Iloilo City News November 2015

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Iloilo City - Archived News

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Dietary supplement is a product that contains vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, enzymes, and/or other ingredients intended to supplement the diet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has special labeling requirements for dietary supplements and treats them as foods, not drugs. Manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements and dietary ingredients are prohibited from marketing products that are adulterated or misbranded. That means that these firms are responsible for evaluating the safety and labeling of their products before marketing to ensure that they meet all the requirements of DSHEA and FDA regulations.

Molo Church, Iloilo City

The Dinagyang is a religious and cultural festival in Iloilo City, Philippines held on the fourth Sunday of January, or right after the Sinulog In Cebu and the Ati-Atihan in Aklan.

Wars of ancient history were about possessions, territory, power, control, family, betrayal, lover's quarrel, politics and sometimes religion. But we are in the Modern era and supposedly more educated and enlightened . Think about this. Don't just brush off these questions. Why is RELIGION still involved in WARS? Isn't religion supposed to be about PEACE? Ask yourself; What religion always campaign to have its religious laws be accepted as government laws, always involved in wars and consistently causing WARS, yet insists that it's a religion of peace? WHY?? There are only two kinds of people who teach tolerance: The Bullies. They want you to tolerate them so they can continue to maliciously deprive you. Do not believe these bullies teaching tolerance, saying that it’s the path to prevent hatred and prejudice. The victims who are waiting for the right moment to retaliate. They can’t win yet, so they tolerate.

SP okays ordinance regulating operation of lodging houses, similar establishments in Iloilo City

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=825444
• Tuesday, November 10, 2015

(PNA), LAP/PGL/LCPENDON/CBF

ILOILO CITY, Nov. 10 (PNA) -- The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) here on Tuesday unanimously approved an ordinance regulating the operation of lodging and pension houses, inns, hotels, motels, apartelles and other similar establishments in the city of Iloilo.

Main proponent city councilor Liezl Joy Zulueta-Salazar, chairperson of the SP committee on moral recovery, said the ordinance focuses on the youth sector of society to protect their rights and properly safeguard their welfare amidst the harsh realities of the present society.

Any establishment mentioned, especially lodging houses and motels, shall be required to post notices on the entrance door or gate or any conspicuous place in their establishment such as “No Entry/Admittance of Minors.”

Any person attempting to check-in with a minor or any vehicle with minors on board who wish to enter said establishments must be inspected by the security guard before they will be accommodated.

Zulueta-Salazar said an exemption is given when the minor is personally accompanied by parents or guardians who are in-charge of the minor’s care and custody.

Any person or in-charge of the lodging house, motel, inn and similar establishment found violating the ordinance shall be meted with a fine of P5,000 and imprisonment of one year or revocation of business permit.

Banks open loan windows to micro entrepreneurs

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=3&rid=824953
• Monday, November 9, 2015

(PNA), CTB/PGL/PR/CBF

ILOILO CITY, Nov 9 (PNA) - - Eight commercial banks and microfinance institutions here offered reasonable loan packages to support the development of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) assisted by the provincial government.

Ranging from P10,000 to half a million, the credit opportunities were shown and explained to 33 MSMEs from Janiuay, Miagao, Passi City, Oton, Barotac Viejo, Concepcion, Calinog, Carles, Leganes and Ajuy during the recently-concluded Financing Forum.

The forum held in Eon Centennial Hotel was organized by Iloilo’s Negosyo Center in partnership with Department of Trade and Industry and Local Government Support Program-Local Economic Development.

Japhet Padasas, staff of Negosyo Center, explained that the forum aimed at improving MSMEs’ access to credit facilities. It likewise gave them an array of credit information directly from representatives of financing institutions through presentations and one-on-one consultations.

As of 2012, 99.58 percent of the 944,897 businesses operating in the Philippines were MSMEs — 844,764 were micro enterprises, 92,027 were small enterprises, and 4,095 were medium enterprises.

Majority of these MSMEs or 436,809 business establishments were into wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycle industries, based on the data from DTI.

A total of 53,746 of these MSMEs could be found in Western Visayas; making it one of the top five regions in the country with most number of MSMEs.

Iloilo alone, through the support of various national agencies and non-government organizations, assists in the development of 129 MSMEs using support services such as, but not limited to marketing, product development and business planning.

Local Economic and Investment Promotion Officer Velma Jane Lao said MSMEs are vital to the growth of the country since they are the number one creator and provider of jobs and effective tool in poverty alleviation.

“Helping them grow would mean helping the nation grow as well,” she stressed.

Aside from bridging MSMEs to local financing institutions, Negosyo Center provides business counseling and technical assistance to MSMEs like business matching, marketing, business advisory, skills training, product development, management training and business planning.

Solar streetlights installed in 77 typhoon-hit LGUs

• Source: http://panaynewsphilippines.com/2015/11/08/solar-streetlights-installed-in-77-typhoon-hit-lgus/
• Sunday, November 8, 2015

(PNA)

ILOILO City – Seventy-seven local government units (LGUs) in the Visayas hit by super typhoon “Yolanda” were provided with solar photovoltaic streetlights by the Department of Energy (DOE).

DOE coordinator for household electrification program (HEP) Lourdes Arciaga said the bulk of the solar photovoltaic street lighting project was in Leyte.

The project was funded out of DOE savings from 2011 and 2012 regular projects that amounted to some P56 million.

Of the 77 LGUs, 43 municipalities were in Leyte and Tacloban City with 456 units of the projects installed.

Fifteen 15 municipalities from Samar provinces were installed with 212 units; 12 municipalities with 168 units in Panay Island, and seven municipalities with 76 units in Cebu.

In Panay Island, six Iloilo municipalities were the recipients – Ajuy, Carles, Concepcion, San Dionisio, and Sara.

Carles, Concepion and Sara got 20 units each; Ajuy and Estancia with 12 units each, and San Dionisio with 11 units.

Roxas City and Jamindan in Capiz received 28 and eight units, respectively.

Meanwhile, the municipalities of Barbaza, San Remegio and Valderrama in Antique were given 15, 10 and six units of the solar electrification project, respectively.

The town of Balete is the lone recipient in Aklan with six units.

DSWD seeks to hasten child adoption process

• Source: http://panaynewsphilippines.com/2015/11/07/dswd-seeks-to-hasten-child-adoption-process/
• Saturday, November 7, 2015

By John Sacramento (DSWD/PN)

ILOILO city – Judges of family courts and officials of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region 6 recently gathered to hasten the adoption cases.

“We seek to map out the best practices in adoption. We should be able to shorten the process of adoption without sacrificing the law,” said Regional Director Ma. Evelyn Macapobre during the focus group discussion titled, “Adoption with Family Court Judges at Days Hotel in Iloilo City.”

The forum was attended by 19 family court judges from Regional Trial Court branches within the region and was facilitated by the Adoption Resource and Referral Section (ARRS) and training staff of DSWD.

Training specialist Josie Cambel said the forum’s goal was to articulate issues and challenges in the adoption processes and requirements, gather good practices and recommendations, as well as initiate collaboration with family court judges in the implementation of adoption laws.

Macapobre said the length of the present adoption process would take about nine months to one year. This is very lengthy already, she stressed.

DSWD is concerned of the children’s welfare, said Macapobre, and it is eager to give them families that could shelter and take care of them.

Iloilo finalist in eGov ICT Award

• Source: http://panaynewsphilippines.com/2015/11/06/iloilo-finalist-in-egov-ict-award/
• Friday, November 6, 2015

By Jezza A. Nepomoceno (Capitol News/PN)

ILOILO – The system this province developed to improve its real property tax assessment has made it a finalist in the 2015 Awards for Excellence in Information and Communications Technology for Good Governance (eGov Awards).

Known as Iloilo’s Enhanced Assessment System with Tax Mapping System (Assys2v2), the entry was shortlisted in the Best Customer Empowerment category during the annual search held in Legaspi City, Albay recently.

The search was organized by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and National ICT Confederation of the Philippines to highlight the best practices in the use of ICT to deliver government services effectively and efficiently.

According to Salvacion Sibonga, chief of the Information Communication Technology Management Office, Assys2v2 was an innovation currently used by the Provincial Assessor’s Office in dealing with taxpayers, processing assessment transactions and establishing database record.

The software program was an enhancement of the of the province-wide Real Property Tax Assessment and Collection System (RPTACS) developed in 1998 to computerize real property tax collection in 42 towns here.

RPTACS materialized using a grant from the International Bank Reconstruction and Development – World Bank, Bureau of Local Government-Department of Finance and Canadian International Development Agency.

Sibonga said ICTMO was motivated to develop Assys2v2 due to the apparent growth in the assessment and revenue generation from RPT brought about by changes in assessed values of properties resulting from new ownership, new construction or appraisal.

Assys2 was created on June 2013 and was fully replicated in 42 towns following the nine-month training of all the personnel involved on system installation and network and hardware configuration since September 2013.

The tax mapping component was incorporated in Assys2 on August 2014 and 21 towns were using the software program to produce or generate reports required by the stakeholders in consonance with the requirements of the new manual on real property appraisal and assessment operations issued by the Department of Finance.

Municipal Assessor’s Office using Assys2v2 could charge certain amounts based on their local revenue code from taxpayers who wished to avail themselves such services, thus additional revenues for the local government.

The innovation in the system helped increase the province’s RPT revenues by 128 percent from P286,192,138.75 taxes in 2012 to P366,467,516.37 taxes in 2013.

Delayed submission of reports was also resolved and anomalous transactions could be easily tracked since reports could be generated reflecting the transactions made on a specific date and who handled it.

Dinagyang spectators to get a glimpse of South Korea’s Namsadang Baudeogi Festival

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=6&rid=823526
• Thursday, November 5, 2015

(PNA), JMC/PGLENA/CBF

ILOILO CITY, Nov. 5 (PNA) –- Organizers of the Dinagyang Festival never fail to give spectators something new to look forward to every year.

As preparations for the 2016 staging are ongoing, Ramon Cua Locsin, president of the Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation Inc (IDFI), disclosed the participation of the Namsadang Baudeogi Festival of South Korea’s Anseong City during the highlight of the festival on January 24 next year.

The Namsadang Baudeogi Festival is a popular art festival in South Korea and was named as the official festival of the International Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts in 2016.

In October this year, IDFI brought Tribu Panayanon to perform during the grand opening of the 15th Namsadang Baudeogi Festival in Anseong City.

Meanwhile, Robert Alor, chair of the tribes committee of IDFI disclosed that 10 tribes, mostly school-based are joining the 2016 Ati-ati competition.

The tribes include Panayanon, Obrero, Baybayanon, Ilonganon, Atub-atub, Dagatnon, Salognon, Buntag-ala, Pan-ay and Paghudaet.

On Wednesday, the IDFI released the second tranche of the subsidy given to the tribes, Alor disclosed.

The Iloilo Dinagyang Festival is being managed by the Iloilo City government, San Jose Parish and the IDFI.

The successful public-private partnership earned the city government here the 2012 Galing Pook Award for innovative and exemplary local governance program.

DSWD-6 releases PHP8.2B for ESA

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=823178
• Wednesday, November 4, 2015

(PNA), FFC/AJP/CBF

ILOILO CITY, Nov. 4 (PNA) –- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-6 has already released more than PHP8.2 billion as Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) to 470,575 victims of typhoon Yolanda in Western Visayas as of October 28, 2015.

Of the amount, ESA released over PHP7.19 billion under the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Recovery Plan (CRRP) benefiting 420,154 victims of the typhoon while more than PHP1.01 billion under the non-CRRP that were released to 50,421 beneficiaries.

May Rago of the DSWD-6 said that victims with totally damaged houses received a total of PHP4,490,340,000 with each victim getting PHP30,000 each under the CRRP. There were 149,678 households that had totally damaged houses in the region and CRRP beneficiaries.

The 270,476 residents whose houses were partially damaged got PHP10,000 each or more than PHP2.70 billion under the CRRP.

It maybe recalled that President Aquino signed the CRRP in October 2014 that also commenced the release of the ESA funds. However, there were other local government units (LGUs) who later asked for assistance for their other constituents who were also affected by Yolanda but were not able to receive aid from the CRRP. The LGUs requests realized the non-CRRP funds released.

The total amount released for the non-CRRP, 25,354 people with totally damaged houses and 25,067 with partially damaged houses received assistance.

Iloilo provincial government to release Php4.45-M to micro coops

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=822741
• Tuesday, November 3, 2015

(PNA), FPV/PGL/PR/CBF

ILOILO CITY, Nov. 3 (PNA) --The Iloilo Provincial Cooperative Development Office (PCDO) is set to release Php4.45 million to 10 micro cooperatives by the end of November as part of its continuing program to support the cooperative movement.

Governor Arthur Defensor Sr., who was earlier recognized by the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) for his “indefatigable contribution to the promotion of cooperativism” approved the release of the financial assistance.

According to PCDO Chief Atty. Arturo Cangrejo, the assistance is in a form of loan payable for three to five years with an interest of six percent per annum.

“This loan is under the Provincial Livelihood Program that aims to help cooperatives with good track record expand their existing businesses,” he said.

The following are the micro cooperatives benefiting from the loan:

LEPSTA- 1 Credit Cooperative of Leon (P500,000),

Kabalikat Multipurpose Cooperative of Bingawan (P300,000),

Barosbos, Cawayan, Guinticgan Credit Cooperative of Carles (P5oo,ooo),

DATEC Teachers and Employees Multipurpose Cooperative of Dingle (P500,000),

Dingle Multipurpose Cooperative of Dingle (P500,000)

Carles Municipal Employees Multipurpose Cooperative of Dingle (P500,000),

Tina Multipurpose Cooperative of Badiangan (P200,000),

ISCOF-San Enrique Teachers and Employees Multipurpose of San Enrique (P500,000),

Kapihan of Estancia Port Credit Cooperative of Estancia (P450,000) and

Batad Municipal Officials and Employees Multipurpose Cooperative of Batad (P500,000).

Mock cheques were turned over by PCDO to chairpersons of these cooperatives during the culminating activity of the 2015 Provincial Cooperative Month held in Pavia last October 30.

The Provincial Livelihood Program has an annual appropriation of P5-million and it has been institutionalized since the creation of PCDO on September 1993, a year after Defensor served as governor for the first time in Iloilo.

“I have extended my full support to the cooperative because I believe that, through it, we can attain development. Creating PCDO as a department in the provincial government was the first thing I did after election in 1992,” recalled Defensor.

His contributions to the promotion of cooperativism as a means of uplifting the social and economic conditions of its members and providing an enabling environment towards the growth of cooperative earned him an award from CDA.

CDA Chairperson Orlando Ravanera hailed Defensor and Governors Faustino Dy III of Isabela and Vilma Santos-Recto of Batangas during the celebration of cooperative’s centennial year on October 23, 2015 at Philippine Trade Training Center, Pasay City.

Western Visayas takes part in world’s biggest travel fair in London

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=6&rid=822316
• Monday, November 2, 2015

(PNA), FPV/PGL-PR/CBF

ILOILO CITY, Nov. 2 (PNA) -- Tourism packages available in Western Visayas are currently being showcased at the World Travel Market (WTM) at the ExCel Convention and Exhibition Centre, London, United Kingdom.

Western Visayas and the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) are the only two regional destinations in the country that are featured in the event that kicked off Monday until Thursday, according to DOT 6 regional director Atty. Helen Catalbas.

On display at the convention and exhibition center are the logos of tourism campaigns namely Experience Western Visayas First, It’s More Fun in the Philippines and that of the Department of Tourism (DOT).

The tourism product portfolio of the region includes nature-based tourism, cultural tourism, leisure and entertainment tourism, meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibits (MICE), health, wellness, and retirement tourism, diving and marine sports tourism, sun and beach tourism, cruise and nautical tourism, educational tourism and culinary tourism, the regional director, who manages the Western Visayas section of the Philippine Pavilion, said.

Also joining the biggest world tourism event are 12 tour, hotels and resorts operations from the Philippines. They also mounted booths at the Philippine Pavilion of the WTM.

Also set to be launched within the four-day event is the new campaign dubbed “Visit the Philippines Again 2016.”

DOT 6 serves as the regional office of the National Tourism Organization (NTO) of the Philippines, the Philippine Department of Tourism (PDOT).

LTFRB tests target drug-crazed drivers

• Source: http://panaynewsphilippines.com/2015/10/31/ltfrb-tests-target-drug-crazed-drivers/
• Sunday, November 1, 2015

BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA (PN)

ILOILO City – Public utility vehicle drivers in various transport terminals across Western Visayas may soon be subjected to drug tests.

The tests will be done randomly should these push through, said Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Region 6 legal counsel Jose Marie Lamparero.

The goal of the drug tests is to ensure public safety, he stressed.

The Board plans to conduct the drug tests after Halloween in coordination with the regional offices of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and Department of Health.

“We may come up with a memorandum of agreement,” said Lamparero.

In Manila, LTFRB has already started random drug tests on public utility bus drivers.

“We have not received a directive to conduct the same. But LTFRB Region 6 wants to initiate regular random drug tests,” said Lamparero.

For now, only drivers involved in vehicular accidents resulting to injuries or fatalities are being subjected to mandatory drug tests.

LTFRB Region 6 plans regular random drug tests as a preventive measure.

“Public utility vehicle operators are required to have their drivers undergo drug tests only if they get involved in serious road accidents. The vehicles are also suspended for 30 days,” said Lamparero.

The suspension is lifted only if the driver tests negative for illegal drugs, he added.