(PAGASA 24-HOUR PUBLIC WEATHER FORECAST as of Wednesday, 11 December 2024) Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) affecting the western section of Mindanao and Palawan. Shear Line affecting the eastern sections of Central and Southern Luzon. Northeast Monsoon affecting Northern Luzon and the rest of Central Luzon. 𝗙𝗒π—₯π—˜π—–π—”π—¦π—§ π—ͺπ—˜π—”π—§π—›π—˜π—₯ π—–π—’π—‘π——π—œπ—§π—œπ—’π—‘: 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 Localized Thunderstorms. Possible flash floods or landslides during severe thunderstorms. 𝗙𝗒π—₯π—˜π—–π—”π—¦π—§ π—ͺπ—œπ—‘π—— 𝗔𝗑𝗗 π—–π—’π—”π—¦π—§π—”π—Ÿ π—ͺπ—”π—§π—˜π—₯ π—–π—’π—‘π——π—œπ—§π—œπ—’π—‘: Moderate to Strong winds coming from East to Northeast will prevail with slight to moderate seas / (0.6 to 2.5 meters).


Monday, January 29, 2018

111 housing units awarded to PNP Caraga beneficiaries

BUTUAN CITY, Jan. 29 – A total of 111 housing units in Brgy. Mabini, Surigao City were awarded to the police officers.

Engr. Erasme Madlos, Project Manager of the National Housing Authority in Butuan City and Senior Supt Ernesto Flores, Deputy Regional Director for Operations, spearheaded the distribution of units through a raffle draw.

A total of 279 police officers in Caraga applied for the housing unit that has a floor area of 44 square meters and a lot area of 80 square meters.

The construction of “Smart Homes” or the subdivision for the AFP and PNP commenced on March 2016 and was completed in November 2017. (PNP-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)


PSA Caraga to celebrate 2018 civil registration month

BUTUAN CITY, Jan. 29 – The month of February is set annually for the celebration of the Civil Registration Month as per Proclamation No.682 s. 1991. This year 2018’s theme is “#napapanahong CRVS,” which promotes the government’s efforts to ensure the global inclusion of every Filipino in the Civil Registry System.

To advocate the celebration, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Caraga aligned various activities for the 2018 Civil Registration Month. 

The Regional Office headed by Regional Director Rosalinda C. Apura and the Provincial Heads of the five provinces of Caraga will simultaneously hang the streamer for the event.  A thanksgiving mass will be held at the regional office on the first day of the month. 

Other activities to be carried out by the regional office will be the display of panel exhibits at the Regional Office, CRVS Decade Forum to be participated by representatives of different high schools, poster making contest and slogan contest to be participated by high school students and Civil Registration Quiz for PSA employees and Local Civil Registry Office staff. Cash prizes await the winners for said contests.

PSA Caraga will also participate in the activities of the Local Civil Registry Office (LCRO) of the region during this month-long celebration such as the conduct of mass wedding and mobile registration. (PSA-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)


DA Caraga supports rice-corn blend campaign

BUTUAN CITY, Jan. 29 – The Department of Agriculture (DA) Caraga vowed to support government’s effort to lessen the dependence of Filipinos on rice as staple food.

One initiative is to blend rice with corn or the so-called Rice Corn Blend (RCB) which was launched in Davao City.

DA Caraga is coordinating with the local government units to look for areas suitable for the establishment of white corn production as model farm that would showcase to the farmers the viability of flint type white corn production.

Target areas for model farms are cluster areas with strong farmer associations. Other areas can also be tapped as long as potential for flint type corn production.

DA Caraga Regional Corn Coordinator Melody M. Guimary said that preferred sites for the model farm should be compact and not less than 50 hectares.

“The qualified farmers to participate on the model farm will be assisted with interventions such as technical training, inputs, and farm machinery and equipment,” she said. 

During the launching in Davao City, PhilMaize, a federation of corn farmer associations signed a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Agriculture and National Food Authority (NFA) for the processing and marketing of the product. 

“The RCB is also a business opportunity for cooperatives, association or any private individuals who would like to invest in processing and marketing of the Rice Corn Blend,” Guimary added.

DA Caraga together with LGUs is benchmarking the local demand of flint type white corn in the region to ascertain local marketing opportunities.

According to Provincial Corn Coordinator Oscar Tuyor of Agusan del Norte, blending of rice and corn is not new for him as he is fond of eating such even when he was still a small boy.

“Rice can be blended with corn either on a ratio of 70:30 or 50:50 or depending on the preference of the consumer,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Lydia Apatan, an agricultural extension worker of Nasipit, Agusan del Norte said that Rice-Corn Blend is a welcome initiative of DA.

“Aside from helping lessen the dependency of rice among Filipinos, it is a healthy alternative since corn has low glycemic index and high in fiber,” she said.

Glycemic index is a number associated with the carbohydrates in a particular food that indicates the effect of these carbohydrates on a person's blood glucose or commonly called blood sugar.

Under the National Corn Staple Development Plan, DA aims to increase production of quality flint corn for nutrition and food security, and increase income of farmers specifically to increase production of flint corn from 1.952M metric ton (MT) in 2017 to 4.91M mt by 2022.

Corn (flint type) serves as staple food of about 15% of the total population, mostly in the islands of Visayas and Mindanao in the form of corn grits. (APArais, DA-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)


2 AgSur LGUs top 2017 customer experience survey

PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur, Jan. 29 – The local government units (LGUs) of Sibagat and La Paz, both from this province were the only LGUs nationwide that got the perfect over-all customer satisfaction score of 10 in a survey conducted among those who applied for renewal of their business permits in 2017.

This annual random survey was organized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)'s Competitiveness Bureau (CB) and the National Competitiveness Council (NCC). 

The same survey is being run this 2018 to cover the renewal period of business permits in January to February.  This is in partnership with the DTI Regional and Provincial Offices.  Participation may be through online response via: http://bit.ly/2018BPLSCES or answering a printed survey form in any of the province's Negosyo Centers (NCs).

For 2017, a total of 173 LGUs or 1,730 respondents participated in the survey. For Caraga, respondents came from 10 LGUs.  Of the ten, eight were from the province of Agusan del Sur.

Aside from the perfect scores of Sibagat and La Paz, the rest of the Agusan del Sur LGUs  (Esperanza, Loreto, Talacogon, Bayugan City, Sta. Josefa, and Prosperidad) obtained high scores as well, the lowest being 7.67 – a far cry from the official lowest score of 2.87 of a key city in the National Capital Region.

Satisfaction feedback results

A total of 1,678 or 97 percent indicated "satisfied" with the services of their respective LGUs, which includes services of LGU front liners and over-all process of renewal period.

While 52 or 3 percent indicated "dissatisfied with the services of their respective LGUs (i.e. long procedures).

Other survey results

The survey reported a total of 1,496 or 86 percent who personally applied for renewal of their business permit.

Most of the business registrations or 79 percent were classified as sole proprietorship while 17 percent were partnerships or corporations.

A total of 1,592 or 92 percent were classified as micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

A total of 1,678 or 97 percent did not avail of any services offered by fixers in their LGUs.

860 or 50 percent indicated that there were positive reforms implemented in their locality (eg. implementation of business one-stop shop). (DTI-Agusan del Sur/PIA-Agusan del Sur)


DTI-AgSur NCs provide mobile business name registration, servicing in business one-stop shop of 5 more LGUs

PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur, Jan. 29 – As more business one-stop shop (BOSS) for business permits and licensing were conducted in various local government units (LGUs) of this province, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) thru its Negosyo Centers (NC) also continued to be present to ensure that business name registration is facilitated.

Five of the province's LGUs had scheduled their BOSS during the following dates: Bayugan City - January 3 to 26; Trento - January 15 to 20; Sta. Josefa - January 15 to 20; La Paz - January 3 to 22; and Bunawan - January 15 to 19.

NC-Bayugan City staff Charlott Carl Pingol reported that as of January 18, about 731 mayor permittees have already registered.

Jufie Ann Balbao, Business Permit & Licensing Officer (BPLO)-designate led the BOSS at the Bayugan City Hall, which was joined by the Bureau of Fire (BFP), and the city offices of health and the environment, among others.

Pingol shared that in November and December of 2017, the city assessors office did an "on-wheel" roving among business establishments including sari-sari stores in the barangays to encourage business owners to register or get permits to legalize their businesses.

In LGU Trento, NC Staff Mark Bogani worked with the BFP and the Social Security System as well as the LGU's licensing offices led by Licensing Officer 1 Sarah Magsalay.  Bogani reported 312 permitees as of January 18.

The BOSS in LGU Sta. Josefa, which was also served by Bogani with NC staff Gilbert Engayas had Engr. Carlo C. Quijada, Municipal Assessor and BPLO-designate as lead in the activity which registered some 200 permittees by the 3rd day.

Louida Legaspi of NC-Talacogon traveled to La Paz to join the BOSS at its municipal lobby on January 19. Her counterpart from the LGU was Arlene Campos, the town's BPLO-designate. 

The LGU was hoping reportedly to surpass 2017's number of permittees by roving and visiting the barangays to encourage businesses to register.

Finally, NC-Bunawan staff France Tumulak Suaybaguio and Connie Derro took turns to be present during the LGU-Buanwan's 5-day BOSS at the municipal hall. Taking the LGU lead was Joan Medado, BPLO-designate who reported an initial list of 172 mayor permittees plus 77 tricycle drivers/operators who also registered.

Applicants who wish to apply for business name, are required to bring the following requirements:

·      1 government issued I.D (eg. drivers license etc);
·      proposed business name;
·      registration fee (depending on the territorial scope (barangay level: P200, municipal: P500, regional: P1,000, national: P2,000; and
·      P15.00 for the documentary stamp.

The BN certificate is renewable every five years.

Outside the BOSS (during regular days), business name registration and other business development services can be obtained from any of the existing Negosyo Centers: NC-Trento (also serving Sta. Josefa and Veruela for the meantime), NC-Bunawan, NC San Francisco (also covering Rosario), NC -Provincial Hub (Patin-ay, Prosperidad), NC Talacogon (covering La Paz, Loreto and San Luis), NC-Esperanza, NC Bayugan City and NC-Sibagat. (DTI-Agusan del Sur/PIA-Agusan del Sur)


Tagalog news: Mahigit 40 IP youth nakinabang sa kauna-unahang mobile computer literacy training sa Surigao del Sur

Ni Jennifer P. Gaitano

LUNGSOD NG BUTUAN, Enero 29 – Inilunsad ng 402nd Brigade, Philippine Army ang kauna-unahang Mobile Computer Literacy Training para sa may mahigit 40 na mga Indigenous Peoples (IPs) na kabataan sa munisipalidad ng San Miguel, Surigao del Sur.

Kasama ang hanay ng 36th Infantry Battalion, lokal na pamahalaan ng San Miguel, Surigao del Sur, kasama pa ang iba't-ibang ahensya ng pamahalaan, non-government organizations, at media, naging maayos at matiwasay ang paglulunsad ng nasabing pagsasanay sa basic computer literacy ng mga IP youths.

Ayon kay Brigadier General Franco Nemesio Gacal, ang commander ng 402nd Infantry Brigade, Philippine Army, makakatulong ang basic computer literacy training para sa mga IP youths sa tulong ng mobile computer lab na nasa loob ng isang 40-footer van. Galing naman sa Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) ang mga trainers nito na siyang tututok sa mga trainees sa loob ng isang buwan.

Binigyang-diin din ni Gacal na buo ang suporta ng mga local government units ng rehiyon at magkakaroon din ng ganitong pagsasanay sa ibat-ibang probinsya ngayong 2018.

Laking pasasalamat naman ni San Miguel mayor Alvaro Elizalde sa 402nd Brigade, at sa lahat ng ahensya ng gobyerno na tumugon sa pangangailangang teknikal ng mga IP youths.

Ayon sa kanya, magpatuloy sana ang ganitong proyekto upang madagdagan ang kaalaman at kasanayan ng mga IPs at mapanatili ang kaayusan sa nasabing lugar, maging sa ibang lungsod.

Napag-alaman din kay provincial director Allan Millan ng TESDA Surigao del Sur na mabibigyan ng training certificate ang mga trainees matapos ang kanilang 30 araw na pagsasanay.


Ang nasabing mobile computer literacy training ay tinatawag ding ‘Gabay-Aral sa Kabataang Lumad’ project ng 402nd Brigade, Philippine Army. (JPG/PIA-Caraga)