Bislig City to host 4 International events on
September 2018
By Nida Grace P. Barcena
TANDAG CITY, Surigao del Sur, August 11 (PIA) – The
city mayor of Bislig in Surigao del Sur has confirmed their hosting of four
significant international events on September 2018.
City Mayor Librado Navarro revealed the information
during the flag ceremony on Monday, August 7 and during the ASEAN landmark
lighting on Tuesday, August 8.
According to Mayor Navarro, Bislig City will host
the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM),
International Organic Forum, First Declaration of Asian Organic Day, and the
Asian Local Government for Organic Agriculture (ALGOA) Summit in September
2018.
It can be recalled that Mayor Navarro was one of
the participants during the ALGOA Summit on September 27 to October 1, 2016,
attended by representatives from Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
During the event, he also signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the
development of Organic Agriculture in their Respective Area held in Goesan
County, Chungbuk Province, Korea.
Navarro appealed to all Bisliganons to support and
help the city government achieve its vision to be the “Model City for Organic
Agriculture in the Philippines by 2020.”
Other priority programs of the administration
include the following: to boost the economy, launching of Operation 911, basic
social services, environmental protection, infrastructure, and improvement of
Bislig core values of Integrity, Courage, Resiliency, Accountability and
Sustainability. (PIA-Surigao del Sur)
USAID grants livelihood bond to benefit 385,000
women in Southeast Asia
BUTUAN CITY, Aug. 11 (PIA) - The United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) is guaranteeing a four-year, eight
million dollars women’s livelihood bond (WLB) that will provide access to
credit, market linkages and affordable goods and services for an estimated
385,000 Southeast Asian women.
The bond which is structured by the Singapore-based
Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) is expected to be listed on the Singapore
Exchange this month and will be the first social sustainability bond, with a
dual focus on social and financial returns, to be listed on a major stock
exchange. USAID is providing a 50 percent guarantee of the loan portfolio’s principal
to mitigate risk, attract investors and support development.
“USAID is pleased to support the WLB with this loan
guarantee,” said Todd Sorenson, deputy mission director at USAID’s Regional
Development Mission for Asia in Bangkok.
“The bond will benefit women living in Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) states, particularly Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines,”
Sorenson added.
The WLB will provide capital to a group of
microfinance institutions and social enterprises that will help low-income
women transition from subsistence to sustainable livelihoods and build their
resilience to socio-economic stresses.
Long-term benefits, in addition to more successful women-owned
businesses, include increased participation in the workforce, higher standards
of living, and more education and health opportunities for women and children.
“This brings us one step closer to a day when our
financial markets consider social and environmental impact on an equal footing
with financial returns,” said IIX founder Durreen Shahnaz, noting that the WLB
was supported by public, private and philanthropic institutions, including DBS
Bank Ltd., ANZ Banking Group, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Clinton Global
Initiative and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Sixty percent of the capital for this bond was
provided by Asian investors, mostly private banking clients. IIX is planning to
develop additional social sustainability bonds in the future.
Since 1999, USAID through the Development Credit
Authority has arranged more than 350 million dollars in credit through 63
guarantees in 13 Asian nations. USAID’s loan guarantee for the WLB is part of its commitment to the development
of the ASEAN region. The U.S. government
partners with ASEAN to support economic integration, expand maritime
cooperation, cultivate emerging leaders, promote opportunity for women, and
address transnational challenges. (U.S. Embassy/PIA-Caraga)
Feature: Flying high with OTOP Tindahang Pinoy
Butuan
The store is abuzz with customers, busily reading
the labels and gasping with pleasant surprise as they identify the producers of
the different products.
Launched in November of 2004 and formerly known as
the OTOP Pasalubong Center, the OTOP Tindahang Pinoy in Gaisano, Jose Rosales
Avenue, Butuan City houses a delightful array of products from all over Caraga.
Preparations for its launch started as early as
2002, when now-Provincial Director of DTI- Agusan del Norte Gay A. Tidalgo,
together with Engr. Renato S. Corvera, who used to be Gaisano’s Manager,
travelled all the way to the Gaisano City Mall in Cagayan de Oro City to seek
an audience with the Gaisano patriarch, Don Stephen Sy Gaisano.
After three arduous but hopeful attempts to ask for
assistance in finding a home for the OTOP Tindahang Pinoy, the Don finally
agreed and identified a 21-square meter space at the mall’s ground floor and
granted a discounted rental fee of P20,000 a month with no increase for the
next five years.
PD Gay A. Tidalgo first identified CREATE Food as
partners to run the store at an P80,000 budget on the condition that they would
receive subsidy for their overhead expenses only for the first six months of
operation. In return, CREATE Food would get three percent from the gross
profit.
CREATE Food soon found that pioneering a fledgling
store atop attending to obligations as producers was not as easy as they
thought it would be. In 2007, after a series of interventions from the DTI-
Agusan del Norte that included organizational strengthening, among others, the
OTOP Tindahang Pinoy finally found structure and organizational stability through
the active leadership of Manager Kerwin S. Uy.
Today, it can be said that the first-ever OTOP
Tindahang Pinoy in Butuan City is among the most-visited stores at the Gaisano
Mall.
Enjoying sales of 1.2M per month in the last two
years, sales soar to more than 2M during the peak seasons of April to June,
when balikbayans return to Butuan to celebrate the town fiesta and from October
to December, when Butuanons fly home to be with family and friends.
The customers leave with packages in hand, the excitement
of buying local still on their faces. (DTI-Agusan del Norte/PIA-Agusan del
Norte)
Asia’s premier charity, awards gala on HIV advocacy
unveiled
BUTUAN CITY, Aug. 11 (PIA) - Long before Miss
Universe 2015 Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach exponentially raised the human
immunodeficiency virus - acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV-AIDS)
awareness in the country, many Filipino individuals have been working hard to
change the landscape of HIV-AIDS advocacy in the country.
Ten of them will be recognized this World AIDS Day
on December 1, 2017 during the first-ever “Love Gala”.
The Love Gala, as unveiled Wednesday (August 9), is
the Asia’s Premier Charity and Awards Gala event, which will honor outstanding
individuals and their immeasurable contributions at “The Ripple Awards”.
The organization believes that “a single person's
act of love can start a wave that can save millions of people."
The Ripple Awards nomination period is open until
31 August 2017.
Visit the Love Gala page:
http://lovegala.org/nominate-now/ to nominate someone who has created ripples
of positive change that greatly influenced the domestic and global movement
towards the HIV-AIDS advocacy.
Potential nominees can be a representative from the
following sectors:
• Business (HIV policy in the workplace, companies,
programs for business)
• Youth (program for the youth sector,
youth-initiated)
• Academe (educational institutions, school
organizations, program for schools)
• Government (legislators, LGUs, government
organizations)
• Media & Advertising (digital, media
organizations, media programs)
• Influencer (individual)
• NGOs (NGO-led programs)
• PLHIV (support groups, individual)
• Medical (hospitals, doctors, clinics, medical
practitioner)
• Arts (films, stage play, artworks, artists)
The gala is a collaboration of private and public
institutions and youth-oriented organizations to augment the efforts in
mainstreaming the HIV-AIDS advocacy to a larger audience.
Institutions and organizations coming together for
Love Gala are the following: AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Black Maria
Productions, Decent Image of South Signal Association (DIOSSA), Dentsu, Pinoy
Plus Association Incorporated, Positibong Marino Philippines, Sustained Health
Initiatives of the Philippines (SHIP), Taguig City Government, Team Mag, The
Red Whistle, The LoveYourself Incorporated and the US Embassy.
Behind this extensive collaboration of Filipino
organizations is “Better Together."
Better Together is an initiative founded by Dr.
Antoine Bondaz and Mr. Kenneth Kwok for the purpose of empowering the future
generations in Asia and beyond, is a founding member of the Love Gala.
Uniting for a single cause, the gala will also
feature a concert headlined by artists who are also HIV-AIDS awareness
advocates, and a mini auction that will raise funds to further HIV-AIDS
education.
With the Philippines peaking its HIV infection
incidence, “We have to firmly stand together in fighting this pandemic, not
only for the Philippines, but for the rest of Asia and beyond,” stated
organization representative. (Loveyourself.ph/PIA-Caraga)
New courses offered in DOST scholarship
By Keziah Suzaine W. Francisco
BUTUAN CITY, Aug. 11 - The Department of Science
and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) announced its call for
applications for its undergraduate and junior level Science scholarships.
For the academic year 2018-2019, SEI has added more
courses to its S&T priority courses for the scholarship. New courses
include Aeronautical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Agribusiness
Management, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Technology, Applied
Statistics, Animal Science, Industrial Design, Industrial Management
Engineering-Information Technology, Industrial Pharmacy, Information System,
Information Technology System, Manufacturing Engineering Management-Biomedical
Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering Management-Mechatronics and Robotics,
Marine Biology, Marine Science, Mechatronics Engineering, Medical Technology,
Meteorology, Microbiology, Nutrition, Nutrition and Dietetics, Pharmacy (4-year
program), Pharmacy major in Clinical Pharmacy (5-year program), Packaging
Engineering, Petroleum Engineering, (BS) Psychology, Public Health, and Doctor
of Veterinary Medicine.
For the undergraduate scholarships, Grade 12
students who are either members of the Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM) strand senior graduating class or members of the top five (5
percent) of the Non-STEM strand senior graduating class may apply. The deadline
for filing of the application will be on August 25, 2017. The examination is
scheduled on October 15, 2017.
Meanwhile, all regular 3rd-year college students in
an identified priority S&T course with a general weighted average of at
least 83 percent in his/her first and second years in college may apply for the
Junior Level Science Scholarship (JLSS). All accomplished application forms
must be submitted on or before September 22, 2017. The JLSS Examination will be
on November 19, 2017.
Application forms and scholarship brochures may be
downloaded from http://sei.dost.gov.ph/index.php/downloads. All applicants may
submit their accomplished forms to the DOST Region XI, Dumanlas Road, Bajada,
Davao City and to the Provincial Science and Technology Center near them.
For more information on the scholarship
application, you may contact them through their official social media accounts,
@dostregion11, and through website, http://region11.dost.gov.ph/. (DOST-STIIPR/PIA-Caraga)
