Authorities said 810 barangays in Cebu Province are affected by illegal drugs this year.
That
is more than 75 percent of the province’s 1,066 barangays, according to
the data of the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (CPADAO) and the
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency
The drug affectation rate this year, though, is lower compared to the 90 percent affection recorded in 2016.
Of
the 810 barangays, 14 are seriously affected by the drug problem, 403
are moderately affected and 393 are slightly affected, said CPADAO
executive director Ivy Meca.
She said 11 barangays are not
infested with illegal drugs. The regional oversight committee, led by
PDEA, also gave drug-cleared statuses to 245 barangays.
Meca presented her report during the year-end assessment of Capitol’s departments.
She said not a single drug-cleared barangay has been stripped of its status.
She
said they’ve been monitoring these barangays and the CPADAO points out
any mistake that these barangays need to correct to keep their status.
Source of news: SunStar Cebu
Photo Credit, Cebu Provincial Capitol Bldg.: cebu.gov.ph
(Editor's Note: This is a follow-up story on an earlier COA probe which came out in the leading dailies.)
The Department of the Interior and Local Government has cleared the
Manila City Government of the 27 “nonexistent” barangays in the city
that allegedly received real property tax shares amounting to P108.733
million after they were flagged by the Commission on Audit.
The investigation released by the DILG-Manila Field Office under Atty.
Rolynne Javier revealed that the barangays identified and questioned by
COA were actually existing with temporary barangay names and codes.
The DILG also said the fund of the so called “Barangay 10” which
received P365,000 in tax shares remains intact and has been deposited to
the City’s Trust Fund Account.
Interior department officials said, the City of Manila, which has 896
barangays recognized by their numerical numbers, were not yet officially
classified as such by the DILG.
Barangay numbers in Manila go from 1 to 905, including the dissolved barangays with sub-A markings.
Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada was relieved by the DILG report.
Saying he was pleased by the investigation, he added his administration
will not resort to any anomaly to pocket public funds.
Estrada said he will fulfill his promise to rid the city of its
financial liabilities and claimed that under his watch he will continue
to make the city debt-free.
Source of news: The Manila Standard
Photo credit, the Manila City Hall: Rappler
An estimated 2,349 Barangay Service Point Officers (BSPOs) are
holding a congress today at the Iloilo Sports Complex in Magsaysay
Village, La Paz, Iloilo City.
The congress’ theme is “BSPO, Malipayon nga Nagaserbisyo Boluntaryo.”
The 2,349 BSPOs are serving 1,721 barangays of the province.
According
to Provincial Population Office (PPO) head Ramon Yee, the congress is a
venue for BSPOs to exchange views, share best practices and strengthen
ties.
BSPOs help implement various programs of the provincial government,
and particularly the PPO. They gather demographic data every month such
as the population of the barangays, number of births and deaths, number
of overseas workers, etc.
BSPOs also help the PPO record the number of out-of-school youths, cases of teen pregnancies and deliveries.
According
to Yee, these data are valuable. Local governments can use them to plan
and implement programs and projects to address local concerns such as
poverty.
BSPOs do these as volunteers not receiving monthly compensation, said
Yee, thus it is only fitting that their volunteerism is recognized.
BSPOs
only receive honoraria from the barangays where they serve. Each
December, the provincial government releases cash allowance to them.
This year (next month) each of them are set to receive P4,000 each.
In today’s congress, they would be given materials to aid in their work such as notebooks, pens and staplers.
Source of news: Panay News
Barangay councils should make sure that their helpdesks
for abused women are functional, a social welfare official said.
“Abuses
against women continue. Barangay councils should be the first
responders,” said May Rago, information officer of the Department of
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Western Visayas.
DSWD is leading an 18-day campaign to end violence against women (VAW) from Nov. 25 to Dec. 15.
Villages (barangays) in Western Visayas should ensure that their
desks for victims of Violence Against Women (VAW) are functional, a
social welfare official said here Friday.
"We have to acknowledge
that the occurrence of abuses against women continues to happen and the
barangay should be the first responder to victims,” May Rago,
Information Officer of the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD) 6 (Western Visayas), said in the light of the 18-day campaign to
end VAW in the country from Nov. 25 until December 15.
According
to Rago, the presence of VAW desks in villages is essential because it
provides opportunity for women victims to report the abuses.
“It
should be reported to prevent it because if it will not be reported,
your partner would think that it is normal and more likely, he will
repeat the violence,” she said.
Rago also encouraged women to seek
help from their local social welfare and development office and members
of the Philippine National Police.
She stressed that every abuse
against women is alarming and should not be tolerated because it is
against the right of the person.
The DSWD has established a
Regional Center for Women to provide protective and rehabilitative
services among women survivors of abuse and violence and help them
resolve their problems and restore their normal social functioning.
Located at New Lucena, Iloilo, the center caters to 21 women, nine of whom are survivors of VAW.
They
are provided with social, home life, educational, psychological,
health, entrepreneurial, recreational, developmental and spiritual
services.
Source of News: Philippine News Agency
Photo credit: YouTube
