Search is on for Caraga outstanding volunteers
By Daisy Jane M. Apit
BUTUAN CITY, May 20 (PIA) - To highlight the
exemplary performance and dedication to service of Filipino volunteers and
recognize the role of volunteerism in development and nation-building, the
Search for Outstanding Volunteers (SOV) regional search has already started.
The annual search is composed of two award
categories namely: the National Outstanding Volunteer Award (NOVA) and the
Volunteer Lifetime Achievement Award (VLAA).
NOVA is conferred to an individual or organization
for outstanding volunteer service that has made a significant contribution to
uplifting the lives of the people and communities they served while the VLAA is
conferred to an individual or organization for consistent and outstanding
volunteer service and whose achievement is regarded as a role model in the
field of volunteerism.
NOVA is divided into individual and
organization. Individual is categorized
into youth and adult while organization is categorized into non-profit and
corporate.
To qualify for the NOVA under Individual category,
a volunteer must have provided volunteer assistance for three years and for the
youth category and at least five years for the adult category at the time of
the submission of nomination.
Conversely, to meet the criteria for the VLAA, the
individual or organization must have been engaged in consistent volunteering
activities for at least 25 years and must have been a recipient of regional,
national or international awards in relation to volunteerism.
The search is open to all individuals of Filipino
citizenship; Filipino or local chapters of foreign/international non-profit
organizations; and Filipino or local chapters of foreign/international
corporate organizations.
The duly filled out nomination forms must be
submitted to National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Caraga regional
office. And screening and validation will be done by an inter-agency Regional
Search Committee chaired by NEDA-Caraga.
The deadline for the submission of nominations is
on June 30, 2015. Nomination forms are
available at NEDA Regional Office XII, Nimfa Tiu Bldg., J.P. Rosales Avenue,
this city. (DJA/Caraga)
DSWD cites gains in 4Ps/MCCT-IP implementation in
SurSur
By Greg Tataro Jr.
TANDAG CITY, Surigao del Sur, May 20 (PIA) – The
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office in Caraga
Region bared on Monday the latest updates on the implementation of Pantawid
Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) simultaneous with the Modified Conditional
Cash Transfer for Indigenous People (MCCT-IP) in Surigao del Sur.
According to Meiraflor Cabigon, social welfare officer
IV (SWO IV)/provincial link here, a total of 47,570 households have stood to
gain from such programs, citing the breakdown as follows: 45,527 for 4Ps while
2,043 for MCCT-IP.
Correspondingly, the DSWD provincial link added
that the total cash grants/payout last year amounted to P514,716,100.
In the summary of active households per
city/municipality submitted to Governor Johnny Pimentel, Cabigon indicated all
details and information possible of how the 4Ps/MCCT-IP programs have been
carried out particularly during the preceding year. (NGBT/Radyo ng
Bayan-Tandag/PIA-Surigao del Sur)
ASELCO MCOs flooded the coop’s 33rd AGMA
AGUSAN DEL SUR, May 20 (PIA) -
Member-Consumer-Owners (MCOs) of the Agusan del Sur Electric Cooperative, Inc.
(ASELCO) affirms their support as they come in mass to attend the coop’s 33rd
Annual General Membership Assembly (AGMA) held recently here.
The province-wide attendance tallied an
overwhelming 25,497 number of MCOs.
“The coop anticipated an increase of MCO
attendance but never this many,” said Dir. Corazon D. Cullantes, ASELCO Board
President.
It can be recalled that a total of 19,892 MCOs
attended the assembly in 2014.
Boy Ocariz, 67 years old MCO from Napo,
Prosperidad, this province also commented in the vernacular that for three
consecutive years of attending the coop’s AGMA this year is the most crowded.
“It is still early in the morning and people have already piled up at the
coop’s entrance gate,” said Ocariz.
The official registration time was at 10:00 am to
1:00 pm yet as early as 6:30 a.m., a huge number of MCOs waiting to register
have already crowded the coop’s entrance gate.
“I have never attended years before because we – I
and my neighbors – never knew that the coop conducts an AGMA. The crowd and the
long queue speak for the commendable information dissemination effort of
ASELCO,” Ocariz added.
Asked why he keeps coming back after his first
attendance he answered, “We, members must attend the AGMA because it is here
where we get to understand what is happening with the coop. This includes why
we are experiencing blackouts.”
Among the participants are Agusan del Sur’s local
chief executives: Sangguniang Panlalawigan Member Edward P. Mellana, Mayor
Albin D. Magdamit of Prosperidad and Melchor Demegillo, Sangguniang Bayan
Member in the Municipality of Talacogon. Also in attendance are Gregorio T.
Ybañez, Secretary of the Rural Electric Cooperatives Board of Directors
Association (RECOBODA) & Board of Director President of DANECO; Pedrito H.
Baculio, former President of the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperative
(PHILRECA); and Cong. Edgardo R. Masongsong of the 1-CARE Party-List who is
also this year’s guest speaker.
“Your cooperative, ASELCO, is a top performing
electric cooperative, not only a distribution utility but entrepreneurial as
well, a social development agency, and a people’s organization,” said Cong.
Masongsong in his speech.
Cong. Masongsong explained that ASELCO has become
entrepreneurial because it was able to gain revenue in 2014. He said that an
electric cooperative – a special non-profit cooperative –must be
entrepreneurial to be able to finance the much needed developments and
modernization for the benefits of its MCOs. He then commended the management of
ASELCO for attaining such feat.
ASELCO has been making drastic innovations to
cater its growing membership.
“In 2013, the coop started to conduct its AGMA
simultaneously in four venues: ASELCO Covered Court, San Isidro, San Francisco;
Lope A. Asis Memorial Gymnasium, Poblacion, Bayugan City; RM Billanes
Gymnasium, Poblacion, Trento; and Talacogon Municipal Gymnasium, San Agustin,
Talacogon. All venues are linked by internet connections run through the
coop-installed fiber optic lines. Each venue is installed with LED screens so
the MCOs can see the reports clearly even at broad daylight. With our current
attendance, it seems we need to consider opening-up another venue next year,”
happily and half-jokingly remarked by ASELCO gen. manager Engr. Emmanuel
Galarse.
The fiber optic connections in the province are
among the modernization efforts of the coop. These connections currently link
the area offices’ billing records and status. Soon, this would speed up meter
reading and billing with the installation of automatic voltage meters developed
in South Korea. More importantly, these connections are very helpful in
real-time load and distribution line glitches monitoring through the
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system.
“The coop is really improving and you can see it
physically,” said Marivic Quicos, treasurer of the Barangay Power Association
(BAPA) in Bayugan 3, Rosario, this province. “ASELCO is keen of making its
stakeholders understand the situation by constantly reaching over through
conducting fora and massive information dissemination drives.
(ASELCO/PIA-Caraga)
Feature: Keeping your baby away from food-borne
illness
By Ma. Idelia G. Glorioso
Taking care and feeding the baby are your major
responsibilities as a mother. It is your job to keep your baby safe from
food-borne illness. It is important to practice food safety because infants and
young children are vulnerable to food-borne illnesses. Their immune systems are
not yet fully developed. Also, their stomachs produce less acid, which makes it
easier for harmful microorganisms to get through their digestive systems.
Here are some important basic food safety TIPS
when taking care of infants and young children:
Always begin food preparation by washing your
hands. Wash your hands with hot, soapy water after changing the diaper or after
any activity in which your hands could have picked up germs. You don't want to
transmit those germs to your child.
Keep your fingernails clean and trimmed especially
when handling baby’s food. Do not smoke, cough or sneeze near baby’s food and
dishes. Use detergent and hot water to wash and rinse all utensils including
the can openers that come in contact with a baby's foods.
Thoroughly clean baby’s utensils. Heat or sterilize baby’s utensils carefully.
Harmful bacteria can infect an infant if the utensils used are not washed and
sterilized properly.
Do not feed your baby from a bowl of homemade baby
food. Do not put left over back in the refrigerator. Saliva on the spoon will
contaminate the remaining food. Instead just put enough food on a dish for one
serving using a clean spoon before feeding the baby.
Do not use left out at room temperature for more
than 2 hours. Do not give leftover foods to your baby. Do not feed a baby honey
or syrup -- at least for the first 6 months. Honey and syrups can contain
spores of clostridium botulinum. The immune systems of adults and older
children can prevent the spores from growing once ingested. However, in an
infant, these spores can grow and cause infant botulism.
Use only clean and uncontaminated water for
washing and cooking food for your baby. If you are in doubt about the quality
of water, boil the water by bringing it to a vigorous rolling boil and keep it
boiling for ten to twenty minutes. This will kill the germs that cause cholera
and other diarrheal diseases.
With all these food safety tips, you are assured
that your baby is eating quality and safe food.
For more information on food and nutrition,
contact: Dr. Mario V. Capanzana,
Director, Food and Nutrition Research Institute, Department of Science and
Technology, General Santos Avenue, Bicutan, Taguig City; Tel/Fax Num: 8372934 and 8373164; email:
mvc@fnri.dost.gov.ph, mar_v_c@yahoo.com; FNRI-DOST website:
http://www.fnri.dost.gov.ph.; FNRI Facebook page: facebook.com/FNRI-DOST; FNRI
Twitter account: twitter.com/FNRI-DOST. (FNRI-DOST S & T Media
Service/PIA-Caraga)
MSMED council holds dialogue with Sen. Bam Aquino,
Surigao City biz group
SURIGAO CITY, Surigao del Norte, May 20 (PIA) –
The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development (MSMED) Council of Surigao
del Norte spearheaded a dinner dialogue with Senate Committee on Trade,
Commerce and Entrepreneurship chairman and senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino
IV, together with the local business community held recently at Gateway Hotel,
this city.
The activity was aimed to collect voices on how to
help the community and solicit plans and recent updates of the trade, commerce
and industry in the country, and to address some issues from the local business
sector particularly on business taxes.
During the dialogue, Sen. Aquino explained the
overview of the bill he authored, the Republic Act 10644 otherwise known as the
“Go Negosyo Act” which he said passed unanimously at the Congress and Senate
because everybody believes that entrepreneurship is what we need in our country
to attain sustainable development and inclusive growth.
“All business whether small or big is business
that needs to be supported and respected and be given a chance to earn, that is
the main purpose of the Go Negosyo Center it will serve as a home-based or
focal points of all businessman/entrepreneurs who wants to learn how to run a
business. But of course, for our negosyo center to work out we need the help of
the private sectors and businessman to help us attain inclusive growth in our
country,” Aquino said.
MSMED council chairperson and Surigao Chamber of
Commerce and Industry, Inc. (SCCI) president Concepcion R. Paqueo, in her
message, said that being an entrepreneur is not just to make business but being
a gift to other people, by providing jobs to empower people for them to access
better lives and inspire them to become creative individual to pursue
opportunities despite its risk.
She said that entrepreneurs have the power to
achieve great things and emerge as the driving force that will keep the local
economy going and efficiently running.
Officers and members of the Surigao Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Surigao Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and
businessman from various local business establishments have also participated
the said dialogue. (SDR/PIA-Surigao del Norte)
DENR bares updates on 2015 NGP in SurSur
By Greg Tataro Jr.
TANDAG CITY, Surigao del Sur, May 20 (PIA) – The
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Surigao del Sur
headed by Rosendo Asunto, provincial environment and natural resources officer
(PENRO), bared recently the updates on the 2015 National Greening Program (NGP)
as of April 30.
With four community environment and natural
resources offices (CENROs) to supervise, which are located in Tandag City,
Cantilan, Lianga, and Bislig City, respectively, the DENR here admitted it has
come out short of target in seedling production during the first four months of
2015.
Eyeing to produce 815,639 seedlings out of
2,931,500 for the said period of the year, only 660,966 have been hit or
equivalent to 23 percent; hence a backlog of 154,673 was recorded, it was
learned.
Also, among the CENROs mentioned, only Cantilan
and Lianga have exceeded their targets by producing 222,500 seedlings or
equivalent to 35 percent and 170,300 seedlings or equivalent to 52 percent,
respectively. Tandag and Bislig fell
short by just hitting a meager 14 percent in production—120,000 and 148,166 in
seedlings, respectively.
Adelfo Luengas, Jr., DENR planning officer,
indicated they are still in the initial stage of the NGP, adding it is
uncharacteristic of their office to fall behind among peers in Caraga region,
given its past records, citing in particular their overall accomplishment last
2014.
Seedling production is only one part of the whole
equation since seedling procurement, site preparation and area development have
likewise to be paid close attention, he remarked.
PENRO Surigao del Sur has been recognized as the
“Top Performing PENRO of Caraga Region" with the highest overall rating,
which covers Administrative and Finance, Performance-Based Bonus Ranking
Indicators and Operations on the recently concluded Annual Performance
Assessment for CY 2014 Accomplishment conducted last March 16-31, 2015. (NGBT/Radyo
ng Bayan-Tandag/PIA-Surigao del Sur)
Tagalog News: Palasyo umaasa na “bubuto para sa
kapayapaan” ang mga mambabatas habang ang mababang kapulungan ay siyang
magpapasya ng tadhana ng Bangsamoro draft law
Ni David M. Suyao
AGUSAN DEL SUR, Mayo 20 (PIA) - Inulit ng
Malakanyang noong Lunes ang kanyang pag-asa na makaka-angat ang Bangsamoro
Basic Law (BBL) sa susunod na antas, habang ang mga miyembro ng komitiba ng ad
hoc na mga mambabatas ay nagsimulang bumoto sa inihaing lehistratora.
Sa pahayag na pinadala sa mga reporter, sinabi ni
Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda na umaasa sila na ang mga miyembro ng
komitiba ay ‘bubuto para sa kapayapaan’ para tulungan ang Mindanao na makamit
ang pinakakailangang progreso at pag-unlad.
Sa araw na ito, ang ad hoc committee ng mababang
Kapulungan ay inaasahang simulan ang pagbubuto sa iminungkahing Bangsamoro
Basic Law. Inuulit naming ang aming pag-asang ang mga miyembro ng komitiba ay
bubuto para sa kapayapaan, kung saan madadala natin ang progreso at pag-unlad
sa Mindanao at mapabuti ang buhay n gating mga kababayan,” sabi ni Kalihim
Lacierda.
Sa isang panayam sa Radyo ng Bayan noong Linggo,
sinabi ni Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. puntirya ng
administrasyon na magkaroon ng matiwasay na pagpasa ng BBL na siyang maging
kampeon sa lahat ng hangaring ng pangkapayapaang proseso.
“Nananalig kami na sa kanilang pagpapasya,
isasaalang-alang ng ating mga mambabatas ang pambansang interes at ang
kapakanan ng mga mamamayan sa buong Mindanao,” sabi ni Secretary Coloma.
Ang BBL ay isang bunga ng Comprehensive Agreement
on the Bangsamoro, isang pinal na pangkapayapaang kasunduan sa pagitan ng
pamahalaan ng Pilipinas at ng Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) na nilagdaan
noong Marso 7 ng ngkaraang taon.
Layunin nito na makapagtatag ng isang entidad na
pampulitikang Bangsamoro sa timog na mayroong pinagbuting basikong estraktura
ng pamamahala, at papalit sa kasalukuyang Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
kung saan minsang inilarawan ni Pangulong Benigno S. Aquino bilang “bagsak na
ekspirimento.” (PIA-Agusan del Sur)
