MIMAROPA Barangays Win Best Sanitation Practices

Several MIMAROPA barangays were selected to be the winners for the Barangay Best Sanitation Practices (BBSP).  Two of them are barangays Mainit in Boac, Marinduque and Masaguisi in Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro. 

Cash incentives were also given to other 2016 BBSP winners which included barangays Nunsora with Php150,000 and Agnocnoc with Php50,000 both in located in Ferrol, Romblon; and barangays Sagana and Ipil in Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro with Php50,000 each. “These incentives will be used to sustain and further improve their program in health and sanitation in the community”.

All the regional nominees were evaluated by the Regional Technical Working Group based on the following criteria: 1) households with sanitary toilet facilities, 25%; coverage of households with access of safe water, 25%; improvement in sanitary toilet, 25%; approved barangay budget for water and sanitation. Local sanitation initiatives such as wastewater, solid waste management, clean and green program, legislative support and community involvement are also included.

“MIMAROPA is still lagging behind in terms of hygiene and sanitation practices, there are still areas in the region that practice open defecation and unhygienic toilet habits. Having been recognized as barangays with the best sanitation practices, may you lead as examples in ensuring that other LGUs in your province will follow in improving sanitation practices because these are serious issues that affect not only health but also our social and economic status,” Janairo emphasized.

“Sanitation and hygiene has been proven to provide gains on public health, livelihood and to the community. It is essential for everyone to learn about these things to be able to prevent various diseases that can be caused due to poor maintenance of hygienic surroundings”, he concluded. (Marinduque News)

Cagayan de Oro Barangay Issued IDs to Marawi Displaced Persons

 

Barangay Balulang officials have distributed identification cards (ID) to over 1000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Marawi City who are currently staying with their relatives in the barangay.

As reported in an article from SunStar, the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWD) together with police, barangay officials of Balulang started to distribute IDs at the barangay covered court.

The ID is to keep track of every person who came from Marawi City. Thus, Balulang is listing down the names of each IDP and every ID handed to them is authorized and acknowledge by the barangay chief, homeowners association president and the police. 

The ID will be serving as the basis for any relief assistance that will be extended by the CSWD.

The name of the holder and its address in Marawi City will be stated in the ID.

With the increasing number of visitors from Marawi City, the barangay official of Balulang has already requested assistance from the authorities.

Tight security patrols is expected within the area as to ensure the safety of everyone in the community. (About Cagayan de Oro)

Davao Barangay Site of Artificial Reef Project Launch

DAVAO City Water District (DCWD) launched its artificial reefs project in Barangay Bago Aplaya in celebration of May as the Philippine Ocean Month through an orientation on Artificial Reefs Making on May 19

The launch was attended by barangay officials headed by Barangay Capt. Cristito Lazaro, purok leaders, and residents.

Topics discussed were “Overview of Marine Protected Area” and “What is an Artificial Reef?” by resource persons Aylwin Ventura of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and Aimee Evora of the City Agriculturist Office (CAO). After the orientation, the participants agreed to conduct the project as contest among the puroks in Barangay Bago Aplaya to involve and develop the community’s sense of ownership. They also brought discarded plastic bottles for DCWD’s year-round 2Big Campaign of recycling plastic wastes into school chairs to be donated to public elementary schools.

As of the deadline of submission of entry forms set on May 26, six puroks confirmed their participation to the contest. Generally, each participant will make one artificial reef based on the guidelines set by DCWD together with BFAR, CAO, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which are member agencies of Davao City Coastal Resource Management-Technical Working Group. DCWD is working closely with these agencies from the identification and assessment of the most feasible project site until the monitoring and evaluation phase.

One month is allotted for the making of entries while the rest of the project activities are slated in July and October this year.

The 2017 Ocean Month is themed Tayo at Ang Karagatan complementing DCWD’s 2Big Campaign. (Mindanao Times)

Cavite Barangay Chair Caught While Bribing Police Chief

Imus City -- A barangay captain and another barangay official of Dasmariñas City were caught in the act of bribing the acting chief of police of Silang, Cavite, last Monday, according to Senior Supt. Arthur Bisnar, Cavite provincial police director.                                                                                         

Remigio Beberino, 51, married, incumbent barangay captain of Paliparan 1, Dasmariñas City, and one Luis Sarimos, 64, married, barangay justice officer, also of Bgy. Paliparan 1, baited Chief Insp. Lory Tarrazona, acting chief of Silang Police Station, were caught via CCTV at 9:30 a.m.

A report said that the suspects went to Silang MPS to seek an audience with the OIC and were immediately assisted by personnel of said office.

During their conversation, Beberino and Sarimos asked to negotiate the lowering of the charge against a certain Edgardo Reyes Sarimos, alias ‘Peaceman’ (pusher), of Bgy. Paliparan 1, who was arrested on May 26, 2017 during “One-Time, Big-Time” at Bgy. Banaba, Silang, by the Drug Enforcement Team of Silang MPS for the violation of Section 5 and Section 11 (possession of illegal drugs) of RA 9165.
    
The said suspects offered P200,000 in line with the said bargain but gave an initial payment of P100,000. At this juncture, the suspects were immediately arrested.  Both suspects were caught on video in the act of bribing the local chief of police.
    
The two suspects are now detained at Silang police detention cell facing a case of corruption of public official with strong video evidence of the conversation, according to officer-on-case PO3 John Carlo C. Talay. (JournalOnline)

House okays creation of 4 Tabuk barangays

                                                                                                                                                              Photo Credit: HeraldExpress

TABUK CITY, Kalinga  – The House of Representatives approved on third and final readings four separate bills authored by Rep. Allen Jesse C. Mangaoang for the legalization of the creation of two barangays and the creation of two additional barangays in this component city.

The approved bills include House Bill (HB) No. 383 that seeks to establish barangay Bulanao Norte, HB No. 384 which seeks to create barangay Ipil, HB No. 309 that seeks to separate the sitios of Guina-ang, Madopdop, Mallango, Lanlana and San Pablo from barangay Lacnog and constituting them into a separate and independent barangay to be known as barangay Lacnog West and HB No. 310 that seeks to separate the sitios Ileb, New Colayo village, Kinama and Nambaran Daya from barangay Nambaran and constituting them into barangay Nambaran East.

Mangaoang explained that Bulanao Norte and Ipil are regular barangays of the city and were created locally under Provincial Ordinance No. 2002-002 and Ordinance No. 2002-02, respectively, and their corporate existence came about after separate plebiscites for such purposes conducted by the Commission on Election (Comelec).

Under the said bills, Bulanao Norte shall be composed of Purok Datu, Purok Dos, Purok Tres and Sitio Linglingay, totaling an approximate area of 350 hectares while the suggested composition of Ipil will be Ipil, Mapaoay, Maledda, Matocnang, Sumadel, and Dananao. Herald Express

Mangaoang explained that considering that Bulanao Norte and Ipil were locally created, the said barangays have not been entitled to the regular Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) from the national government and it was the provincial government that annually appropriated meagre funds for the personal services, maintenance and other operating expenses and capital outlay of the said barangays, thus, the need for a legislative action for their creation to be recognized by the national government to entitle them their IRA.

With the initial success of the bills in the House of Representatives, the lawmaker underscored that the two locally created barangays will no longer suffer from insufficiency of funds while the proposed creation of the other two barangays will enable them to chart their own course for their socio-economic development considering that Tabuk is the projected development area of the region due to the availability of lands and resources for development activities.

Mangaoang emphasized the conversion of Tabuk into a component city will definitely attract more population into the said proposed barangays, thus, the great need for more funding to address its growing problems for the benefit of its existing population.

With the impending filing of the counterpart bills in the Senate, Mangaoang disclosed that once signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte, the component city will now have 44 legally created barangays that will cater to the growing population of the city due to the migration of people from the upland areas to the well-developed lowland communities.

Mangaoang said he will personally visit Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on local government, to lobby for the enactment of the counterpart bills that will legitimize the creation of the four barangays in the developing component city. (HeraldExpress)

A New Mechanism to Spur Barangay Development

The governor of Bataan, Abet Garcia, said that barangays in his province need not spend a single centavo from their funds so that their 20% development funds for their operational expenses and other  projects remain intact. 

He said that the P4 mechanism that the province adopted is the answer to the perennial issue of limited funds although they can still ask help from other national agencies and officials despite competition with other provinces who also seek funding.

The coffee plantations of this not-so-remote barangay in Iloilo (Google Maps can't find it though) attracted interest of national investors.  Barangay Ongyod is just 18 kilometers away from the town proper of Miag-ao in Iloilo and can be reached by a 30-minute ride and then a 2 to 3-hour trek.  With the quality of its coffee as good as the famous Batangas brew, millions of pesos are finding their way from interested investors to the coffee plantations here.    

It looks like the numbers do not add up with the headcount of the police on drug-affected barangays in Western Visayas.  The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) reported that of the 2,389 barangays in Western Visayas, 1,944 or 57 percent are drug-affected.  “This is our latest record. These barangays are subject to clearing operations by the police,” said Superintendent Gilbert Gorero, PRO-6 spokesperson. Try doing a little math and see if your numbers tally with that of the Region 6 police report.   



Remote barangay in Dagupan picked as one of the pilot areas for VP Robredo's Angat Buhay Program.  Barangay Carael in Dagupan City was chosen as one of the pilot areas of the program in its aim of uplifting the lives of the poor, especially children and senior citizens in many rural areas of the country.  More than 300 private corporations and civic organizations throughout the country have already pledged support.

Barangays in Makati scene of "the-fast-and-the furious" car chase. Like an action sequence from a popular video game, a road chase triggered by a lady car driver cited for a parking violation damaged several vehicles, endangered the lives of pedestrians and caused standstill traffic at the Rockwell commercial area in Makati City on Friday afternoon. See video of the chase.

Cebu Barangay to benefit from P2.9 million spillway.  In many remote barangays of the country, mere construction of a bridge could mean a new lease of life to residents.  To many of them, it means access to markets to sell their produce, more educational opportunities, better health or even saving lives during emergencies.  A P2.9-million spillway was built in Barangay Kabalaasan in the Municipality of Dimanjug to make crossing the local river easier especially when its raining. "The 40-meter long and five-meter wide spillway is expected to ease the river crossing of residents of the barangay especially during the rainy season,” says Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III.

Big data analysis defeats dengue in Pangasinan barangay. In 2015, the province of Pangasinan struggled with rising cases of dengue fever.  In its first nine months alone, the reported cases of dengue infections here are of epidemic proportions. Data analyst Wilson Chua, who hails from the province but who now reside in Singapore,  while employing an analytical tool called "analytics", was able to accurately pinpoint the breeding ground.  It's Barangay Bonuan Boquig in Dagupan to be exact. Soon enough, the incidents of dengue went down to zero.  

Mayor's office in each barangay?  The Cebu City Council is questioning an executive order to create Barangay Mayor's office in every barangay in the city.  Under the executive order of Mayor Tomas Osmeña, the mayor's office in each barangay in the city is mandated to implement the giving of free medicines to qualified residents.  

Deactivated voters may apply for reactivation in the Barangay SK elections.  The law says that those who failed to vote in two consecutive national elections such as in 2013 and 2016 have resulted to the deactivation of their right to vote.  These voters however may vote again when they reactivate their registration records. 

P1 million in insurance claims paid to families of Negros Occidental barangay personnel. Almost P1 million in insurance claims was turned over by Gov. Alfredo Maranon Jr. to the surviving families of barangay tanods, officials and employees in the province who died in the service.  Ranging from P10,000 to P50,000 each check, the insurance premiums were paid for by the provincial government.

Incumbent barangay officials to stay in office until November 29, 2017. Unless replaced, the term of all current barangay officials will be extended until November 29, 2017 as prescribed by the bill that was signed into law last October 15, 2016.

When is a barangay child-labor free? The Provincial Field Office of the of the Department of Labor and Employment in Davao Del Norte recently held an orientation in Tagum City to barangay and purok officials on Child Labor Free and Domestic Helper or Kasambahay Law.  Deogracias Victor Sicam of DOLE said that for a barangay to be declared free from child labor, none of its resident below 15 years old shall be employed except for two cases. 

Our best wishes for a productive week.  Please send any interesting news or feedback about your barangay or barangays in your town, city or province to barangayreporter.blogspot.com   We'd be glad to publish them here.  You may also let us know what you think about any barangay issue discussed here in the comments section below.

Barangays Can Slow High Incidence of Birth Deaths

Empowered barangays have the potential to be at the forefront of preventing childbirth and maternal deaths in the country says Camarines Sur Representative LRay Villafuerte who filed a bill  seeking to implement a maternal and childcare program in every barangay covering the first 1,000 days of an infant’s development, from the womb up to two years of age.

Photo Credit:  bbc.com

He said that he was alarmed by the recent statement of Anthony Costello, director for maternal, children’s and adolescents’ health of the World Health Organization, that maternal and neonatal deaths were “underestimated” worldwide. 

According to the WHO, 303,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth while 2.7 million babies die during the first 28 days of their life and another 2.6 million babies are stillborn every year.

               World Health Organization Manila Office     WHO File Photo

  

“The fact that neonatal deaths and still births are preventable with quality healthcare points to the urgency for government to establish maternal and child care facilities in every barangay in the country,” said the  lawmaker. 

“Social protection programs designed to improve access to affordable health care down to the barangay level and upgrade the skills of our labor force will attack poverty and make high growth felt by the overwhelming majority of Filipinos who are poor, he added.

The government must make sure that the country’s 42,035 barangays are empowered in preventing maternal and neonatal deaths as a means to provide social protection to the poor and most vulnerable families. (Source: Philippine Star)