NEWS BRIEFS
>> Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Another death due to
dengue vaccine reported
Another death
involving a student inoculated with the newly developed dengue vaccine has been
reported to the House of Representatives.
Bataan Rep. Jose
Enrique lll told the committee on health that 10-year-old Christine Mae de
Guzman, a resident of Barangay Breakwater Sisiman in Mariveles town, died in
October. The girl received the first dose of Dengvaxia on April 6.
Enrique presented to
the committee the medical report of the Bataan Provincial Hospital where De
Guzman died four days after she was confined due to high fever and difficulty
of breathing.
The committee on
health chaired by Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan conducted an inquiry into the
procurement and efficacy of the vaccine, which is worth more than P3 billion.
Tan, a doctor, said
the deaths highlight the need to subject the vaccine to additional and
extensive testing and evaluation.
Two students from
Bataan and Bulacan also died after receiving their first dose of the vaccine.
The Department of
Health had targeted Central Luzon as the pilot area for the first wave of
inoculations.
Sanofi Pasteur, which
supplied the vaccine, has repeatedly asserted that its product is safe and
efficacious.
Health Secretary Paulyn
Jean Ubial reported what she called “red flags” in the procurement of Dengvaxia
and the launching of the school-based vaccination program.
Ubial said the
procurement process and program implementation were rushed.
Officials from the
Food and Drug Administration told the committee that Sanofi continues to air
advertisements on the vaccine despite their appeal to postpone the promotional
campaign.
The House panel said
it also heard conflicting findings and interpretations from medical experts and
scientists.
5 ‘Manarang Drug Group’
men busted
CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga
— A notorious drug trafficking group operating in Central Luzon was busted by
San Fernando City police operatives in this province with the arrest of five of
its alleged key members in a sting operation Monday.
Chief Supt. Aaron N.
Aquino, regional director of Police Regional Office 3, identified those
arrested as Manuel Manarang, 47; Frank Manarang, 45, carpenter; Consorcia
Manarang, 42; and Gerson Nugoy, 20, all of the City of San Fernando; and Mark
Alegre, 31, of San Felipe, Zambales.
The busted leaders and
members of the so-called “Manarang Drug Group” yielded 14 heat-sealed
plastic sachets containing suspected “shabu,” a bank passbook, four cellular
phones used in their operations, and the marked money used in the buy-bust at 8
a.m . -- Mar T. Supnad and Franco G. Regala
Kalinga joins push to
end violence against women, kids
CITY OF TABUK, Kalinga
- - The provincial government, agencies and the public participate in annual
observance of the 18-day campaign to end Violence Against Women (VAW).
Gov. Jocel Baac
earlier directed concerned local offices to organize and conduct activities
promoting gender equality and empowering women to get involved in community
development. He also asked everyone to wear orange or hang orange cloths or
ribbons as icon for the defense of women’s rights.
The 18-Day campaign to
end VAW is observed annually from Nov. 25 to Dec. 12 to raise awareness among
all stakeholders that VAW is a public issue of national concern. It supports
the Philippine government’s goal to protect the human rights of women and their
children and its commitment to address all forms of VAW.
With the theme,
“VAW-free Community Starts with Me”, shifts the campaign to positive
advocacy messaging by giving emphasis on everyone’s commitment and
contributions in ending VAW, and collaborative pursuit of our common
vision of a VAW-free community.
Dr. Bernadette Andaya,
head of the provincial office of the Department of Health here, aerlier said
they planned to gather at least women during the culmination day on Dec. 12 for
an advocacy lecture aimed to sustain in the communities the advocacy to keep
stakeholders vigilant against gender abuses.-- Peter A. Balocnit
Construction of
Candon sports complex, road to Pinsal Falls on
CANDON CITY, Ilocos
Sur- The construction of huge city sports complex here is now in full blast
with the initial amount of P100 million fund.
Public Highways
District Engineer Jose "Bong" Ginete, Jr. of the DPWH 2nd engineering
district based here said the amount was secured by Rep. Eric D
Singson.
"The said P100
million available fund for the Candon sports complex is just an initial
amount released by the national government and this was initiated by our
congressman Eric Singson," Ginete said.
Aside from this major
infrastructure project of Singson, Ginete said conccreting of access road going
to Pinsal falls in Sta Maria town is now full blast.
"Once the
concreting of access road going to the foot of Pinsal falls is completed we
expect a lot of tourists to go there and this will further enrich the tourism
industry of the province," added Ginete.- Myds Supnad
Ifugao student dropouts spur
teachers’ training
LAGAWE, Ifugao – The
icreasing number of students dropping out from school in the province has
spurred a training attended 196 participants composed of teachers,
student leaders and local school board members recently completed training on
mechanisms and procedures in handling child abuse and bullying in cchools and
on positive discipline and child protection policies against child abuse in
schools.
The
activity oriented the participants on the Department of
Education’s(DepEd) policies on child protection, anti-bullying and the legal
bases of these such as the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the
Child, the provisions of the Philippine Constitution on the rights of children
and assistance to them, the Family Code of the Philippines and the Code of
Ethics for Teachers to help strengthen the formation of Child
Protection Councils(CPCs) in the schools, clarify the roles and functions
of each stakeholders and to develop action plans for the CPCs.
The training which
coincided with the celebration of November as Children’s Month, was made
possible through the effort of the Cordillera Parents’ Federation, Inc. (CPFI)
in collaboration with the DepEd Ifugao Schools Division.
The DepEd adapted the
child protection policy to provide special protection to children who are
threatened or endangered by circumstances which affect their normal
development. It includes all forms of abuses or mental violence, injury and
abuse, neglect, maltreatment and exploitation and sexual abuse.
It also establishes
the right of the child to education.
The training was
initiated by CPFI after learning dropouts were up in schools since not all
teachers were trained the the policy.
Moreover, based on
program quality review last year, it was noted that there is still an
increasing number of children aged 6-14 years who are at risk of dropping out
from schools which is one of the major challenges of the DepEd and other
stakeholders.
CPFI is enhancing its
collaboration and partnership with different stakeholders like the Student
Governing Councils, Local School Boards, CPC and the DepEd towards the
prevention of drop outs. -- Daniel B. Codamon
TCA now state university
CAMILING, Tarlac — Dr.
Max P. Guillermo recently assumed as the first University President of the
Tarlac Agricultural University (TAU), the first ever appointed president of
this state university here.
In his inaugural
speech, Guillermo expressed his deepest gratitude to Sen. Bam Aquino who is the
principal author of Republic Act 10800, which converted the Tarlac College of
Agriculture (TCA) into a state university.
As per Section 9 of
Republic Act 10800, “the incumbent President of TCA shall serve as the first
President of the University.”
Guillermo, likewise,
thanked his family, friends and most especially his mentors [parents] for their
pieces of advice, wisdom, and support.
“Finally, we are
reaping the fruits of our labor. We hope that we will become a catalyst of true
change in transforming our students as future entrepreneurs and leaders,” he
said. -- Mar T. Supnad
DOE urges prudent use of
fuel and electricity
BAGUIO CITY -- The
Department of Energy urged prudent use
of energy in government offices to reduce expenditures.
DOE officials stressed
this during a seminar on Government Energy Management Program headed by the DOE
in partnership with the Philippine Information Agency held recently at Hotel
Supreme here.
DOE – Energy Unit
Management Bureau Assistant Director Jesus Anunciacion said the GEMP was for
energy efficiency and judicious use for fuel and electricity requiring them to
reduce their consumption by 10 percent.
For the past 10 years
from September 2005 to December 2015, the government saved P2.42 billion in
electricity and P310 million in transport fuel, he said.
Senior Science
Research Specialist Maximino G. Marquez, also of DOE, said the GEMP indicated use of agency savings yearly since September
1, 2005 in kilowatt-hour for electricity and liters which is limited to 50
percent of accumulated savings for those who failed to attain the required
minimum 10 percent savings and 100 percent of their accumulated savings for
those who attained 10 percent savings or more.
Priorities in the use
of savings were improvements in energy efficiency of government entity or
facility, upgrade, lease, purchase of vehicles to be used by employees as
shuttle service, purchase or lease of service vehicles to replace the old and
inefficient units assigned to officials, citations or recognitions and grant of
other benefits to employees consistent with the Collective Negotiation
Agreement.
The government
has also conducted spot checks in 814 government agencies while certificates of
energy/monetary savings have been issued to 252 government agencies with a
total monetary savings of P489.7million, he added.
Anunciacion said
brownouts will be experienced if electricity is wasted. -- Susan C. Aro
Ilocos Norte to start
athletic scholarship next school year
LAOAG CITY -- The
provincial government will be offering ‘Sirib’ athletic scholarship starting
school year 2017-2018 for Ilocano youth.
Provincial Ordinance
No. 005-2016 sponsored by senior board Member Matthew Marcos Manotoc was
approved with around 50 athletes will be added to scholarship beneficiaries.
Under the program,
underprivileged yet deserving youth athletes will be able to continue their
studies until college while enhancing their skills and talents in their
respective fields.
Elementary and high
school scholars will be given P6,000 per school year while college scholars
will receive P31,300 for two semesters.
Beneficiaries will be
chosen based on their athletic performances, need for financial assistance, and
willingness to finish studies.
Manotoc added
out-of-school youth are also encouraged to avail of the scholarship program.
Each beneficiary must
maintain at least 80% average without failing grades. He or she must also
render at least 30 hours of community service to the province.
Next year, the first
province-wide summer youth sports program will be held in order to promote
overall wellness, “encourage Ilocano youth to start playing sports and become
active (as well as) discover potential athlete beneficiaries of the ‘Sirib’
athletic scholarship,” said Manotoc.
The provincial
government also offers Sirib Academic Scholarship, Sirib Young Leaders
Scholarship, and Sirib Community Leaders Scholarship through the Ilocos Norte
Youth Office. -- Jennifer T. Pambid
TESDA urges tec-voc
institutions to training and scholarship
program
BAGUIO CITY -- The
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in Cordilleraurged public and private
technical vocational institutions (TVIs) to participate in its Training for
Work and Scholarship Program (TWSP).
Daisy Jamorabon of
TESDA-CAR said as the lead agency of the government in charge of the
development and implementation of technical education and skills development in
the country, TESDA has been providing various scholarship grants to the
qualified beneficiaries under TWSP.
For Cordillera, P27
million was set for training scholarship programs. It shall be utilized to
support rapid, inclusive and sustained economic growth through training
programs in priority industries and key employment generators such as
agri-fishery/agri-business/agro-industrial, tourism, information technology-business
process managemen
(IT-BPM),
semiconductor and electronics, automotive, other priority
manufacturing industries, logistics, general infrastructure and new and
emerging sector as identified and recommended by the regional offices or
industry bodies.
Invitation to tender
for scholarship programs containing the qualification titles/programs to be
offered in the province/district is posted in the TESDA website and in
significant conspicuous areas in the province/district for a period of seven
calendar days.
Interested public and
private TVIs should submit their tender to the TESDA Provincial/District
Offices concerned. Tender documents shall be downloaded from https://sites.google.com/a/tesda.gov.ph/tesda-car2014/.
Individuals who want
to avail of the said TWSP are advised to visit the nearest TESDA
provincial/district offices in their areas. -- Maria Aprila Cruz
Abra gov’t info officers
inducted
BANGUED Abra -- The Abra Communicators Network, in
partnership with the Philippine Information Agency in the province held
capacity-building meeting and induction of the ComNet’s new set of officers at
the DTI Negosyo Center, here, last week with the theme, ‘Strengthening Network
of Communicators for an empowered and informed public’.
The ComNet’s new set
of officers is led by Forester Carlos Pariñas of Community Environment
and Natural Resources Office – Bangued with Nelly Bacarra of the National Food
Authority as vice president; Novy Lou Baguionon of the Provincial Veterinary
Office, Secretary; Alfreinel Partido of Department of Interior and Local
Government, Assistant Secretary; Pacencia Bello of Dept. of Public
Works and Highways, Treasurer; Rex Hall of Dept. of Trade and Industry,
Auditor; Rolando Biscarra of Villaviciosa local government unit, business
manager, and Jan Nowel Peña of Dept. of Education, PRO.
PIA Cordillera
Regional Director Helen Tibaldo administered the induction of the ComNet Abra
officers.
In her keynote
message, Tibaldo outlined that ‘as information officers, our mandate is to
inform to inspire; inspire to involved; and involved to influence (people and
the community) for the common good’. -- Carlito C. Dar
PAF leads Tarlac gift-giving
activity
TARLAC, Tarlac --
Wearing Santa hats, soldiers from the Philippine Air Force (PAF) distributed
gifts and grocery items to over a hundred abused children and young adults here
last week.
Aside from goodies,
members of the PAF tactical operations group 3 donated a nipa hut to the
Accelerated Minors’ Opportunity for Recovery (AMOR) Village in Anao town.
The hut can be used
for the village residents’ and officials’ reacreational activities.
AMOR Village is a
24-hour residential care, rehabilitation, recovery and development facility for
106 abused and abandoned children and young adults.
The gift-giving
activity was conducted in partnership with private and non-government
organizations.
DOH expands mother, child
health program
BANGUED, Abra -- The
Department of Health has mapped out its expansion plan to sustain the Mother
and Child Health Care Program in the Cordillera. The MnCHC program funded by
the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will end on February 2017.
Fude Takayoshi, chief
advisor of the MnCHC program reported positive results on their terminal
evaluation on the project implementation.
Takayoshi said the
project implementers, referring to the Inter-Local Health Zones (ILHZ),
performed par excellence based on the five grid-parameter of evaluation. The 5
grid bases for evaluation are relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and
sustainability.
With the MnCHC
program, the ILHZs have overshot all their targets especially in the overall
attainment of the national government's objective of providing universal health
care to the people.
Because of very
satisfactory performance of the ILHZs covering six municipalities in Abra
namely Dolores, Lagangilang, San Juan, Peñarrubia, Villaviciosa and Pilar, the
DOH will expand the said project after JICA is out and replicate the project in
other 21 municipalities of Abra.
On the part of the
participating local government units, though they were a little short of the
target budgetary counterpart allocation pegged by the Department of Interior
and Local Government, they have become more responsive to the health needs of
their people.
The LGUs came out with
legislative support to the program by passing ordinances on zero home
deliveries to promote health and prevent mortality of mother and child
particularly during birth. -- Maria
Teresa B. Beñas
OWWA gives P1.6 million to
‘Lawin- affected OFWs
BAGUIO CITY – The
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration provided assistance to Overseas
Filipino Workers and their families victimized by Typhoon Lawin.
Under the Cash Relief
Assistance (CARE) program, OWWA provides cash assistance to affected OFWs
or their immediate families at P3,000 for active OWWA members and P1,500
for non – OWWA member OFWs.
To date, OWWA has
already released a total of P1, 612,500.00 to 748 approved applicants.
Processing of other applications is still on – going.
Applications will be
accepted until Feb. 2, 2017.
OWWA Cordillera OIC
Regional Director Evelyn Laranang explained that the CARE Program
is in line with the government’s commitment to alleviate financial difficulties
of OFW families particularly to OFWs whose livelihood were affected or
properties were damaged during the onslaught of super typhoon ‘Lawin’.
Laranang appealed to
those who have submitted their application and are yet to receive their
financial assistance to bear with OWWA-CAR. Since the program was implemented,
applications already reached 11,179 (as of December 1), and OWWA personnel are
working overtime to expedite the processing and releasing of assistance to
their clientele.
Super Typhoon Lawin,
which strongest winds and heavy rains hit Cordillera last October 19 and
20, affected 119,134 families or over half a million individuals
and caused billion worth of damages to infrastructure and
agriculture based on the Cordillera Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Council report. -- Carlito C.
Dar
DILG-CAR
chief: Community support needed in gov’t projects
BANGUED, Abra --
Community support is important to speed up completion of projects in the local
government units.
Department of Interior
and Local Government Cordillera regional director Marlo Iringan bared this
during a dialogue with local chief officials and municipal
engineers, municipal planning coordinators, municipal administrators and
municipal local government operations officers.
Iringan initiated
said dialogue to discuss issues, concerns and
challenges in the implementation of Bottoms Up Budgeting projects, Salintubig
Pamana Project and Kalsada Program funded by DILG from 2014 to 2016. He
disclosed that there are still uncompleted projects in some LGUs.
The government
needs the people’s support in order to fast-track these projects. People
should not stop showing interest and concern to projects implemented in their
place and should work together with the government because these are for them,
Iringan said. – Ginalyn Brioso
DA trains Ifugao folks on
swine breeding
BANAUE, Ifugao --
Sixteen beneficiaries of Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan(PAMANA)
livelihood project under the Office of the
Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process participated in a
swine breeding management training conducted by the Provincial
Veterinary Office here in partnership with the Department of Agriculture.
The training was
required to ensure efficient management and success of the project
from purchase of good quality breeders, boars, feeds and feeding, disease
control and good housing that will result to the high performance of breeders
and boars hence an increase profit.
The project focused on
swine breeding that involves the purchase of ready to breed sows with pedigree
record of 12 gilts with already trained boars, construction of a hog breeding,
farrowing nursery and boar pens, purchase of rotary feeders, feeding throw,
weighing scales and other materials.
Dr. Roland Pila of the
Provincial Veterinary Office lectured participants from HIBLA ng Pagkakaibigan
People’s Organization, Banaue Subgroup on swine health management highlighting
on the causes of infectious and non-infectious diseases and the preventive
measures.
Ferdinand Dunuan also
of the PVET, tackled swine production cycle with the management practices
associated to it from conception to marketing. He also presented the good
animal husbandry practices and the 5 guiding principles for farm workers and
operators that involve general skills and responsibilities, farm location,
animal housing and facilities, farm management and environmental management.
Municipal Agricultural
Technologist Dr. Marivic Lingayo discussed pig nutrition and
feeding stressing the nutritional requirements of swine and the feeding guide
for gilt, boar, gestating gilts and sow, lactating gilts and sow creep feeding,
weaner, grower and finisher.
The organization’s
contact person, Chester Bahatan said they are strengthening livestock
production industry as the demand for pigs and other livestock
remain high in the province. -- Daniel B. Codamon
Ifugao cited top town, aggie,
fishery councils
LAGAWE, Ifugao -- Five towns of this province were
awarded as outstanding Municipal Agriculture and Fishery Councils (MAFCs) of
the province covering the years 2014-2016.
First
placer was MAFC Lagawe; MAFC Asipulo, 2nd; MAFC Hingyon, 3rd; MAFC Kiangan, 4th
and MAFC Hungduan, 5th.
The
Provincial Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Office which
supervises the AFCs said the criteria for the awards were:
Complete documentation of their AFC profiles, minutes of meetings, quarterly
accomplishment report, resolutions and issues and concerns; Operation and
Maintenance of their AFC like organizational management, sectoral
representation of private and government and conduct of AFC meetings and
support of their local government units; Attendance and participation to
AFC meetings, and monitoring and involvement in Agri-Fishery activities; Scrap
Book for 2016; Livelihood Program AKBAY repayments and Roll-over Program
Implementation, and Oral Interview-Roles and Functions of AFC.
MAFCs
are composed of chairpersons, presidents or representatives of
municipal-wide agriculture and fisheries-related organizations, Barangay
Agriculture and Fishery Council Chairperson, individuals and government sector
representatives that serve as advisory bodies of the Department of Agriculture
and the local government units on agriculture and fishery concerns to transform
them into a strong network as a visible, viable and vibrant partners that will
ensure sound agricultural policies and projects which are responsive and
aligned to agricultural and fishery sector goals. -- Daniel B. Codamon
SCS homecoming
SAGADA,
Mountain Province -- Alumni of Sagada Central School, now on its 71st year
shall be gathering together on Dec. 26-27 at the school grounds for
their second grand alumni homecoming.
Registration of participants is scheduled
morning of Dec. 26 followed by a memorial service for departed teachers and
pupils. A registration fee of P500 per
person covers a meal, bag, and T-shirt.
The rest of the money shall be used to
finance construction of the school’s comfort rooms and retaining walls.
An ecumenical mass is set morning of Dec. 27 followed by a
parade.
Participants proceed to the school grounds
for the singing of the school hymn, telling the history of Sagada Central
School, and a literary- musical contest. Business meeting follows in the
afternoon along with the election of officers. A bonfire and benefit dance will
be held night of Dec. 27. Come one Come
all SCS alumni!/ Gina Dizon
Etag festival set February 2-5
The
municipality of Sagada shall conduct its town fiesta dubbed Etag
Festival on February 2-5, 2017 now on its 6th celebration. The event is done
along with the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary and
presentation of Jesus Christ in the temple by the Church of St Mary the Virgin
every Feb. 2.
The yearly event which falls on the first
week of February is the traditional Sagada Fiesta now called Etag
Festival by virtue of a resolution passed by the Sangguniang Bayan
in 2011.
Traditional events are the civic parade,
cultural presentations, ground demonstrations, and ball games
participated by schools and guests. Street dancing and cultural
presentations shall be judged for awarding of prizes.
Major night activities for 2017’s Etag
Festival include coronation for Ms Sagada and other awardees. A concert for a
cause by Shalom Beharim composed of clergy from the Episcopal
Diocese of Northern Philippines (EDNP) shall be held Feb. 2 6 p.m.
at Church of St. Mary the Virgin.
Sagada Jam Night of Sagada musicians
and a musical contest on categories band, solo, duet/trio and
instrumental follows night of February 3 at the Municipal Plaza at
7 pm.
A contest on poster making and video
production on disaster preparedness shall be conducted./Gina Dizon
