‘Bisaya Gyud’ team facilitates successful operation of Surigaonon mother
By Doreen Marielle N. Rosales
BUTUAN CITY, Oct. 26 (PIA)-- Months after her successful operation on
cancer of the saliva gland in July, the ‘Bisaya Gyud’ team visited Mary Jane
Ocampo on October 23, 2020 to check on her current health status.
Ocampo, 28 years old and a native of Surigao del Norte, sought help from
the Bisaya Gyud program to have her Stage 4 parotid mucoepidermoid carcinoma, a
cancer of the salivary glands, treated. Such concern was then voiced to
concerned authorities. The team then visited her temporary residence in Cainta,
Rizal in June to facilitate her needs. Through the aid provided by the
Malasakit Center and the Office of Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go
(OSBG), she then underwent an operation at the Philippine General Hospital
(PGH) a month after.
Mary Grace Ocampo, Mary Jane’s sister who accompanied her throughout the
operation, recounts that the operation was anything but smooth. Prior to it, Mary
Jane tested positive for COVID-19 which caused further delays. But all
throughout, the Malasakit Center team, as well as the hospital staff, was
accommodating to their needs, which helped ease their plight.
“We had to wait for her recovery before she could have her operation
done. We were really worried but thankfully the staff members of the Malasakit
Center and the PGH always made sure to check on us.”
The Malasakit Center also shouldered all the expenses for the operation,
which amounted to P200,778. According to Mary Grace, it only took them less
than a day for the transactions to be processed, which was a huge relief for
them.
The Ocampo sisters expressed their deepest thanks to the swift response
provided by the center and to those who readily provided aid for their
situation.
“We are truly thankful for the immediate aid provided to us, especially
to the team making up the Malasakit Center and to Senator Bong Go who was just
as active in responding to our needs. We are also thankful to Secretary Martin
Andanar and the Bisaya Gyud team. Without them, help wouldn’t have come our
way,” Mary Grace said.
The OSBG team provided food packs to the Ocampo sisters while financial
assistance was provided by the Bisaya Gyud team under its Operation Tabang.
Now that her operation is done, Mary Jane expressed her desire to go
home to her family and continue her recovery period in her hometown and asked
help from Senator Go.
“I would like to seek help from the senator. It’s hard for me to
continue my recovery while I’m away from my family. I badly want to go home and
be with my family.”
The Bisaya Gyud team assured that her concern would be voiced
immediately to the senator’s office. (DMNR/PIA-Caraga)
AgNor LCE lauds DA-NFA’s palay procurement program
By Aurelius P. Arais
BUTUAN CITY, Oct. 26 -- The local chief executive of Las Nieves, Agusan
del Note lauded the government’s palay procurement program through the
Department of Agriculture-National Food Authority (DA-NFA) for buying palay
from the local farmers.
“With the low buying price of the private traders, the government
procurement program allows our farmers to earn more,” Mayor Avelina
Rosales said.
The buying price of DA-NFA is P19.00 per kilo, clean and dry, much
higher than the private traders.
Amielou Jane Mendoza, information officer of DA-NFA Caraga revealed that
based on their monitoring, private traders are buying from the farmers at the
average price of P14.63 per kilo for fresh harvest and P16.95 per kilo for
clean and dry.
Rosales is grateful to NFA for establishing a buying station in their
town catering to the harvest of Las Nieves rice farmers.
“As our contribution to the government procurement program, the local
government unit is assisting our farmers to have their fresh harvest dried in
the Village Type Dryer (VTD) provided by the DA-Caraga for a very minimal fee,”
Leonito Pasquito, the Municipal Agriculturist said.
Farmers who will bring in their fresh harvest on the VTD will just have
to pay .85 cents per kilo, and DA-NFA will buy the dried palay, thus ensuring a
sure market of farmer’s produce at a higher price.
“We are so thankful to the Department of Agriculture for giving us a
Village Type Dryer capable of processing both corn and rice, it is a big boost
for our farmers in the locality,” Pasquito explained.
Las Nieves is a recipient of two Village Type Dryer from the Department
of Agriculture, one located at Brgy. Pinanaan, and another one at Brgy.
Malitacato, and some Multi-Purpose Drying Pavement (MPDP) through various
farmer’s association.
“As of October 17, 2020, our VTD had already dried around 12,000 bags
and the dried palay had been purchased by DA-NFA,” Pasquito revealed.
He said that as the harvest of corn is also on the way, the post-harvest
facility is a big boost to the locality’s agriculture sector.
DA is assisting the farmers through the provision of pre and
post-harvest facility (PPHF) to minimize losses and maintain the quality of the
products.
Recently, Regional Executive Director Abel James I. Monteagudo visited
the project and other DA-assisted interventions to ensure continuous food
production amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (DA Caraga/PIA Agusan del Norte)
PNP joins TESDA in
providing skills trainings to Butuan’s RCSP priority villages
By Robert E. Roperos
BUTUAN CITY, Oct. 26 -- The Philippine National Police (PNP) joins with
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in providing
skills training to residents of Brgy. Antongalon here.
This development came after TESDA-Agusan del Norte Provincial Director
Rey M. Cueva has discussed on October 22, 2020 in a meeting with Butuan City
Police Office (BCPO) Director PCol. Canilo Fuentes, Antongalon Brgy. Capt.
Epefania D. Antoquia, and some police officers of this city on the possible
interventions to be given to residents of the said barangay.
Director Cueva said that one of the skills trainings that are lined-up
is the Organic Vegetable Production which is being pushed by TESDA Sec. Isidro
S. Lapena to allow the local community to obtain self-sufficiency in food
production.
Other livelihood trainings that are put in place are: rug-making,
soap-making, floor wax-making, banana chips, cake, buko pie and buko
halo-halo-making. “By teaching the local residents of these trainings, we are
hoping that this can help the community in their livelihood,” Cueva said.
Barangay Antongalon is one of the 14 barangays of this city that is
given priority by the Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP).
The CSP is a program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
Development Support and Security Plan (DSSP) dubbed as “Kapayapaan,” which is a
multi-stakeholder and community-based peace and development effort aimed to
establish and protect a conflict-affected community. It aims to identify issues
of the communities and introduce developmental interventions to resolve these
issues that the community itself identified. However, the CSP is limited with
resources in addressing issues and gaps due to limited resources and
participation of other National Government Agencies (NGAs).
Thus, the RCSP was formulated in order the strengthen the CSP
initiatives of the military and making the effort of Local Government Units
driven. With the implementation of the RCSP, Local Chief Executives will be the
champions of the RCSP through their programs, projects and activities (PPAs)
that are geared towards institutionalizing sustainable peace and development. (TESDA
Agusan del Norte, PIA Agusan del Norte)
From ink to link
towards dev't
By Aurelius Arais
A project proposal is a stepping stone towards the realization of a
much-needed change and development.
Thus, the Department of Agriculture (DA) - Caraga conducted specialized
training for its staff for a project proposal writing dubbed as “Writing a
Winning Project Proposal In Response to COVID-19 Pandemic” on Sept. 8-10, 2020
for the first batch and Oct. 6-8, 2020 for the second batch.
”This training aimed to capacitate DA personnel especially those at the
forefront of assisting our farmer associations or organizations in coming up
with a viable project proposal,” said Rebecca Atega, OIC-Regional Technical
Director for Operations.
With the current guidelines on accessing government financial support or
project will be proposal-based, the training is a big boost for DA-Caraga
frontliners.
“In my experience, a winning proposal must include the farmers in
conceptualizing and drafting stage to make it viable and realistic,” said Dr.
Victor Emmanuel Ozarraga, a consultant of Gawad Kalinga Community Development
Foundation and resource person of the training.
Ozarraga said that any financial institutions whether government or
private will finance a project if the proposal itself not just speaks about the
importance of the project but how attainable.
The said training is a collaboration of DA-Caraga Regional Office and
DA-Agricultural Training Institute (DA-ATI). (DA13-RAFIS/PIA-Caraga)
Olympic-size swimming pool sa Surigao del Norte binuksan na sa publiko
By Venus L. Garcia
LUNGSOD NG SURIGAO, Surigao del Norte, Oktubre 26 (PIA) -- Isang
50-meter Olympic-size swimming pool ang benindisyunan at binuksan kamakailan sa
loob ng Provincial Sports omplex sa pamamagitan ng isang simple at
makabuluhang selebrasyon.
Ang pagbubukas ng bagong olympic size swimming pool ay naglalayun na
palakasin ang inisyatibo ng provincial government na ma promote at mapaigting
pa ang mabuting kalusugan ng mga surigaonon kahit sa gitna ng pandemya na
kinakaharap ng bansa.
Ang nasabing selebrasyon ay inumpisan isang motorcade paikot sa syudad
patungo sa provincial sports complex at sumunod na ang blessing na pinangunahan
ni Fr. Larry Espuerta at isinunod din ang inagurasyon sa pangunguna ni
Gobernador Francisco Matugas kasama ang iba pang lokal na opisyal ng probinsya
ng Surigao del Norte at lungsod ng Surigao.
“Kahit pa sa nararanasang pandemya buo pa rin ang paniwala ko na
kailangan pa rin ng probinsya na mapanatili ang mabuting kalusugan ng mga
Surigaonon sa pamamagitan ng reconstruction sa nasabing swimming pool na
magiging importanteng bahagi ng buhay ng bawat Surigaonon,” ani Gob.
Matugas.
Samantala laking pasasalamat naman ni Edwin Ausa, ang kasalukuyang
provincial wellness sports and youth development officer, dahil aniya
makakatulong ang nasabing swimming pool sa mga studyante ng ibat’ ibang
paaralan sa Surigao del Norte na gustong mag-ensayo kasama na ang mga residente
na gusto ring maligo.
“Basically, itong swimming pool na ito will cater all those who are here
in the mainland. I'm sure in the future we can have superstars in terms of
swimming," ani Ausa.
Pero kasabay ng pagtaas ng kaso ng COVID-19 sa probinsya, pansamantala munang isinara sa publiko ang pag gamit sa nasabing swimming pool. (VLG/SDR/PIA-Surigao del Norte)
