Feature: DOLE Caraga's milestones from 2010-2015
By Iris C. Asis
What the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)
Caraga has become from 2010-2015? One of the indicators showing progress of the
region is the increase of employment and decrease in unemployment.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority
(PSA), employment rate in April 2010 to April 2015 has been constantly
increasing with an average growth rate of 2% (exceeding the average growth rate
of the labor force participation rate of 1.6%) and unemployment rate decreased
from 7.6% (April 2010) to 5% (April 2015).
Corroborating excellence, the agency evaluates
performances in Employment, Labor Relations, and Welfare and Protection to
identify its significant contribution to this remarkable progress.
DOLE thrives for optimum results by promoting
employment thru Phil-JobNet and momentous programs for both students and the
labor force. Over 32,230 SPES beneficiaries were catered. There were 370,443
jobseekers reported placed and 144 job fairs conducted; 106,213 job vacancies
were also posted in the phil-jobnet website. DOLE Caraga was commended on
December 2014 for being one of the five regions to have posted the most number
of job vacancies in the said website.
With the increasing number of companies in Caraga,
DOLE belligerently enforced inspection and disposition of cases; 5,859
establishments were assessed up to date. In SEnA (Single Entry Approach), 94%
RFAs (Request for Assistance) were settled with a 100% disposition rate.
In 2014, developmental approach in company
assessment/inspection was applied to eradicate fear and apprehension from the
establishments. Since then, managers have positively responded and have
voluntarily requested for the conduct of joint assessment.
Moreover, convergence among DOLE and its attached
agencies namely, National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), Regional
Tripartite Awage and Productivity Board (RTWPB), Occupational Safety and Health
Center (OSHC) and Employees Compensation Commission (ECC) paved the way to a more
productive relationship with the industries. Seven TIPCs, 11 ITCs and eight
VCGPs in Transportation, Construction, Education, Eco-Tourism, Maritime,
Mining, Plantation, Wood-based, Wholesale and Retail, Banking and Finance and,
Security, General and Other Services were created to advocate workplace
harmony.
The agency also extended its services to the
distressed and displaced individuals; 249 livelihood projects released for
29,275 beneficiaries. One of the notable figures of success is the SAFRA-ADAP
MPC (San Francisco Association of Differently Abled Persons Multi – Purpose
Cooperative). Established by 15 disabled persons from a mere P50, 000
livelihood grant from DOLE Caraga, they now have a total asset of 14M employing
90 workers. They have developed into a competitive and world class producers of
different wood products through the capacity and skills training from DOLE and
its attached agencies.
DOLE Caraga was awarded the outstanding Regional
Office (Category C) during the DOLE-Wide Yearned Performance Assessment
Exercises on December 2014. Seemingly, CY2010-2015 has brought in significant
developments and opportunities that need to be sustained. These are the
improvements that can serve as platform for the agency in the following year
and years to come. (DOLE-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)
OWWA organizes OFW Family Circle in Claver;
provides orgl devt trainings
By Jean Pearl I. Millones
BUTUAN CITY, Aug. 11 (PIA) - Persistent with the
drive to equip its members with ample and beneficial skills through
organizational development, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA)
Regional Welfare Office Caraga steered the way for the formation of Claver
Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) and Family Organization (COFO).
OWWA Caraga regional director Samuel S. Madrid
emphasized the amplified opportunity that an organization could attain together
as opposed to dispersed individual efforts.
The newly elected president of COFO, Nolito V.
Neri, a seaman, shared his visions and plans for the organization which
included their aspiration to avail of the Mobile Information Technology
Training on top of other techno-transfer programs that the agency may provide.
Participated in by some 35 ex-OFWs and
beneficiaries, the event became a perfect avenue to campaign the programs and
services of the agency and explain the advocacy for the welfare and interest of
its member OFWs.
Acknowledging the difficult life treaded by
workers abroad, the agency carried out the values reorientation seminar that
aims to re-instill the essential Filipino values especially towards family and
relationships. DSWD training specialist Anafe Lecciones addressed the individual
characteristics and capabilities of each family member and their potential
contribution in maintaining stronger family ties notwithstanding the distance
that separates them.
Encompassing the innate traits the participants
already possessed, the values on money was also discussed by a representative
from DTI Surigao del Norte Lyza D. Trapal which tackled the skills in
efficiently managing family finances. Basic practices on minimizing expenses
through wise use of resources and the importance of saving was given emphasis
by Ms. Trapal.
The recently conducted two-day activity on July
28-29, 2015 was made possible through the support of the local government unit
of Claver.
Municipal Administrator Ernesto P. Sulapas
extended the government’s support in empowering the OFWs in their locality.
“We are looking forward to implementing programs
and projects intended to support the OFWs and in helping them elevate from
being ordinary home-makers to becoming contributors to the improvement of the
community as a whole,” Sulapas said. (OWWA Caraga/PIA-Caraga)
DTI-Surigao Norte intensifies consumer education
SURIGAO CITY, Surigao del Norte, Aug. 11 (PIA)
- A total of 68 residents of this city
learned their basic consumer rights during the Consumer Education Seminar
conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) at Barangay Sukailang
Multi-Purpose Hall here on August 4, 2015.
During the said seminar, participants were also
briefed on the technique of identifying quality products and the basic
procedures to lodge their complaint at the consumer welfare desk of the
business establishment in the event that they can purchase items with factory
defect.
The participants were made to understand that
considering their limited income level, they need to be responsible in making
wise purchasing decision to be able to save money.
They were also reminded that in making purchases
they have to carefully check on the exact product specification as well as the
quality and quantity they need.
This is because they cannot just return the
products to the seller for the reason that they have changed their mind, they
dislike the color or not sure of the exact dimensions. Hence, consumers also have to assume
responsibility in making a very informed decision while making purchases.
The DTI Team encouraged the group to continually
find ways to learn and educate themselves not only on consumerism but also on livelihood
and business development aspects to improve their socio-economic condition.
The DTI Team who provided consumer educational
inputs to the participants is composed of Rodrigo R. Matabaran, Supervising
Trade and Industry Development Specialist, Josephine D. Gabutin and Lourdes A.
Chua, both Trade and Industry Development Specialists. (SDR/DTI-SdN/PIA-Surigao
del Norte)
DA Caraga optimistic for Dinagat Islands to be
rabies-free
By Aurelius P. Arais
BUTUAN CITY, Aug. 11 (PIA) - The Department of
Agriculture (DA) Caraga region is optimistic that within this year the entire
province of Dinagat Islands (PDI) will be declared as Rabies Free Zone.
Last July 27-30, 2017, a team from the Bureau of
Animal Industry (BAI) and Department of Health (DOH) headed by National Rabies
Program Manager Dr. Raffy Deray conducted the final evaluation.
As per general guidelines, an area will be
eligible to de declared as rabies free zone if it has enacted a local ordinance
on the prevention and control of rabies and implemented localized comprehensive
rabies prevention and elimination program and notably no confirmed case of
rabies both on human and animal for the past two years.
Dr. Novelle Calub, one of the evaluators from BAI,
emphasized during the assessment in every municipality of the Dinagat Islands
that being conferred as rabies-free zone is an honor with corresponding
responsibilities.
“Acquiring a status as rabies free is a great
honor since it will send a strong signal of security to your visitors or
tourists yet it carries huge responsibility particularly on maintaining the
province rabies free,” Calub said.
Dr. Esther CardeΓ±o, Regional Animal Rabies
Coordinator said that DA Caraga and DOH with their provincial and municipal
counterparts have been working closely to help PDI compliant to all the
requirements particularly in the implementation of the rabies prevention and
control program.
If the evaluation reveals positive result, PDI
will be the first province to be declared as rabies free in Caraga Region in
addition to last years’ declaration of the island municipality of Soccoro,
Surigao del Norte.
Rabies, a fatal but preventable disease, remains
to be a significant public health concern in the country. In the National
Rabies Prevention and Control Program (NRPCP), the original plan is to work
towards the elimination of Rabies in 2020.
However, with the robust collaboration of the DOH,
DA and LGUs in partnership with other non-government and international organizations
such as the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the government is
optimistic to attain a rabies-free country by 2016.
The DA and DOH believe that eradicating rabies at
its source remains to be the key strategy thus its objective is to cover at
least 70 percent of the estimated dog population in the country to be
vaccinated against rabies.
Rabies, a zoonotic disease, causes 55,000 deaths
every year worldwide with 56 percent of the cases occurring in Asia.
In the Philippines, there are 200 - 250 deaths
every year mostly among children below 15 years of age.
To date, more than 20 areas in the country had
been declared as rabies free zone. (DA-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)
SurSur health office drums up school-based
immunization program
By Greg Tataro Jr.
TANDAG CITY, Surigao del Sur, Aug. 11 (PIA) – The
Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) here headed by Dr. Algerico Irizari
has started to drum up the school-based immunization (SBI) program of the
Department of Health (DOH).
According to Marilou Panilan, IPHO nutritionist-dietician
II/Provincial Adolescent Health Program Coordinator, who spoke on Monday before
capitol employees during the flag ceremony program hosted by the Tanggapan ng
Sangguniang Panlalawigan (TSP), this nationwide SBI program aims to protect the
health of school-aged children through immunization that helps eliminate
different contagious diseases, citing measles, German measles, tetanus, and
diphtheria, thereby boosting their immune system.
However, only public school pupils/students in
grade one and seven province-wide are set to be given a dose of the prescribed
vaccine for free within this month of August through injection on their
respective right and left arms, referring to Measles Containing Vaccine (MCV)
and Tetanus-Diptheria (Td) for the former and Measles-Rubella (MR) as well as
Tetanus-Diptheria for the latter, she clarified.
The IPHO coordinator bared some 11,360 pupils in
grade one and 8,564 in grade seven are the respective total number of
enrollment in the Department of Education Division Office of the province as of
June 2015, saying also that said data do not include the number of enrollment
in both Tandag City and Bislig City Divisions at the mentioned grade levels.
Panilan also pointed out the importance of
“CONSENT FORM” signed by parents or “guardian” of any child/student before
vaccine can be given.
With this information, she then shared the
necessary advisories in relation to the SBI as well as the reminders for the
possible side effects of the vaccines.
The SBI program is made possible through the joint
undertaking of the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Education (DepEd),
and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), it was learned.
(NGBT/Radyo ng Bayan-Tandag/PIA-Surigao del Sur)
DA, FAO collaborate towards rice sufficiency
By Aurelius P. Arais
BUTUAN CITY, Aug. 11 (PIA) - Reduce production
costs, increase yield and increase farmer’s income.
These are the focal point on the collaboration of
the Department of Agriculture (DA) and United Nations - Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) towards achieving food sufficiency.
To trickle down the concept, DA and FAO recently
conducted a 10-day extensive Refresher Training Course on Regional Rice
Initiative: Phase II at Veranda in Carmen town, Agusan del Norte.
The training was attended by 57 participants who
are mostly integrated pest management coordinators from DA regional offices and
provincial and municipal/city agriculture offices from various regions in the
country.
The training focused on innovative and sustainable
practices focusing on rice ecosystems, landscapes and value chain incorporated
on Save and Grow concept.
Save and Grow set by FAO is a new paradigm of
intensive crop production, one that is both highly productive and
environmentally sustainable. It focuses
on eco-friendly farming practices often combining traditional knowledge with
modern technologies that are adapted to the needs of small-scale producers. It
also encourages the use of conservation agriculture, which boosts yields while
restoring soil health.
Graduates of the said training are expected to
pass on the learning to the farmers through the conduct of Farmers Field
Schools (FFS).
During the graduation ceremony, DA undersecretary
for policy and planning Segfredo Serrano emphasized the importance of
capacitating the farmers to be resilient during calamities brought about by
climate change.
“There are only two options for us to do about
climate change, to mitigate or to adapt, which the latter is the best thing to
do as far as our country is concerned,” he said.
DA Caraga regional director Edna Mabeza lauded the
participants for the eagerness and willingness to learn.
“Education is a continuing process and I hope that
upon returning to your respective regions you will teach the same to the
farmers which is the objective of this kind of training,” Mabeza said.
FAO Asia and Pacific program development officer
Alma Linda Abubakar said that since 2013, FAO has supported the Regional Rice
Initiative and assisted three pilot countries such as Indonesia, Lao Peoples
Democratic Republic and Philippines.
“Selection of the pilot areas was based on the
commitment of each country to adhere to its purpose and its strong
cooperation,” Abubakar said.
Regional Rice Initiative is focusing on goods and
services produced by and available from rice ecosystems and landscapes, and
identifying and undertaking sustainable rice production practices to enhance
resilience and increase efficiencies in rice production to improve food
security.
The regional initiative is aligned with FAO’s
strategic objective to make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive
and sustainable and its sustainable crop intensification policy, promoted under
the banner of Save and Grow. (DA-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)
