NEWS BITS

Three motorcycle drivers killed in Cagayan mishap

SOLANA, Cagayan -- Three motorcycle riders were killed here last week when they were rammed by a Suzuki Vitara driven by Marcelino Balao, 32, of Tuguegarao City at Barangay Nangalisan.

The Tuesday collision killed Marcial Diaz, Steven Peña, and Bubut Agustin, all residents of Amulung, Cagayan.

SM Baguio employees give Christmas treat to street sweeper

BAGUIO CITY -- A street sweeper received an early Christmas gift as she was chosen by the SM Baguio employees to receive gifts in the annual share-a-joy even sponsored by mall workers.

Jacinta Buclig, 62, a widow, received gifts and cash amounting to P15,000 from the human resource Department, which collected voluntary contributions from workers.

Buclig, a park attendant (street sweeper) for 30 years, was surprised when mall employees visited her at the Children’s Playground of Burnham Park and treated her to a short musical program.

A mother who works to single-handedly raise and send four children to school, Buclig came to tears as she was given a tribute and told that she and her children have a free pass and lunch at SM Baguio.

“This is our fourth year. Instead of having a Christmas party, we decided to give joy to someone,” Karren Nobres, SM Baguio manager for information said.

This year’s theme of the project is “KriSMiles, United We Give.”

Blackouts hit Ilocos Sur

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte – Power interruptions will hit several towns in Ilocos Sur Wednesday and Thursday, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said.

The towns of San Ildefonso, Sto. Domingo, Magsingal, San Juan, Cabugao, Sinait and Bantay dad no power from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The outage was due to repairs at the substation of Ilocos Sur Electric Cooperative  (ISECO) in Sto. Domingo.

Power interruptions affected the towns of Sta. Maria, Narvacan, Burgos, Nagbukel and Santa due to repair of ISECO’s substation in Narvacan. --  Ariel Tejada

MP gov’t workers told: enhance family planning 

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- – Some 75 employees of the provincial government underwent responsible parenting (indigenized – culture sensitive) and family planning seminar headed by the provincial population office here Dec. 5.

Provincial population officer Shirley A. Chiyawan said the seminar was aimed to empower families through responsible parenthood by making couples aware of their basic responsibilities as parents with the inclusion of culture. Chiyawan added that seminar aimed to educate participants on family planning method which allows couples to attain their desired number of children and determine spacing of pregnancies. 

On behalf of Gov. Leonard G.  Mayaen, provincial administrator Johny V. Lausan said responsible parenthood is being able to provide the physical, psychological, social, moral and spiritual needs of our children.  He added that children need both parents to create an atmosphere of security that will give them the confidence they need to give meaning to the world. “Providing a harmonious and healthy environment does not rest with only one parent, but is the outcome of a shared parenting task and responsible parenthood from both parents”, Lausan  said.

Dr. Imelda A. Sabog of Bontoc General Hospital said family planning enables couples to decide  number and spacing of their children based on decisions to achieve desired family size based on their social and economic capacity.

Among family planning methods discussed by Sabog were pills, oral contraceptives, injectablea, condom, billings ovulation, basal body temperature (BBT), sympto-thermal method, lactation amenorrhea method (LAM), standard day method, intrauterine device (IUD) insertion, vasectomy and bilateral tubal ligation (BTL).

Thomasa O. Sangayab lectured on responsible parenting with  culture plaing a major role like in teaching children values.  Pastor Patrick Fegckan discussed selfless love and service to people without expecting a reward in return. -- Alpine L. Killa

Baguio night workers join AIDS Day parade

BAGUIO CITY -- Hundreds of night workers in colorful costumes joined a parade, here, in commemoration of World AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) Day last week.

The event, with the theme “Getting To Zero, Zero New Infection, Zero Discrimination, and Zero AIDS,” was also marked with a prayer and a releasing of doves by members the Baguio Association of Bar and Entertainers Society (BABES) during their program at the Baguio Convention Center, here. Health officials led by City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo graced the program.

PMA cadets visit historic Pangasinan

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — A total of 195 cadets from the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City recently toured this town to learn the vital role it played in history, particularly in World War (WWII). The tour is part of the PMA “Salaknib” Class of 2017’s Interdisciplinary Tour, during which they will visit provinces and towns in Luzon that played a vital role in WWII.

The cadets visited Pangasinan’s Veterans Park where the memoirs of the landing of Allied Forces led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur to liberate Luzon Island from the Japanese occupation are displayed, and paid a courtesy call on Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. – himself, a PMA alumnus – who hosted their lunch. -- JojoRiñoza

DA packaging highland  veggies  for intl market

By Carlito Dar

BAGUIO CITY - - Ready to eat “Chopsuey” dish and processed “Sayote” byproduct and as meat extender readily available in groceries and supermarket and possibly in the international market.

These are just among the post-harvest processing products on Benguet vegetables that the Department of Agriculture is planning, as bared by DA Secretary Proseso Alcala in a press conference last week.

Alcala said that DA is set to implement the Philippine Rural Development Program, whose primary purpose is for farmers to maximize their income from their agricultural produce.

He disclosed the plan to process Benguet’s semi-temperate vegetables into chopsuey dish in ready-to-eat tetra-packs. He said there are already talks with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to include it  in their family packs for their relief operation in times of calamities or disasters.

Another Benguet agri-product the DA is looking into is the “Sayote”. According to the Secretary, the sayote has a very big potential in entering the international market as what seen in the supermarkets and groceries of Dubai and Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

“We are looking into the market and processing of Sayote which is a very good meat-extender, whether on chicken, pork or beef,” Alcala said.

“At the end of the day, aside from the additional market that ASEAN Integration 2015 will bring, our population of 100 million is already a very big market so what we need to do is to increase the productivity of the farmers, improve the quality of their agricultural produce and look into other byproducts that we can process at the Agri-Pinoy Trading Center”, he said.

The Agri-Pinoy Trading Center in La Trinidad, Benguet  which is expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2015, include a processing center  so that farmers from Benguet and even Mountain Province can maximize their income from their yields.

Alcala was on official visit here in Baguio and nearby La Trinidad last week for the anniversary of DA’s Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management Program and for a site inspection and meeting with local partners and stakeholders of the P600 Million Agri-Pinoy Trading Center. (JDP/CCD – PIA CAR)

DTI pushes  cacao industry in Abra

BANGUED, Abra -- Efforts to level up the cacao cottage industry in Abra is being pushed by the Department of Trade and Industry to cope with ASEAN 2015.

DTI-Abra director Arell F. Banez,  regional coordinator for cacao industry promotion in the Cordillera, invited DTI cacao industry national coordinator Director Edwin Banquerigo  and Valente Turtur, Executive Officer of the CACAO Industry Development Association in Mindanao  to conduct training on cacao  development Nov. 19 – 21.

The training was attended by the cacao producers and processors from the provinces of Abra, Apayao and Kalinga.

The first day was forum on cacao investment promotion at Coopmart of the  Abra Diocesan Teachers and Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Bangued.

The second day was the hands-on training on production in Bucay where   cacao production is a cottage industry for many residents there.  They have been growing cacao and producing the popular tablea, a locally-produced chocolate out of cacao.

The third day was  planning workshop where the local producers planned activities to promote the industry and adopt it as their alternative livelihood on a commercial scale guided by the challenges of ASEAN 2015 to be able to cope with the demands of the world market.

Other municipalities in Abra are now involved in growing cacao to sustain this future industry in Abra. – Maria Teresa Benas

Kalinga agri extension  ‘worker wins national award  

PASIL, Kalinga --  An employee of Pasil Municipal Agriculturist Office won this year’s top award in the search for National Agriculture Extension Worker for Organic Agriculture Category by the Department of Agriculture.
Provincial rice program coordinator Joe Casibang reported Rowena Gunnay   bested other  55  national nominees  for the award which  recognizes excellent performance of agriculture extension workers under DA’s program in promoting organic farming in the country.

Gunnay received her trophy  and  P30,000 cash incentive  during the National Organic Agriculture Convention in Davao City, recently.

What made Gunnay won the prestigious award, according to Casibang, were her efforts in organizing, training and empowering upland farmers in Pasil on organic farming technology that boosted their production of Kalinga’s vaunted upland Unoy Rice.

Because of her efforts, Pasil Unoy farmers had increased and sustained their export of Kalinga’s pure organic upland Unoy Rice to the US. She maintains a library of all her works, which she shares as reference materials to farmers.    

Alternative organic farming technology advocates use of indigenous and natural inputs, which are proven environment-friendly and less cost in place of commercial inorganic implements, Casibang explained.

The technology applies in the production of rice, corn, high-value crops and adapted in the integrated farming system now practiced by many farmers in the province. 

In 2013, eleven agriculture extension workers from Kalinga had won national awards from DA.  – Larry Lopez

Ifugao PCPC trained on non-violent  discipline

LAMUT, Ifugao -- Twenty five members of the Provincial Council for the Protection of Children were trained last week for the promotion of positive discipline through non-violent communication.

The Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office said CPC members, being lead implementors in children related laws, must realize that positive discipline through non-violent communication, and not the infliction of pain or fear work best.

Infusing non-violent communication helps children develop appropriate thinking and behavior; it guides them to develop their self-discipline and confidence in harmony with self and other, the PSWDO added.

Participants were oriented on   non-violent communication, its process and barriers; the Department of Education’s protection policy, Lagawe town’s ordinance on positive discipline, handling disclosure.

The second day was devoted  the simulation of the non-violent communication process by groups and planning for the council’s activity in terms of information advocacy for the promotion of  NVC province wide.

The 25 trained PCPC members will act as trainers and communicators on positive discipline or no corporal punishments in the society.

Based on PSWDO  reports, from January to June this year, three cases of child abuse were committed by teachers, 28 were sexually abused by various perpetrators and 12 are children in conflict with the law.  -- Marcelo Lihgawon

Kalinga is Cordillera’s bet in  nat’l rice achievers award

TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- Kalinga province  is  once  again  Cordillera region’s entry to the 2014 National Rice Achiever’s Award of the Department of Agriculture (DA)-CAR.

Kalinga is the only province in the Cordillera Region that has posted positive growth rate in rice at 3.99%, according to Kalinga Rice Program Coordinator Joe Casibang.

DA holds annual search to promote the country’s rice industry as component under the National Food Sufficiency Program.

Winners in the annual search are given cash incentives to finance projects that enhance rice production growth.
For Kalinga, the P4 million cash incentive it received in 2012 was used for the improvement of the farm-market-road leading to the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist’s (OPAG) demo-farm  while that for 2013  was  allocated for the planned construction of the farmers’ academy at the OPAG compound. – Larry Lopez

Six Ifugao schools vie for   nutritionally friendly school

LAGAWE,Ifugao -- Six schools in the province are vying for the 2014 search for Best Nutritionally Friendly School.
The search for BNFS is one of the local initiatives of the provincial government to ensure safe, nutritious snacks to pupils. It advocates for nutritious foods for Filipinos, and promotes the choice of selecting native delicacies with high nutritive value.

According to Provincial Nutrition Office,  contest aims to encourage school management help provide supplemental feeding to identified very low nutritional status as part of the process of the canteen.
Members of the PNC technical working group will be going to the different schools  from  December 1-8.  Three  of these  schools are for elementary category and three for central school category.

The criteria for the contest are : school canteen (nutrition) -  30 percent;  school garden – 40% and health and sanitation of the school -  30 percent. -- Marcelo Lihgawon

Kinuday Burger’’ wins  in Adivay cooking competition

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- The Benguet people  showcased their innovativeness in  cooking their traditional smoked  meat  called “kinuday”  in the on-going Adivay Festival  with the “Kinuday Burger” setting its own identity.

The Department of Agriculture and Benguet Provincial Veterinary Office  awarded best in Kinuday cooking award to Mila Opino from Pipingew Women’s Association of La Trinidad, Benguet   for her  “Kinuday burger”   recently here at Wangal Sports Center here.

Other winners included Freddie Basilio  from TopdacMulti Purpose Cooperative in 2nd place,  Rebecca Noces  from Taloy Sur Farmers Association of Tuba, 3rd place, and Victoria Flores from Tawangan  Agrarian Reform Community Cooperative of Kabayan,  Benguet, 4th.

Meanwhile,  the top five awardees for the “Kinuday” making competition were the municipalities of Bokod, La Trinidad, Kabayan, Tuba and Atok.

The criteria for judging for the cooking competition were:  presentation (10%), Texture (10%) Flavor ( 10%) and taste 20 (%). In the kinuday making  contest,  criteria were  aroma ( 10 %), color (10 %), packing (20 %), and presentation  (10 %) . 

Dr. Ruben L. Cayad-an, Provincial Veterinarian  head,  said the  Kinuday cooking competition   was aimed to highlight the capability of Benguet people to showcase the native product of the province. It was  set to promote the product and to organize market outlet as a way to assist livestock backyard farmers in the province.

This year’s Kinuday making contest was co-sponsored by the Provincial Government of Benguet, and Solane Gas.  -- Sonny Cosme

Ilocos Norte’s Christmas celeb to highlight fourth “tupig” cookfest

LAOAG CITY -- Ilocanos will again pay homage to their traditional Christmas rice cake in line with PaskuaMiDitoy (This is how we celebrate Christmas), the province’s annual series of activities to celebrate the Holiday season, Dec. 13.

Dubbed as the “Fourth Solid North Tupig Cook-off”, the event aims to boost the market the native delicacy and preserve the culinary heritage. "Tupig" is a sticky rice cake which makes use of glutinous rice as base and is usually cooked over a coal fire. 

The traditional recipe includes seasoning the base with coconut gratins, butter, and molasses before it will be wrapped in a banana leaf.

Though the cooking process usually follows the recipe mentioned above, the cook-off aims to introduce flavor variations in making the said delicacy. Previous winning contingent from the town of Sarrat used “latik” or coconut meat and roasted peanut as toppings.

Other ingredients explored by previous contestants were cheese, “langka” (jackfruit) bits and a more surprising twist, the Ilocano black gold “gamet”, an expensive black seaweed which sporadically grows in the rocks and coral reefs along the shorelines of the town of Burgos.

Elaine Lubguban of the Communications and Media Office revealed that this year’s competition will be held beside Paseo de Paoay, a world-class multi-purpose commercial building beside the UNESCO heritage Paoay Church.  

Lubguban also said that there will be 14 contingents joining the competition which is composed of representatives from various local government units as well as tertiary and secondary schools in the province.

“What we’re trying to do is to restore the quality ingredients of the old heritage recipe and at the same time forge new pioneering recipes of fusion and less confusion,” said Governor Imee Marcos.

In Ilocos Norte, the said delicacy has evolved from a hearty dessert during Noche Buena (Christmas Eve meal) to a well-known all-year round street food and a popular “pasalubong” (take home). It has also become a livelihood particularly among women.— Grazielle Mae A. Sales

New roads changing lives for Ecija’s farming folk

PALAYAN CITY, Nueva Ecija — Fifty-eight years after its declaration as a city, residents of 19 villages here can now enjoy a walk to their destination with the concreting of roads in 19 barangays that will serve 37,219 residents.

For as long as residents here can remember, they had to walk or motor through the rough road with difficulty. But not anymore, as Mayor Adrianne Mae Cuevas launched last week the P10.8-million concrete roads.

Cuevas said that for people in urban areas, a road concreting project is just an ordinary development, but for residents here, it means a shift from years of hardships.

“The local residents have suffered long enough waiting for the road networks to be connected. It has been a long wait. Now, they finally cross the road of all these barangays without having to worry about the bad road condition” said Cuevas. This city was declared as a city in the year 1956.

The 19 barangays that benefit from the project are agricultural areas with almost 4,000 hectares of the total land area devoted to farming, making it easier now for them to bring their products to the market.

Funding came from the 20 percent development fund that the city received as part of its Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) in 2013 and from the cash award when the city was recognized by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) with a “Seal of Good Housekeeping” in 2012. --  Sheen Crisologo

Magat NIA Dam optimizes water power up north

San Mateo, Isabela — The Magat River Integrated Irrigation System (MARIIS) has launched what are said to pre-emptive measures to cope with climate change and the projected power crisis in the country next year.

After three decades of operation, NIA-MARIIS Dam in Ramon town irrigating 83,000 hectares of farmlands in Isabela and Quirino Province, will soon undergo optimization works. The irrigation dam is located just after the Magat hydro-electric plant operated by SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP).

The MARIIS Reservoir Optimization Project (MROP) is a joint undertaking of the NIA and SNAP that aims to increase the storage capacity of the MARIIS reservoir.

“With the addition of another set of stop logs on the MARIIS Dam, it is expected to create an additional 8 million cubic meter-storage capacity for the MARIIS reservoir which certainly helps NIA store more water and makes both irrigation and power generation flexible,” said Atty. Michael Bon  Hosillos, SNAP Vice President for Corporate Services.

The project will include full automation using digital controls of the irrigation dam to ensure accurate water management fully funded by SNAP at no cost to the national government.

“With an expected average production of 100 cavans per hectare at 54 kilograms per bag at P19 sums up P1,026 a sack of palay that is equivalent to P102,600 per hectare,” said NIA-MARIIS operations manager Mariano Dancel.

While Dancel’s group was able to irrigate rice lands in Isabela including Santiago City and Quirino Province regularly covered by MARIIS, the agency has managed to come up with a number of diversion dams that can catch waste water from farms upstream.

“After painstaking years of thorough research we were able to construct seven mini diversion dams that could preserve waste water from creek tributaries that normally exit to the Cagayan River downstream but now being recycled and used to irrigate towns formerly deprived of farm water,” informs MARIIS engineering operations manager Wilfredo Gloria.

Recently inaugurated, the Patanad Diversion Dam in San Isidro, Isabela that tapS water from Patanad Creek was designed to irrigate some 200 hectares of farmlands in town.

With an area of 200 hectares it can irrigate, the diversion dam is expected to yield an average of 1,900 metric tons of Palay per cropping season benefiting 235 farmers from the village,” said MARIIS Division II Manager Pedro Dalawampu.

After irrigating 81,000 hectares of rice lands with an estimated production value of P8.3-billion from the rice harvests last cropping season in the Province of Isabela and the rest of the Cagayan Valley Region, NIA-MARIIS has announced the operation of a 45-kilowatt mini hydro power plant in San Mateo, Isabela.

“We don’t tap water just for irrigation, we also run mini hydro-electric plants that could generate power to maximize our resources in serving both our farmers and people in the countryside,” said NIA Administrator Florencio Padernal during a recent visit here. -- Ceasar M. Perante

Manang Imee’s Capitol Express supports farmers

LAOAG CITY -- A new initiative has been integrated in ManangImee’s Capitol Express (CapEx) this December  as the program continues to bring frontline services of the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte more accessible to  Ilocanos.

‘Kadiwa (rolling stores) ni Manang Imee’, the name aptly given to the new program “aims to sell basic goods and food items much lower than the prevailing market rates,” said Mr. Edwin Cariño, head of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) office in the province.

The new initiative is led by Gov. Imee R. Marcos launched during CapEx in Pagudpud on Dec. 9.

 During the launching, the ‘Kadiwa ni Manang Imee’ sold grocery items, namely rice, noodles, sugar, sardines and coffee, as well as vegetables like squash, mango, papaya, among others.

“This ‘Kadiwa ni Manang Imee’ is an experiment, a project that we are launching here in Pagudpud because I have heard that existing market rates of grocery as well as food items here are high,” said Governor Imee R. Marcos.

She also added that the project “does not mean to break the businesses of the sellers in the public market but to support the local farmers and less-fortunate Ilocanos.”

“The grocery items are sourced out directly from the manufacturers so it is guaranteed that prices will be lower compared to the market ones while the vegetables are supplied by Ilocano farmers who are being supported by the provincial government,” noted Cariño.

“I am so grateful that I was able to purchase rice at the Kadiwa ni Manang Imee’ with its price lower than its market rate,” said Rolida Abendanio, 55, of Barangay Saud, Pagudpud.

Known as the ‘Kadiwa Project’ during the administration of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, it was one of the noble projects of the former First Lady Imelda Marcos which sold basic goods and food items at lower prices to solve the rising prices of basic commodities.

Meanwhile, the provincial government started to distribute cash incentives during the CapEx on December 9 to the members of several communities in the province who rendered work during the Oplan Pakni of the provincial government.

“The OplanPakni is a cash for work program of Governor Imee for the people who were hard-hit by typhoon Mario and living on high dengue risk barangays of Ilocos Norte,” said Eric Pascua, head of Provincial Investment Office.

Oplan Pakni has employed a total of 1,473 workers from the different municipalities of Ilocos Norte and they were tasked to help in the cleaning brigade during the aftermath of typhoon Mario. “The OplanPakni aims to respond to the economic impact of the typhoon and to address sanitation issues due to debris and stagnant water,” Pascua added.

Manang Imee’s Capitol Express is set to visit the following municipalities and cities this December: Pagudpud (December 9), Badoc, Banna and Batac (December 10), San Nicolas, Dingras and Sarrat (December 11), Bacarra, Vintar, Tamdagan, Laoag City (December 12), Piddig (December 18) and Burgos  ­–J Michael Mugas