Drone operation training up for PIA Caraga
personnel
By Jennifer P. Gaitano
BUTUAN CITY, Jan. 3 (PIA) – As part of their
capability enhancement, the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Caraga
personnel are set to hold a training here on drone operation on January 16,
2017.
As early as the start of the year 2018, PIA Caraga
headed by Regional Director Abner Caga, is eager to develop new strategies on
how to better deliver quality services to its clientele, and letting its
personnel avail of the various communication trainings is just one part.
“There is always a room for us to enhance our skills,
capabilities and make use of technology, equipment, so we could be more
substantive in doing our agency’s mandate,” underlined Caga.
“This drone training would help us become
professional drone operator, as we will be equipped with best of knowledge from
our invited trainers who have been in the field for years,” he added.
Caga also stressed that using drone during
coverages of events will be easier and more concrete, as it can go places and
capture different angles to tell different stories to the public.
“Drones can capture shots to highlight scenic views
and landscaping of the property and other events,” Caga said.
He also added that during disaster operations,
drones naturally complement the traditional gathering of information by helping
to ensure that operations can be conducted safer, faster, and more efficiently.
“When a disaster occurs, drones can help provide my
team with better situational awareness,” Caga said.
With this development, the agency has already
requested the purchase of a high-quality drone for regional office’s use.
(JPG/PIA-Caraga)
19 AgSur MSMEs undergo product label enhancement
training under OTOP Next Gen program
PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur, Jan. 3 – Nineteen (19)
micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the province who have engaged in
food manufacturing and processing have completed the one-on-one consultation on
product label enhancement under the One Town-One Product (OTOP) Next Gen
program held at the Negosyo Center Agusan del Sur Provincial Hub at Faustino
Asis Building, Gov. D.O. Plaza Government Center, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur.
This program was aimed to provide product
development services to capacitate and prepare MSMEs to be able to tap new,
bigger and sustainable markets.
As an OTOP Next Gen Program component, the activity
intended to further improve the whole look or packaging of the product starting
with full compliance to the basic requirements on labeling.
Dave Franco of Franco Photoshoppe and Allied
Services was tapped as the resource person and consultant.
Each producer will be receiving a set of designs
and printed product labels plus the soft copy of the designs of the enrolled
priority product.
The batch 1 producers include (1) Vhaynana Pastries
- banana Chips, (2) Chelex Marketing - virgin coconut oil, (3) Sta. Maria
Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose Cooperative (STAMARBEMCO) - sweetened
kaong, (4) Golden Miki-fresh Miki, (5) Jaymarrs Food Products - tableya, (6)
Angels Food Products - (Banana Chips), (7) Brgy.2 Women’s Associations
(Processed Meat), (8) Ermies Food Products - Mangoosteen Drink, (9) Kaagap
Multi-Purpose Cooperative (KaaagapMUCO)- VCO liniment, (10) Afdal Farms -
Goat's milk Soap, (11) Monique Miracle Fruit Juice - Miracle Fruit Juice, (12)
Samuels Bread and Pastry -Bread, (13) Batulans Dried Fish, (14) Arvin’s
Barquillos, (15) CabataΓ±a Farms - spicy vinegar, (16) IP-LORAMSECA - libas jam,
(17) Magkiangkang Multi-Purpose Cooperative - tableya, (18) PIDOL Miki - dried
pancit, (19) RDP Fruit Juice- guyabano juice.
The input session and one-on-one consultations were
done at SAFRAGEMC Event Hall, Barangay 5, San Francisco, this province.
The remaining eleven producers and processors in
the province also had their product label enhancement consultation on December
21, 2017. (DTI-Agusan del Sur/PIA-Agusan del Sur)
28 AgSur MSMEs finish 2-day brand thinking workshop
SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur, Jan. 3 – Some 28
local producers of this province have completed part 2 of the Department of
Trade and Industry Agusan del Sur (DTI AdS)'s brand development program.
This phase was the market planning and
brand-thinking workshop held at the Mabe’s Savory Place, this municipality.
The prior component was an introduction and
preparation of the producers to become effective social enterprises.
This AdS brand development project was jointly
funded by the Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprises (BSMED) under its branding
program and the One-Town, One-Product (OTOP) Next Gen Program.
The latter aims to provide intensive mentoring to
businesses to improve their products to be able to tap new and bigger markets
and scale up and sustain their businesses.
During the workshop, the participants were made to
formulate their comprehensive marketing
strategies and branding guidelines.
Frederick Blancas, of MLB Consulting and Trading
facilitated the workshop.
Blancas helped the participants to generate a
marketing plan, innovate on their individual brands and develop brand
guidelines.
One thing highlighted during the workshop was the
branding of a product by creating a unique story.
"A brand, is [something] that can conjure up
associations, feelings, and emotions that go beyond what the product or service
does," Blancas pointed out.
The AdS branding project will have intensive
mentoring for four selected "Star MSMES" after the said workshop.
Three of these were Kapatid Mentor Me (KMME) graduates – RADIN FOOD Products,
Monique Miracle Fruit Juice, Torah Travel and Tours (maker of IP dolls) and one
is an MSME-assisted under the Strike Team for IPs – IP-LORAMSECA, maker of libas
and katmon jam from the Agusan Marsh. (DTI-Agusan del Sur/PIA-Agusan del Sur)
Caraga AEWs, farmers graduate from cacao production
BUTUAN CITY, Jan. 3 – Twenty-six agricultural
extension workers (AEWs) of Caraga region became full-pledged Cacao specialists
after they successfully completed the season-long Training of Trainers (TOT) on
Cacao Production and Processing with NC III, through the sponsorship of the
Agricultural Training Institute (ATI)-Regional Training Center XIII.
Meanwhile, 153 farmers from the cities of Butuan
and Cabadbaran completed the Farmers’ Field School (FFS) on cacao production.
Graduation ceremony of both events was simultaneously held at the ATI-Caraga
training complex.
Domingo O. Viduya from the Office of the Provincial
Agriculturist of Surigao del Sur and concurrently the President of Class Buena
Caraga 2017, expressed his thanks to ATI for the opportunity of being one of
participants of the training.
“Mapasalamaton ko kaayo sa ATI because we are fortunate
enough to be part of the first batch of Cacao specialists sa Mindanao. Hinaut
nga kita nga na-train sa ATI mutabang sa pag-organize para mukita pud atong
farmers pinaagi sa pagtanom ug Cacao (I am very thankful to ATI because we were
fortunate enough to be part of the first batch of cacao specialists in
Mindanao. I hope we, who were trained by ATI, will help organize farmers in
order that they will also earn from Cacao),” Viduya said.
Another season-long trainee Dailinda A. Mollanida
from the Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Unit XIII considered the
training as her best moment in 2017. She professed that the training helped
increase her knowledge on cacao production, which was very important for her
because she is the cacao focal person in her office.
“Lisod kaayo nga ikaw focal person tapos wala kay
hinanawan. Dakong tabang gyud ang training sa akoa labi na tong mga exposure
trips namo sa lain-laing mga lugar kay didto namo nahibal-an ang mga good
practices sa Cacao production ug processing (It’s hard when you’re a focal
person and you don’t know anything. The training was really a great help,
especially the exposure trips in different places because we [were able to]
witness the best practices in cacao production and processing),” said Mollanida.
Moreover, Marlon P. Pajares of LGU-Claver, Surigao
del Sur challenged his fellow AEWs and farmers to share what they know about
cacao production. “Atong ipahibalo sa uban ang atong nakat-unan. Nahibalo ako
nga adunay mga hagit sa pagtanom ug Cacao gikan sa produksiyon paingon na sa
pag-market niini pero tungod sa pag-abag sa ATI ug DA atong makab-ot ang
kalampusan (We should share what we learned [from this training]. I know there
are many challenges in growing cacao from production to marketing but with the
support of ATI and DA we can attain success),” said Pajares.
Lastly, Robert T. Poculan Jr., ATI-Caraga Center
Director, reminded the participants that the knowledge they gained from the
training is a blessing that needs to be shared to others.
“Any difference that Christ makes in your life is a
story worth telling. Sa kadaghan nga AEWs sa tibuok Caraga kamo pa gyuy
napilian. Sa kadaghang farmers sa Caraga ngano kamo pa gyuy gitagaan ug
oportunidad nga muapil sa FFS. Tungod kay Ginoo ana ang nagbuot sa tanan.
Blessing kini nga kinanglan nga dili nato ihikaw sa uban (Any difference that
Christ makes in your life is a story worth telling. Of the many AEWs in the
entire Caraga region, you were among the few chosen to participate. Of the many
farmers in Caraga, you were among the few who were given the opportunity to
join the FFS. It was God who made these things happen. This is a blessing from
Him which we should also share to others),” Poculan remarked.
The participants of the season-long training
underwent four months of rigorous training on social technology, Agro-Ecosystem
Analysis (AESA), FFS approach and concept, cacao cultural management,
management of location-specific major pests and diseases, harvesting and
post-harvest handling, post-harvest processing, agricultural marketing
strategies, farm planning and budgeting, and managing agricultural risks and
opportunities in changing climates and environment.
Besides lecture-discussions, the trainees also had
workshop sessions, group output presentations, field practicum, feed-backing
and processing, method/result demonstrations, micro-teaching, open forum, and
field day. They were deployed in select barangays in Butuan and Cabadbaran
cities where they became trainers in the FFS. The farmers who graduated along
with them were their FFS students. Prior to the graduation ceremony, the said
AEWs and farmers joined a field day and technology demonstration at the Cacao
farm of Rodolfo Perez located in Brgy. Sumilihon, Butuan City. (JPDEJampac, ATI-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)
DTI AgSur starts campaign for ICT-enabled income
opportunities
PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur, Jan. 3 – The
Department of Trade and Industry Agusan del Sur (DTI AdS) has organized a
three-day General Virtual Assistant Training (GVAT) held at Bayoy Tug Anadan
building, ASELCO compound, San Isidro, San Francisco, this province.
The training was aimed to equip the participants
with integrated knowledge and skills related to becoming a competent,
knowledgeable, and skillful virtual assistant globally through comprehensive
training and practical hands-on examinations.
This was a follow through of the Freelancers
Meet-up organized by DTI-AdS.
Ronald “Piper” Ramboanga, founder and chief
executive officer of Knights of Online Marketers facilitated the training.
In his opening presentation, he outlined the topics
the participants will go through during the whole duration of the training. He
emphasized the different levels of learning that the participants shall be
exposed to.
The participants learned three levels of skills
and/or competencies:
Email and customer management, where he introduced
Google mail as a tool in doing email support;
Basic graphic designing for non-designers, where he
demonstrated the use of tools like canva.com for those who don’t know how to
use Photoshop, and
Facebook (FB) management, pointing out that an FB
page can be a tool and they have the option to become a Facebook manager or
community manager in the future.
The 27 participants who also attended the
freelancers meet-up created their own FB Pages.
At the end of the session, the participants were
expected to submit their curriculum vitae to showcase skills and knowledge,
online portfolio to prove skills with outputs and a one-minute video resume,
showcasing their attitude towards work. (DTI-Agusan del Sur/PIA-Agusan del Sur)
OWWA Caraga holds livelihood orientation to
repatriated OFWs
BUTUAN CITY, Jan. 3 – The Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration (OWWA) continuously develops programs available to OFWs who are
faced with various misfortune overseas prompting them to go back to the
Philippines earlier than what's assigned on their contract.
Over 60 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) applying
for the Balik Pinas Balik Hanapbuhay Program (BPBH) from the different
provinces of Caraga attended the Orientation and Financial Literacy Training at
the OWWA Caraga Training Hall.
The said training was conducted by OWWA Caraga
Reintegration Program Coordinator Jean Mary Ronquillo. She oriented the
participants regarding the program’s guidelines. She also imparted ideas on
Financial Literacy and basic livelihood undertaking. Then she further discussed
the composition and making of business proposal.
During the activity, displaced OFW participants
shared their experiences abroad. One participant shared that she has been with
her employer for about seven years and did not encounter maltreatments from
them. However, because of her physical incapacity to carry out her work, she
agreed with her employer to pre-terminate her contract. She further added that
this program is paving ways for her to start over again here in the country.
Overseas workers with medical cases and those
displaced due to violence, political and economic conflicts prompting a
pre-termination of their contracts are the eligible beneficiaries for this
program. Overseas workers whose contract were successfully completed are not
qualified for the program.
The program is a package of livelihood assistance
intended to provide immediate relief to returning member-OFWs with cash
assistance amounting to a maximum of P20,000.00 as start-up or additional
capital for the livelihood project. The program can be availed only once by
eligible beneficiaries within three years upon return to the country. (RMSD,
OWWA-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)
