COMMUNITY BILLBOARD

First computer training held in remote Barlig

BARLIG, Mountain Province – For the first time, computer training and workshop was held at Kadaclan, 59 km away from edudestination passing Isabela, Paracelis and Natonin to train 15 beneficiairies, second batch of trainees.

Following the training, participants were urged to introduce  importance of computer literacy to  barangays as first  graduates connected to TESDA that recognizes CAPI,  a national training association.

“Nowadays, government has innovations like automation, paperless transaction and other resource initiatives. It will become a must to recruit only computer literates to the government, public and private sectors to use the most powerful tool in the 21st century -- the computer otherwise they will be like frogs in the deep well,” said CAPI consultant.

Participants were: Brenda Fiangrayan, highschool teacher; Jane Chomawin, Consuelo Mad-eo, midwives; Saty Manao, Nelvin Sagofian, Leah Pag-a, Rimar Chorawan, barangay officiaols; Flordeliza Adcamang, Sonia Gumafiay, elementary teachers; FortunatoOnsat, forest guard; Virgie Degway, balik-bayan and Jonelia Sao-ang, Evelyn Lamagan, school heads.

The youngest to finish the information technology training was FrancinceBayodaoChungalan, a Grade I pupil of Kadaclan Elementary School. Certificates of attendance were issued after the training.

The CAPI has a website in compliance to Dept. of Interior and Local Government memo. circular 2010-083 called Full Disclosure Policy. -- DionieChungalan

DSWD to enlist indigent elder beneficiaries

LAOAG CITY  – The Region-1 office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-1) is set to start its special validation of records of the indigent senior citizens benefiting from the social pension program in the Ilocos provinces.

The DSWD-1 said that this is to assess the poverty status of the recipients of the social pension program, and to enlist the unregistered indigent senior citizens in the Listahanan database of poor households.

DSWD-1 Director Marcelo Nicomedes J. Castillo said that a total of 10,219 social pensioners in the Ilocos Region will undergo the special validation in 15 days, through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) Project.

Out of the 10,219 recipients, 9,582 are beneficiaries of the Social Pension Program, while the 637 are beneficiaries of the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer for Families in Need of Special Protection (MCCT-FNSP) project.

“The special validation is realized to intensify the credibility of the Listahanan as the prime source of potential beneficiaries of different social protection programs and services of the national and local governments,” he said.

“The validation will guarantee the resumption of the payment of monthly stipends to social pension beneficiaries, and will lead the inclusion of MCCT-FNSP beneficiary-families in the Listahanan database of poor households, thus, advancing them to the regular Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program,” he added.

As of this time, the release of the social pension of the indigent senior citizen is temporarily stopped pending the result of the special validation.

The social pension program allocates monthly stipend worth P500 to all indigent senior citizens with ages 77 and above to augment their daily needs, such as medicines. -- Freddie G. Lazaro

DepEd-CAR set for school opening, K-12 program 

 BAGUIO CITY– The Department of Education -Cordillera Administrative Region launchedBrigadaEskwela for school year 2014-2015 last week.

DepEd regional director Ellen Donato, DepEd said Brigada Eskwela  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, she said the DepEd wanted to reach out to farthest division so launching was held May 19 in Kabugao, Apayao, while closing program will be on May 26 also in Kabugao.

 Donato said this May there was full blast 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 formally open June 2. However, since 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 Aprila 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

DOST, partners urge stronger ties in disaster risk reduction

BAGUIO CITY -- As each region, province, city or municipality has distinct landscape  and vulnerability, forging stronger ties between the national government and  local government units is the best disaster risk reduction strategy for the country.

Department of Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo said pointed this out  in his message read by DOST Assistant  Secretary Raymund Liboro during the Baguio leg of “Iba na ang Panahon – Science for Safer Communities” IEC (Information, Education and Communication) nationwide campaign being undertaken  in partnership with the Department of Interior and Local Government and the Office of Civil Defense.

Science can be an effective tool to better understand and improve the country’s planning preparations at the national and local community levels, Montejo  stated.  That is why d they are going around the country, engaging local stakeholders in every region  for information sharing and conducting solution- seeking workshops that aim  to ensure safer and disaster -resilient communities.

He  said learning from lessons of Typhoon Yolanda, the DOST  came-up with a 4-point Agenda to guide community disaster preparedness with its  IEC campaign anchored  on  increasing local knowledge; capacitating  hazards monitoring; testing of warning and communications protocol, and building response capability in communities.

Montejo urged participants to also give their commitment for an alliance  so that altogether they could come out with a better disaster planning hinged on accountability and responsibility for the benefit of the people of Cordillera.

Meantime, Department of Interior and Local Government Regional Director John Castaneda and OCD regional director Andrew Alex Uy, in their respective messages, enjoined  Cordillera local chief executives and DRRM stakeholders for a stronger synergy and cooperation in strengthening their local disaster plans and response strategies and capabilities.

The two-day IEC activity on  May 8 and 9  was participated by around 300 local chief executives and disaster risk reduction management officers from the different provinces, cities and municipalities in Cordillera.

The participants were given an overview of local geological and hydrometeorological hazards and the corresponding existing government warning systems  presented by Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology Director Renato Solidum and Landrico Dalida   of Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration, respectively.

Engineer Czar Jakiri Sarmiento also gave a presentation on Disaster Risk Exposure Assessment for Mitigation (DREAM) project  while Dr. Alfredo Mahar Francisco Lagmay presented DOST’s Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards).

The participants were divided into groups wherein they were enjoined on workshops that include recalling hazard and imagining a hazard’s impact scenarios  as well as on strategizing actions and responses.

Maps appreciation and early warning systems on the earlier topics (geological and hydro meteorological hazards and project DREAM and NOAH) were also included in the workshops. -- Carlito 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.

They are also required render a return of service for two years after graduation in the Philippines except for highly critical courses demanded by local industry and government services.

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 Rowaldo del Mundo 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”, del Mundo 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 kilowatt hour, 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