COMMUNITY BILLBOARD

 DOT plans makeover of Kennon Lion’s head

BAGUIO CITY -- The Department of Tourism, with the help of the Department of Public Works and Highways, is planning to rehabilitate the Lion’s Head landmark on Kennon Road.

The plan is to beautify and to widen the place that will give order to the place especially during the peak season for when all visitors passing the road stop to take a picture.

DOT Regional Director Purificacion Molintas said the regional technical working group has allocated a budget of P50 million for the redevelopment that will start next year.

Part of the plan, said Molintas, is to relocate roadside stores to the multipurpose building to prevent them from being an eyesore to the beautiful mountain scene.

She said, improvement of tourist destinations is important to Baguio and the Boracay Technical Working Group, a national tourism task force protecting the two top tourism destinations in the country.

The Lion’s Head, which is the first attraction seen by visitors entering the city, was a donation of the Lion’s Club of the Philippines to entertain tourists stopping at the roadside clearing of Kennon Road to appreciate the breathtaking mountain view.

Baguio City barangays bag Cordillera sanitation award

By David Balway and Cleo Mae Valdez

BAGUIO CITY – Barangays Balsigan and Imelda village bested other villages in the region as they qualified as finalists in the 2013 National Search for Barangay with Best Sanitation Practices (NSBBSP). 

Both barangays won the regional award and were honored during City Hall’s flag raising program where they are among 32 finalists in the annual search by the Department of Health, in which they received a plaque of recognition and an incentive of P150, 000 to fund their sanitation projects.

The competition is part of DOH’s advocacy to give recognition to the local government units at the barangay level that have demonstrated exemplary contributions in obtaining and sustaining its targets under the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation.

The NSBBSP, in its sixth year, envisions boosting and accelerating the local government and community action in addressing sanitation problems in their respective areas.

The indicators of the award are coverage of households with sanitary toilet facilities, coverage of households with access to safe water supply, improvement in sanitary toilet coverage, approved barangay budget for water and sanitation projects and programs for the last 2 years, and local sanitation initiatives.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan expressed his gratitude to the winners and further said that the awards and distinction was for the whole city as well.

Pul-oy Festival celebrated in Burgos, IlocosNorte

BURGOS, Ilocos Norte — For the very first time, this town has broken out in celebration for three straight days as it launched its annual tourism and cultural extravaganza in the “Puloy Festival” which set its culminating activities last week. The festival known as “Pul-oy,” an Ilokano term meaning “gentle breeze,” will now be celebrated every year as mandated by Municipal Ordinance 2014-001. Mayor Cresente N. Garcia said their festival – which is centered on a strong faith in God as exemplified by national hero Fr. Jose A. Burgos, on whom this town was named – featured a floral and dance parade, salatipul-oy (folk dance competition), “Burgos got Talent” program, and Miss Burgos 2014 coronation night. -- Freddie G. Lazaro

Mt. Province PLGU to employ 100 studes  under SPES

By Juliet B. Saley

BONTOC, Mountain Province – The provincial government will employ this summer some 100 students under the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Provincial Public Employment Service Office (PESO) officer Ernesto Emilio said these students who will be hired on a first come, first serve basis shall be distributed to the ten municipalities in the province for a maximum of 20-work days.

Emilio said the provincial government shall pay each student beneficiary 60 percent of the daily wage of P230.00 while the remaining 40 percent shall be the counterpart of DOLE.

Qualified to apply in this program are poor but deserving students who are bonafide residents of the province; must be 15 – 25 years old and must be physically fit; must belong to families whose parents’ or guardians’ net taxable income should not be more than P116,000.00

For college student applicants, they must have passed 75 percent out of the total units enrolled during the last semester and for high school students, they should have passed all their grades.

Emilio said interested applicants are required to submit application letter of intent addressed to the Provincial Governor, two ID pictures (1 x 1), birth certificate, and income tax return. High school students are required to submit their grades for school year 2012-2013 and for college students, they must submit their grades in the first semester of school year 2013-2014.

If an applicant is high school or college dropout, he must submit his latest grades accompanied by a certificate of good moral character issue by the punong barangay.

Emilio said all requirements must be submitted first week of March since submission of complete documents to DOLE-CAR regional office shall be on March 14, 2014.

This SPES program is a regular annual job creation program of the national government intended for the poor but deserving students to augment their school fees by providing them work during summer vacation.

More job vacancies seen In infotech, BPO in Ilocos

LAOAG CITY -- , Ilocos Norte — More job vacancies are seen in the information technology and business process outsourcing sector (IT-BPO) in Ilocos region and other parts of the country this year, Director Grace Ursua of the Department of Labor and Employment said last week.

This developed when Ma. Lourdes Sison of SITEL, Inc. and Judelyn Cruz of Sutherland reported that IT-BPO sector is growing by leaps and bounds as they both echoed projections that the IT-BPO sector is poised to achieve its growth target of topping the 960,000 IT-BPO jobs in 2013 and revenues of US$16 billion.

The IT and Business Process Association in the Philippines (IBPAP) had projected that the IT-BPO sector is likely to exceed its target of raking in US$25 billion in revenues by 2016 due to the faster year-on-year growth of 19 % that it has been experiencing.

Sison and Cruz made the announcement when they appeared in a regional PESO Year-end Performance Assessment recently with the 70 managers of Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs) in Region 1.

Earlier, DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz confirmed that IT-BPO sector needs a lot of workers.

“Officials of the IBPAP sought out the DOLE’s help on how to fill-up hard-to-fill jobs in the IT-BPO sector because apparently it is not attracting that many jobseekers,” Baldoz.

She lauded the DOLE Region 1 Office for bringing in IT-BPO sector representatives to orient the region’s PESO managers about the sector.

Despite protests, trees along Manila-Rosales Road cut

ROSALES, Pangasinan — Despite protests, crew startedto cut hundreds of trees along the Manila North Road here.

Former Rep. Mark Cojuangco said last week he had pushed for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources approval of the cutting of trees along the road here.

“I really pushed to secure the permit from the DENR to cut the trees that impede traffic flow and pose danger on motorists,” said Cojuangco..

He assured that every tree that is cut for road improvement will be replaced with 100 seedlings. “We’ll find a proper place to plant them; not on the road right of way,” he added.

Baguio City slaughterhouse bunkhouses to be rented out

By Jho Arranz

BAGUIO CITY  -  The city government here would rent out to occupants of slaughterhouse bunkhouses here considering these are owned by the city goverment.

          The bunkhouses were intended to city employees working at the Veterinary Office. 

However, most of the city employees already retired years ago.  Yet, their families are still occupying said bunkhouses.

After evaluation of the Baguio City Market Authority, the proposed  rental of bunkhouses is P2.00 sq.m. a day effective January. 

Mayor MauricioiDomogan said a meeting with the BCMA, barangay officials and representatives of the families concerned the possibility of bidding out the said area once the affected families will not meet the terms and conditions based on the rules, laws and regulations of the audit.

           

The mayor told affected families that the city will allow them to rent the  bunkhouses with the condition that once the property will be needed by the city, they will be given ample and reasonable time to vacate said property.

He directed a team composed of the City Engineers’ Office, City Building and Architecture Office and City Treasurer’s Office to conduct an investigation and determine the actual occupants of the Slaughterhouse Compound. 

LTO starts night checks against carnap groups

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union — The Land Transportation Office – Region 1 has intensified its campaign against suspected carnap groups by conducting nocturnal operations. 

Teofilo Guadiz III, LTO- R1chief said part of the campaign is a random check-up of vehicles where they found that there are many unregistered vehicles and expired drivers’ licenses.

He said vehicles without the appropriate documents were also impounded pending verification. Guadiz said the evening check-up was done to apprehend colorum buses who ply the roads in the evening on the belief that law enforcers are asleep in their homes. -- LBI

DILG Kalinga honors retirees

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The Department of Interior and Local Government of Kalinga recently cited four retirees of said agency in recognition of their contributions as service providers of the government.

Recognized in simple ceremony were BenifredoMicu who worked as driver for 16 years;  Arthur Buslig who served DILG for 37 years;   Aristio Ande for 27 years of service, and Julio Barcellano who served for 38 years.

In a message, DILG Kalinga provincial Director Francisco Gamatero said the testimonial program commended all the awardees for their exemplary performances.

“The true measurement of commitment in public service is when nobody is supervising you especially in the field,” he said.-- Geraldine G. Dumallig