising a system and procedures to im-prove delivery of services. “We continue to be broker of education and governance. We advocate program for the conver-gence of social develop-ment and good gover-nance,” Gumba stated. The TAG project, she said, has been sup-porting LGUs in Mind-anao that avail of TAF’s

8,000 books....from page 34


RDR expects a more professional prov’l jail under BJMPDAVAO DEL NORTE, Oct. 03 (PIA): Davao del Norte Ro-dolfo P. del Rosario expects utmost professionalism among jail personnel of Davao del Norte Provincial Re-habilitation Center (DNPRC) which will now be managed by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

37

services since 2001. The program for the re-cipients in Davao del Sur is short-term that would end next year. The TAF Books for

Asia and TAG also distrib-uted books last week to Compostela Valley prov-ince with 8,705 books to 143 schools; Davao del Norte, 6,175 books

to 132 schools; Panabo City with 3,505 books to 62 schools, and to non-government organiza-tion partners with 150 books to three schools.

by Jean Duron-Abangan

In an interview with the media, Del Rosario was sure that BJMP would make true its commitment to train all jail personnel based on its standards, espe-cially that BJMP is now taking charge of the operation and manage-ment of the provincial jail after the turn-over ceremony this morning. Del Rosario turned over this morning the Davao del Norte Pro-vincial Rehabilitation Center to BJMP in a cer-

emony held at the Girls Scout of the Philippines (GSP) Hall, Provincial Government Center, Mankilam, Tagum City. Del Rosario admit-ted that some of the provincial jail person-nel have not been for-mally trained but he was banking on the assur-ance of BJMP national officials that those who are qualified will be ab-sorbed and be trained. He advised those who are old enough to seek for retirement but

he was willing to bring back to the folds of the provincial government workforce, those who will not be absorbed by BJMP. Meanwhile, Del Ro-sario explained that the provincial government will still be shouldering the finances needed to run the provincial jail particularly power and water supply, food and other maintenance ex-penses for three years. Such transition commitment of the pro-vincial government is

8,000 books....from page 35


RDR expects....from page 36

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stated in the Memo-randum of Agreement that Del Rosario signed with BJMP National Di-rector Rosendo Dial, BJMP Regional Direc-tor Norvel Montojo Min-goa and DILG Provincial Director Alex Roldan. On the other hand, Dial explained in a press conference after the cer-emony, that the turn-over of the provincial jail from provincial governments nationwide to BJMP is due to the fragmented state of jail management.

Dial said that the nation-al government wanted to institutionalize a sys-tem of jail management. Due to the absence of a law to effect the le-gal transfer of provincial jail management to BJMP, an MOA is being entered into by both parties. Dial said that a draft bill on a systematic jail management nation-wide had been submit-ted to Congress, and this filed among the priority bills that President Benigno Simeon Aquino III request-

ed for immediate action from the legislative body. With the turn-over of Davao del Norte Provincial Rehabilitation Center, Dial assured Gov. del Rosario of a much improved pro-vincial jail management. “We assure that the lives of inmates of Davao del Norte will be in good hands,” he said in his message. He also vowed to ensure the safety, security and person-al development of in-mates during their stay at the provincial jail.

Text prostitution on the rise-NGODAVAO CITY Oct. 3 (PIA)- Jenny (not her real name) a 16-year old lass lounges lazily in the comforts of her room. Minutes later she would receive a flurry of text messag-es in her mobile phone. It is her pimp who informs Jenny that a client is interested in her “services.”

Jenny is among the increasing number of girls engaging in a new mode of prostitution where young girls are just tex-ted by clients and pimps for their availability.“They no longer have to be out in the streets or in the brothels, they

now wait in their houses where they will just be texted.” Says Jeanette Ampog executive direc-tor of Talikala, a non-government organization dealing with prostituted women and children. Ampog says that those who engage in

“text prostitution” are young girls mostly in their teens. Their num-ber is steadily increas-ing based on the cases they receive. Text pros-titutes are considered as freelancers who are not registered and mostly rely on pimps as pro-


curer of sex service. Other types of free-lancers include “Akyat Barko” or women who climbed aboard foreign ships docked along the harbor to cater to sail-ors and mariners and “Prosti-Tuition” who are poor students unable to support their studies by regular means. And because they do not ply their trade on the streets or in clubs, it is hard to monitor them. According to Am-pog there is an estimat-

ed 2,000 freelance pros-titutes in Davao Region alone. She added that the number of prostitutes are increasing every year and getting younger.Jenny has had numer-ous clients, one of her clients, a foreigner even gave her a brand new Macbook laptop. Subse-quently her peers in the profession then referred her to Talikala, where she was given counseling.Ampog says Jenny is interested in venturing into henna tattoing as

a way out of her former job. She is still engaged in prostitution since she is single-handed-ly raising her daughter.Since prostitution is rooted in poverty it needs a concerted ef-fort from all groups of the society. Ampog said.Livelihood skills are just palliative measures and are difficult to preach to prostituted women particularly if they do not know their rights or are still undergo-ing abuse and oppres-sion. (PIA/RG Alama)

Panabo wharf road closure mulledPANABO CITY- A public hearing on a proposed ordinance permanently closing portion of the old Panabo wharf road and providing for an adequate substitute road conducted last September 28, 2011 at ABC Hall, Panabo City. It was stated in the proposed ordi-nance that the area owned by the City Government of Pana-bo by way of dona-tion shall serve as by-pass and substi-

tute road connect-ing the remaining stretch of Panabo Wharf Road to the Panabo Coastal Road. Panabo City Councilor Ruperto B. Cagape, Jr., Chairper-

son on Committee on Public Works and In-frastructures stressed that the Public and Private Participation (PPP) scheme is im-portant for the estab-lishment of the sub-

Text prostitution....from page 37

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stitute road which is favorable for the bet-terment of the city. He also present-ed that since the by-pass road will be uti-lized by the public, the closing of the old road will be a form of security measures to avoid vehicular ac-cidents in the area near Panabo wharf. He added that the there is a need to relocate a portion of the old road and es-tablish a by-pass road

because critical bend at the existing road connecting the City road to the coastal road gets congested which places these trucks and trailers in critical positions due to the limited space to maneuver their large, long and heavy trucks. The said con-struction of the by-pass road out of do-nation from the private sector has caused the city to

decide to abandon the critical section of the old Panabo Wharf road which was a public land subject to the disposition of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Hon. Cagape said that all sugges-tions, comments are well taken during the public hearing and will be discussed in the next council meet-ing. (Mark Anthony Gellor – CIO Panabo)

Panabo wharf road....from page 38

34 Monday, October 3, 201134 Monday, October 3, 2011

DSWD 12 launches NHTS-PR database KORONADAL CITY, Oct 3 (PIA) -- The regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD 12) today launches the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) database.

The launching highlights the open-ing ceremonies of the 22nd National Statistics Month cel-ebration in Region 12 at the Protech Cen-ter in Koronadal City. Jackiya Lao, NHTS-PR focal person of DSWD 12 said, with the launching they are presenting to the pub-lic the database which had undergone two years of intense re-eval-uation and “cleaning.” “This is the first attempt of the Philip-pine government to

establish an electronic database of all the poor households in the en-tire country,” she said. NHTS-PR is an in-formation management system that identifies who and where the poor are nationwide. It aims to create an objective and transpar-ent database of poor households “which will serve as guide to gov-ernment agencies and other stakeholders identifying beneficia-ries of social welfare programs,” she added. Lao added the da-

tabase changes the man-ner by which program and project beneficia-ries are determined. “Before, we had to ask local govern-ment units for a list of possible beneficiaries before we can imple-ment a program. With the NHTS-PR database, before programs are downloaded to the implementing agen-cies those who will re-ceive benefits from the programs have already been identi-fied ,” she explained. According to the

by Dani Doguiles

41


DSWD 12....from page 40

NFA South Cotabato naghahanda sa pagdagsa ng produktong palay

KORONADAL CITY, Okt 3 (PIA) – Inaasahan ng National Food Authority (NFA) ng South Cotabato ay pagdagsa ng mabibiling palay simula ngayong buwan ng Oktubre.

database Soccsksargen Region has 129,043 households that are considered poor. S o c c s k s a r g e n region covers the provinces of Saran-gani, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and North Cotabato and the cities of Gener-al Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato City. Also during the opening activity of the

statistics month cele-bration, Herlita Caraan, regional head of the Na-tional Statistics Coor-dination Boards (NSCB) delivered “Tracking on MDGs: Region 12 Beating the Odds Be-tween Now and 2015.” Her presentation updated stakeholders on the status of the re-gion in terms of attaining the various MDG goals. Several activities such as symposia, work-

shops, conferences, seminars, trainings, ex-hibits, statistics quizzes, poster and slogan mak-ing contests, and IEC activities are also lined up for the rest of the month to give empha-sis on the importance and value of statistics. This year’s celebra-tion theme is: “Quality Social Protection Statis-tics for Focused Tar-geting: Improving Out-comes, Changing Lives.

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Ayon kay Aveli-no Usman, manager ng NFA South Cotaba-to bagamat nasa may 800 na sako pa lang ang kanilang nabiling palay nitong nakalipas na dalawang linggo, in-aasahan na umano ang pagdagsa ng bagong aning palay ngayong linggo kung kaya’t hi-nahanda na rin nila ang mga bodegang pag-iimbakan ng mga palay. Aniya nagpapatu-loy rin ang kanilang kampanya sa kanayu-nan na humihikayat

sa mga magsasaka na samantalahin ang mas malaking presyo para sa kanilang produkto. Nasa P17.00 ang bili ng NFA ng sa ba-wat kilo ng palay na may karagdagang 40 sentimos bawat kilo para sa cleaning and delivery at 30 senti-mos kung idadaan ito sa mga kooperatiba at farmer association. Sa ngayon may tatlong buying stations ang NFA sa lalawigan. Isa sa Koronadal City, isa sa bayan ng Norala,

at isa sa bayan ng Banga. Iniulat din ni Us-man dahil sa isina-gawang pamimili ng palay, patuloy na tumitibay ngayon ang palay pati na ang bigas. Sa ngayon uma-no may mabibili nang bigas sa mga pami-lihan ng lalawigan sa halagang P27 hang-gang P33 bawat kilo. Noong kalagitnaan ng Setyembre nasa P31 ang pinakamurang bi-gas sa mga pamilihan. (DEDoguiles/PIA 12)

SP ng South Cotabato siniguro ang suporta sa pagpapatayo ng annex ng provincial hospital sa SurallahKORONADAL CITY, Okt. 3 (PIA) -- Suportado ng Sangguniang Panlalawigan ang panukala ni Gov. Arthur Y. Pingoy Jr. hinggil sa pagtatayo ng isang hospital sa bayan ng Surallah na magiging annex ng South Cotabato Provincial Hospital (SCPH), ayon kay Board Member Pablito Subere, vice chairman ng committee on health.

NFA South Cotabato....from page 41

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Inaasahan ni Su-bere na tuluyan nang maaprubahan ng SP sa mga susunod na linggo ang panukalang pagbibigay otoridad kay Gov. Pingoy sa pagpapatayo ng isang bagong pampublikong pagamutan sa pa-mamagitan ng public-private partnership. N a i i n t i n d i h a n umano nila na lub-hang kailangan ang isang pagamutan sa may Upper Valley area upang mabawasan ang pagsisikip ng pasyente sa provin-cial hospital na nasa lungsod ng Koronadal kung kaya’t iniindor-so na ng committee on health ang pag-apruba sa panukala. Aniya , 34 na porsiyento ng pasy-ente sa provincial hospital ay galing sa T’boli, Surallah, Lake

Sebu, Norala, at Sto. Niño kung kaya’t sig-uradong masosulusyu-nan ng isang ospital sa Surallah ang prob-lema sa pagsisikap sa provincial hospital. Base umano sa kanilang obserbasyon nahihirapan na rin ang mga doktor at nurses ng provincial hospi-tal na bigyan ng ta-mang serbisyo ang mga pasyenteng pu-mapasok sa provincial hospital dahil sa dami ng kanilang pasyen-teng dapat asikasuhin. Ang provincial hospital ay aprubado sa 210-bed capac-ity, subalit umaabot ng 280 hanggang 300 ang pasyente nito. Inihayag din ni Subere na nasa P145 milyon ang kabuuang halaga na kailangan para sa pagpapatayo ng naturang ospital.

Sa ngayon nan-gako na ang San Miguel Corporation na magbibigay ng P15 milyon para sa pagpa-patayo ng naturang ospital. Nangako na rin ang Department of Health na magbibigay ng P30 milyon at ang Department the Inte-rior and Local Govern-ment ng P7 milyon. Binigyang diin din ni Gov. Pingoy sa naunang pahayag na dadahan-daha-nin ang pagpapatayo ng naturang ospital. Inaasahan ng gobernador na masi-simulan na ang kon-struksyon ng naturang pampublikong paga-mutan sa limang ek-taryang lote na big-ay ng pamahalaang bayan ng Surallah sa loob ng unang tat-long buwan ng 2012. (DEDoguiles/PIA 12)

SP ng South Cotabato....from page 42


To formally close the celebration of Peace Month, the National Youth Commission (NYC) and the Local Government of Butuan recently spearheaded a Peace Parade and program that

highlighted the signing of the Manifesto for Peace Freedom Wall.14

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

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by Maria Rebecca C. Ayaton

Youth Commission concludes Peace Month celebration


Youth Commission...from page 13

According to NYC Assistant Secretary Earl Saavedra, the aim of the program is to unite the efforts of the different government agencies, LGUs, NGOs including youth organizations in Butuan City which are our stakeholders in ef-forts to uphold Peace in Mindanao. During the open-ing program of the said activity, Atty. Faisal Ma-mintal, Legal Officer of the NCMF said that the youth must take part in bringing peace in Min-danao for “the youth of

today is the chemistry for peace and change”. In addition, Butuan City Mayor Ferdinand Aman-te, Jr. emphasized to the youth the importance of attaining peace for a community to progress by saying that “develop-ment can not be attained without peace”. The activity was attended by NYC’s in-ter-agency Regional Advisory Council (RAC) members, Butuan City Police, students from Agusan National High School, Butuan City Special Education Cen-

ter and Butuan City School of Arts and Trades; Caraga Muslim Youth Federation, Lo-cal Youth Development Council, National Com-mission on Muslim Fili-pino (NCMF) Caraga, Ong Yiu Muslim Youth Group and other gov-ernment agencies. Aside from pro-moting peace, the Min-danao-wide celebration of Peace Month is also a gesture in bridging the gap between Mus-lim Filipino and non-Muslim Filipino youth.


In Bayugan, Vice Governor Santiago Cane Jr., Vice Mayor Charles P. Anggayong and Mayor Kim Lope A. Asis were present during the said activity. Congresswoman Maria Valentina Plaza also attended the activ-ity to show her support to the program. In her message, she reminded the beneficiaries to com-ply with the conditions for them to stay in the program. Furthermore, Agu-

san del Sur Vice Gov-ernor Santiago Cane Jr. asked Mayor Asis to ne-gotiate with Landbank of the Philippines (LBP) Ba-yugan branch to put ad-ditional two Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to accommodate the Pantawid Pamilya ben-eficiaries. Mayor Asis assured Vice Governor Cane that he will discuss with the LBP branch manager about it. Meanwhile, the cash card distribution in Barobo, Surigao del Sur

was attended by Con-gressman Florencio C. Garay, Municipal Mayor Felixberto S. Urbiztondo, Vice Mayor Joey S. Pama and other members of the Local Government Unit (LGU). Congressman Ga-ray in his message ex-horted the beneficiaries to go to health centers, provide their family with nutritious foods and en-courage their children to go to school. The Congressman shared to the beneficia-

Simultaneous Pantawid Pamilya cash card distribution conducted in Bayugan, Barobo

BUTUAN CITY, Oct. 3 (PIA) - A simultaneous distribution of Pantawid Pamilya cash cards were conducted recently in Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur and Barobo, Surigao del Sur.

by Stella Maris V. Barcelon

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Simultaneous Pantawid.....from page 15

The evaluation and assessment were divided into three cat-egories according to the income classifica-tion of the Local Gov-ernment Unit. These are the City Category; Category A (1st to 3rd class mu-nicipality); and Cat-egory B (4th to 6th Class Category).

The program will recognize the positive impact to the compo-nent cities and mu-nicipalities that insti-tutionalize the value of saving the environ-ment as a way of life among Surigaonons. LAst year’s win-ners Bislig City in the City Category, Hinat-uan in Category A,

and Carrascal for Cat-egory B. are expected to give their best to make sure they can re-tain their title. It was learned that Hinatuan has already won three years in a row. The team of eval-uators are now in the municipality of Lingig, 2nd District of this province.

Surigao del Sur GPK evaluation, assessment starts todayby Nida Grace B. Tranquilan

SURIGAO DEL SUR, Oct. 3 (PIA) – The province’s “2011 Gawad Probinsiya sa KAPALIGIRAN” (GPK) program started today its annual evaluation and assessment to the 17 municipalities and 2 cities.

ries how the budget for DSWD was approved in the House of Represen-tative. He told them that they had to stay over-night at the Plenary Hall for the budget hearing to show their support for the program and even-tually pass the budget in the congress. Congresswoman

Valentina Plaza and Con-gressman Garay have always been support-ive of Pantawid Pami-lya and other programs of DSWD. In fact, Con-gresswoman Plaza has attended 3 cash card re-leases in Agusan del Sur. While Congressman Ga-ray if caught-up with his hectic schedule never

fails to send a member from his office to attend the activities. The LBP as the au-thorized government agency to release the Pantawid Pamilya cash cards distributed 5,611 cash cards in Bayugan, Agusan del Sur and 3,207 cash cards in Bar-obo, Surigao del Sur.


DSWD conducts convergence caravan by Stella Maris V. Barcelon

BUTUAN CITY, Oct. 3 (PIA) – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Caraga Region recently launched its first Convergence Caravan in one of the local convention centers here.

The activity aimed to showcase the three core pro-grams of the de-partments, the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Ka-hirapan- Compre-hensive and Inte-grated Delivery of Social Services (KA-LAHI-CIDSS), Self-Employment As-sistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K) and the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. Sharing of testi-monies of Pantawid Pamilya beneficia-ries and partners on the Pantawid Pami-lyang Pilipino Pro-gram and reading of letters for Congress-

man Aquino and cer-emonial turn-over of SEA-K checks high-lighted the activity. The Depart-ment of Educa-tion (DepEd), De-partment of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Depart-ment of Trade and Industry (DTI), Na-tional Economic and Development Agen-cy (NEDA) and the Technical Education and Skills Devel-opment Authority (TESDA) are among the government agencies who at-tended the caravan. Different booths were also set-

up which included SEA-K booth, Griev-ance booth and Beneficiary Update System booth. Dif-ferent SEA-K prod-ucts were also dis-played. Booths for other agencies such as TESDA, DTI and DOLE were also set-up to answer que-ries from the partic-ipants. The Conver-gence Caravan was participated by the 1st district local government units in Las Nieves and Bu-tuan City. About 300 beneficiaries partic-ipated in the Cara-van, it was learned.


RAFI Triennial Awards calls on entries for blogging contestby Haidee Emmie K. Palapar

BUTUAN CITY, Oct. 3 (PIA) – To promote the inspiring stories and work of recognized development workers in the Visayas and Mindanao, the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) is calling on individuals between 13 and 35 years old based in the Visayas and Mindanao to join the RAFI Triennial Awards Blogging Contest.

The contest high-lights the RAFI Triennial Awards and its awardees and finalists. Guided by the theme, “Shaping the big picture of change”, en-trants are expected to do background research on the lives and works of RAFI Triennial awardees and fi-nalists nearest their area. The RAFI Triennial Awards is an awards pro-gram of RAFI given every three years to recognize the philanthropic, humani-tarian, and holistic efforts of individuals and institutions in the Visayas and Mindan-ao in enhancing the quality of life of the communities they serve. It is now on its 5th run with conferment of awards in 2012. To join the RAFI Tri-ennial Awards Blogging Contest, individuals should register through www.rafi.org.ph. Entrants must have an existing and up-dated blog for at least six months.

All blog entries must be original and written in English, with a minimum of 1,000 words and maxi-mum of 4,000 words. En-tries should not have been entered or won in previous competitions. Writers must at the end of their blogs indicate, “This is an official entry to the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) Tri-ennial Awards Blogging Contest.” and include a link to the RAFI website. The criteria for judg-ing include 50 percent for content (originality and alignment to the theme and research value) and 50 percent for writing style or composition (including technicalities). A contest participant is allowed a maximum of three blogs that feature different awardees and fi-nalists. After posting their entries on their blogs, en-trants should email ap-plication form, URL of the

blog post, and electronic copy of at least one valid ID to [email protected] with the subject header: Entry to the RAFI Triennial Awards Blogging Contest. The blogging contest starts on Sept. 30, 2011. Deadline for the submis-sion of blog entries is Dec. 15, 2011. Entrants must en-sure that their blogs are accessible until winners are declared in January 2012. First prize winner will receive Php 25,000; sec-ond prize Php 20,000; and third prize Php 15,000. All entries of winners and fi-nalists will be consolidat-ed and published into a book. For more informa-tion on the RAFI Triennial Awards Blogging Con-test and to check on the awardee or finalist near-est you, visit www.rafi.org.ph.


Documents

One Mindanao - October 3, 2011