Benguet solon files bill
reducing miners’ retirement age
By
Joseph Zambrano
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- Benguet Rep. Ronald
Cosalan recently filed a House bill to reduce the retirement age of surface
mine workers from 60 to 50 years old.
We are proposing
some improvements of the Labor Code of the Philippines to cope up with changing times and for the benefit of our
miners, said Cosalan.
“Miners are exposed to
all kinds of risk and they are in danger as a result of health hazards.”
Once approved, miners
will enjoy retirement benefits from the Social Security System (SSS), Cosalan
said. “Whether underground or surface miners like mill, mechanical, electrical
and tailings pond personnel, they will have the same privileges.”
The Philippines
is rich in mineral deposits and fifth largest reserve of gold and copper in the
world according to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources.
Benguet
province hosts the biggest mining companies in the country
like Philex Mining Corporation, Lepanto Victoria Mine and Benguet
Corporation. – Joseph Zambrano
OFW in Bontoc bus mishap
gets P100,000 from OWWA
By
Carlito C. Dar
BONTOC, Mountain Province -- A female
overseas Filipino worker, passenger of
the ill-fated Florida bus that fell into a deep ravine here in Barangay Talubin
received P100,000 disability assistance from the Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration.
Olivia Aglipay,
29, who just finished her first two-year contract as domestic helper in
Cyprus and was on her way to her hometown on Feb. 7 when the bus she was
riding in fell down the cliff killing more than 10 passengers with many
others injured.
Aglipay, among those
seriously injured was rushed to Notre Dame De Chartres Hospital
in Baguio City where she was operated for displaced and fractured bones,
including her spinal column.
She is now housed in a
small apartment at Upper QM barangay in Baguio and undergoing physical therapy,
care of the Florida Bus owner.
Her sisters
earlier reported to the OWWA Cordillera regional office Olivia’s accident
and her health condition.
Regional director
Manuela Peña immediately directed her staff to verify Aglipay’s status and check if she was an active OWWA member.
On April 25, OWWA
administrator Carmelita Dimzon, while on official visit in Baguio City,
personally visited Olivia in her apartment and hand-over the P100,000
disability assistance cheque in the presence of her elder sister,
ZenaidaKillip,
Killip, in a
statement, thanked OWWA for the assistance as it would be a big help for
Olivia, whom she narrated lost all her belongings and financial savings abroad
during the accident.
The disability
assistance is among OWWA programs and benefits for OFWs.
The office also offers
scholarship for OFWs and their dependents as well as
livelihood program for returning OFWs.
DA offers personal
accident coverage to Kalinga farmers
TABUK CITY – The Department of Agriculture,
through Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation, is now offering personal
accident insurance to Kalinga farmers.
Joe Casibang of Office
of Provincial Agriculturist saidaccident protection is an optional component
offered to farmers who availed of crop insurance.
PCIC has set P15
million for crop insurance of farmers in the province for this year that also
included fund for personal accident insurance.
Under the program,
PCIC charges discounted premium rate of P100, instead of the regular P200 per
farmer for a P50,000 personal accident coverage that includes dismemberment and
medical expenses, Casibang said.
For expanded
protection, the accident insurance also covers accidents that are not
work-related, giving full protection to beneficiaries.
As term insurance, the
accident coverage takes effect only for a period of one year but good enough to
protect small farmers, who scamper for financial help when need arises,
Casibang noted.
“While we provide
insurance to the crop, why not also to the farmer,” Casibang said about the
rationale of the program.
The benefit is offered
to individual farmer or organizations who apply through the municipal
agriculture offices. – Larry Lopez
DepEd-CAR set for school
opening, K-12 program
BAGUIO CITY– The Department of
Education -Cordillera Administrative Region is set to launch BrigadaEskwela for
school year 2014-2015 tomorrow (May 19).
DepEd regional
director Ellen Donato, DepEd said BrigadaEskwela also known as National
Schools Maintenance Week, is a school maintenance program enjoining all
education stakeholders to contribute their time, effort and resources in
ensuring that public school facilities are ready for June 2 school opening.
Now on its 11th
year, the theme “Making our schools safer for our children,” focuses on making
schools disaster-ready, and on developing disaster-resilient school
communities, Donato said.
“In the region,
we want to reach out to the farthest division so the launching will be held on
May 19 in Kabugao, Apayao, and the closing program will be on May 26 also in
Kabugao, Apayao.”
Donato said this
May there is full blast of training of all teachers in grades 3 and 9 for the
K-12 program in time for the opening of classes this coming June 2.
She said
generally, all public schools will formally open on June 2. However, in as much
as the Constitution provides that opening of classes can happen prior to August
31, some private schools have opted to open after June 2.
Small World
Christian School Foundation will open in July, Saint Louis University across
all levels will be opening in August.
Pines City
Colleges is closing its private schools in basic education. It’s a total
closure, their reasons are valid and accordingly they already informed the
parents.
There are about 200
students from kinder to high school will be affected, she added. There are
about 350,000 students with about 12,600 teachers going back to school in June
2. – Maria April Cruz
Voter's registration set
in Bontoc barangays
BONTOC, Mountain Province -- The
municipal office of the Commission on Election here will conduct voters’
registration and validation in barangays to ensure qualified residents will
register for 2016 elections.
Milton Fillag of
Comelec-Bontoc said they are coordinating with officials of 16 barangays to
finalize schedule of voter’s registration activities in their respective areas.
Comelec
Resolution No. 9853 set resumption of
registration of voters on May 6 and ends
Oct. 31 next year.
Fillag said while
waiting for schedules of voter’s
registrations in their barangays, residents particularly in the central
barangays are encouraged to have their registration at the Comelec municipal
office.
Comelec will
also validate previously registered voters whose biometrics data were not yet
taken.
Fillag said
around 8,000 registered voters of the 18,059 total registered voters of the
municipality (as of Oct. 28, 2013) needs to be validated to qualify them to
vote in the 2016 elections.
He advised registered
voters who are not sure if their biometrics (photograph, fingerprints and
signature) were taken to validate it at the local Comelec office.
During the
voter’s registration period, Fillag said they will also update computerized
voters list by delisting multi-registrants, under age and dead registrants.
Meanwhile,
Fillag advised new registrants to bring along their birth certificates to show
proof they are qualified to register and
vote. – Andrew Dogaong
Electric coops play role
in low cost, stable power supply, expert says
QUEZON CITY - Electric cooperatives can play
an important role in helping address energy crisis and in ensuring less cost
and stable supply of electricity to consumers.
University of the
Philippines Associate Professor RowaldodelMundo told this to electric
cooperative stakeholders nationwide attending the EPIRA 101 seminar at the
UP National Engineering Center here.
Del Mundo said
electric coops are the link that can help solve problems in power
industry. “What they need to do is to empower themselves as mandated by EPIRA
or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act and work together as an aggregation.”
“First they have to
educate themselves on framework of the EPIRA law, which will empower them in
crafting specific actions. As an aggregate, they can do joint actions on
specific concerns on power generation, sub-transmission and distribution”,
delMundo said.
Even if they are
separate and independent entities, if they decide as one through aggregation,
they can act as if they are a big company, he added.
Citing an
example, del Mundo said Central Luzon electric cooperatives, as an
aggregate, recently agreed to set their electricity cost to P3.70 per
kilowatthour, which is much less compared to the around P5/KWH cost of
electricity in Metro Manila.
To ensure
additional power source, the Central Luzon Electric Cooperative aggregate is
also set to undertake development of its P300 mega watts power generation
project.
The three day seminar,
which focused on electric power industry, market and regulation, was attended
by around 60 officials from electric cooperatives nationwide. -- Carlito C. Dar
32 Mt Province studes
get 4Ps college scholarships
By
Juliet Saley
BONTOC, Mountain Province --Thirty two
students in the province whose families are recipients of PantawidPamilyang
Pilipino Program (4Ps) were given scholarships to pursue college education.
The students are
beneficiaries of the government’s Student Grant-in-Aid Program for Poverty
Alleviation (SGP-PA) implemented by Department of Social Welfare and
Development.
4Ps provincial
coordinator Johnny Bumakil of the DSWD here said 11 of the 32 students are
enrolled at the Mountain Province State Polytechnic College here while the
other 21 are at Benguet State University in La Trinidad, Benguet.
Bumakil said the DSWD
listed another set of 196 students of Pantawid families as potential scholars
for school year 2014-2015.
The SGP-PA aims to
increase number of graduates in higher education among poor families and to get
graduates employed in high-value added occupations to lift families out of
poverty and contribute to national development.
This entitles a
student-beneficiary to a maximum of P60,000 grant per school year or P 30,000 per semester.
The grant is intended
to cover tuition and other school fees, purchase of textbooks, board and
lodging, clothing, health and educational expenses and support services to
complete a degree.
The SGP-PA
beneficiaries enroll in leading state universities and colleges and take up
priority courses identified by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
They shall carry a
full load per semester as prescribed in the curriculum and maintain a
satisfactory academic performance.
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