(PAGASA 24-HOUR PUBLIC WEATHER FORECAST as of Wednesday, 27 March 2024) Easterlies affecting the eastern section of the country. 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 Easterlies / Localized Thunderstorms. Possible flash floods or landslides during severe thunderstorms.


Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Firework-related injuries in Caraga down by 41%

By Nora C. Lanuza Molde

BUTUAN CITY, Jan. 9 (PIA) – The Department of Health (DOH) in Caraga said that there has been a 41 percent decrease in the number of firecracker-related injuries compared to previous data from the same period last year.

DOH Caraga data showed a total of 13 cases, which is 71 percent lower compared to 22 cases from the same period in 2016. 

According to DOH Caraga regional director Dr. Jose R. Llacuna, Jr. of the 13 cases, the highest of these came from the cities Butuan and Surigao followed by Agusan del Sur with two cases, while Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Bislig City incurred with one case in their areas.

"The provinces of Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Islands and the cities of Cabadbaran, Bayugan and Tandag were able to achieve zero injuries in the entire monitoring period of DOH on December 21, 2017 up to January 5, 2018," Llacuna said.

"About 46 percent of the cases sustained blast or burn injury without amputation while 31 percent acquired eye injury. Most cases were treated and sent home while those who had eye injuries were referred to eye specialists for further assessment and care," Llacuna added.

Of the 13 cases, there were 11 males and 2 females; with 11 to 15 years old as the most affected age group having a total of six cases.

Also, 62 percent of the cases occurred at the streets with Piccolo as the widely used firecracker (38 percent). Approximately 62 percent of the patients were actively involved in the handling of firecrackers.

“We highly appreciate the efforts of everyone, especially our partner agencies, for making the Oplan: Iwas Paputok Campaign successful,” Llacuna said.

"We hope that in the coming years, we will be able to achieve Zero FRIs every time we welcome the holiday season," he added.

During the monitoring period, all health facilities and health stations were in Code White Alert. (NCLM/DOH-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)


Dinagat Islands' crime incidents drop by 46%

By Maricel Yutrago

SAN JOSE, Dinagat Islands, Jan. 9 (PIA) – The volume of crimes in the province of Dinagat Islands has dropped from January to November 2017, said an official from the Philippine National Police (PNP) of the province.

During the joint regular meeting of the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) and Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council (PADAC) held at the DIMPC Building, San Jose town, PNP Dinagat Islands Provincial Director PSSupt. Ramir Perlito Perlas said the criminality rate in the province has decreased by 46 percent from January to November 2017.

Perlas said the municipality of San Jose got the highest number of crime incidents while the municipalities of Loreto and Tubajon recorded the lowest crime incident rate.

He said in terms of illegal drugs campaign, San Jose town conducted four buy-bust operations resulting in the arrest of four persons and confiscation of drugs and marijuana from January to November 2017.

Meanwhile, PDEA Dinagat Islands Office got an earmarked budget proposal of P1,080,000 for 2018 and same amount for the Land Transportation Office (LTO) for its operational fund for rental of provincial office and trainings advocacy.

A supplemental budget amounting to P35.2 million was also allocated for the fiscal year 2018. (SDR/PIO-Dinagat Islands/PIA-Dinagat Islands)


DTI AgSur employee is best SSF provincial coordinator

AGUSAN DEL SUR, Jan. 9 – Standing among the 16 honorees in the country and representing the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Caraga is their very own DTI-Agusan del Sur Trade and Industry Development Specialist Reonel Aninon.

Together with the other regions' picks, Reonel was hailed Best Shared Service Facility (SSF) Provincial Coordinator for the Caraga Region. He was given a plaque of recognition by DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez and Undersecretary of the Regional Operations Group Zenaida Maglaya during the 2017 National SSF Summit held at the Provincial Trade Training Center in Pasay City.

As the Provincial Coordinator of the DTI-Agusan del Sur’s SSF Program, he took charge of 33 projects worth P16.655 million. As of the October 31, 2017 report, the SSF operations under his supervision have generate 929 employment, assisted 456 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and served 2,167 other clients and users.

In addition to being a SSF Coordinator, he was also the province’s Industry Cluster (IC) Provincial Account Officer for Cacao, Rubber, Coffee, Bamboo, Oil Palm, and Coconut; Bottom-up Budgeting Provincial Account Officer (for IC-related projects); and Focal Person for Roads Leveraging Linkages for Industry and Trade (ROLL-IT) Program.

As the coordinator of the shared service facility program, he was engaged in helping community-based economic enterprise in the above-mentioned ICs, as well as in other sectors using indigenous resources (bamboo, water hyacinth, planted species, etc.) increase their productivity.

The profile of SSF projects in Agusan del Sur would show his commitment to further the development of priority ICs by providing stakeholders in the different stages of the industry value chain critical and important facilities to improve their operations.

He was also one of those who have worked hard to enhance and direct the then bottom-up budgeting (BuB) program project proposals from local government units(LGUs) to either support existing SSFs (through increased primary production and value-adding efforts), to provide complementary facilities or to provide BuB-funded SSFs if need be to reinforce development efforts.

Although procurement was centrally handled at the regional office, he helped find potential suppliers for several times, ensuring that the procurement process moved along and that those facilities were made available to do their purpose.

He has made himself available at all times for the SSF inspections during delivery and installation, regardless of his location. He went back to the area as often as needed to ensure facilities gets operational.

He convened SSF cooperators at least on a semi-annual or sometimes quarterly basis to validate and clarify monitoring reports, as well as provide a venue for cooperators to share their operational stories and best practices.

When the provincial office decided to make SSF projects (together with BuB projects) as anchor economic enterprises of and part of the portfolio of the Negosyo Centers that were being established, he made sure that the NC counselors and project staff were given the complete dockets and were briefed on each project’s status.  He however, remains as over-all coordinator.

Acknowledging that it might be a burden to some cooperators to sit down and document their operations/come up with their own manual of operations, he made arrangements to outsource the same with clear instructions for the contracted party to work closely with concerned cooperators.


To ensure sustainability of the SSF operations, he also worked with the rest of the SME development team of the province to additional capability building activities for cooperators. (DTI-Agusan del Sur/PIA-Agusan del Sur)