NEWS BITS

DOH issues tips on how to safely enjoy summer

BAGUIO CITY –  Going out on vacation this summer?

The Department of Health set some tips on how to enjoy a safe and healthy summer. DOH Cordillera assistant regional director, Dr. AmelitaPangilinan, in media forum, urged the public to be wary of extreme summer heat advising them not to stay directly under the sun especially between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

If going outdoor, bring an umbrella or wear hats or caps and light long-sleeved clothes and as much as possible, stay in a shaded area to avoid skin irritation, sun burn, and heat stroke.

Drink plenty of water or fluids to avoid dehydration.

Dehydration can lead to heat stroke. Heatstroke occurs when the  body temperature rises rapidly and  unable to cool down  due to prolonged exposure to high temperatures. It can be fatal by causing damage to the   brain and other vital organs.  

For those who plan to go on swimming, Pangilinan  urged them to wear skin protection or sunscreen and to avoid populated swimming pools to prevent possible contamination of skin diseases.

To avoid food poisoning, diarrhea, and other food and water borne disease, Pangilinan advised the public to practice proper hand washing before and after eating, ensure proper food handling, cook properly  the food,  and  consume immediately or refrigerate leftovers.

Fresh fruits and vegetables should be washed thoroughly to ensure safety, she added.

Pangilinan said for  healthy lifestyle, have enough rest, balanced diet and avoid too much drinking of alcoholic beverages and smoking  especially as the  summer is  often a time for reunions and partying. -- Jean Samillano

NCCA highlights Filipino culture of peace in project

BAGUIO CITY -- When it comes to culture and ethnicity of Filipinos, ours is an ethnicity of peace and  culture of sharing, according to National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Chairman Prof. Felipe De Leon Jr.

Speaking at a kapihan press forum promoting the Commission’s latest project, De Leon highlighted Filipinos’ values as reflected in its various epics.

“Our epics are not about war,” he said. “They’re about social relations.”

The country’s epics, he added, reflect love, family, resolution of conflict, among others. This is why Filipinos have the concept of “kapwa” or other, the chairman said.

“There are many techniques of conflict resolution in our culture,” according to him, citing peacemaking efforts such as the “bodong” here in the Cordillera. However, De Leon said we just do not pay attention to those.

Our ethnicity is a culture of sharing compared to the Westerners’ glamorized culture of violence and warfare, citing the Viking myths of Europe. Filipino heroes, he said, “ay hindi bayaning pakikipag away.”

Such culture, he said, is what the NCCA wants to reflect through “Bayang Bayan: Sa ating mga Katutubong Epiko, Mito at Alamat”.

The project “involves imagery-building and visualization of characters of Filipino myths, epics and folklore through visual arts/painting contest, conferences, and exhibits to support the establishment of the Philippine Cultural Index of Knowledge and the development of SagisagKultura instructional materials for curriculum development.”

The project calls on visual artists across the country to concretize various characters from Filipinos epics, legends, and myths. -- Pryce E. Quintos

NGCP gives tips on avoiding power-related deaths or injuries

KIANGAN, Ifugao -- The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines gave tips the public on avoiding power-related accidents or death particularly this summer as it intensifies its  transmission line safety awareness campaign.

Lilibeth Gaydowen, NGCP North Luzon corporate communications and public affairs officer,said for safety of everyone, NGCP is  coordinating with local officials in municipalities of Kiangan, Lagawe and Lamut where   power substations  are located and lines traverse.

The power firm conducted massive information campaign on  safety awareness.

Gaydowen urged the public to avoid the following acts under or near transmission lines: flying kites, putting up antennas, building houses and parking vehicles, planting trees and building fires and  carrying  long sticks or any object that might reach or come in contact with power transmission lines.

In case of accidents, she said victims should be brought to nearest hospital or clinic, and  report the incident to the local police or barangay officials or contact the NGCP office. --  Marcelo B. Lihgawon

DOLE urges graduates to register to Phil-jobnet

BAGUIO CITY  - -  The  Department of Labor and Employment  urged college graduates to log-on and register to phil-jobnet.dole.gov.ph so their education and skills can be matched to available jobs that industries  logged in at website.

DOLE Cordillera information officer Julienne Fortunato, said Phil – Jobnetis  strategy to reach wider labor force. 

This is a database system that aims to provide detailed and region-specific information on the labor force skills qualification and the job vacancies that are available

“Phil-jobnet is an internet-based job and applicant matching system which aims to fast track the jobseeker’s search for employment and the employer’s search for manpower,” Fortunato said.

"We encourage jobseekers to use Phil-JobNet because this is secured and regularly updated by DOLE to ensure that what are posted in it are existing job vacancies." Fortunato added.

In line with the government’s goal to address job mismatch, Fortunato also disclosed that DOLE also has the JobsFit 2020 project, which aims to identify the preferred skills in priority industries in all regions nationwide  that must be produced by putting together a robustly flexible map to guide stakeholders in addressing the talent mismatch.

“JobsFit 2020 is a reform from the government that focuses on addressing unemployment issues which are most of the time attributed to job mismatch”, she added.

For Cordillera, Fortunato said top  industries in terms of employment or manpower requirement are agriculture, tourism which includes hotel and restaurant management and medical tourism, mining, electronics and infrastructure/engineering. -- Monalyn Cabrera

Lumps in head, neck could be cancerous  

BAGUIO CITY -- Be wary of lumps or tumors in your neck or head as diagnosed cases usually turned out cancerous.

Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center Medical Officer Dr. Sherwin Biasura, bared this saying there were 211 cases of head and neck tumors diagnosed in BGHMC where 145 or 68 percent were malignant (cancerous) tumors.

Head and neck tumors can be easily detected as these manifest physically (usually with lumps or growing masses) compared to other tumors that manifest inside the body,” Biasura said.

Other symptoms include bleeding in the nose, ears or mouth and hoarse voice accompanied by difficulty in breathing.

Biasura said when such symptoms are experienced, immediate medical consultation is a must.

For frequent manifestation of symptoms, specialists should be sought for diagnosis so these can be detected and treated, if these turn out to be cancerous, he added.

Biasura cited importance of having a good healthy lifestyle and proper hygiene.

Cigarette smoking, heavy alcohol intake, betel nut chewing and poor oral hygiene are among the risk factors of having oral cavity cancers, he said. -- Engelbert Nievera

Comelec-Kalinga urges students: Register this summer

TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- The Provincial Election Office  is  urging students and out-of-school youth to take advantage of the summer break to register to qualify for  May 9, 2016 elections.

Provincial Elections supervisor Dexter BaryCawissaid  students and OSYs  who are 17 years old and will turn  18  on   election day  can register starting this coming May 9.

Cawis’ call came in a bid by Comelec-Kalinga to avoid usual jam in voter’s registration during the last period.  Continuing registration of voters on  ends October 31, 2015.

Meanwhile, Cawis disclosed said municipal election offices in the province are up with the off-site registration and validation of voters in the barangay level.

Barangay off-site registrations  here are timed with the holding of barangay festivals, church patron saint fiestas and barangay assembly, to take  advantage of the large crowd.    

To assure clean and credible lists of voters in the province, Election Registration Boards in the municipalities regularly conduct quarterly hearing, Cawis said. -- Larry T. Lopez

PSA gets ready for  population census

BAGUIO CITY - - The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is now hiring enumerators, team supervisors and census area supervisors in preparation for conduct of the 2015 census on population or PopCen in August.

Statistician III Camille Beltran said PSA is in need of 1,850 enumerators, 490 team supervisors and 138 census area supervisors for the conduct of PopCen in Cordillera Administrative Region.

Interested applicants may visit PSA provincial offices   as hiring will be done per province.

Those who will be hired will undergo training starting July. Enumeration period will be on August 1 to 30 covering all barangays.

Beltran said PopCen is a mid-decade population census that aims to provide a complete enumeration of households in the country  that takes an inventory of information about some characteristics of the population such as age, sex marital status and highest educational attainment.

PopCen provides various government executives, policy and decision makers and planners with concrete and accurate population data which serves as a basis of evaluation for funding development plans, policies and programs in all barangays in the country.

Beltran said PSA’s call for public support on all surveys, like giving correct information will result to right data and accurate basis of social and economic development plans, policies and programs. -- Mona Cabrera

NCCA to incorporate local epics culture topics in basic education

BAGUIO CITY - - The National Commission for Culture and the Arts  is pushing incorporation of  local  epics and culture in basic education curriculum so  the youth  may learn about  their  original Filipino heroes.

This concern in including local Filipino heroes and their culture from various regional epics, myths, and legends in the basic education  is headed by the Philippine Cultural Education Program with the Department of Education.

In a media forum, PCEP head Joseph "Sonny" Cristobal, discussed  importance of knowing identity of original Filipino heroes and their values and abilities. Learning inside the classrooms can be a more convenient way for students to identify these local heroes, according to Cristobal.

“Ngayon may mga training kami nung integration, yung mga Sagisag Kultura dun sa lahat ng subjects,” said Cristobal.

There is an agreement with DepEd in its integration and implementation.

The Center for the Culture and the Arts DepEd cultural program facilitates  work between Dep-Ed and NCCA wherein culture will be integrated in subject areas. 

Dr. Norma Rutab, dean of the College of Teacher Education of University of the Cordilleras, aims also to integrate culture in basic education as a source of inspiration and values. 

“Culture should be brought in education because the students have limitations on their rage of knowledge about it” said Rutab. “This will certainly help students to identify the standardized image of our local heroes around Philippines and of course in the Cordillera.”

A publication entitled “Bayaning Bayan” is being developed as reference to elaborate about heroes’ characteristics, lifestyle and ethnic attires once it starts to be implemented in schools.

It will help develop instructional materials that will supplement the teaching manuals and multimedia resources for cultural education. This will be used especially in the K +12 curricula where the students can learn how to incorporate culture as icons and figures on Natural Sciences subjects. The Bayaning Bayan text booklet will be launched at the NCCA Locsin Auditorium on Oct. 22, 2015.

The PCEP’s project, "Bayaning Bayan: Sa ating mga katutubong Epiko, Mito at Alamat", is still on the road of finalization that’s why the publication is not yet complete. This project will build visualization of various local literature through painting contests, conference and exhibits. The winning pieces will be published in Bayaning Bayan booklet.

This plan of PCEP will establish a common knowledge for the youth in storytelling the epic, myths and legends and visualizing the authentic face of Filipino heroes as part of the curriculum development. -- Pryce E. Quintos and EngelbertNievera

DepEd hires 23 mobile teachers in Mt. Province

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- The  Department  of Education hired 23 teachers as mobile teachers for four months under the agency’s Abot-Alam program.

Susan Aminor of DepEd Division Office said teachers were deployed in different municipalities in the province. Some of them will end their contract this month and the others in May.

Mobile teachers were tasked to coordinate with community people to identify potential learners and organize learning groups for basic Literacy Program and Accreditation and Equivalency System; advocate Alternative Learning System (ALS) programs and networks with other government organizations, non-government organizations for potential support and or partnership; establish functional networking and reporting system, among others.

They also instructed to organize learning group composed of 75 learners or more, and conduct learning sessions using the ALS learning modules and supplementary learning materials.

They also conducted home visits, individual tutoring, counseling and other need-driven activities in an effort to retain and win the learners back to the literacy sessions.

Each of the Abot-Alam mobile teachers  is entitled to a monthly rate of P5,000 and travelling allowance of P2,000, plus 5,000 for instructional materials for the required period.

Abot-Alam program is one of the programs adopted by the present administration for the realization of the Education for All  Goals and the Millennium Development Goals. It is a convergence program under the Cabinet’s Human development and Poverty Reduction Cluster  that envisions a Zero Out-of-school Youth (OSY) Philippines which is being undertaken by a consortium of various national government agencies, non-government organizations and institutions under the leadership of DepEd and the National Youth Commission.

The goal of this program is to ensure that every Filipino OSY aged 15-30 will have the chance to finish high school, acquire the needed skills to be productive, and be given opportunities to be employed or go into small business. -- Juliet B. Saley

Baguio recognizes exchange employee from South Korea

BAGUIO CITY -- The city government recognized an exchange employee from a sister city in South Korea for her exceptional works in community and civil service.

During flag ceremony at the Baguio City Hall last week, the city officials recognized Shin Hyun Mi, also known as Jennifer Shin, an exchange employee from Taebaek City in South Korea.

Shin was assigned at tourism and special events division of the City Tourism Office from May 2014 to November 2014, but she extended her stay until April 2015 as she fell in love with Baguio City and the people.

For more than six months, she was involved in community and civil service including tourism and economic policy management  working   on local tourist promotion, sharing best practices to strengthen sister-city ties, tourism development partnership and development of government systems.

"There have been so many beautiful memories which happened to me here in Baguio during my six months stay. The experience made me a stronger woman," Shin said.

In her appreciation message, Shin extended her gratitude to all her superiors and employees who have helped her while she was struggling to learn English and adjusting to life in a different place

Shin worked under the Economic Policy Division in TaebaekCity  and has a Bachelors degree in Japanese Studies from the Korean National Open University.

Her knowledge and background on forest management, culture and tourism and economic policy management qualified her to be an exchange employee representing Korea.

She is the fourth beneficiary of the mutual exchange agreement established between Baguio and Taebek City.

The city government  sent Severina De Leon from the City Budget Office to Taebaek City, Republic of Korea on April 15 to fulfill  its part  in  the employee exchange program. --  Mona Cabrera and Kreena Labay

Tabuk institutionalizes aid to ‘persons in crisis’

TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- The city government has institutionalized the grant of financial relief to “persons in crisis” under its Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS). 

The move was stipulated in city council ordinance 1 series of 2015, authored by Councilor LucritinaSarol and approved by Mayor Ferdinand B. Tubban, recently.

The ordinance has amended Sec. 13-A01, Article 8 of the City Code of General Ordinance increasing regular financial support to people of Tabuk facing social crisis.

Under its social mandate, the city government will provide sufficient support to its constituents caught in tragedies, the ordinance stated.

The aid is intended, among others, to people in need of financial support for hospitalization, funeral and basic needs to victims of calamities and tribal hostilities.

Applicant-beneficiaries from poor families should submit a certificate of indigence issued by respective barangay captains.

Patients who need referrals for further medication are asked to get a case study from the City Social Welfare and Development Office.

The city council appealed to applicants to bear with requirements before they can avail of the support as way to screen beneficiaries who must be the city’s poor. -- Larry Lopez