GADCC-Caraga culminates Women’s Month celebration with a sports fest
by Jennifer P. Gaitano
BUTUAN CITY, April 2 (PIA) – The Regional Development Council – Gender and Development Coordinating Committee (RDC-GADCC) Caraga chaired by Atty. Marilyn Pintor, Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Caraga Regional Director successfully conducted its sportsfest and culmination program, held Thursday at the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) grounds, this city.
About 250 participants from various sectors participated in the whole-day activity. Sports like badminton, basketball, volleyball, dart, kite-flying and some of the “Laro ng Lahi” competitions like the kadang-kadang, Takyan, Kasing, and the like were played by the participating agencies.
Also, Atty. Pintor personally handed over the cash prizes and plaques to all the winners of the different games, sports on the finale of the activity.
Pintor also acknowledges the time and effort of all participating/member-agencies of GADCC for continuously supporting the activities especially for the Women’s Month celebration.
“Thank you to all of you who are actively participating and continuously supporting all the activities of GADCC this year especially this month of women. I hope to see you all again in our next activities,” Pintor said.
This year’s celebration is tagged on the theme: “Magna Carta of Women, Philippine CEDAW: In support of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”. It is anchored on the importance of Republic Act 9710 or the Magna Carta of Women, the national translation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women or the CEDAW, to the achievement of the eight (8) Millennium Development Goals: 1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; 2) Achieve universal primary education; 3) Promote hunger equality and empower women; 4) Reduce child mortality; 5) Improve maternal health; 6) Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases; 7) Ensure environmental sustainability; and 8) Develop a global partnership for development. (PIA-Caraga)
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Expanded Garantisadong Pambata campaign set to launch in Agusan del Norte
BUTUAN CITY, April 2 (PIA) – An expanded Garantisadong Pambata campaign, a health program that ensures a package of health services given to children, will be launched in Tubay, Agusan del Norte on April 4 (Monday).
The launch is spearheaded by the Integrated Provincial Health Office of Agusan del Norte in partnership with the Center for Health Development – Caraga Region.
According to Dr. Elizabeth Campado, Provincial Health Officer, the expanded Garantisadong Pambata, will now be offered all year round and will include appropriate service and promotion even for schoolage children.
“The expanded GP promotes a set of healthy behaviors including exclusive breastfeeding for six months, immunization among infants, vitamin A supplementation and de-worming every six months, education on proper hand washing, brushing of teeth regularly, proper toilet use, and keeping homes tobacco smoke-free,” Dr. Campado said.
With a rallying call “Kalusugan ng Bata, Sigurado. Basta i-GP mo! Kahit saan, kahit kailan, kahit sino, kayang alagaan ang kalusugan ng kabataang Pilipino,” the DOH aims to make the expanded GP synonymous with healthy behaviors and practices.
“Following the behaviors stated in GP has been proven to be effective in reducing morbidity and mortality among children,” said Dr. Campado.
The expanded GP now also involves non-traditional community outlets like day care centers, schools and workplaces.
The GP launch in the municipality of Tubay will also gather around 70 elementary pupils who will pledge to take responsibility through the “Panatang Maka-GP” while local government units and other agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Department of Education (DepEd) will sign the GP declaration to show their support and cooperation to the health campaign.
The GP program which includes vitamin A supplementation targets at least 95 percent of children from six months to five years old.
The vitamin A supplementation will be integrated in DOH’s combined measles-rubella supplemental immunization activity (MRSIA) this April.
The door-to-door campaign will also target municipalities under the DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), a poverty reduction and social development strategy which provides Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition and education particularly of children aged 0-14.
Meanwhile, Tubay Vice-Mayor Fidel E. Garcia said that the launching of the new GP is very timely as they continue to intensify their efforts to promote health in the province as well as in the overall efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDG targets the reduction of mortality rate among children under five by two-thirds and reduction of maternal mortality rate by three quarters by the year 2015. (PHO-Agusan del Norte/PIA-Caraga)
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TESDA’s 1st JTP Batch, done; NATCAC in Sursur, declared open
TANDAG CITY, April 2 (PIA) - 170 new drivers for light and heavy equipment vehicles along with repair and maintenance mechanics in Surigao del Sur were already handed their certification of graduation recently by Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA).
They are the first batch under the Jobs through Tech-Voc Program (JTP) that started training since its launching on February 14.
The graduation ceremony was held at the Provincial Social Hall the day after TESDA Caraga regional director Florencio Sunico Jr. declared open the National Competency Assessment and Certification (NATCAC) week from March 28 – April 1.
The assessment and issuance of certification is free of charge.
In the same occasion, provincial director Rey Cueva acknowledged Gov. Johnny Pimentel, 1st District Cong. Philip Pichay, and Tandag City Mayor Alexander Pimentel for their unrelenting support to TESDA’s training programs. (GT Jr./PIA-Surigao del Sur)
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Grid corporation pres. Henry Sy Jr. appeals for public vigilance against grassfires to ensure line safety
MANILA, April 2 (PIA) - The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is appealing to communities hosting transmission facilities across the country to be more vigilant in guarding and protecting high-voltage transmission lines against grassfires, especially during summer.
One of these grassfires caused the 500-kiloVolt San Jose-San Manuel transmission line to trip last Saturday. The grassfire was located between towers 196 and 197 of the said line in Brgy. Sumacab, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.
With more than 19,000 circuit kilometers of transmission lines in the country, NGCP is requesting the public’s assistance in protecting the lines in their communities. The public is advised not to build a fire near or under transmission structures. Planting of trees, putting up of antennas, and building of houses or other structures near or under transmission structures are also discouraged as these obstructions easily cause power outages when they come in contact with high-voltage power lines.
To maintain the security and reliability of the entire Luzon grid, NGCP implemented manual load dropping Saturday at 2:03 p.m. at its customer Meralco's line feeders. The power interruption experienced in Metro Manila and other Meralco areas was caused by the tripping of the 500-kiloVolt line which necessitated the shutdown of three of NGCP's four transformer units at the San Jose Substation in Bulacan.
NGCP worked closely with Meralco to expedite restoration efforts in affected areas. As of 2:40 p.m. on the same day, one transformer unit was immediately restored. By 5:14 p.m. Saturday, the remaining two transformer units were restored and placed online into the power grid.
Amid worries of similar power interruptions in the coming summer months, NGCP assured its power customers that it is on top of the situation and fully prepared for any contingencies such as the grid disturbance which occurred over the weekend. It was an isolated incident that will not affect the integrity of the entire grid.
NGCP definitively ruled out transmission constraint as the root cause of the tripping which affected the 500-kiloVolt line and three transformers last Saturday. The expansion of San Jose Substation’s capacity last year already effectively addressed transmission congestion in the Luzon grid inherited by NGCP.
The transformer upgrade program completed in September last year increased San Jose substation's total capacity from 2,400 megavolt ampere (MVA) to 3,000 MVA. With its four 600-MVA transformers already replaced with four new 750-MVA units, San Jose Substation has more capacity to receive and transmit bulk power to Luzon grid users. An additional unit of a 250-MVA power transformer is also available as spare.
Regular maintenance works are ongoing not just in substations across the country, but also on high-voltage transmission lines, to ensure that these transmission facilities are capable of carrying power to grid customers. Trimming of trees and vegetation within the transmission line right-of-way is also part of the regular operation and maintenance procedures of NGCP linemen. The public is likewise enjoined not to impede maintenance works of NGCP. (NGCP-13/PIA-Caraga)
