Friday, August 28, 2015

KALINGA NEWS AND FEATURES


Kalinga gov’t forms response team against road encroachers
TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- The provincial government organized an inter-agency quick response team to deal on road right-of-way (RROW) occupants.

Gov. JocelBaac issued Executive Order 2015-15 organizing the action team composed of members from concerned local and national offices.

This is in response to the recommendation of participants during a recent environmental summit to organize a watchdog to rid provincial and national roads of encroachers.

The group is headed by lawyer KristianWandag, provincial legal officer as team leader.

Members are engineers  TeodoroOwek of Kalinga District Engineering Office,  Jaime Liban of Provincial Engineering Office, Ruby Peter of Tabuk City Engineering Office, Rex Amiyao, PEO RROW agent, Supt. Gilbert Fati-ig of the Kalinga Police Provincial Office, and concerned barangay officials.

The team will act as frontliner of road right-of-way task force to ensure protection of roads against informal settlers and squatters.

It aims to conduct regular monitoring of RROWs to prevent encroachment of private individuals and construction of illegal structures, act on all reports of illegal construction along RROWs, and order and cause stoppage of new and ongoing construction. – Peter A. Balocnit

Kalinga Girl Scout wins national award
TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- A Grade 10 student of Tabuk City National High School has brought another glory to the province by winning this year’s National Chief Girl Scout Medal Scheme award.

Irish Pecua won the award for her one-year feeding project for  34 indigent children of Sitio San Francisco, Barangay Poblacion-West of Tabuk.

According to Irish, her feeding project started June 2014 until June 2015, two to three times a month on Sunday.

For the whole duration of the project, Irish used her family’s fund and did not solicit from other sources.

The 34 under-weight beneficiary children were listed by Poblacion West barangay health workers (BHWs) after conducting "operation timbang" through the assistance of other Girl Scouts before the feeding started.

Every time before the feeding, Irish’s group with the BHWs conduct lectures on proper nutrition and health care to the children and their parents. 

As follow-up, home visitation were made to children in need of closer attention.  

To monitor the impact of their feeding, the group had regular weighing of children every other Sunday.

Before the project ended, all 34 had obtained regular weights, Irish reported.

Last January, Irish’s group also sponsored a nutrition and health care symposium in the place and invited other families.  
Explaining the greatest impact of the project to Sitio San Francisco, Irish said, is the education given to parents of the 34 children who were involved in the project in the preparation and cooking of the right food.

Chief Girl Scout Medal Scheme highlights the Girl Scout’s distinguished leadership and vital contribution to nation building – Larry Lopez

Prov’l gov’t assists 2,739 farm workers
TABUK CIY, Kalinga -- The provincial government is looking for measures to assist 2,739 farm workers in this city and Rizal who were displaced by farm mechanization.

These workers, based on the initial data from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, lost their livelihood when farm machines took  over their work as -planters and reapers in said two rice producing towns.

Displacement of farm workers was an issue raised during a recent forum on environment since the problem push these farmers to seek refuge in the forest to raise agriculture products in order to feed their families.

The Department of Labor and Employment offered some displaced farm workers remedies to earn like organizing them to avail of financial assistance for a common livelihood.

During the forum attended by local officials and sectoral representatives,  it was recommended  that  barangay officials  will  submit list of affected farm service providers (gumagapas/ruma-raep) to the office of  the municipal agriculturist so that  they will organized into cooperative or association  to access skills training and livelihood capital.

Aside from displacement of farm workers due to farm mechanization,  the other  environmental issues  were  excessive conversion of forest lands into corn farms, illegal occupation of road right-of-ways, and absence of solid waste management plans of some local government units.

The forum was conducted by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office in cooperation with DENR. – PAB

Gov. Baac order “all-out war” vs mosquitos:
5 barangays in Tabuk City declared dengue ' hot-spots'
TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Gov. Jocel C. Baac has issued an order for all local government units, government agencies and residents to launch “all-out war” against mosquitoes during recent clean-up drive, following rise in dengue cases.

The activity kicked-off early morning down at the barangay level up to the Provincial Capitol site where employees took empty containers around the area that could serve as possible breeding place of vector mosquitoes.

Barangay Bulanao Centro with the highest reported number in dengue cases is where the Provincial Capitol building and government center are situated.

Baac in his order said that the clean-up drive should become a regular activity in the whole province to get rid of dengue.

The City Health Office declared as dengue “hot-spots” the five barangays of Bulanao Centro, Nambaran, Dagupan Centro, Lacnog and New Tanglag, here.

Julie Teckney, CHO Dengue Monitoring Officer, reported the five barangays recorded not less than four dengue cases in a week in the last three consecutive morbidity weeks.

The morbidity period monitored started first week of July during the onset of the rainy season, Teckney said.

City health authorities are alarmed over upsurge in dengue cases  this year.

In the first seven months, there were 562 dengue cases recorded in Tabuk, compared to the 350 total cases recorded in 2014.  Based on the January-July 31 CHO dengue monitoring report, Barangay Bulanao has 134 cases, Nambaran – 102, Dagupan Centro – 27, Lacnog – 22 and New Tanglag – 18,Teckney reported.

Two dengue death cases were reported in Barangay Bulanao.

As immediate preventive and control effort, massive residual spraying against aedis mosquitoes had been conducted in barangays Bulanao Centro and Nambaran jointly by the Provincial and City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils.     

In a related report, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council led the province-wide massive community clean-up operation to culminate celebration of National Disaster Consciousness Month, -- Larry Lopez

Kalinga prov’l government, DSWD ink MOA vs poverty
TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- The provincial government and Department of Social Welfare and Development forged a memorandum of agreement to jointly implement the  locally–initiated Pumiyaan anti-poverty convergence program.

The MOA signed between Gov. Jocel Baac and DSWD Cordillera OIC regional director Janet Armas seeks to identify common working grounds under DSWD’s sustainable livelihood program (SLP) for focused targeting and empowerment of communities through pooling of resources with other government agencies.

Both parties through the Pumiyaan project agreed to cooperate and assist in providing livelihood opportunities in pilot barangays giving priority to Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps families by conducting entrepreneurship training and organizing them into cooperatives and associations.

The DSWD shall provide capital assistance while the provincial government of Kalinga shall identify the needed poverty reduction intervention.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan earlier authorized the governor to enter into a MOA with DSWD-CAR.

The Pumiyaan is an anti-poverty convergence program of the provincial government aimed  at propelling economic growth in rural areas of  Kalinga. Four pilot barangays are chosen per municipality where national government and local government converge their services to  address the concerns and  uplift the life of the people. – PAB

P14.8M out for Chico River ‘re-channeling’
TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- An initial amount of  P14.8 million is out for the Chico River Re-channeling and Management Project to divert waterway of the Chico to prevent it from causing further damage to rice lands and other properties, here.

Chico River Re-channeling and Management Project chair Julio Barcellano said  the project  is jointly funded by the Department of Interior and Local Government under the Bottom-up-Budgeting with P10 million and  the city government which  shelled-out P4.8 million.

Based on the project study, the Chico had already washed-out about 200 hectares of rice land in the 13 rice-producing barangays situated along the west bank of the river.

The eight-year project from  2015-2022  is contained under Executive Order 2015-01 issued by Mayor Ferdinand B. Tubban last Jan. 30.

Seeing the impact of the project to the rice industry of the city, it had been made part of the city development plan.

A multi-sector taskforce was formed  to  implement it.

Meanwhile, the city’s development council and barangay officials of barangays along the Chico River met to discuss the Chico River Rechanneling and Management Plan prepared by Task Force Chico which aims to enhance safety of the populace and boost local economy.

They were joined by other partners from the Office of the Congressman, Department of Public Works and Highways, National Irrigation Administration, the provincial government, and quarry operators group.

During their meeting, they agreed to pool their resources to implement the plan targeting to start it this year with the conduct of a stretch survey on areas where rechanneling will start.

Stakeholders involved in the project committed to support the plan considering the economic benefits it contributes to farmers when farms are protected from flooding and lands redeemed; the construction industry for source of aggregates; local government units on revenue generation; and disaster risk reduction on settlers along riversides. -- PIA






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