(PAGASA 24-HOUR PUBLIC WEATHER FORECAST as of Wednesday, 09 October 2024) At 3:00 AM today, a Low Pressure Area (LPA) was estimated based on all available data at 165 km West Northwest of Coron, Palawan (12.3N, 118.7E) It is embedded along the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) affecting Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. 𝗙𝗒π—₯π—˜π—–π—”π—¦π—§ π—ͺπ—˜π—”π—§π—›π—˜π—₯ π—–π—’π—‘π——π—œπ—§π—œπ—’π—‘: 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 ITCZ. Possible flash floods or landslides during severe thunderstorms. 𝗙𝗒π—₯π—˜π—–π—”π—¦π—§ π—ͺπ—œπ—‘π—— 𝗔𝗑𝗗 π—–π—’π—”π—¦π—§π—”π—Ÿ π—ͺπ—”π—§π—˜π—₯ π—–π—’π—‘π——π—œπ—§π—œπ—’π—‘: Light to moderate winds coming from Southwest to West will prevail with slight to moderate seas (0.6 to 2.5 meters).


Tuesday, March 8, 2016



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)