AFP, PNP declare SurSur as conflict manageable
& ready for further development province
By Jennifer P. Gaitano
BUTUAN CITY, Mar. 8 (PIA) - High-ranking officers
in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police
(PNP) officially declared on Tuesday the province of Surigao del Sur as
conflict manageable and ready for further development.
“Surigao del Sur is now officially declared as
conflict manageable and ready for further development as we sign this
memorandum of agreement today and witnessed by our partner stakeholders and
Surigaonons,” underlined MGen. Oscar Lactao, commander of the 4th Infantry
Division, Philippine Army during the signing ceremony.
In the signing ceremony, Gov. Johnny Pimentel
represented the Province of Surigao del Sur; MGen Lactao, together with
Commander of Eastern Mindanao Command LtGen Rey Leonardo B Guerrero and
commander of 402nd Brigade Col Isidro Purisima represented the army; and PNP
Caraga regional director PCSupt Rolando Felix for the Philippine National
Police (PNP).
Surigao del Sur Vice Governor Manuel Alameda Sr.
also welcomed all the guests and participants of the Signing Ceremony and
expressed his optimism that the province will become more progressive as it
maintains to be peaceful and conflict manageable.
In his message, Gov. Pimentel expressed that the
long awaited dream to attain this status has now become a reality. "For
the past 30 years, we had struggled to fight the battle against insurgency. So
many casualties and properties were damaged but at present we have improved
significantly. I urge the AFP, PNP, and everyone to keep performing their duties
at its best for the province to totally end the problem of insurgency and
eventually achieve its objectives," bared Pimentel.
"Let us all join hands and work together as
we continue to attain this objective that we will soon be declared as insurgency-free
province. I appeal to the military that we will not stop our peaceful
operations and efforts until we can achieve this call for peace and development
for all," Pimentel added.
Col. Purisima also emphasized that this signing
ceremony declaring the province of Surigao del Sur as conflict manageable and
ready for further development is a sign of commitment to maintain, sustain the
peace and order in Surigao del Sur. “There can be no development without peace.
Since our battalion arrived here in the province, the crime incidence was
reduced and more rebels have surrendered. The areas being controlled by the CNN
(Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic
Front) were also reduced. We have added more troops to continuously sustain our
objective and soon our region in general will be declared as
insurgency-free," he said.
"The PNP's Oplan Lambat Sibat in the province
of Surigao del Sur is just one among the many efforts of our PNP personnel in
the implementation of our anti-criminality programs. This formed part of our
significant contribution to the peace and order in the province and in Caraga
region in general. The crime rate/volume continues to decrease and we've seen
greater opportunities and investments in the province," highlighted PCSupt
Felix.
Meanwhile, the awarding of livelihood, cash and
cooperative development assistance to the Comprehensive Livelihood Integration
Program (CLIP) beneficiaries was also done during the said signing ceremony.
(JPG/VLG/PIA-Caraga)
Agnor holds validation activity, DRRM planning
seminar
By Nora C. Lanuza Molde
BUTUAN CITY, Mar. 8 (PIA) – The province of Agusan
del Norte through the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM)
Office together with the Center for Disaster Preparedness (CDP) is holding a
four-day Validation Activity and DRRM Planning Seminar, which started Tuesday,
March 8 and will run until Friday, March 11 at the Provincial Training Center,
here.
The activity is part of the series of activities
and capacity development initiatives of the province to ensure that both the
DRRM-CCAM or Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation are adapted to the unique
characteristics of the province.
It also aims to enable the provincial and
city/municipal-level representatives/participants to validate analysis of the
2015 Training Needs Assessment (DRRM-CCAM) results; explain participatory and
inclusive (community) risk assessment tools; illustrate the value of Community
Risk Assessment (CRA) as input to provincial-level planning; describe the DRRM
planning process; and prepare an action plan with tasking and persons/offices
in charge for risk assessment data gathering.
It can be recalled that last December 2015, the
Provincial DRRM Office in partnership with the CDP conducted the Training Needs
Assessment (TNA) and Scoping Activity, as the first step of the process and was
attended by the PDRRMC core members and the city/municipal DRRM officers.
Through the TNA, data was gathered to support an
analysis of competency gaps in DRRM and CCAM with emphasis on planning and
environment. With reference to the TNA results, initial capacity building
recommendations have been determined which will be validated to the local
government unit partners. (NCLM/PIA-Agusan del Norte)
SurSur DOLE:
2016 plans, programs in place
By Greg Tataro Jr.
TANDAG CITY, Surigao del Sur, Mar. 8 (PIA) – The
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has assured that all plans and
programs of their agency here were already worked out for implementation.
Raymond Fel Sajor, DOLE provincial chief, pointed
out that everything to this effect had been discussed during the conduct of 1st
Quarter Meeting of the Surigao del Sur Public Employment Service Office (PESO)
Managers Federation on January 27, 2016.
Atty. Johnson CaΓ±ete, regional director, DOLE
Caraga, stressed that all that were in store for Surigao del Sur had already
been in place, citing job fair, career guidance, and other labor-related
activities, among others, Sajor said.
Among the significant ones that the DOLE
provincial chief underscored were the Special Project Fund (SPF) amounting to
P6.5 million—P3.5 million of which would be for District II while the P3
million was intended for District I—and the 2016 Bottom-Up Budgeting (BUB) with
a total funding of P7.9 million.
“BUB creates employment opportunities and augments
income of marginalized workers in the informal economy and of the vulnerable
sector workers,” said Sajor.
As announced by Atty. CaΓ±ete, some 14 projects
would be funded out of the BUB for five local government units (LGUs) including
Bislig City, Barobo, Cagwait, Madrid, and Carrascal, Sajor added. (NGBT/Radyo
ng Bayan-Tandag/PIA-Surigao del Sur)
OWWA Caraga launches ‘OWWA Information On-air’
radio program
By Jean Mary Ronquillo
BUTUAN CITY, Mar. 8 (PIA) - As part of the
agency’s program advocacy and constant endeavor to reach out to clients,
Regional Director Samuel Madrid of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration
(OWWA) Caraga launched on March 5, a radio program dubbed “OWWA Information
On-air” at 107.3 All Star FM in Surigao City.
The 107.3 All Star FM is a newly established
community radio in Surigao city which is owned by couple OFW Filseaman Napoleon
Jovita and wife Gloria. In a bid to help the community, especially the OFWs,
the couple have dedicated a regular segment for OWWA to serve as portal for
information dissemination of the agency’s programs and services for member-OFWs
and their dependents. It also aims to provide updates on the recent
developments of OWWA as well as cater to concerns of OFW families.
During the first broadcast of the program,
Regional Director Madrid provided updates on the effects of Oil Price Decrease
on the employment status of OFWs in Middle East. He also tackled the frequent
problems encountered by Household Service Workers and the course of action that
the agency has done to help them. Moreover, statistics of OFWs in Caraga was
also mentioned including the reintegration services for OFWs and dependents
that are being implemented by the agency such as the business loan under P2B
OFW Reintegration Program.
Madrid bared that in the long run the program
intends to be more interactive and will feature various stories of OFWs coming
straight from them via phone-in calls. Madrid will also be the regular host of
the program along with 107.3 All Star FM Station Manager Joe Lansang. The live
broadcast will be aired every Saturday at 10-11 in the morning. (OWWA-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)
