DOH Caraga provides services to Surigao quake victims
By Nora C. Lanuza Molde
BUTUAN CITY, Mar. 2 (PIA) – The Department of Health (DOH) Caraga region has extended health services to Surigaonons affected by the 6.7 magnitude earthquake that hit Surigao City on the evening of February 10, 2017.
According to DOH Caraga regional director Dr. Jose Llacuna, Jr., two weeks following the quake, services like mental health and psychosocial services (MHPSS), surveillance on possible diseases and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) are continuously provided to the victims of the tremor.
As of February 27, a total of P1,822,895.96 worth of logistics were given by DOH Caraga in addition to the P3.2 million worth of medicines and other logistics provided by DOH central office to Surigaonons.
Llacuna bared that different DOH regional offices, organizations, and offices responded and also provided and assistance to the victims. These include: DOH Regions 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12, ARMM; Health Emergency Management Bureau; National Center for Mental Health; Mariveles Mental Hospital; Provincial DOH offices of Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur; Adela Serra Ty Memorial Medical Center; Provincial Health Office of Dinagat Islands; March for Christ; Philippine Red Cross; and other private organizations. They provided mental health services to address the traumatic experience of the victims.
“We are thankful to everyone who came, assisted and cared for our brothers and sisters affected in this havoc,” Llacuna said.
"We will see to it that all health needs are addressed especially the mental and psychosocial aspect of health," he added.
Llacuna reiterated the significance of fire and earthquake drills that it should not be taken lightly to prepare the public during disaster such as earthquakes.
Also, as per DOH Caraga record, as of February 27, a total of 4,588 individuals were catered for mental health and psychosocial services. About 60 nurses under the deployment program will continuously conduct MPHSS to other communities not yet serve, Llacuna said.
More DOH and local government units’ personnel are currently and continually trained for the sustainability of such service, he said.
Meanwhile, after the earthquake, Caraga Regional Hospital, a DOH retained hospital also incurred damages but was found to be secured and safe after professional inspection although an estimated P10 million is needed for its repair.
The only Drug and Rehabilitation Center of the region was also affected. The DOH Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center Caraga needed more than P2 million worth for its repair.
Llacuna bared that DOH central office will give more than P10 million in the reconstruction and repair of the two DOH facilities. (NCLM/PIA-Caraga)
60 HRM studs, faculty join food safety awareness seminar
By Nora C. Lanuza Molde
BUTUAN CITY, Mar. 2 (PIA) – With the aim to increase awareness on food safety and improve food quality in Caraga region, the Caraga Food Safety Team (CFST) with the support of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently conducted a food safety awareness seminar here.
According to Ma. Cecilia Rodriguez of Philippine Cold Chain Project (PCCP) Winrock, the seminar was attended by some 60 hotel and restaurant management students and faculty from the four higher education institutions of the city.
The seminar focused on food safety fundamentals, including the five keys in food safety, proper food storage, food poisoning and common food safety-related ailments was tacked by Perla Alviso, Food and Drug regulation officer and regional supervisor of the Food and Drug Administration Caraga regional field office, Rodriguez said.
During the event, Jim Oprecio, deputy chief of party of PCCP cited the importance of the seminar to the students and members of the academe because they have the capability to re-echo the information to others, can be in school or within the households.
Orprecio also said that PCCP’s aim is to ensure that food that are bought and consumed in households and commercial food establishments are safe, and of good quality. This is in keeping with USDA’s mission to set standard practices for food, nutrition and agriculture best on sound public policy, best available science and efficient management.
The seminar is part of an ongoing Food Safe Caraga campaign that involves a training program for meat vendors and meat shop operators, and massive information, education and communications campaign on food safety in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology and Philippine Information Agency, Rodriguez said.
The seminar was conducted by PCCP and the CFST in partnership with the Department of Tourism. (NCLM/PIA-Caraga)
2 fishermen recover marijuana packs floating off Tandag coast
By Nida Grace P. Barcena
TANDAG CITY, Surigao del Sur, March 2 (PIA) – Two fishermen recovered 19 sealed packs of high grade marijuana inside a blue plastic container floating near the seawaters off Tandag City on Wednesday, March 1.
An initial report received from the Police Provincial Office (PPO) bared that fishermen Edmar Ocat and Yong yong Macarayo, while they were on their way home from fishing, first spotted the blue plastic container containing the illegal substance.
Authorities said the 19 kilograms dried marijuana leaves are estimated to be worth P1,045,000.
The said illegal substance was already turned over by the Tandag City Police personnel to the Police Provincial Office crime laboratory for further examination and proper disposition.
Tandag City mayor Alexander Pimentel who was present during the turn-over gave a cash reward to the fishermen worth P5,000 each. (PIA-Surigao del Sur)
DILG Dinagat intensifies MASAMASID program
By Susil D. Ragas
SAN JOSE, Dinagat Islands, Mar. 2 (PIA) – The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in partnership with the provincial government of Dinagat Islands has intensified its campaign against criminality, corruption and illegal drugs through the conduct of provincial orientation on MASAMASID (Mamayang Ayaw sa Anomaliya, Mamayang Ayaw sa Ilegal na Droga) Program held recently in this town.
The said orientation was aimed to enhance the community involvement by mobilizing the support of local stakeholders, volunteers, civic organizations including the the private sectors in the campaign against criminality, corruption and illegal drugs, and as well as to strengthen the relationship between the community and church.
DILG-Dinagat Islands provincial director Domingo Bulabog said the officials of the provincial government down to the municipal and barangay level have committed to intensely support the program to maintain the peace and order of the province.
The orientation was attended by Vice Governor Benglen B. Ecleo, DILG-Municipal Local Government Operations Officers, municipal mayors, PNP personnel, and MADAC chairperson from seven municipalities of the province. (PIA-Dinagat Islands)
RIACAT-VAWC intensifies monitoring on human trafficking in Caraga
By Regal C. Oribia
BUTUAN CITY, March 2 (PIA) – The Regional Inter-Agency Committee Against Trafficking and Violence Against Women and their Children (RIACAT-VAWC) guaranteed to intensify the monitoring on human trafficking in the region.
During the press conference held on Wednesday here, Jessie Catherine Aranas of Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Caraga said that human trafficking is one of the most trending cases in the region but due to the intensified awareness campaign of the RIACAT, there was a significant decrease of human trafficking cases in Caraga from 82 cases in 2015 to 42 cases in 2016.
Accordingly, the students are the most vulnerable in human trafficking, so they came up with a plan of conducting series of seminars and awareness campaign on child sexual abuse prevention. The committee encourages the Caraganons to report to the rightful authority of any incidents involving human trafficking.
Meanwhile, Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Caraga regional director and Regional Gender and Development Committee (RGADC) chair Atty. Jerefe Bacang said that human trafficking is considered a serious case under Republic Act 9262 or the Violence Against Women and Children Act if the victims are women and children. (RCO/VLG/NCLM/PIA-Caraga)
DA-PRDP okays P20-M rubber enterprise expansion in Agusan Sur
By Jay Rosas
BAYUGAN CITY, Agusan del Sur, Mar. 2 (PIA) – A P20-million crumb rubber enterprise expansion project aimed at increasing income of rubber farmers in this town has been given a go signal under Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP).
The project, funded under PRDP’s enterprise development component, was given a No Objection Letter (NOL) 1, which signals the project approval and procurement process.
“With the start of this project, we expect to incrementally increase the income of rubber farmers, both direct beneficiaries and in the neighboring towns,” PRDP Mindanao Cluster Director Ricardo Onate said.
He said that PRDP’s interventions would focus on the production, processing and marketing aspects of the enterprise specifically the production of quality rubber. Rubber is one of the priority commodities identified for Caraga Region and for the Mindanao cluster.
The enterprise project will be managed by the Bayugan Rubber Producers Cooperative (BARUPCO), the project’s lead proponent group, which also operates in the towns of La Paz, Esperanza, Talacogon and Prosperidad in Agusan del Sur.
According to its business plan, rubber farmers can avail of a reasonable price for their cup lumps, “40-50 percent higher than the prevailing market price.”
The business plan also states that the project intends to establish model farms that will showcase “recommended technologies and practices” to ensure production of quality cup lumps and crumb rubber as well as the provision of extension services and capacity building activities to improve farming practices.
BARUPCO will also act as consolidator of rubber cup lumps buying from member-farmers to be processed into crumb rubber in the existing crumb rubber processing plants which are operated by the Farmers Alternative for Self-Reliance Multipurpose Cooperative (FASRMCO) based in Prosperidad.
The FASRMCO crumb rubber facility was funded under the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP), World Bank’s poverty-alleviation program that preceded PRDP.
BARUPCO has also identified its primary target market, which has a demand of 21 metric tons of crumb rubber per month. They are also looking into secondary buyers.
Agusan del Sur is the fourth largest rubber-producing province in the country with a total area 10,139 hectares planted to rubber. The annual production is at 15,151 metric tons of raw rubber, which is approximately 94 percent of total production of the Caraga region, with around 4,000 farmers into the commodity.
More than 70 percent of the area planted to rubber and producing cup lump come from the towns of Bayugan, Prosperidad, Rosario, Talacogon and Esperanza.
“The enterprises funded under PRDP have undergone a thorough review process which includes the conduct of Value Chain Analysis (VCA) and scientific-based approaches to ensure that these are potentially viable in uplifting farmers’ livelihood,” Onate added.
Beyond subsistence production to alleviate poverty, the I-REAP (Investments in Rural Enterprises and Agricultural Productivity) component aims to strengthen and develop viable agri-fishery products in targeted project areas. (PRDP Mindanao/PIA-Agusan del Sur)
Bayugan Negosyo Center holds another round of entrep awareness among AgSur studes, local SMEs
BAYUGAN CITY, Agusan del Sur, Mar. 2 (PIA) - After handling an entrepreneurial awareness session with the city’s sari-sari store owners, the Negosyo Center (NC) here has recently conducted another seminar on entrepreneurship, this time to Bachelor of Science major in Business Administration (BSBA) students of Agusan del Sur College (ADSCO) and some local business owners.
Using the Business Expense Saving Training (BEST) Game module, participants were made aware on the values, principles, right attitude and competencies that an entrepreneur should have.
The seminar made the participants realize that “negotiation” and “quality control” are some of the most challenging aspects in doing business, noting that in business deals agreements should be documented while quality control should be ensured.
Both the students and the local Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) said they now understood that goal setting is very important. The whole range of activities such as planning, implementation, research, application and monitoring should be taken seriously as these will serve as guide and important factors in achieving business goals.
The awareness session aims to develop new entrepreneurs, equip existing businesses with knowledge to improve their business systems and practices. (DTI-Agusan del Sur/PIA-Agusan del Sur)
Tagalog News: Public consultation ukol sa pagtatag ng WESM sa Mindanao, isinagawa sa Butuan City
Ni Venus L. Garcia
LUNGSOD NG BUTUAN, Marso 2 (PIA) - Sa pangunguna ng Department of Energy, at sa pakikipagtulungan ng Mindanao Development Authority, ginanap kamakailan lang dito sa lungsod ang isang public consultation na naglalayong maglunsad ng Wholesale Electricity Spot Market o WESM sa Mindanao.
Nakatutok ang usapin sa naturang draft circular na siyang pumapatnubay sa operasyon ng WESM sa Mindanao na sinabing magbibigay daan din sa katuparan ng mandato ng DOE na matiyak ang seguridad, "reliability", pagkakaroon ng transparent at makatwirang presyo ng elektrisidad sa buong bansa.
Ayon kay DOE assistant secretary Redentor Delola, ibig ng ahensiya na matulungang mapaintindi ng maayos sa mga stakeholders at Caraganons ang benepisyong dulot sa pagsisimula ng commercial operation ng WESM sa Mindanao.
Ayon pa kay Delola, napapanahon umano ang launching ng WESM sa Mindanao sa darating na June 26, 2017 dahil kakaranas lamang nito ng surplus sa power supply nitong nakaraang taon.
Ang WESM ay magsisilbing open electricity market ng power stakeholders at kung saan magsasang-ayunan sa presyo ng enerhiya. Samantala, ang Philippine Electricity Market Corporation o PEMC ay siya namang magfafacilitate ng kalakalan sa WESM.
Naipaliwanag naman ng maayos ni Asec Delola sa mga representante ng electric cooperatives, generation corporations, local government units at consumer groups na dumalo sa nasabing malawakang public consultation kung paano ito makakatulong sa pag sustain ng investment at infrastructure development sa Mindanao. (VLG/PIA-Caraga)
