(PAGASA 24-HOUR PUBLIC WEATHER FORECAST as of Wednesday, 27 March 2024) Easterlies affecting the eastern section of the country. Butuan City, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur will experience Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms due to Easterlies / Localized Thunderstorms. Possible flash floods or landslides during severe thunderstorms.


PIA News Service - Wednesday, October 3, 2012


Army treats 500 indigents in Agusan del Sur

PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur, Oct. 3 (PIA) -- Some 500 indigenous people were aided by the medical-dental civic action program (Medcap) conducted by Army’s 401 Infantry (Unity) Brigade at Barangay New Maug, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur on October 02.

Cpt. Rojel Omictin, commanding officer of Charlie Battery, 10th Field Artillery Battalion, 401B spearheaded the Medcap together with the medical teams of the Unity Brigade and the local government unit of Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur.

Omictin said the 401st Brigade under the leadership of Col. Romeo G. Gan rendered free medical consultation, dental extraction and circumcision to the populace of Barangay New Maug to treat prevalent diseases and illnesses in the area.

“Based on our research, fever, hypertension, skin diseases, cough, arthritis, tooth decay, and uncircumcised male children are the common health problems in the area. Our troops also gave free haircut to the recipients,” Omictin said.

Medcap was also participated in by top local government officials of Agusan del Sur, namely Gina A. Ceballo, executive assistant for Health Services, and Albin D. Magdamit, mayor of Prosperidad.

Gan said the government is doing their utmost support to provide health services to everybody, especially those in need.

“This Medcap is a Bayanihan effort between Army troopers and other local government agencies to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters in far-flung barangays who cannot afford to go to expensive hospitals for consultation and medication,” Gan said.

The activity was also highlighted with slippers given to children, and Mayor Magdamit distributed PhilHealth cards to beneficiaries. (4ID, PA/RER/NLM/PIA-Caraga)


DENR offers remedy to illegal logging woes in Caraga Region

By Eric F. Gallego

BUTUAN CITY, Oct. 3 (PIA) -- A Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) official here has offered solutions to end the illegal logging problem in the region and asked members of the civil society, religious group, and local government executive officials for their total support in the campaign.

Regional Executive Regional Director for Caraga Region Marlo D. Mendoza, who is also DENR assistant secretary, said illegal logging which has bound the lives of many people to poverty in Caraga Region particularly those living in upland communities can be solved with the total participation of everybody working together under one direction.

Mendoza was the keynote speaker of the recent Environment Summit of the Caraga Conference for Peace and Development (CCPD) on September 21, held at the Bishop Palace in Butuan City with the theme “ Environmental Defense.”

Mendoza said the DENR “is moving towards the objective of solving the problem of poverty which has enslaved the people in the upland communities, who, in order to survive, would often resort to illegal logging and mining activities.” He said Caraga Region has maintained its position at the second spot of the list of the poorest regions in the country notwithstanding its rich natural resources.

He said that one remedy being worked out by the DENR is the creation of the Forest Industry Economic Cluster (FIEC) in strategic areas of the region which can boost livelihood opportunities for the people in the upland barangays whose means of income is through cutting trees in residual forest areas.

Mendoza said that through the FEIC strategy, all confiscated logs and lumber that are prone to deterioration are taken in the specified clustered area where they are quickly processed for the manufacture of armchairs or materials for veneer and plywood products of several wood-processing plants.

“The government through the FEIC can generate jobs through manufacturing of DepEd chairs, fixtures and wood processing and revenues from sale of chairs, novelty items made of woods,” he said.

Mendoza said most of the people affected by the imposition of the Executive Order 21 are poor and dependent on timber industry for a living. He said these people have been dislocated and therefore need assistance considering that cutting of trees in natural and residual forests are banned throughout the country.

He said the other remedy is the implementation of the “Forest Certification System" as a permanent solution to illegal harvesting of trees. He added that the DENR has introduced a “timber-tracking system” to discourage cutting of trees in residual and natural forest areas and ensure chain of custody and legality of sources entering and delivered to wood-processing plants.

He said that for purposes of monitoring, all raw materials being delivered to wood-processing plants, henceforth, shall be geo-tagged to discourage illegal logging. This means all wood products being transported to wood-processing plants will contain a “bar code” to identify them as extracted from legal source.

The DENR also encourages the development of plantation areas where farmers can plant fast-growing species such as falcata, bagrass, acacia mangium and dipterocarp species such as lauan to supply the requirement of the wood-processing plants. Mendoza said there is a bigger demand for veneer and plywood products in the country as the housing and construction industry are improving.

He said efforts are being done by the DENR to encourage upland farmers and indigenous people (IP) to participate in the National Greening Program to augment the supply of raw wood material requirement of the wood industry. The Department of Social Welfare and Development, for the meantime, while qualified upland farmers are waiting for harvest of trees, will provide the Conditional Cash Transfer to sustain their living.

He said the DENR is also working on other possible solutions in which the IPs are given royalty in protecting government-owned plantations, including the former Timber Concession Areas of the PICOP Industry in Bislig City, SUDECOR in Surigao del Sur and NALCO in Agusan del Norte.

“We need to revive the timber industry in the region and discourage illegal logging," Mendoza said.

The DENR, he said, is targeting to plant tree seedlings in about 100,000 hectares of open forest land over the next five years in different planting sites throughout the region. "We are comfortable that we can achieve this target with the total support and cooperation of our partners and the people in the 1,300 barangays in the entire Caraga Region," Mendoza said. (RER/NCLM/DENR-13/PIA-Caraga)


Cebuano news: Ang Palasyo miingon nga gidugangan na ang mga kapulisan para sa seguridad sa pagprotektar sa mga Langyaw sa Metro Manila

Ni Nida Grace B. Tranquilan

SURIGAO DEL SUR, Oct. 3 (PIA) -- Ag Malakanyang mihatag og kasigurohan niadtong Sabado nga ang mga langyaw, ilabina ang mga Amerikano padayon nga magpabilin nga luwas sa Metro Manila bisan luyo sa mga pahayag nga gipagawas sa embahada sa Estados Unidos nga ang mga Amerikano kinahanglan magbansaybansay ug ayo samtang anaa sa Matro Manila.

Ang Embahada sa US sa Manila mihatag ug pahimangno sa mga langyaw nga ang hulga batok sa mga Amerikano sa maong dapit, labina sa mga kasikbitg nga syudad sa Pasay, natiktikan sa mga kapiyalang security forces.

Sa pakighinabi sa dzRB Radyo ng Bayan kang Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte siya miingon, nga ang National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) nga ang seuridad gipalig-on na sa Metro Manila para sa kalinaw ug seguridad taliwala sa mga protesta nga gihimo sa mga Muslims batok sa kontrobersyal nga pelikula.

“Nagka-estorya na kami ni General Espina ng NCRPO niadtong miageng adlaw ug ang sekyuridad gipalapdan na. Mao nga, sa wala pa mogawas anga maong balita, gipapalapdan na ang sekyuridad sa NCRPO labina ang mga pasilidad sa US doul sa Roxas Boulevard (“We spoke with General Espina of the NCRPO yesterday (Friday) and security has been augmented. So, bago pa lumabas yung balitang ‘yan nag-augment na ng security ang NCRPO particularly to the US facility along Roxas boulevard”)," ingon ni Valte. “As a matter of precaution we have already augmented security.”

Gikan sa paglingkod ni General Espina isip hepe sa NCRPO, naobserbahan sa publiko ang pag-katataw sa mga kapulisan sa sa Metro Manila. Matud pa ni Valte ang pagdugang sa Philippine National Police mao usab ang pag implementar sa bag-ong systema sa “areas of responsibility.”

Ang PNP kon kapulisan estriktong mibaton sa walo ka oras nga turnohay sa mga personahe ug gikinahanglan nga sila mobaton ug two-minute nga pagresponde atol kon naay tawag sa publiko nga naginahanglan ug tabang gikan sa kapulisan, ang opisyal sa palasyo miingon.

Sa pagpangutana sa mga reporters kabahin sa plano sa gobyerno sa pagprotektar sa publiko gikan sa padayong pagprotesta, Si Valte miingon walay ilahang nakita nga gibuhat nga maingon nga bayolente.

“Let’s be fair. So far ang protesta nagmalinawon ug nagmahusayon,” matud pa niya. (RER/NGBT/PIA-Surigao del Sur)


Cebuano news: Aquino gitudlo si Padaca isip Comelec commissioner

Ni Susil D. Ragas

SURIGAO CITY, Oct. 3 (PIA) -- Gitudlo ni Pangulong Benigno S. Aquino III si kanhi Isabela Governor Grace Padaca isip commissioner sa Commission on Elections hangtod February 2018.

Sa iyang sulat pinitsahan Septeyembre 28, 2012, gimandoan ni Pangulong Aquino ang Commission on Appointments nga dalion ang kumpirmasyon ni Palaca isip Comelec commissioner.

Natawo niadtong Oktubre 25, 1963, si Padaca nahimong Certified Public Accountant human migradwar nga magna cum laude sa Lyceum of the Philippines, Manila.

Bisan pa nga sa iyang pagkabata siya naigo sa sakit nga polio nga maoy hinungdan sa pagkaparalisa sa iyang duha ka mga paa, siya nahimong maimpluwensyang tigsibya sa Isabea, midasig sa mga taga Isabela aron masabtan ang mga isyu sa civil ug politika ug aron makigbisog alang sa unsay sakto ug makatarunganon.

Si Padaca nahimong prominente niadtong tuig 2004 sa dihang iyang gipildi si governor Faustino Dy Jr., ang miyembro sa political dynasty nga maoy nagahari sa Isabela sulod sa 40 ka tuig. Niadtong Mayo tuig 2007 siya subling napili isip governador sa Isabela human niya gipildi si kanhi governor Benjamin Dy.

Lakip sa mga awards na iyang nadawat mao ang Ramon Magsaysay award for Government Service, 2008; United States Department of State Woman of Courage award, 2007; Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. Fellowship for Professional Development award, 2006; ug ang First CEO Excel Awards, 2005.

Siya uban usab nila kanhi Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio ug kanhi Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo maoy nagtukod sa Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership nga gitawag KAYA NATIN. (RER/FEA/PIA-Surigao del Norte)