DAR Caraga distributes farming facilities, checks
to CARP beneficiaries
By Daisy Jane M. Apit
BUTUAN CITY, June 17 (PIA) – The Department of
Agrarian Reform (DAR) Caraga distributed on Tuesday common service facilities
and checks to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) beneficiaries
during their 2nd celebration of Ani at Biyaya ng CARP held at the Robinsons
Place, this city.
The department had given 11 tractors, 17 rice
threshers, four power tilt cultivators and two reapers to Agusan del Norte,
Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Islands agrarian
beneficiaries.
All of the mentioned facilities were part of the
Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Services (ARCCESS). It is a
project implemented by DAR to help improve productivity and income of agrarian
reform beneficiaries (ARBs) through their organizations. Specifically, the
project seeks to strengthen the business units of the ARB organizations, so
that they can eventually manage business assets or activities related to farm
production, post-harvest, marketing and processing.
In order to address the credit requirements of the
agrarian reform beneficiaries' organizations (ARBOs), DAR in a joint
partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Land Bank of the
Philippines (LBP) has distributed checks amounted to P6,975,000 to the ARBOs,
that are not eligible to access the banks regular lending window.
Another set of checks worth P1, 291,087 was also
handed to the beneficiaries as insurance protection through premium subsidy to
Agrarian Credit Production Credit Program (APCP)/ Credit Assistance Program for
Program Beneficiaries Development (CAP-PBD) against crop losses arising from
natural calamities, plant diseases and pest manifestation.
DAR Caraga regional director Julita Ragandang
bared that as of December 2014, the department had already distributed 92
percent of the lands to the agrarian beneficiaries.
"As your newly-appointed DAR Caraga regional
director, I am committed to work. Although there are challenges, expect our
full commitment - from me and the rest of my team. DAR, with our efforts, will
be a more vibrant and productive regional department," said Ragandang.
"I want to emphasize to our employees our
goal as provided in our 1987 constitution and our existing agrarian reform laws
to protect our farmers' rights through providing them the land titles. We will
be facing different challenges and trials, but we will not give up. As
implementers, we are determined to really contribute to the betterment of the
beneficaries and the attainment of food security, among others," added
Ragandang.
Right after the opening ceremony, Ragandang
together with assistant regional director Daylinda Narisma, DA Caraga regional
director Edna Mabeza and DAR provincial agrarian reform officers (PAROs) led
the ribbon-cutting of the photo gallery exhibit and mini-trade fair at the Main
Atrium of the Robinsons Place, here. (JPG/DJA/PIA-Caraga)
DENR Caraga declared best delivery unit
By Maria Catherine M. Gonzaga
BUTUAN CITY, June 17 (PIA) – The Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Caraga was declared Best Delivery Unit
nationwide based on the performance assessment done by the Performance
Management Group Sub-committees for Peformance-Based Bonus.
The undersecretary for Policy, Planning and
Foreign-Assisted Programs Manuel D. Gerochi in his memorandum on June 9, 2015
said the region had performed well in almost all assessed offices.
“The final overall rating of the region was 4.266,
which is equivalent to an adjectival rating of 'very satisfactory,'” USEC
Gerochi said.
DENR Caraga regional director Nonito M. Tamayo
cited some of the accomplishments of the region for 2014 to 2015 during the
28th DENR Anniversary.
“Caraga has been well known for illegal logging
for so many years especially during the 70’s but these incidents were managed
to be brought down with the imposition of Executive Order 23 on February 2011
declaring a moratorium of timber harvesting in the natural and residual forest
over the next 25 years,” Tamayo said.
He added that since 2013 to date, there has been a
steady decline in the record of apprehensions of forest products in the Caraga
Region. Based on the report of the DENR 13 Technical Services Enforcement Division,
the record of confiscated forest products has dropped to 1,931,305.71 board
feet in 2014 from 2,585,833.53 board feet in 2011.
In addition to this, out of the 17 hotspots in
Caraga, only 11 were left after six areas have been neutralized, namely:
Esperanza, Rosario, Talacogon, Barobo, Carmen, and Cagdianao.
“To cushion the effect of this campaign to the
people of Caraga especially those who are dependent on this industry, Executive
Order 26 or the National Greening Program was implemented on 2011. This year,
we have a target of 43,749.37 hectares including the supplemental targets
compared to the 18, 736 has. And 16,676 has. In 2013 and 2014, respectively.
The accomplishment of this target is expected to create job opportunities and
income generation,” Tamayo said.
Another accomplishment of the region was the
cadastral survey which was finally done last March 2015. A total of 73 cities
and municipalities have already an approved surveys for both contested and
uncontested lands wherein five are still under verification due to old records
- a century old project which was finally ended this year.
Tamayo attributed the good performance of DENR 13
to the support of the Philippine National Police, Philippine Army, Academe,
Church, LGUs, Media, Civil Society Organizations and the people of Caraga.
“We owe this to our people, to all of us. This is
the product of our hardwork and endless effort in achieving our targets. Let
this serve as a motivation for all of us to continue striving for excellence,”
Tamayo said.
“I would like to commend all of you for getting
this done and congratulations to all of us,” he added. (DENR-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)
DTI Surigao Norte reminds public on 'No Return, No
Exchange' policy
By Rodrigo R. Matabaran
SURIGAO CITY, Surigao del Norte, June 17 (PIA) –
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Surigao del Norte provincial director
Celestino Negapatan reminded business establishments posting of the "No
return, no exchange policy" signage is prohibited by law.
"Under Republic Act 7394 otherwise known as
the Consumer Act of the Philippines, the 'No Return, No Exchange' policy of
some business establishments is not allowed and strictly prohibited,"
explained Negapatan.
Negapatan said, when an item bought is defective,
a customer is entitled for a repair, replacement or refund under the law.
He pointed out that establishments still
practicing the 'No Return, No Exchange' trading policy has to be reported to
the DTI.
He said however that the repair, replace, refund
arrangement will apply only when a product purchased by consumers is defective
and having inherent problem resulting not from misuse and abuse of the buyer.
Moreover, products that malfunction because the
buyer did not properly follow the instruction of the operation manual that goes
with the item will not be entitled for the repair, replacement or refund
mechanism as provided for under the Consumer Act.
He advised consumers that before buying products
whether groceries, electronic gadgets or any items one has to be sure that what
they are buying are products they really need.
This is because they cannot just return or asked
for replacement on products they bought for reason that they change their mind
and no longer interested to use it.
For those interested to know more about consumer
related laws are encouraged to visit the Consumer Welfare Desk of the DTI
Provincial Office located at the 2nd Floor, Simtoco Building, Burgos Street,
this city or call telephone number 826-6129 or 09195971199. (SDR/DTI-Surigao
del Norte/PIA-Surigao del Norte)
DENR inaugurates 3 checkpoints in Davao, Caraga
By Eric Gallego
BUNAWAN, Agusan del Sur, June 17 (PIA) - The Department
of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has established three additional
forest monitoring checkpoints in Davao and Caraga regions as it strengthened up
its campaign to bring down illegal logging and timber poaching incidence to
zero level by the end of June 2015.
“It's a tall order from DENR Secretary Ramon JP
Paje who gave instruction to all DENR regional directors earlier to bring
illegal logging incidence down to the zero level at least by the end of June
this year,” Regional Director Nonito Tamayo of DENR 13 said during an
interview.
“We expect people’s support and actively
participate in this all-out campaign to slow down if not eradicate the illegal
logging problem in our areas of concern,” DENR Region 11 Director Joselin
Marcus Fragada said.
The two DENR top regional executives led the
inauguration of what they call “common checkpoint“ that they have put up at
Barangay Rizal in Monkayo, Compostela Valley on Wednesday.
“We thought it practical to put up a common forest
monitoring checkpoint near the border of Agusan del Sur and Mokayo, Compostela
Valley to control the transport of illegal logs coming from Bislig, Surigao del
Sur, Agusan del Sur and Davao,“ Tamayo said.
The other two other checkpoints are located in the
boundary of Laac, Compostela Valley and Loreto, Agusan del Sur and Linging
Surigao del Sur and Boston in Davao Oriental.
“We hope these strategic locations of forest
checkpoints would discouraged the timber smugglers and poachers,” Fragada said.
The inauguration ceremony was also attended by
local officials, the commanding officers of Philippine National Police based in
that area and the Philippine Army namely PSupt. Jay Gacis Dema Ala, chief of
PNP Mocayo; PSupt. Albert Ignatius D. Ferro, OIC, PNP Provincial Director,
Compostela Valley; Lt.Col. Gilbert S. Ruiz, Batallion Commander of the 66th
Infantry Batallion, PA; Lt. Col.. Michelle Amayron, Jr., Batallion Commander of
the 26th Infantry Batallion, PA; Mayor Joselito Brillantes of Monkayo; PENR
Officer Pablito Ofrecia of Compostela; PENR Officer Rosendo Asunto, Surigao del
Sur; OIC, PENR Officer Roberto Oliveros , Agusan del Sur; the CENR Officer of
Maco, Rogelio M. Hermo; the CENR Officer of Monkayo Martiniano Ratol; the DENR
11 ARD for Technical Services Felix M. Alicer; and the OIC CENR Officers of
Bayugan, Jerome Albia; Luis Gonzaga of Talacogon,; Modesto Lagumbay of Bunawan;
Melvin Bustillo; and Precilio Penaloga of Loreto.
Tamayo has emphasized the newly established forest
monitoring center shall be also known as ”Monitoring and Public Assistance
Center“ which will serve as information center where anyone can come and learn
something about environment in particular about the climate change, the national
greening program and many other topics on environment.
He said the DENR in the two regions have laid out
strategies in intensified anti-illegal logging campaign to stop illegal logging
at all cost and by all means in keeping with the commitment they made with
Secretary Paje.
He said the PNP and the Philippine Army commanders
have likewise vowed to give their full commitment and support to the DENR to
accomplish the DENR target goal.
The forest monitoring and public, as agreed upon
by the officials of Region 11 and 13 shall be manned by at least 10 personnel
coming from the two regions, supplied with uniforms and backed up by other parties
from multi-sector groups.
According to Fragada, the DENR is constrained to
open a container van. Nevertheless, he said, the closed- container van drivers
shall be requested d to produce documents and checked by the operatives at the
checkpoints.
“Maybe this strategy may deter log smugglers and
have second thoughts in transporting undocumented forest products,’ Fragada
added.
Tamayo also said the DENR 13 operatives shall
concentrate its operations on 11 hot spots of illegal logging activities in the
region. (DENR-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)
DOST holds meat processing training in Siargao
town
BUTUAN CITY, June 17 (PIA) - The Department of
Science and Technology (DOST) Caraga through its Provincial Science and
Technology Center (PSTC) in Surigao del Norte (SDN) and the Food and Nutrition
Research Institute (FNRI), conducted the second set of training on Advance Meat
Processing held recently in Burgos, Siargao Island, SDN.
A total of 34 members from the Rural Improvement
Club (RIC) in Burgos together with six personnel from the Municipal Agriculture
Office were in attendance during the said training.
The activity was aimed to provide the stakeholders
scientifically based meat processing techniques, it was learned.
“Nagpasalamat gajud ako na wala gihikaw sa DOST
(staff) na magpadala ug trainors diri sa lungsod sa Burgos [I am very much
thankful that DOST did not repudiate to send trainers here in Burgos],” Rosalinda
G. Selisana, RIC Burgos President, said on her opening remarks.
“This activity will help you (RIC members) improve
your skills and will give you more ideas on processing variety of meat
products,” said PSTC – Surigao del Norte officer-in-charge Godoberto L. Amora.
The two-day training covered the preparation of
tocino, tapa, longanisa, chicken ham, and siomai. Participants were also taught by the resource
persons from FNRI on food safety and proper product price computations;
considering all the underlying costs of production and conservative rate of
margin to use.
RIC Burgos, thru the local government unit,
received a Grant-In Aid (GIA) Fund of
P292,116.00 from DOST- Caraga as part of the Community Empowerment thru
Science and Technology (CEST) intervention in Burgos, Surigao del Norte for
their economic/livelihood development. The said amount was used for the
procurement of meat processing equipment such as meat grinder, meat slicer,
meat mixer, sausage stuffer, vacuum sealer and chest freezer.
The members had already participated a three-day
technology training on meat processing and orientation seminar on Food Safety
and GMP conducted last November 26-28, 2014,
and of training on proper machine operation and maintenance of meat processing equipment
on April 6-7 this year.
“Nagapangandoy ako na aduna pay additional
training na (amo) panganduyon (I am hoping that there are still other
additional trainings that we could hope for),” Selisana said. (GJdarconada,
DOST-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)
Feature: Sharing PhilHealth success story in LGU
Lianga
It was not so long ago when the Municipal
Accountant’s Office of the local government unit (LGU) of Lianga, Surigao del
Sur was almost burning both ends of the candle to address documentary
requisites imposed by hospitals to all employees of the LGU who are PhilHealth
members.
Both the accounting office and member-employees
were heavily burdened by the complex requisites that resulted to a less
systematic and tedious practice of public service.
Issues like numerous documents that each
member is required to
submit so they can avail of the premium benefits and to free them from the
financial encumbrances of shelling out hefty amounts of money to pay hospital
bills, as well as the snail-paced procedure of accomplishing the multitude of
requirements being asked of them to comply with, are just among the many
reasons the old system was not acceptable. Worse, when these requirements are
not completed, patients may be held longer in the hospital even if they are
ready for check out.
With the advent of the Electronic Premium
Remittance System (EPRS) in December 2011 and LGU's pilot- testing in January
2012, many things have changed. Speed and convenience became the trademark of
the system. Both the accounting office and the members were relieved from the
inconvenience of the old school and began to appreciate the ease that this new
system advocated.
The procedure is simplified, the number of papers
is stripped down to only a
few, and the time needed to comply with the requirements is reduced
significantly that the hospital need not hold the patient as documents can
almost instantly be produced for submission.
Today, PhilHealth members of LGU-Lianga no longer
need to spend money to photocopy receipts of payments (M5) and the RF. They
need not wait long while the accounting staff member is patiently scanning
through their dusty files. The office is also free from the hassle
of scourging through the
member files. There is no
need to argue with impatient members as
discrepancies in payment record and errors in member details have been
eradicated, thus, allowing the office to improve its customer service. This
system in itself is a picture of a total quality service management as
everything is now put in order with the use of EPRS. (LGU Lianga, Surigao del
Sur/PIA-Caraga)
Duterte to grace 55th Araw ng Surigao del Sur
celebration
By Greg Tataro Jr.
TANDAG CITY, Surigao del Sur, June 17 (PIA) –
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao city is set to grace the occasion of 55th Araw
ng Surigao del Sur celebration on June 19, 2015 as guest of honor and speaker.
A week ago, Governor Johnny Pimentel bared that
Duterte is going to be the main man during the founding anniversary program of
the province to be held at the city gymnasium at 2:00 p.m.
Meanwhile, based on the letter of Governor
Pimentel dated June 10, 2015 to all concerned, particularly heads of offices, local
and national, a Thanksgiving Mass at 6:00 a.m. at San Nicolas de Tolentino
Cathedral is going to mark the opening of the series of continuing activities
for the day while in the afternoon, at 1:00 p.m., a grand parade will precede
the founding anniversary program.
Everybody is expected to swarm on the occasion,
especially employees of national and local government here.
June 19 is a local holiday based on Republic Act
7671 or “An Act Declaring June 19 of Every Year as ‘Araw Ng Surigao del Sur’
and Special Nonworking Holiday in the Entire Province,” which lapsed into law
on January 10, 1994 without the President’s (Fidel Ramos) signature, pursuant
to Sec. 27(1), Article VI of the Constitution.
This year’s activities for Araw Ng Surigao del Sur
have already started on June 15 with sports fest and other highlights.
However, big events are going to begin today, June
17 which include motorcade, Agri-Trade Fair, and more. (NGBT/Radyo ng
Bayan-Tandag/PIA-Surigao del Sur)
Cebuano News: Education caravan nagpadayon sa mga
munisipyo sa Surigao Norte
Ni Mary Jul E. Escalante
SURIGAO CITY, Surigao del Norte, Hunyo 17 (PIA) –
Ang Meet and Greet ug Education Caravan ni Governor Sol F. Matugas gipahigayon
niadtong Lunes, Hunyo 15,2015 sa General Luna Central Elementary School ug sa
Dapa East ug West Districts Schools.
Kuyog sa gobernador si Kongresista Francisco T.
Matugas, ang Team Capitol, Board Member Mamerto Galanida, Leonita Gorgolon mga
opisyales sa General Luna ug opisyales sa Dapa pinanguluhan ni Mayor Yulie
Ruaya.
Atol sa maong kalihukan gipahibalo ni Kongresista
Matugas ang pag aprobar sa House Bill (HB) No. 4307 or "An Act
Establishing the Siargao Island Sports Academy and Training Center in the
Municipality of Dapa, Province of Surigao del Norte and Appropriating Funds
Therefor" niadtong Hunyo 2 ning tuiga, diin usa kini sa lima ka mga HB nga
giaprobahan nga mao ang Davao, Misamis Occidental, Cavite, Luzon ug Siargao.
Dugang gipahibalo sa Kongresista ang pagtukod sa
4-storey 20 classrooms building sa Dapa Central Elem. School nga idonar sa
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR).
Sa samang adlaw, sa Kapitolyo Nan Siargao, mga
punong barangay sa maong isla nagkatigom uban sa ilang mga mayores alang sa
gipahigayon nga HEALS (Health, Education, Aquaculture and Agriculture,
Livelihood and Tourism, and Spiritual Enhancement) Plus Victory Forum diin
gipresentar sa Team Capitol ang mga proyekto ug programa nga gibubo sa
tag-tagsa ka mga barangay ubos sa HEALS Plus agenda sa gobernador.
Atol usab sa maong okasyon, gipang apod-apod ang
tseke kantidad P110,000 sa kada barangay ug gipahibalo sa gobernador ang uban
pang mga proyekto nga umaabot sama sa paghatag ug multicab sa mga mayores para
sa HEALS on wheels nga programa, motorsiklo para sa mga kapitan ug sea
ambulance para sa mga halayong lugar.
Pagkahapon, mibisita ang gobernador uban sa Team
Capitol didto sa Cancohoy Integrated Farm sa Cancohoy munisipyo sa Del Carmen
ug pagkatapos mitambong ang gobernador sa public hearing on the Acquisiton of
Land for the Expansion and Improvement of Siargao Aiport nga gipahigayon sa
munisipyo sa Del Carmen uban ni Kongresista Matugas, mga representante sa DOTC,
DPWH, DENR, COA, CAAP, Board Members, mga opisyales sa Del Carmen ug mga
residente sa maong lugar nga maapektuhan sa maong proyekto. (SDR/PIC-Surigao
del Norte/PIA-Surigao del Norte)
