COMMUNITY BILLBOARD

P10-M Pamana projects programmed in Ifugao

TINOC, Ifugao -- Two road improvement projects under the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (Pamana) program  are set to be implemented in this province this year.

The  Department of Interior and Local Government and provincial government  recently signed memorandum of agreement for implementation of  P10-million worth of Pamana projects in the municipalities of Asipulo and Tinoc.

These are  the Naman-Pula farm to market road improvement in Asipulo town and the Danggo farm-to-market road in Tinoc with   P5 million  funding each.

The DILG is tasked to implement Pamana program to complement government peace negotiation efforts in  conflict-affected and vulnerable areas. --  Marcelo B. Lihgawon

Kalinga rep supports abolition of pork barrel

TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- Kalinga   Representative Manuel Agyao said he supported moves to abolish the pork barrel scheme of fund allocation but called on government to continue appropriating financial assistance to priority needs of districts.

“While we agree on the decision of President Aquino to scrap the pork barrel, we also have to see to it that the needs of our districts are provided the needed financial support under the General Appropriations Act,” he said.

He said under the principle of decentralization, district representatives are obliged to ensure that needs identified by their constituents are addressed,  and incorporated in the national budget.

“How to do it is to access these needs to the GAA through Congress’s power of the purse,” Agyao said. He added to ensure projects are well implemented, stricter safeguards have to be in place to prevent anomalies.

Agyao said his Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) during his first two terms were all accounted, and went to their rightful recipients. “I am grateful to the executive branch that Kalinga was not denied of its share from the development pie,” he said. -- Peter Balocnit

Senior citizens to replace Baguio City officials

BAGUIO CITY – Senior citizens from different organizations shall hold the reins of the city and the barangays for a day tomorrow (Oct. 7) Monday, after simple hand-over ceremonies from city officials headed by Rep. Nicasio Aliping, Jr.

The Senior Citizen Official for a day (SCOFAD) is done in celebration of October as elderly month. A grand opening program jumpstarts the celebration Oct. 4, and a parade from the Baguio Convention Center up to Melvin Jones, Burnham Park follows.

SCOFAD members were earlier screened by a committee, as agreed on by the City Social Welfare and Development Office with the office of Social Services, Women and Urban Poor Committee chair Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda.

            

Former government employee Isaias Barongan sits as congressman for a day; while Adorado De Guzman is city mayor; Romeo Umali is vice-mayor and chair of the council ways and means and finance committee.

Former city employee Eduardo Gamayon is council committee chair of the Public Utilities, Transportation and Traffic Legislation; Sonia Gonzales Mina sits vice Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda;  Policarpio Lansigan is council Urban Planning, Lands and Housing committee chair; Virginia De Castro Valencia is council Tourism, Special Events and Parks committee chair; Alexis Ines sits vice Councilor Peter Fianza who chairs the Education, Culture and Historical Research committee.

Eduardo Reyes replaces Councilor Roberto Ortega for a day as chair of the Human rights, safety, peace and order committee; Hrothgar Mori is council chair for Laws committee; Aguiles De Jesus is chair of the Market, Trade and Commerce council committee; Alberto Guyab Salbino, for  Employment, Livelihood and Cooperatives, Handicapped and Differently-Abled Persons; Generosa Carbonell, for Health and Sanitation, Ecology and Environmental Protection; Flora Balaba, for Ethics, Governmental Affairs and Personnel; SC Guia Cabanban, for Public Works committee; Fidel Oyan, for Barangay Affairs; Elizabeth Roc Huliganga, for Youth Welfare and Sports Development.

            

City Veterinarian Brigit Piok is replaced for a day by  Romulo Soriano; Amada Casana is City Treasurer; Hedeliza Pulanco is City Social Welfare and Development Officer; Esperanza Lumague replaces Prudencio Parnacio, Jr. as City Secretary; SC Joseph Leleng Clemente sits as City Planning and Development Officer; Dominador De los Reyes is City Legal Officer; Dulce Catbagan is Human Resource Officer; Eulalia Gamad is City Health Officer; Casimiro Viray, Jr., is General Services Officer; Rogelio Sison sits as City Environment and Parks Management Officer; SC Filemon Longakit, Jr. sits as City Engineer;

Flora Urbino Flores replaces Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Officer Evelyn Trinidad for a day; Soledad Barongan is Department of Education (Dep-Ed) head; Lourdes Saludares Agcolicol is city civil registrar for a day; Juan Alliban is city building officer; Lolita Abastilla is city budget officer; Benjamin Lacasandile is city auditor; Corazon Tabas Garcia is city assessor; Victoria Ramos replaces City Administrator Atty. Carlos Canilao; and SC Elizabeth Padilla is city accountant vice Antonio Tabin.

The theme for this year’s celebration is: “Nakatatanda: Pagtulungang Isulong Benipisyo’t Karapatan Tungo Sa Maginhawa at Masayang Pamayanan.”

Other activities for the elderly month celebration includes an ecumenical thanksgiving service on Oct. 8 at the City hall multi-purpose hall; a medical mission in the afternoon of Oct. 18 at the CSWDO conference hall; a senior citizens cultural festival on Oct. 25 at the Baguio Convention Center where an SC Lakan and Lakambini shall be chosen, and the Best Barangay Senior Citizens Association shall be awarded during the occasion.

For the whole month of October, exercises or “Hataw” for graceful aging is being done in the barangays for all SC members. – Julie G. Fianza    

Balili, Galiano River clean-up drive held 

About 308 sacks or 6.17 tons of wastes were recently collected by 730 participants in a clean-up drive along the tributary creeks of the barangays within the Balili River basin .

Participants covered 14.105 km  gathering waste consisting of plastic bags, plastic bottles, grasses or weeds, old shoes and clothing and tin cans.

            

They came from Brookside, ABCR, Holyghost Proper, Salud Mitra, Upper General Luna, St. Joseph Village-Polo Field, Magsaysay-Private Road, Camdas, Alfonso Tabora, Trancoville, North Sanitary Camp, South Sanitary Camp, Gibraltar, Sto. Nino-Slaughterhouse Compound, Teodora Alonzo, Pacdal, Cabinet Hill-Teacher’s Camp, Engineer’s Hill, DPS Compound, Marcoville, Holyghost-Honeymoon, Holyghost Extension, Lualhati, Lower Magsaysay, Imelda Village, Manuel Roxas and Wastewater, Water and Ambient Air Management Division of the City Environment and Parks Management Office who supervised the clean-up and assisted in the hauling of wastes.

            

Among the institutions that joined the activity were University of the Philippines-Baguio, MJ Corporation, Goshen Land, University of the Cordilleras, National Institute of Information and Technology, Pines City Colleges, Environmental Management Bureau, Mines and Geosciences Bureau and Community Environmental and Natural Resources Office-Baguio from the DENR-CAR. 

Meanwhile, in observance of National Clean-up Month this September, a total of 74 participants held a clean-up drive within the Galiano River basin last September 21.

            

About 25 sacks or 0.5 ton of wastes were collected consisting of sando bags, plastic bottles, rotten cloths, grasses, debris and dead animals over an estimated distance of 500 meters.

            

The participants came from City Camp Central, City Camp Proper, MRR-Queen of Peace, Upper Rock Quarry, Palma Urbano, EMB, DENR-CAR who  monitored the activity while the Wastewater, Water and Ambient Air Management Division of the City Environment and Parks Management Office assisted in the collection and hauling of wastes.

The National Cleanup Month was declared by virtue of Proclamation No. 244 signed by then president Fidel V. Ramos on September 3,1993.– Wilbur Suanding

Pangasinan Boy among 200 winners in US University talent search

Ethan Keane J. Siapno, a 14-year-old Pangasinense, has been selected as one of 200 talented youths from a field of 57,000 applicants worldwide under the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY) program.

Siapno is 9th grade at Havertown Middle School, Pennsylvania.

He is the son of Erwin J. Siapno, a medical scientist employed at Lantenau, Pennsylvania, and the former Maria Elisa Juan. He has a brother, Zachary, 8, who is enrolled at Chestworld Elementary School, Pennsylvania.

Erwin Siapno is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernesto C. Siapno of Barangay Malued in Dagupan City and Bani, Pangasinan, great grandson of the late Barangay Malued Chairman Tranquilino Siapno. His wife, the former Perfecta Calimlim, expressed excitement over her grandson’s selection.

Nominees for the honor are elementary and middle school students who distinguished themselves through special testing among the most academically gifted young students in the US.

“With our annual award ceremonies, we’re committed to giving these exceptional young people a stage on which to recognize their academic achievements, just as we celebrate achievements in athletics or the performing arts,” said CTY executive director, Lea Ybarra.

“Their performance places them in the top tier of students taking these tests, and they certainly deserve acclaim.”

Who gets the credit for success? “The students,” said Dr. Ybarrra. “They possess an academic fearlessness and intellectual ability that will benefit their entire generation.”

Leading them to their success, she said, are parents and educators. “Parents who support and encourage their children, and teachers who inspire through their knowledge and passion for a subject, create engaged young people who are well prepared to lead and shape tomorrow’s world.”

Japan NGO gives computers to 13 Benguet schools

TUBA, Benguet --  Twelve public elementary and high schools in Tuba and Itogon, which host Philex Mining Corp.’s Padcal mines in this province, and a center for non-formal education program in the capital town have received 35 laptop computers from a Japanese nongovernment organization through Philex Group Foundation, Inc. (PGFI).

In a speech during the turn over ceremonies held at Padcal recently, Libby Ricafort, vice president at Philex Mining and resident manager of Padcal, said the new computers donated by the NGO Class for Everyone will help the children greatly in their learning, stressing that no child should be left behind by today’s advances in technology.

“This activity of Philex Group Foundation is an expression of our company’s social responsibility beyond what is mandated by law,” he added, saying the center for Alternative Learning System (ALS), a ladderized, modular non-formal education program for dropouts of elementary and secondary schools, in La Trinidad is the 13th beneficiary.

Founded by 28-year-old Koji Takahama, NGO Class for Everyone had also helped equip a computer center in the Metro Manila suburb of Taguig City that is being used to teach the indigent community in the area various self-employment skills.

PGFI, the corporate social responsibility arm of Philex Mining, coordinated the turn over of computers, with Mr. Takahama personally distributing these to representatives of the respective schools, and shouldered their shipment from Japan and the completion of necessary documents.

Takahama first visited the Philippines in 2006, where he experienced Filipino hospitality—and then thought of giving back something to the Filipinos. He saw the importance of computers in public elementary and highschools, especially in remote areas of the Philippines.

The organization has so far donated 500 laptop computers to beneficiaries, mostly schools and NGOs, in nine countries, including Ghana,Myanmar, Tanzania, Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines, among others.

The secondary schools that received laptop computers from NGO Class for Everyone included Ampucao National High School, in Brgy. Ampucao, Itogon; and Twin Peaks National High School (Sitio Twin Peaks) and Evelio Javier National High School (Sitio Piminggan), both in Tuba.

In Tuba, the elementary schools that benefited were Ligay Elementary School, in Sito Ligay, Barangay Camp 1; Sioco Cariño Elementary School, in Sitio Ansagan Proper, Barangay Ansagan; Piminggan Elementary School, in Sitio Piminggan, also in Barangay Ansagan; and Camp 3 Elementary School, in Sitio Camp 3 Proper, Barangay Camp 3. The beneficiaries in Itogon were all from Barangay Ampucao: TAPSAN Elementary School, in Sitio Sais; Lab-ang Elementary School, in Sitio Lab-ang; Manganese Elementary School, in Sitio Manganese; Banget Elementary School, in Sitio Banget; and Ampucao Elementary School, in Sitio Ampucao Proper.

Ricafort assured host and neighboring communities that Philex Mining Corporation will continue to provide the needed assistance to the local residents in order to help in improving their living condition and providing them with adequate sources of livelihood to uplift their living condition as well as provide them with sustainable sources of living. -- Dexter A. See