COMMUNITY BILLBOARD

Ping PMA reunion guest of honor

FOR DEL PILAR, Baguio City – Former senator and Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery Panfilo Lacson will be the guest of honor and speaker during the annual homecoming of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) on Feb. 15.

Lacson, who belongs to PMA Class 1971, was chosen by the PMA Alumni Association.

The academy’s spokesperson, Maj. Lynette Flores, said PMA Class 1954 is celebrating its diamond jubilee, Class 1964 its golden jubilee, and Class 1989 its silver jubilee.

A “testimonial parade” is slated on the afternoon of Feb. 15 to honor and bid goodbye to PMA superintendent Vice Admiral Edgar Abogado who is retiring.

P20M set for Paracelis multi-purpose building

Paracelis, Mountain Province – Out of the 20 percent Development Fund from the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) for fiscal rears 2013-2014 of Paracelis, P20 million was allotted to fund construction of a multi-purpose building here to house local and national offices of the municipality.

           

One of the major programs of Mayor Gavino L. Bucok is to have high impact infrastructure projects that will cater to needs of his constituents, said Federico Dalayday, the mayor’s secretary said in an interview Feb. 4.

            The proposed building will soon rise at the same site at Dagawe, Poblacion, after completion of necessary requirements and relocation of different local offices. -- Ma. Marissa A. Balao-as

Cebu wants to emulate P’sinan best health practices

LINGAYEN, Philippines – Even Cebu, the premier province in the country led by Gov. HilarioDavide III, wants to emulate the best practices of Pangasinan led by Gov. Amado Espino Jr., particularly on healthcare.

Last Tuesday, an 11-man Cebu delegation led by Davide arrived in Pangasinan for a two-day study tour.

The delegation, which included Cebu second district Rep. Wilfredo Caminero, board member Peter Calderon, and eight health officers, visited the capitol complex here, the Western Pangasinan District Hospital, Dasol Community Hospital, Pangasinan Provincial Hospital, Urdaneta District Hospital, and Balungao Rural Health Center. 

“We hope to learn from the provincial government of Pangasinan how it has efficiently managed to run its hospitals,” said Davide during a courtesy call at the provincial capitol.

Davide, a first-term governor, said his administration’s priority is healthcare and yet they have been receiving complaints on the weak and slow delivery of healthcare services by their public hospitals.

“Most patients, especially those having serious cases, have to be brought to Cebu City,” he said.

Thus he said they want to learn from Pangasinan, which has among “the best-ran hospitals in the country.”

Espino said, “We are very happy to receive their delegation... at least, some people are appreciating the things we do in the province.”

Dr. Anna Ma. Theresa de Guzman, chief of the provincial health office, said Cebu is the seventh province since 2011 which looked into the best healthcare practices of the province. The others include Capiz, Cagayan, Quirino, Ilocos Sur, and Bukidnon.

Mt Prov to send 560 delegation to CARAA

By Juliet B. Saley

BONTOC, Mountain Province – A total of P3,750,000 was allotted for the Mt. Province delegation  to the 2014 Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (CARAA) meet on Feb. 7 to 11, 2014 in La  Trinidad, Benguet.

Provincial Sports Development Officer Arnold Petten said the provincial government allocated P3 million.

The Department of Education in the province provided P350,000.00 and P400,000 was total contribution from ten local government units in the province.

The amount was appropriated for the procurement of uniforms, transportation, meals and snacks and other incidental expenses of the athletes.

Petten said for the uniforms, each athlete will be given a cap, T-shirt, sweatshirt, short pant and a jog pant.

He said an amount of P592,879 was also appropriated for training of athletes.

The DepEd had already started training athletes, he added.

There are 560 members of the delegation of the province to the 2014 CARAA. Of the total, 396 are athletes. In the elementary level, there are 173 athletes to participate in the 16 different events and 223 high school athletes to participate in the 18 events.

Cultural shows set at Baguio Botanical Garden

BAGUIO CITY – The planned cultural shows at the amphitheatre of Botanical Garden will be pushing through.

In line with the recent developments of the site and the burgeoning tourism industry of the city, the local government is in talks with the Department of Education to have cultural performances which will be led and made by elementary and high school students in the venue.

           

According to Mayor Mauricio Domogan, the performances will be conducted weekends with cultural dances and would serve as added attraction to the tourist spot.

            City committee on tourism chairperson Elmer Datuin, said although there is no set date when the shows would commence, talks are underway and would be just a matter of time when it would start.

            “The cultural dances and performances will be done by students of the different schools in the city and would bring more life to Botanical Garden,” said Datuin.

            Datuin added recent developments to the garden such as the Japanese Cave lighting and rainforest park are intended to bring more tourists to Botanical Garden and would make the site on par with more popular tourist destinations such as Burnham Park.

            “We would like to bring more tourists to Botanical because it is not that well known and would serve as a buffer to other tourist spots,” added Datuin. -- David Balway and Cleo Mae Valdez

DOST turns over baking equipment to farmers’ group

By Juliet B. Saley

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through its Science and Technology for the Advancement of Municipalities (STEAM) project turned over a P248,300.00 worth of baking equipment to Kakamman-Finnadang Association of barangay Belwang in Sadanga municipality.

This is DOST’s counterpart in a joint project with  the local government unit (LGU) of Sadanga and the Second Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management Project (CHARMP 2),  which aims to improve the socio economic status of farmer members through the implementation of the Science and Technology (S&T) assistance in the establishment of a community-based bakery in the barangay.

The project requires a total budget of P599,750.00.

Barangay Belwang is known for its indigenous products like black beans and sweet potato and is one of the main suppliers of beans in the municipality.

Municipal Agriculturist Joan Agrong  said DOST’s counterpart  is the  provision of baking equipment such as  oven, dough roller, coconut grater, and the dough kneader.

The CHARMP 2 provided funds for the training of members of the association on baking and experiential tour of members to Pangasinan. It also provided  financial assistance to the members of the association to start the operation of their business.

The members of the Kakamman Finnadang Association had undergone a two-day training on baking on January 15 and 16.

The LGU provides the building and lot where the association establish their business . It also through the Office of the Municipal Agriculturist provided technical assistance in preparing business plan and project proposal for the association and also to monitor the implementation of the project.

Agrong said this is the first project under the STEAM of the DOST-CAR that is approved in the municipality and three more proposals are on process.

Abra town holds first Ariba Samba Festival

By Maritess B. Beñas

SAN JUAN, Abra -- The first “Ariba Samba” festival in the town of San Juan in northern Abra was launched last month on the occasion its  joint parochial and town fiesta celebration.

The Ariba Samba Festival which means “Mabuhay San Juan” is inspired by the Brazilian merrymaking thru dances with the performers in their colorful costumes.

The first Ariba Samba dance competition was highlighted with the dancers’ artistic head gears that were part of the subject of the competition.

Guided by the holiness of the town’s patron saint, St. John the Evangelist, the theme of the festival was centered on “Napudno ken nadiosan a panagserbi, pannakikaysa, disiplina ken natalged a pannakitulong para tinadur-as a San Juan” (Honest and godly service, unity, discipline and strengthened cooperation for the development of San Juan).

Mayor Marco M. Bautista said the festival was not just merrymaking but was at the same time an opportunity for thanksgiving for the bountiful harvest that the farmers  had  despite the calamities.

The second day of the festival was dedicated to the farmers where they paraded their produce as well as their livestock. The municipal market was also inaugurated on that day and the ribbon cutting was led by Governor Eustaquio P. Bersamin who also served as the guest and speaker.

The feast day of St. John on December 27 was highlighted by the Samba Festival Parade participated by all folks from all the barangays, schools and agencies in the municipality where the groups with the best Samba attire were given fabulous prizes by the mayor.

DOLE Kalinga to hire 80 young  workers under GIP

By Peter Balocnit

TABUK CITY, Kalinga - - The Department  of Labor and Employment (DOLE)  will hire  80 young workers in the province  under the government internship program or GIP.

Anthony Luminang of DOLE-Kalinga said they have a quota of 80 beneficiaries coming from areas where the National Household Targeting System (NHTS) is implemented and in local government units participating in the bottom-up budgeting.

The objectives, he said is to provide young workers particularly the poor and young workers opportunity to demonstrate their talents and skills in the field of public service.

 “The ultimate objective is to attract the best and brightest who want to pursue career in government service,” Luminang stressed.

The GIP program is a component of Kabataan 2000 provided in Executive Order No. 139 to provide opportunities for employment and engage young workers to serve the general public through the implementation of government programs and projects.

Luminang said the GIP program is one of their contributions to President Aquino’s overall thrust on inclusive growth to be felt by all Filipinos through job generation and substantial poverty reduction with NHTS as their priority sector for government intervention.   

“Interns will be hired this January and distributed to work in government agencies and LGUs for  six  months and will be paid 75 percent  of the existing regional minimum wage and are entitled to a one time enrolment in the Government Service Insurance System.

To qualify for the internship program, he or she  is high school graduate or technical-vocational graduate; between 18-25 years old. They are required to submit transcript of records or certificate of graduation in the  case of tech-voc graduates, or certificate of indigence from the barangay.

Their duties and functions are profiling of child laborers in the barangay, encoding of registrants in the skills registry system, assisting LGU and public school personnel, and other functions not highly technical in nature.