RGADC 13 highlights grand launch of Search for Most
Gender-Responsive LGU in 2018 Women’s Month
By Jennifer P. Gaitano
BUTUAN CITY, Feb. 2 (PIA) – In this year’s Women’s
Month celebration, the Regional Gender and Development Committee (RGADC) Caraga
highlights the grand launch of the Search for Most Gender-Responsive Local
Government Unit (LGU) on March 8, 2018 in one of the local convention centers
here.
“The Search will be launched on March 8, 2018 as
one of the activities of the Women’s Month celebration to be participated in by
the local chief executives and the members of the LGU’s GAD Focal Point System,
which shall be highlighted with the signing of the Pledge of Confirmation by
the 11 participating LGUs,” said RGADC chair and Commission on Human Rights
(CHR) Caraga Regional Director Atty. Jerefe Tubigon-Bacang.
Bacang also revealed that the objectives of said
event include the following:
To motivate LGUs in the region to fully implement
their GAD Plans and Budgets (GPBs) in localizing the Magna Carta of Women
(MCW);
To intensify local GAD awareness and advocacy in
the region; and
To highlight the importance of gender-responsive
planning in the development sphere in the region.
Through this search, the Regional Development
Council through the RGADC Caraga will be able to:
Recommend policies or actions that may be adopted
by the RDC to facilitate gender mainstreaming and promote women’s empowerment
and gender equality in the region;
Provide venues for discussing regional gender
issues and concerns, as well as for recognizing and sharing good practices and
experiences on gender mainstreaming; and
Coordinate with and assist national oversight
agencies, particularly the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), National
Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and Department of the Interior and Local
Government (DILG), in localizing the implementation of national laws, policies
and programs on GAD.
The search is open to all provinces, highly
urbanized city, and component cities in the region.
Meanwhile, the awardees shall receive the seal of
“CARAGA’s Most Gender-Responsive LGU,” a cash incentive and special citations
to participating/winning LGUs. (JPG/PIA-Caraga)
All systems go for civil registration month in
Tandag City
TANDAG CITY, Surigao del Sur, Feb. 2 – The Office of the City Civil Registrar of
this city has lined up activities for its residents to celebrate the Civil
Registration Month 2018.
Liza Auza, City Civil Registrar, said the activity
will kick off with the conduct of free birth registration for children ages 0 –
5 years old on Feb. 5-9.
This will be followed by the free issuance of forms
IA (birth record available); 2A (death records available) and 3A (marriage
record available) on Feb. 15.
On Feb. 20, a “Kasalan ng Bayan” (mass wedding) is
set to take place. In an earlier announcement, Auza stressed that the mass
wedding would only be for couples who are “cohabitating” for at least five
years.
"Hence, some requirements had to be complied
with," she clarified.
The deadline for submission would be on February
16. Since the first term of Mayor Alexander Pimentel, this free sponsorship of
annual mass civil wedding ceremony has been going on for over a decade already
during the same month.
With the theme “#napapanahong CRVS,” the month-long
event would be sealed with the “Distribution of Birth Certificates” for the
so-called “Lumads” (Indigenous Peoples) of Hitaub, Barangay Awasian on February
28. (GTataro Jr., Radyo Pilipinas Tandag/PIA-Surigao del Sur)
Caraga identifies special areas for agricultural
development
BUTUAN CITY, Feb. 2 – The Department of Agriculture
(DA) gears up toward the realization of its promise to provide available and
affordable food for the people through Special Area for Agricultural
Development (SAAD).
SAAD is a locally-funded program of the government
that aims to help alleviate poverty in the poorest provinces of the country
through the provision of agricultural and related interventions to the
marginalized in the farming and fisheries sector.
‘Saad’ in Cebuano means promise.
Since its inception in 2017, there were 20
provinces that were given assistance from the different regions in the country.
Each year the DA-SAAD National Program Management Office will prioritize 10
provinces until 2022.
This 2018, DA–Caraga is now preparing for the
implementation of the SAAD Program in 2019. One of the steps undertaken is the
orientation and consultation with the local government units (LGUs) who will be
the beneficiaries of the program.
In the region, the provinces of Agusan del Sur and
Surigao del Sur are among the pilot areas for the program. Each province has 4
municipalities where the beneficiaries will be identified. For the province of
Agusan del Sur the municipalities of Talacogon, Rosario, San Luis and Veruela
are among those to be assisted. The municipalities of Bayabas, Carmen, Lingig
and Bislig City of Surigao del Sur will also be reached out by the program.
Base on the 2015 report of the Philippine
Statistics Authority (PSA), Caraga region has a 30.8 percent poverty incidence
among families, in which the province of Agusan del Sur has 37 percent while
Surigao del Sur has 32 percent.
According to PSA, poverty incidence is the
proportion of families or individuals with per capita income less than the per
capita poverty threshold to the total number of families or individuals. While
poverty threshold is the minimum income required for a family or individual to
meet the basic food and non-food requirements.
"The selection of the beneficiaries are in the
areas where the poorest of the poor generally resides. The far-flung areas of
these municipalities will be prioritized especially for those parts where the
absence of government services exists. SAAD is a program of DA to cater the
marginalized sector, that will provide interventions in areas not reached by
the regular DA programs," said Regional Technical Director for Operations
Alberto D. Ocampo, Jr.
The eligible beneficiaries of the program must be
poor households or groups who earn below the poverty threshold per province,
who would like to engage or already engaged in agriculture and fisheries.
Preferably, must not be a recipient of similar interventions from DA in the
last two years upon implementation.
"SAAD can cater individuals who are interested
to venture into farming. Eventually, these individuals will be assisted by SAAD
to organize themselves and formally register or be accredited by appropriate
government authority, provided these group will undergo required training
courses," explained Planning Officer III Roberto Hipolao, Jr. during the
consultation and workshop meeting with the identified LGUs.
DA-Caraga is working with the provincial and
municipal LGUs to help ensure the smooth implementation at the local level.
Series of activities will be conducted for the multi-year planning for the SAAD
Program implementation in the region. (RCAbao, DA-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)
PNP Caraga double barrel reloaded: 51 surrendered,
41 nabbed
By PSInsp Analee V. Enriquez
BUTUAN CITY, Feb. 2 – A total of 51 drug
personalities surrendered to the authorities and 41 were arrested amid the
intensified campaign against illegal drugs conducted by the Philippine National
Police (PNP) Caraga Drug Enforcement Units from December 5, 2017 to February 1,
2018.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 13 Director Chief
Supt. Noli A. Romana, said those 51 surrenderers, who came from different
barangays infiltrated by drug activities, are willing to undergo treatment
while the 41 arrested are facing charges for violation of Republic Act (RA) No.
9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002.
"The police drug operations successfully
confiscated shabu worth of P328,960.00 during the implementation of Search
Warrant and conduct of buy- bust operation regionwide," Romana added.
“We are determined to sustain these substantial
gains in arresting drug pushers/users in order to stop the illegal drug
activities,” said Romana.
“We urge the active collaboration of the community
and other stakeholders to help us in our campaign by providing relevant
information to the nearest police unit,” Romana concluded. (PNP-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)
