Negros Occidental barangay shifts to organic farming

A senior official from the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) on Wednesday said the Department of Agriculture special project is making waves in the marginalized sectors in agriculture, challenging more Filipino farmers to help address food security and poverty in the countryside.

In his report, OPAV Assistant Secretary Jonji Gonzales said the DA-Special Area For Agriculture Development (SAAD) Program helped the Pandanon Integrated Upland Small Farmers Association in the remote barangay of Pandanon in Negros Occidental become organic vegetable cultivators.

The farmers’ group is a recipient of the program since 2019 and have already received agricultural assistance amounting to more than PHP1.8 million.

The assistance included 1,800 grams of ampalaya seeds, 300 grams of eggplant seeds, and 300 grams of squash seeds. They also received farm tools, such as spades, spading forks, trowels, rakes, and rolls of water hose.

Natural attractants were provided to induce beneficial insects to come to and stay in crops to enhance pollination or provide natural pest protection to safeguard crops from infestation.

“Because of the assistance provided by SAAD, the association was able to increase the vegetable production and was able to sell to the local market. Dati ang vegetable produce nila para lang sa pagkain ng kanilang pamilya (Before, their vegetable produce were meant for their family’s consumption only),” he said during the Network Briefing News with host Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar.

Through the said program, the farmers are set to receive additional assistance totaling more than PHP366,000. This will be in the form of vegetable seeds and additional tools.

“Layunin ng famers group na maging sustainable producer ng organically grown, chemical-free vegetables sa Negros Occidental (The farmers group aims to be a sustainable producer of organically grown, chemical-free vegetables in Negros Occidental),” Gonzales said. “They hope to achieve this goal through all the interventions they obtained and by practicing the technologies conveyed by the SAAD Program.”

SAAD is a special project under the Department of Agriculture focusing on providing better livelihood opportunities in the list of priority provinces in the country. (Content reposted from Philippine News Agency)

Photo: Screenshot from The Presidential Communications Operations Office

Flood-resilient barangay hall design

 Sketch of flood-resilient barangay hall drawn after Tropical Storm Ondoy 11 years ago by Architect Paulo Alcazaren.(Reposted from Reddit)

 

VP Robredo visits Barangay Punta Tarawal whose chief swore her into office

Vice President Leni Robredo visited last Thursday the remote barangay in Camarines Sur headed by the chairman before whom she took her oath as the second highest official of the country in 2016.

“Remember the barangay captain before whom I took my oath into office as VP? He is Rolando Coner of Punta Tarawal, a small, far away barangay along the coast of San Miguel Bay which can be reached only by boat,” she wrote on her Facebook account on Friday night.

“We visited his barangay to check how everyone was doing after the typhoon,” she added.

The barangay was one of those heavily affected by Super Typhoon Rolly when it made landfall in Bicol last weekend.

Coner, the Vice President said, was apologetic as he did not know they were coming. Her office provided relief goods for the residents, which they distributed with the help of the barangay chairman.

“He is that man in green, all covered in mud, because he was cleaning the muck out of the barangay hall brought about by the floods,” said Robredo, referring to Coner.

The Vice President said the residents “were profuse with gratitude that they already had a sea wall,” making it safer for them whenever there are typhoons.

The building that her office helped build through the support of private partners also survived Rolly and was undamaged.

“They said that had they known it would be that sturdy, they would not have evacuated to the mainland anymore. They were recounting their horrors when the evacuation center they were in suffered damages during the onslaught,” the Vice President said in her post.

Swearing in before barangay captains was first allowed for winners of the 2016 elections following the approval of Republic Act 10755 earlier that year.

Two barangay captains administered the oath of Robredo in 2016: Coner and Regina Celeste San Miguel of Barangay Mariana in Quezon City, where her office was located.

At the time, Punta Tarawal was described as the “smallest, farthest and poorest” barangay of the third district of Camarines Sur that Robredo represented at the House of Representatives prior to her election as Vice President.

Over the past week, Robredo visited various areas in Bicol heavily affected by Rolly, including Catanduanes, Albay and her home province of Camarines Sur. (Photo and content reposted from Philstar)

 

 

 

 

‘Ugnayan sa Barangay’ benefits 382 households in Sta. Rita, Samar

 

A total of 382 beneficiaries received hygiene kits while their barangays received emergency generator sets from various government and volunteer groups during the Ugnayan sa Barangay held in Barangay Utap, Sta. Rita, Samar on November 4, 2020.

The “poorest of the poor” as certified by the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officer (MSWDO) likewise received toys for their children, courtesy of the Office of Civil Defense, Office of the Presidential Assistant, DSWD through Director Marie Angela Gopalan, Fraternity of Eagles, Philippine Army, United Coconut Planters’ Bank, and Senator Bong Go, among others.

In all, there were 11 beneficiaries from Barangay Hinangutdan, 48 from Old Manunca, 98 from San Agustin, 110 from Binanalan, and 109 from Tagacay.

Brigadier General Wilbur C. Mamawag, assistant chief of the 8th Infantry Division, together with Office of Civil Defense Regional Director Lord Byron Torrecarion, turned over the six generator sets for use during emergencies. The portable generators are a symbol of hope, noted Mr. Torrecarion as the presence of light exudes optimism among people.

Sta. Rita Mayor Joven Tiu, Vice Mayor Engr. Tiu, members of the Sanggunian, and department heads were present during the event, which served to support the implementation of the Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP). The National Intelligence Coordination Agency (NICA) showed a briefer intended for parents warning against the deceptive recruitment of youths by the New People’s Army.

For Punong Barangays Anacleto Canete Jr. of Hinangutdan and Geronimo Igso of Binanalan, the generator sets are timely and appreciated as these will extend a better quality of life to their residents. This was echoed by Arturo Mamaril, a senior citizen farmer from Barangay Tagacay, who said the hygiene kits are welcome assistance that were unexpected.

Regional Director Karl Caesar R. Rimando of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) who initiated the activity together with other agency heads, recognized the Office of the President, Office of Civil Defense, Philippine Army, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine National Police, NICA, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Department of Agriculture, UCPB, DSWD, LGU Sta. Rita, members of the media, and many others for their invaluable contribution to the activity. The event was organized as part of efforts for the Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP) to promote a just and lasting peace in the region by 2022. (Content reposted from Philippine Information Agency)

 IN PHOTO: Sta. Rita, Samar welcome marker. Photo from Google.

The Pinoy Big Brother-inspired design of new Iligan City barangay hall

A barangay hall with a Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) house design is now almost finished in Iligan City.

The said building is located in Brgy. San Miguel and has a project budget of over P4 million. It is around 2 hours away from Cagayan de Oro. (Content reposted from ACADEO)

 

Palawan barangay, home of the indigenous Tau't batu cave people, records 800 malaria cases

Barangay Ransang, an area in Rizal municipality with a high population of Pala’wan indigenous peoples (IP), has recorded an estimated 800 malaria cases since January this year.

Rutchel Laborera, acting health officer of the town, said Thursday that among Rizal’s 11 barangays, Ransang has remained consistent in recording the highest incidents of the mosquito-borne disease.

“Ransang pa rin ang may mataas na kaso ng malaria sa bayan natin. Last year, sila din, kaya ang health office natin ay talagang consistent din ang monitoring natin dyan sa area na yan at talagang nagbabantay ang mga Barangay Health Workers (BHW) natin sa Ransang,” she said.

“Ilang beses din tayo noon dyan nakapag-deklara ng malaria cases outbreak sa Ransang, pero ngayon under close monitoring talaga ang barangay na yan pagdating sa malaria sa buong probinsya natin sa Palawan,” Laborera added.

Most of the cases, she said, involve adults, and dispatched health workers are focusing to ensure that they get help

She said they are cooperating on this with the Provincial Health Office (PHO) and the Kilusan Ligtas Malaria (KLM).

“Lagi silang may mga anti-malaria awareness dissemination sa mga communities to prevent more cases,” she said.

Among the other interventions is also the distribution almost every month of long-lasting insecticide nets or LLINs to the residents with the Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc. (PSFI).

Based on recent data by the KLM, Palawan has already recorded 4,830 positive malaria cases this year.

Aside from Rizal, the towns with high cases are Brooke’s Point, Bataraza, and Quezon in southern Palawan. (Content reposted from Palawan News Online)

PHOTO CREDIT: Frontier Ventures

 

Zero Covid barangay in Cebu City to receive P500,000

Aiming to have zero coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) case by yearend, Mayor Edgardo Labella on Friday announced that he is giving a PHP500,000 reward to every barangay (village) that would be Covid-free from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31.

During the turnover of the new Cebu City Quarantine Center (CCQC) by the Department of Public Works and Highways to the city government here, Labella said the city government conceptualized the reward system in order to operationalize the challenge given by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, the Cebu Covid-19 response overseer, to have a zero-Covid capital city.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Cimatu said this city that used to be tagged as a coronavirus epicenter has now flattened the curve and already known as the "epicenter of recoveries".

This development prompted Cimatu to challenge the city to aim for zero Covid-19 cases.

“Mr. Mayor, I am confident that you can have zero Covid here in Cebu,” Labella quoted Cimatu as saying.

“We will try our best to achieve that ideal, because we are inspired” by how the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has addressed the coronavirus crisis in the city, the mayor answered Cimatu.

Due to a spike of Covid-19 cases here last June, President Rodrigo Duterte instructed Cimatu to oversee the government response to the health crisis, mainly the open defiance of the residents of the minimum health standards such as mask wearing and physical distancing, among others.

But Cimatu said it is now possible to aim for zero Covid-19 cases in Cebu City.

“I don’t really foresee a problem in our tasks especially in your organization here because you are already exposed to the day to day works since the start of the crisis,” he told the Cebu media.

Cimatu recalled that when they arrived last June, the number of patients and deaths here was alarming.

“If you look at the data, more than 600 deaths all from Cebu City since June and bigla na lang naging (suddenly becomes) zero. This is an indication of success, that effort of the (Emergency Operation Center) team paid off,” he said, adding that for seven days now, the city has zero fatalities due to Covid-19. (Content reposted from Philippine News Agency)

IN PHOTO:. As the Covid-19 curve is flattened, Environment Secretary and Cebu overseer Roy Cimatu (inset, left) on Thursday (Oct. 22, 2020) challenged Mayor Edgardo Labella to make Cebu City Covid-free. Labella on Friday (Oct. 23, 2020) announced that he is giving a P500,000 incentive to every barangay with zero Covid-19 case from Nov. 1 to December 31. (Photos courtesy of IATF and Jun Nagac)