(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.


Sunday, May 20, 2018


PHL IOs, journalists learn China’s social media platforms

By Jennifer P. Gaitano

BEIJING, China, May 20 (PIA) -- On the fourth day of the ongoing “Seminar for Information Officers and Journalists from the Philippines” being held in Beijing, the 22 delegates on Saturday, May 19, learned about Chinese social media platforms and there utilizations. 

Juanjuan Guan, deputy director of News Service/ China Radio International, one of the lecturers, said that based on YouGov survey of over 70,000 online news consumers in 36 countries and regions including the US and UK, more than half of all online users across the 36 countries and regions (54 percent) say they use social media as source of news each week.

“More than one in ten (14 percent) now say social media is still the main source of news,” she added.

Guan also cited that in China, people said the use of WeChat and Sina Weibo mobile applications are very useful to them.

“Founded in 2009, the Sina Weibo as of June 2017, has about 536 million registered users, and each user has an average of 200 friends or connections. There are more than 120 million daily active users. Another app is the WeChat, which is a smartphone application that consists many useful features,” relayed Guan.

Guan further revealed that through WeChat, media organizations could create their official account where netizens can follow their updates, which they also find more accessible and convenient. There are many helpful features in the said application apart from the messaging system.

“Almost all government agencies – national and local have Sina Weibo and WeChat accounts for information release or news coverage, even all other major media organizations,” underscored Guan.

With all the other social media platforms apart from WeChat and Sina Weibo, Guan stressed that the new media has really helped people get more relevant updates not only inside China, but also from other countries. (JPG/PIA-Caraga)

Sibagat IPs start tocino, longganisa business

SIBAGAT, Agusan del Sur, May 20 -- About 33 chieftains of Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and local food processors in this municipality recently learned the principles and concepts of saving, investing, and budgeting.

This learning experience was acquired during the seminar on financial literacy held recently at the Wawa Tribal Hall, Poblacion, Sibagat Agusan del Sur.

It can be recalled that just this March, engagement of the Negosyo Center (NC) Sibagat with this group started.

NC staff Caryl Joy Zapanta, through IP chairman Samel Bejing joined in one of their meetings and came up with agreements, to provide trainings to the group to develop businesses.

A month ago, training on meat processing was also conducted, and there had been trainees producing tocino and longganisa and made it as a business.

These IPs expressed their gratitude for the assistance provided to them as they have gained additional knowledge on how to manage their finances effectively and that they look forward to have a business, own a house and support their family's needs.

A Training on 'banana chips making' is scheduled for the group as another option to earn income. (DTI-Agusan de Sur/PIA-Agusan del Sur)

Bayugan City market vendors appreciate bookkeeping

BAYUGAN CITY, Agusan del Sur, May 20 -- The Negosyo Center (NC) here has recently organized a seminar on simple bookkeeping to the market vendors here in order to equip them with basic skills on record keeping in business and how to use it in store operations.

About 19 storeowners joined in the seminar and learned about bookkeeping to understand the requirements, the flow of their business and the obligations with the regulatory agencies which shall be complied.

Merlie Peñalver, accredited mentor of the Philippines Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE), facilitated the seminar.

She introduced the basics of bookkeeping, the accounting cycle, journalizing, posting, preparation of trial balance, worksheet, income statement, balance sheet, adjusting and closing entries, and the post-closing trial balance.

The participants did a workshop on the accounting cycle, analysis on business transactions and preparation of financial reports. At first, the participants felt the difficulty of documenting the transactions but later they already appreciated the process. (DTI-Agusan de Sur/PIA-Agusan del Sur)