1 dead
in Vigan motorbike mishap
VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur -- A man died while
another was wounded when their motorcycles collided here along Quirino
Boulevard Tuesday. Joel Penol, 25, a resident of Barangay Bulag Centro in
Barangay Bantay, was declared dead on arrival at the Gabriela Silang General
Hospital, where Darwin Sayson, 18, was also brought for treatment, said
Chief Inspector Greg Guerrero, Ilocos Sur police spokesman.
Initial investigation
showed that Penol hitSayson’s motorcycle while overtaking another vehicle
at around noon.
The victims were not
wearing helmets. – Raymund Catindig
Mt
Province sustains livelihood program
BONTOC, Mountain Province-- The livelihood
program of the provincial government here has benefited 10 individuals and one
farmer’s association this year.
Started in 2011 by the
late governor Leonard G. Mayaen, the Provincial Development Livelihood Program
helps organizations, associations, cooperatives and jobless individuals in the
province who want to start potential livelihood projects through the provision
of financial assistance in the form of loan with a very minimal interest.
Minimum loanable
amount is P20, 000 up to a maximum amount of P100, 000.00 which payable in 16
months from the date of release with annual interest of five percent.
The borrower is given
four months to roll the money they have loaned and payment of loan starts on
the fifth month. Collections from loan payments are also lent out to other
applicants.
Dominga Ortiz of the
Provincial Cooperatives Office said borrowers invest the money they
loaned in hog raising, coffee shop, computer shop, snack house, weaving,
sari-sari store, poultry, farm gardening, furniture making, buy and sell,
tailoring shop.
So far more than 300
individuals have benefited from this program. The provincial government
has also allocated this year another amount of P1, 000,000 for the program. --
Juliet B. Saley
DSWD
turns over houses to Pangasinan typhoon victims
ROSALES, Pangasinan – The Department of
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) turned over 150 housing units to typhoon
victims in this town Tuesday.
Marcelo Nicomedes
Castillo, DSWD-Ilocos Region director said each 20-square-meter housing unit
costs P70,000.
The DSWD spent P22
million for the project intended for those who live in vulnerable areas and
need to be relocated during typhoons.
Castillo said another
170 housing units would be constructed on the four-hectare government property.
He said recipient
families would also receive P1,800 cash-for-work assistance for helping build
the houses. – Eva Visperas
UK
provides grant, training to 23 Benguet entrepreneurs
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- Twenty-three people
budding entrepreneurs were provided assistance by the Balloon Ventures and
British Council in the Philippines with a start-up fund of P25,000.
The grant included a
six-week mentoring on entrepreneurship which started July 18 and will run until
August 26.
The Philippines is the
fourth country where Balloon Ventures provided the grant, choosing Baguio City
and La Trinidad, Benguet as pilot areas.
The British Council is
the UK’s international organization for educational opportunities and cultural
relations. They create opportunities for the people in the UK and other
countries and build trust between them.
In the Philippines,
their social enterprise program draws on the UK experience in social enterprise
to promote its growth around the world. They work with local and international
organizations in creating a new generation of social entrepreneurship, equal
opportunity and diversity, migration, social inclusion, engagement and active
citizenship.
Dough Cochrane,
co-founder and chief operation officer of Balloon Ventures said 12 volunteers
from the Balloon Ventures-UK are now working with the recipients focusing on
uncovering new business opportunities.
He said Baguio was
chosen due to its strategic position as a commercial center that brings
together products from different provinces, with a growing entrepreneurial
culture.
The program is
intended for micro-small and medium business enterprises, as well as
cooperatives and non-government organization with the 12 UK volunteers
collaborating with them to come up with and pilot sustainable enterprises.
Gov.
Pineda assures subsidy for treatment of cancer patients
CITY OF SNA FERNANDO, Pampanga — Individuals
particularly children and seniors who have cancer will continue to benefit from
the provincial government’s medical assistance.
Gov. Lilia Pineda said
Tuesday the provincial government will shoulder all their medical expenses.
The governor said the medical subsidy will cover treatments for cancer patients, including bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy.
The governor said the medical subsidy will cover treatments for cancer patients, including bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy.
Pineda, who is now on
her third term, said the provision of assistance has and always been part of
the regular program of the Capitol, stressing the health of her constituents
especially the less fortunate, is of paramount importance.
Apart from the medical
assistance, the governor also gave food and cash assistance to some 32 kids who
are being treated from their cancer at Jose B. Lingad Memorial Hospital here.
The kids, together
with their parents and guardians, received P3,500 cash assistance each and some
groceries.
Provincial Social
Welfare and Development Office head Elizabeth Baybayan said it was “a happy
day” for the recipients because all of their treatments will be shouldered by
the Capitol. -- Franco G. Regala
DENR
Kalinga issues titles to 55 school lots
TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- The provincial office of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources here reported it titled 55 school sites and
is awaiting Presidential Proclamation of 51 more.
Daniel Iyadan of the
DENR survey team said 29 school lots were titled under the free patent within
the coverage of Tabuk Community Environment and Natural Resources Office and 26
in Pinukpuk CENRO.
He said the land
properties are elementary and high school- owned lots which were donated by
individuals.
Iyadan explained that
owners of lots within alienable and disposable lands may acquire a
title through a free patent from the DENR but school lots
within forest zones need presidential proclamation before free patent titles
are issued.
To solve the problem
of donors reclaiming their donations, DENR is urging other school
administrators and principals whose lots are not yet delineated to request for
survey. -- Peter A. Balocnit
Baguio
public school receives building from SM Foundation
BAGUIO CITY– The Lucban Elementary School
along Magsaysay Avenue, this city, is a beneficiary of a two-storey
four-classroom building from the SM Foundation.
SM Foundation
executive director for education Carmen Linda Atayde, SM Baguio mall manager
Rona Vida Correa and Rafael Tallocoy of the city mayor’s office together
with LES principal Joseph Estigoy and Parents Teachers Association
president Girlie Garcia led blessing and inauguration of the newly completed
school building.
The new school
building is fully furnished with four toilets, 200 armchairs, four sets of
teacher’s tables and chairs, eight blackboards, 16 electric wall fans and four
wall clocks.
“Four classes for
Grade III students will occupy the four classrooms in this new school
building,” Estigoy said.
The Lucban Elem.
School is the second biggest school with over 2,800 students mostly
from barangays Happy Homes, Trancoville, Dizon Subdivision, Quirino Hill,
Sanitary Camp, Lower Quirino Hill, Lower Pinget and nearby areas of La
Trinidad,Benguet.
Garcia also expressed
gratitude to the SM Foundation for the fully equipped new building
with an ambience conducive to learning.
Atayde said that the
new building is the 75th school building the SM Foundation has donated as
support to the different schools nationwide since its school building program
started in 2002.
Recently, the Baguio
Central School was a recipient of the high tech gadgets turning an old
classroom into a “Smart Classroom” benefitting more than 3,000 elementary
students of the city. – Redgie Cawis
Nueva
Vizcaya evacuation center inaugurated
BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – A typhoon-proof
evacuation center was inaugurated in Ilagan City, Isabela last week.
The Provincial
Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said the Department of Social
Welfare and Development, Department of the Interior and Local Government and
the provincial government of Isabela spent P27 million for the construction of
the evacuation center.
The evacuation center
has a communal kitchen, comfort rooms, delivery rooms, breastfeeding area and
mini-pharmacy.
Isabela Gov. Faustino
Dy III urged local government units to give priority to the construction of
evacuation centers in their respective areas. – Victor Martin
DOST
provides support
services
to Kalinga town
TANUDAN, Kalinga -- The Department of Science
and Technology (DOST) extended support services to this town as start-up
mechanisms towards entrepreneurial upbringing, health promotion and resiliency
adaptation in its communities.
Alfonso Berto,
DOST provincial director here, said according the National
Statistics Coordinating Board, Tanudan is the poorest municipality in the
Cordillera Administrative Region hence its basis of selection as recipient of
DOST’s Community Empowerment through Science and Technology (CEST) program.
Services provided
include livelihood, scholarship, water and sanitation gadgets, health and
nutrition training, and disaster mitigation device.
Under the livelihood
component of the CEST, the Nalyawan Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Taloctoc was
provided coffee roaster and grinder for their coffee processing; cooking
utensils and LPG tank and stove for banana chips and cornic processing.
Two scholarship grants
were awarded to two college students in barangay Dupligan.
Some 110 water filters
were distributed to elementary and secondary schools in the municipality while
315 water filters were distributed to households.
Berto said 50 barangay
health workers and Barangay Nutrition Scholars were trained on baby food
preparation using local resources.
“A
municipal-wide follow-up activity on supplemental feeding using DOST recipe
(rice, mongo, iron fortified kernel) will be done for the benefit of six months
to three years old children for a period of six months including regular weight
monitoring,” he said.
For disaster and
mitigation, an automated, self-reading and self-data relay rain gauge was
installed at Banagao last year. -- Peter A. Balocnit
Nutrition
Council okays resolutions to up programs
BAGUIO CITY -- Better implementation of
nutrition programs are in progress as the Regional Nutrition Committee (RNC) in
the Cordillera approved four new resolutions during the 2nd RNC
meeting held recently.
The resolutions
deal with scaling up nutrition education for the poor, improving the status of Barangay
Nutrition Scholars (BNS), recognition of high performing local government units
(LGUs) and adoption of LGU mobilization strategies.
Better knowledge and
awareness on proper nutrition for the poor was highlighted. It intends to
adopt nutrition modules developed from the Nutrition Center of the Philippines’
“Pabasasa Nutrisyon”. It will be integrated to the Family Development Sessions
(FDS) under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). Pilot areas
are in selected municipalities of Abra namely Malibcong, Luba and Tineg.
Improving status for
BNS was discussed with the RNC deciding to help hasten process to amend
Presidential Decree 1569 or the Barangay Nutrition Scholar Program. Taking from
the petition prepared by the National Federation of BNSs, the RNC supported
among others the proposal to upgrade the BNS to salaried workers with a
remuneration of P 5,000 a month plus allowance depending on their
respective LGU’s capacity. The proposal requests security of tenure and
scholarships to immediate family members.
Recognition will also
be given to LGUs with significant contribution to the Millenium Development
Goal targets for 2015. In particular, those with consistent decreases in
malnutrition rates, those with less than one percent malnutrition prevalence
and barangays with zero malnutrition rates in the last three years will be
provided.
A resolution is also
approved regarding a “shepherding strategy” which aims to improve the nutrition
status of low performing areas through assistance from high performing LGUs and
from core team of the Regional Technical Assistants on Nutrition (RTAN) members
. The strategy also aims to help improve nutritionally depressed
municipalities improve the nutritional status in their respective areas. Moreover,
the strategy also aims to help high achieving LGUs be able to sustain
performance or further improve performance as they compete for national awards
on nutrition.
Rita Papey of National
Nutrition Council expressed that such will empower not only
the high achieving LGUs but also improve the status of nutrition in several
areas. -- Arianne Nebrida
Aeta
farmers undergo modern aggie training
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Some 100
Aeta farmers from upland barangays of Floridablanca, Porac and Mabalacat City
underwent training and seminars on how to properly plant high value crops and
vegetables through the initiative of Gov. Lilia Pineda and the Office of
Provincial Agriculturist (OPA).
Pineda met with Allied
Botanical Corporation, a supplier of quality seeds in the Philippines,
and the Department of Agriculture with some Aeta representatives at the
Provincial Capitol here to set a 12-day seminar and actual training for proper
planting and soil conditioning.
The training-seminar
was launched at Floridablanca National Agricultural School (FNAS) on July
21.
“Starting then, there
will be a once-a-week seminar for some 100 Aeta individuals who are, at the
same time, farmers in their local communities,” the governor said.
According to the
governor, there is a need for such seminars because of her observation that all
of the tribes’ farm produce lack quality which decreases their market value.
She also recognized
the common problem among Aeta farmers who cultivate, sow, and harvest crops for
some landowners.
“With the trainings,
they can eventually have their own produce,” she added.
The farmers will be
given 6,000 hybrid cacao seedlings and high-value crop seedlings from DA.
“This is a step in
achieving the provincial government’s dream of making Pampanga an ideal source
of good seedlings in the Philippines.
The provincial
government also plans to establish a farmers’ market day at Clark Freeport Zone
where some drug suspects who surrendered will be commissioned as workers
as part of their rehabilitation program. -- Franco Regala
BSU
dean: Breastfeeding key to child’s good growth
BAGUIO CITY – The Dean of the Department of
Human Nutrition and Food of the Benguet State University said mothers and
babies properly nourished during pregnancy and babies exclusively breastfed
during the first six months achieve optimum growth and better quality of life
in the future.
Dr. Pelin Belino, Dean
of the BSU Department of Human Nutrition and Food, said advantages of breast
milk include the fact it is complete food for the baby for the first six months,
provides good nutrition and everything the infant needs for healthy growth,
contains essential nutrients needed for the baby’s cognitive development, as
well as good bacteria and immunoglobulin for strong immunity, protects the baby
from respiratory infections, diarrhea and other diseases, and fatty acids
uniquely found in the breast milk can increase the intelligence quotient of
babies up to seven points leading to better performance in school or at work
later in life.
Consequences of
no breastfeeding from birth to six months include the fact that babies will not
be able to achieve full potential for physical growth and cognitive development
and are exposed to short and long-term health risks.
She said infant
formula increases baby’s risk to infections, allergies, digestive problems, as
well as obesity, cancers, diabetes and heart diseases in childhood or later in
life, and that formula-fed infants are shown to have lower IQs compared to
breastfed infants and may experience iron-deficiency anemia, which is also
related to impaired cognitive development, risk to iodine deficiency may also
increase.
If a mother doesn’t breastfed
her infants, she said, it increases her risk to being overweight and obese and
is exposed to diabetes, certain types of cancer and cardiovascular diseases and
mixed feeding can decrease breast milk production since its supply is driven by
frequent, effective breastfeeding in response to the feeding cues of the baby.
Dominga Dawe,
nutritionist and dietician of the Under 5 Clinic of the Baguio General Hospital
and Medical Center (BGHMC), said those who had been properly nourished from
conceptualization up to two years old and beyond are the ones who are
intelligent in school and at work, and that health authorities can already
predict the maximum height of the baby upon reaching two years old when given
the proper nourishment for the first 1,000 days.-- Dexter A. See
Pro-PWD
programs laid out in Bulacan
MALOLOS CITY -- Different programs and activities
intended for the promotion of inherent rights and concerns of persons with
disabilities (PWDs) are lined up in Bulacan as the province joined the
celebration of the 38th National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation
(NDPR) Week.
With the theme, “Karapatan
ng may Kapansanan, Isakatuparan… Now na!” the Provincial Council on Disability
Affairs (PCDA) headed by Gov. Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado and facilitated by the
Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) conducted a cultural
variety show dubbed as “Basta’tBulakenyo, Kahit May “K” Okey” at SM
Entertainment Plaza, SM City Baliwag recently.
The annual event
showcased the unique talents of PWDs in singing and dancing, wherein 20 groups
from 21 towns and three cities and different SPED schools in the province
performed and participated in the event.
As part of the
weeklong celebration, PSWD Officer Rowena Joson-Tiongson also announced that
PGB with the cooperation of Philippine Band of Mercy (PBM) has conducted free
medical screening and operations to over 200 children with club foot problems.
– Freddie G. Lazaro
Ilocos
Sur primed as cacao growing capital of N. Luzon
VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur – A group of cacao
growers from the Ilocos region are aiming to transform Ilocos Sur into the
cacao production capital of Northern Luzon.
Ilocos
Sur currently has the widest cacao plantation area with more than 200 hectares.
“As
our expression of full support for the cacao industry development, I urged all
farmers in the Ilocos region to plant more cacao trees to reach the region’s
target of 1000 metric tons for 2016,” said Tudayan, who is also a cacao farmer.
“The
challenge is vast but let’s all work together and exert efforts to
strategically push our cacao industry to be globally competitive,” said Grace
Lapastora, Department of Trade and Industry-Ilocos Sur provincial director.
To
strengthen the promotion on cacao industry in the Ilocos, the DTI Region 1
steered the Regional Cacao Industry Convergence and Technology Forum on July
7-8, 2016 participated in by cacao growers, processors, enablers, and industry
stakeholders.
For
his part, the DTI’s National Cacao Industry Cluster Director Edwin Banquerigo
presented the National Industry Cluster Roadmap incorporating the profile,
plans and investment opportunities of cacao industry.
Based
on 2015 data, the country’s cacao production was at 14,000 metric tons. About
90% of it came from Davao.
Cacao
industry players all over the country aim to increase cacao production to meet
the increasing demands for chocolate in the international market.
“The
country has a big potential to be one of the biggest cacao exporter in the
world. Hence, other regions are being tapped to help improve the country’s cacao
industry,” added Banquerigo. – Freddie G. Lazaro
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