Difference between revisions of "Albay News December 2013"

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==Albay to embark on P321 M road network project in 2014 to develop upland areas==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=600865
*Tuesday, December 31, 2013
:By Floreño G. Solmirano [(PNA), LOR/FGS/CBD/JSD]
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 31 (PNA) -– The province of Albay will pursue in 2014 the construction of a road network that involves a total amount of P321 million, which is included in the 2014 General Appropriations Act.
The project, part of the Guicadale Economic Platform, will expand the developable land area of Albay by 81,123 hectares, mostly around the South Luzon International Airport (SLIA) that is now undergoing construction, according to Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda.
Guicadale stands for the adjoining towns of Guinobatan, Camalig and Daraga and the city of Legazpi.
The Guicadale Economic Platform was proposed by the Provincial Government of Albay, which also conducted the feasibility study that was completed in July 2008.
“This is the key geostrategic intervention of Albay for spatial integration of upland areas suitable to settlements and commercial development,” Salceda said.
He said the road network project targeted to be started in 2014 consists of a circumferential road and new arterial roads branching out from the urban centers of the three towns and this city.
The road network includes the Cotmon-Maninila-Taplacon-Taloto road costing P100 million; Tabon-Tabon–Gabawan–Estanza-Taysan-Puro, P81 million; Guicadale to Donsol (Mayon-Bigao-San Vicente-Ibaugan-Gogon), P140 million; and Salvacion–White Deer, P 100 million.
The project will consist of 17 road sections, wherein 11 sectors will comprise the circumferential road and six sections are arterial roads.
It will also involve new road opening and improvement of existing ones with a total length of 109.3 kilometers.
The Albay governor said the estimated total cost of the project is P 854.2 million -- broken down into local and barangay roads, P 739.5 million; national roads, P 114.7 million.
“It will benefit a total population of 187,314 covering the local government units’ territories of Guicadale,” Salceda said.
The Regional Development Council for Bicol, which is chaired by Salceda, approved the road network project during its full council meeting in May this year.
“The project was designed to encourage economic activities safe from the threats posed by Mayon volcano eruptions, lahar flows, floods and tsunamis,” the green economist said.
Salceda, a noted investment adviser and co-chair of the board of the US$ 100-billion United Nations Green Climate Fund, envisions the project to eventually realize the goal of creating Mega Daraga and Metro Albay.
“Aside from being far from the threats posed by Mayon, its other expected benefits include efficient access to the Southern Luzon International Airport, safer relocation sites for families affected by natural calamities, new economic investment opportunities, increased farm income through reduced transport costs, improved living condition through efficient access to health and welfare facilities, linkage of agricultural areas to the market centers and integration of the economies of Albay and Sorsogon provinces,” he stressed.
The project, Salceda added, is consistent with the Regional Physical Framework Plan in terms of land use, settlement and infrastructure planning.
The Economic Internal Rate of Return of the project is estimated at 23.65 percent while the net present value is P 872.54 million.
==(Yearender) Albay posts three significant ‘firsts’ in 2013==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=9&rid=600715
*Monday, December 30, 2013
:(PNA), LAP/FGS/RBB/MSA/CBD/UTB
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 30 (PNA) -– Albay recorded three significant “firsts” in 2013.
:Almost a place in the Guinness
Once again, Albayanos showed their unity and formed the world’s largest human no-smoking sign for Guinness World Records (GWR) on June 28 in a 5,033-square-meter area at the Bicol University football grounds here.
Some 13,892 Albayanos, out of about 17,000 who registered from all walks of life led by Gov. Joey S. Salceda, displayed oneness and strong determination to form the world’s largest human no-smoking sign.
Braving the heat of the morning sun and amid an atmosphere of fun, thousands of highly-spirited people from the academe, national government agencies, local government units, private establishments, religious groups and civil society organizations converged as early as 6 a.m. in two designated assembly points – one at the Albay’s Penaranda Park and the other was in the BU oval ground.
Salceda personally supervised the province's attempt to form the world biggest human anti-smoking sign.
Albay, however, failed to make it to the record because, according to Guinness officials, there were certain gaps in the giant no-smoking sign that were captured by a video recording.
Though the province failed in its attempt to land in the GWR, those who took part in executing the world’s largest human no-smoking sign are still filled with stories of achievement and fulfillment.
First, no-smoking advocates hailed the formal signing in public on that day by Salceda of the implementing rules and regulations of the province-wide ordinance.
Second, although the attempt failed to put the event in the Guinness book, the World Records Academy has informed the Smoke Free Albay Network, the group tasked to assist in the implementation of the Albay Smoke-Free Ordinance, that the event was already accepted as a world record.
:Holy Rosary-inspired coral reef
Albayanos, assisted by divers of various government agencies and civic organizations, on August 3 planted a 65-meter-long coral reef in the form of a “Holy Rosary” at 20-foot deep underwater area off the coastal villages of San Vicente and Pandayan, about a kilometer from Sto. Domingo town proper.
Environment-loving individuals from civil society organizations, church, academe, government agencies, and provincial and town officials braved the gloomy weather and showed unity in submerging what they claimed as the first of its kind world's largest underwater rosary-shaped coral reef.
The venture, a project of the Legazpi and Daraga chapters of the Junior Chamber International – a youth leadership development organization, aimed to restore the coral reefs in the Albay Gulf, a major source of marine products.
The Rosary-inspired coral reef is also in honor of the “Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary,” the patroness of the Sto. Domingo parish.
Before the project launch, healing priest Fr. Momoy Borromeo, Salceda and town Mayor Herbie Aguas led a procession of the image of the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary -- joined by hundreds of project participants and residents this town.
Borromeo also prayed over and blessed the four zones -- north, south, east and west -- of the coral reef rosary beads.
Engineer Martin Reynoso, JCI executive vice president and project officer, said the rosary coral reef structure was put underwater by at least 20 scuba divers in about five hours.
The Rosary-shaped coral reef is composed of 60 coral beads and a five-meter cross set up at a 300-square-meter area under the sea by divers from the Bicol Scuba Divers Foundation, Inc., Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard and JCI.
The coral beads and coral cross were implanted with 65 micro solar panels on concrete structure with wires, lead conductor and glass jar, Reynoso said, adding that the 60 concrete coral beads represent the mysteries of the Holy Rosary -- Joyful, Glorious, Sorrowful, and the Mysteries of Light.
:First Asian GCF co-chair
Salceda was elected as co-chair of the board of the Green Climate Fund, the first Asian to co-chair such a prestigious body, during its fifth meeting held in Paris on October 7-10.
The Albay governor said he had the unanimous support of representatives from developing countries.
Established by the conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2011, the GCF is intended to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Salceda said the 24-member GCF board that he co-chairs oversees the operation of the Fund, which has pledges of US$ 100 billion by 2020, and approves the funding of projects in line with the Fund’s principles, criteria, modalities, policies and programs.
In pitching for his candidacy, Salceda, who is also the Regional Development Council chair for Bicol, said the Fund should prompt positive consequences in the lives of ordinary people.
With 2014 as the target for the operationalization of the Fund, the green economist and world-renowned investment consultant aims to make the Fund work for developing countries, including small islands developing states, least developed countries, Africa and highly vulnerable communities in countries like the Philippines, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
Salceda’s election is a strong expression of confidence in the Philippines and further raises the country’s profile in the international community, according to Bicolano observers, who hailed his election as GCF chair.
:Five killed in Mayon eruption
Behind these good news, however, unfolded news of deaths.
Five mountaineers, four German nationals and their local guide, died at the vicinity of Camp 2 along the slope of Mayon near its peak when they reportedly fell into a gulley as a result of a phreatic or steam-driven ash explosion that hit Mayon Volcano at about 8:04 a.m., May 7, a Tuesday.
The explosion sent a vertical column of ash blended with stones almost three kilometers in height, which drifted west-southwest towards Guinobatan town and caused a mantle of about 2-3-millimeter thick ash that covered some portions of Barangay Muladbucad Grande.
Authorities identified the dead German nationals as Joan Eduza, Roland Pieza, Farah Franes and Fibian Stifler, and the local tour guide from Malilipot town as Jerome Berin.
Eight other climbers were injured after the volcano vomited ashes with big stones that reportedly hit the victims at the head, back, hands and feet.
A phreatic explosion is caused by the pressure of heat that developed underneath the volcano, causing a steam that pushed ash up and caused it to come out as ash cloud, explained Ed Laguerta, resident volcanologist of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
“It is like a heated pressure cooker,” Laguerta added.Residents noted that it rained Monday night and said rainwater could have reached the superheated magma inside the volcano, thus, producing steam.
Laguerta said Mayon last erupted in 2009.
:NPA leader, 7 others killed in Sorsogon clash
A New People’s Army leader was among the eight NPA members who were killed in an early encounter on July 4 with government troopers in Barangay (village) Upper Calmayon, a hinterland village in Juban town in Sorsogon.
Army Col. Joselito Kakilala, commander of the 903rd Infantry Brigade operating in Sorsogon province, identified the NPA leader as Arnel Estiller alias Ka Ariston, secretary of the communist Guerrilla Front Larangan 2.
Kakilala said two women were also among the eight that were killed in a 35-minute fight with a platoon of soldiers belonging to the 31st Infantry Battalion.
He said one of the slain women was a former teacher that had joined the communist movement.
Kakilala added that the 20-man NPA band that clashed with the Army soldiers were part of the augmentation force sent to Sorsogon to carry out assault mission against government forces and civilians.
==Salceda urges Filipinos to remember Rizal's principles, cites hero’s role in Philippine Revolution==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=12&rid=600552
*Sunday, December 29, 2013
:By Connie B. Destura [(PNA), CTB/FGS/CBD/OJN]
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 29 (PNA) -- As the nation commemorates the 117th death anniversary of Jose P. Rizal on Monday, Dec. 30, Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda has urged Filipinos, especially Albayanos, to remember his teachings, works and principles.
While Rizal’s books, “El Filibusterismo” and “Noli Me Tangere,” had been read by only a few, as not many Filipinos could afford to buy and read these novels written in Spanish, Andres Bonifacio and other Katipunan members had thoroughly gone through their pages, Salceda said.
“These novels had opened their eyes to the oppression experienced by their countrymen under the Spanish colonial rule,” he added.
These, the Albay chief executive said, inspired the Bonifacio-led Katipuneros to push through with the revolution.
“Rizal’s novels, therefore, sparked the Philippine Revolution of 1896,” Salceda pointed out.
The Noli was published in Berlin in 1887 while the Fili came out of the press in Ghent in 1891 through the help of Rizal’s friends.
Rizal did not finish his third novel, “Makamisa,” which he tried to write in Tagalog, since he found difficulty in writing in the local vernacular.
Salceda said Rizal bequeathed to the Filipinos his teachings through his writings and displayed his heroism in his principles and sound judgment, on which he stood steadfastly until his death.
He recalled Rizal’s Napoleonic complex as he related that once his siblings were laughing at him when they saw him making a monument.
“Go ahead, you laugh, but someday people will make monuments of me,” Salceda quoted the national hero as saying.
“True enough, we see his monuments in many places in recognition of his important role in our country’s history,” the green economist said, adding “His face is on the Philippine currency, cigarette pack and match box while his name figures on main roads.”
Chinese, Spanish, Japanese and Filipino traits ran in Rizal’ blood, Salceda said.
Rizal was the fifth generation grandchild of Domingo Lam-co, a traditional Chinese from Jinjiang, Quanzhou, while his grandfathers on his mother side were a Spanish engineer, Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo, and a Japanese, Eugenio Ursua, the Albay governor added.
Known for his thriftiness and prudence, Rizal’s favorite food while in the Philippines was “sardinas seco,” or simply “daing at tuyo” (dried fish), while in Europe, he would leave his friends during lunch time or supper hour to eat biscuit as he spent his money on buying books, Salceda said.
The Albay governor recalled that when Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1892, he helped found La Liga Filipina that pushed for reforms but the Spanish government abolish it and exiled Rizal in Dapitan.
While in Dapitan, he established a school, taught and practiced medicine.
One of Rizal’s patients was George Taufer from Hong Kong, who brought with him his adopted daughter, Josephine Bracken, with whom Rizal had a child who unfortunately died just hours after birth.
Rizal and Bracken left Dapitan on Aug. 1, 1896 for Cuba via Spain.
Bonifacio’s revolution broke out on Aug. 26 of the same year and Rizal was arrested on Oct. 6 upon his arrival in Barcelona on charges of being involved in the rebellion.
He was brought back to the Philippines, jailed in Fort Santiago and was court-martialed for rebellion, sedition and conspiracy.
On Dec. 30, 1896, Rizal was shot by Filipino civil guards who had behind them Spanish soldiers who were ready to shoot them in case they would not execute Rizal.
“Rizal’s persistence, penchant for women and prudence were part of his being an ordinary man, like us. He was not a superstar nor superman nor God. He was like us, one of us, and therefore, we could be like him and follow his footsteps,” Salceda remarked.
He asked the Filipinos not to grieve on Rizal’s death anniversary but instead rejoice on his meaningful and successful life.
==37 Home for Women residents, staff members learn baking for livelihood==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=12&rid=600440
*Saturday, December 28, 2013
:(PNA), SCS/FGS/EMC/CBD/RSM
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 28 (PNA) -– Thirty-seven residents and staff members of the Home for Women and Girls at the Department of Social Welfare and Development Complex in Barangay Nasisi, Ligao City, have completed a three-day skills training on baking.
The training was conducted by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s Albay Provincial Office and financed by the Philippine Good Work Mission Foundation Inc.
DSWD-Bicol Regional Director Arnel Garcia said the training aims to equip the center residents with livelihood skills in order to prepare them for a gainful employment the moment they leave the center for an independent living.
It also forms part of their therapeutic activity for them to be able to overcome their emotional and psychological problems, Garcia stressed.
With the assistance of Teresita Caceres, project development officer III, and other center staff, the DSWD will open a bakery in the facility, following the sustainable livelihood scheme.
The residents will also be trained on Basic Business Management, Garcia said.
==15 Legazpi City villages bag ‘Dugong Bicol’ awards==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=7&rid=600090
*Friday, December 27, 2013
:By Emmanuel P. Solis [(PNA), LAP/FGS/EPS/CBD/JSD]
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 27 (PNA) –- Fifteen villages in this city received awards for donating blood taken from at least one percent of the total population of each barangay or 25 blood bags collected in each locality required by the Department of Health.
DOH Bicol Regional Director Gloria Balboa handed over the plaques of recognition to the 15 chiefs of the awardee-villages during the 5th Regional Dugong Bicol Awards day recently held at the Oriental hotel here.
The 15 awardees were barangays EM’s Barrio 1 headed by its Punong Barangay (chairman) or PB Andronico Gerardino; EM’s Barrio 2, PB Echidita Salcedo; EM’s Barrio 3, PB Teresita Alisago; EM’s Barrio 4, PB Felixberto Codorniz; Maoyod, PB Romeo A. Madraso; Ilawod East, PB Joel Buenaflor; Lapu-Lapu, PB Gemma Espiritu; Victory Village, PB Joie Bahoy; PNR Site, PB Beatriz Toledo; Bitano, PB Joel Balinis; Padang, PB Manuel Alagaban Sr.; Dapdap, PB Marites Barcelon; Mariawa, Anabelle Teope; Rawis, PB Oscar Robert Cristobal; and San Francisco, PB Ronaldo Aringo.
The bloodletting activities conducted by the health officers and village officials were done in support of Republic Act 7719 or the National Blood Services Law of 1994 which aims to provide sufficient supply of blood to blood banks and to promote voluntary donations, Balboa said.
The move, she added, would ensure an ample supply of blood and that the donated blood is free from diseases that may cause even more complications to the recipients.
The collected blood will be used by the needy patients to prevent or lessen maternal death cases and save the lives of the people who suffered from illnesses by way of blood transfusion. the DOH official added.
Legazpi City Mayor Noel E. Rosal commended all the barangay leaders who got awards and other government agencies and organizations who actively participated in the regular bloodletting activities of the city administration.
Rosal described them as the heroes of patients who have survived because of blood transfusion.
He urged the barangay leaders to continue participating in the bloodletting activities of the city to promote voluntary donation and provide adequate supply of blood for needy patients.
The city chief executive disclosed that the rehabilitation of the community health office and the construction of the blood bank station in the city will start early next year.
==Bicol towns now equipped with maps for ‘zero casualty’ during disasters==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=10&rid=599865
*Thursday, December 26, 2013
:(PNA), FGS/DOC/CBD/UTB
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 26 (PNA) –- Bicol local authorities are now equipped with maps that will enable them to pinpoint specific areas where to focus disaster preparedness and mitigation measures for “zero casualty” during natural calamity situations.
The maps, technically prepared by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), are now in the hands of Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Councils (MDRRMCs) -- particularly in 83 of the region’s 107 municipalities classified as highly vulnerable areas.
Latest to receive the maps are all the 11 municipalities in Catanduanes, an island province by the Pacific Ocean with no pronounced seasons but regularly visited by typhoons.
The MGB identifies the island as most landslide-prone province in the region based on a study it has conducted.
The study says that Catanduanes’ landslides are mainly because rock formations in the province are already old and have already cracked.
Its mountainous terrains are covered with thick soil that erode during heavy rains due to the past commercial logging activities wherein illegal cutting of trees still happens until now.
The maps in hard copies accompanied by “soft” or digitized copies from where local disaster authorities could identify zones prone to natural hazards such as earthquake, storm surge, rain or earthquake-triggered landslides, tsunami, flood and liquefaction.
These are in 1:50,000-scale, Arlene Dayao, the MGB regional technical director, on Thursday said.
The maps determine flood hazard susceptibility zones based on the geomorphological analysis of land forms and the fluvial system.
Information on flood occurrences, flood depths, duration of inundation as well as topographic information supported the geomorphologically-based flood, Dayao said.
On liquefaction, she said, there are no reported occurrences based on several field interviews.
However, zones of different liquefaction potential were derived based on the geomorphological analysis of the study area following previous studies.
Landslide hazard susceptibility zones, on the other hand, were derived through qualitative map combination using lithology, geomorphology, slope gradient and fault distance.
The Global Information System (GIS) was used in the map with combination and subjective weights were assigned to each unit in the parameter map.
The maps also delineate areas of possible ground settlement through the analysis of the geomorphological lay of the study area, the sub-surface soils and the ground water levels, according to Dayao.
Another set of maps, in 1:80,000-scale of the same hazards but covering the entire island of Catanduanes, was also given to the Catanduanes provincial government for use by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC), she said.
These geohazard maps, whose preparation and distribution are under the government’s Ready Multi-hazard Mapping and Assessment for Effective Community-based Disaster Risk Management Project, are designed according to their geographic and tectonic settings with emphasis on areas highly exposed to natural hazards, she said.
The project is funded by the Australian Aid Program through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
It is being implemented nationwide, particularly in 29 of the country’s 79 provinces that have been determined to be of greatest risk to disasters, especially those along the eastern seaboard that include Catanduanes, Dayao said.
With these materials on their hands, she said, it would now be the responsibility of the respective DRRMCs of each local government unit in Bicol to deduce from the multi-hazard maps, particularly the digital version, the risks being faced by each of its barangays so that the vital information could be properly communicated to village officials and residents.
Other Bicol towns that already have these maps in possession are this city and the two other Albay cities of Ligao and Tabaco and all the province’s municipalities -- Camalig, Daraga, Guinobatan, Malinao, Malilipot, Tiwi, Sto. Domingo, Bacacay, Rapu-Rapu, Jovellar, Manito, Oas, Libon, Pioduran and Polangui.
Albay’s three cities and the towns of Camalig, Daraga, Guinobatan, Malinao and Malilipot have some of their barangays listed in the maps as highly vulnerable to floods and lahar flows because of their proximity to Mt. Mayon, with some sitting within the permanent danger zone.
The other towns far from the volcano have their own risk factors such as Tiwi, which plays host to the 350-megawatt geothermal energy complex being run by Chevron; Rapu-Rapu, an island town where the Korean-owned Rapu-rapu Minerals, Inc. (RMMI) operates a polymetallic project through open-pit mining; and Manito, site of the giant geothermal field of the Energy Development Corporation.
Oas, Libon and Polangui are also listed as flood-prone areas, being part of the Bicol River Basin (BRB) -- a vast wetland covering various towns of Albay, Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte.
In Camarines Sur, those towns mapped as geohazard areas are Baao, Balatan, Bato, Bombon, Buhi, Bula, Cabusao, Calabanga, Camaligan, Canaman, Caramoan, Gainza, Libmanan, Magarao, Milaor, Minalabac, Nabua, Ocampo, Pamplona, Pasacao, Pili, Sangay, San Fernando, Sipocot, Siruma and Tinambac -- all within the BRB.
The other Camarines Sur municipalities are Lupi, Ragay and Del Gallego that are called the railroad towns of mountainous terrain whose forest covers have perished due to logging and other environmental-destructive activities.
The rest listed are Buhi, Garchitorena, Goa, Lagonoy, Presentacion, San Jose and Tigaon -- all upland-coastal areas threatened by floods and landslides.
The cities of Naga and Iriga, both in Camarines Sur, are also listed as flood-prone, being parts of the BRB.
In Camarines Norte, all the 12 towns -- Daet, the capital town; Jose Panganiban, Labo and Paracale, the mining towns; and Basud, Talisay, San Lorenzo Ruiz, Vinzons, Capalonga, San Vicente, Sta. Elena, Mercedes all, mountain areas pestered by illegal logging -- are geohazard sites, according to the MGB mapping.
In Sorsogon province, the maps identify Sorsogon City, the provincial capital, and 12 of its 14 towns -- namely Bulan, Bulusan, Barcelona, Casiguran, Castilla, Gubat, Irosin, Juban, Magallanes, Matnog, Prieto Diaz and Sta. Magdalena.
All these LGUs have portions that are considered risk areas, according to the MGB.
Down Masbate, the mapped risk areas are the city -- which is the provincial capital, the gold- mining town of Aroroy and the coastal municipalities of Cataingan, Balud, Cawayan, Dimasalang, Placer and Uson -- all within the province’s mainland.
==Police Online==
*Source:http://ph.news.yahoo.com/luzon-newsbits-december-25-2013-161210641.html
*Wednesday, December 25, 2013
:By Niño Luces
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay — To deliver news and information faster to its immediate community, the Police Regional Office 5 (PRO5) announced the launching of its website recently. They also opened accounts in Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites for posting information pertaining to their programs and activities. PRO5 Spokesperson Malou Calubaquib said the move is part of the Philippine National Police’s (PNP’s) nationwide program to create a website to allow its personnel and the public to keep track of updates and activities as they happen.
==Gov’t agencies in Bicol join hands to provide livelihood to 4Ps beneficiaries==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=599601
*Tuesday, December 24, 2013
:(PNA), LAP/FGS/EMC/CBD/UTB
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 24 (PNA) -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office V has entered into a memorandum of understanding with 13 national government agencies and the Committee on Bicol Recovery and Economic Development for the launching of a convergence program called “Banig at Walis Tingtingng Pamilyang Bicolnon.”
DSWD Bicol Regional Director Arnel Garcia said the MOU aims to provide a framework for a partnership arrangement among the agencies to mobilize the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries, rural women organizations, farmers’ organizations and other groups of marginalized and vulnerable sectors of the society and empower them for a long-term livelihood opportunity using a sustainable livelihood framework.
The agencies involved are the Department of Agriculture, Philippine Coconut Authority, Fiber Industry Development Authority, Department of Trade and Industry, Cooperative Development Authority, Department of Agrarian Reform, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Science and Technology.
With the DSWD as the chairperson, these agencies formed the Bagwis Bicol Inter-agency Committee.
The agencies agreed to launch a convergence program called “Banig at Walis Tingting ng Bicolnon or Bagwis Bicol,” which aims at recognizing the need for the provision of ethical financial and non-financial services to advocate poverty reduction.
Garcia said Bagwis Bicol will focus more on the production of banig (mats) and walis tingting (hard brooms).
The project is targeted to be fully operational by 2014.
==DOT readies training program on tour guiding for Bicol indigents==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=6&rid=599323
*Monday, December 23, 2013
:By Danny O. Calleja [(PNA), LAP/FGS/DOC/CBD/]
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 23 (PNA) –- The Department of Tourism (DOT) is into a project that will train members of Bicol’s indigent communities to become tourist guides in the region that is known as among the country’s top travel destinations.
“We have designed a training course that will first introduce tourism awareness among these beginners in the industry. After that, they will undergo multi-lingual lessons to enable them to communicate in different foreign tongues,” DOT Regional Director Maria Ong-Ravanilla on Monday said here.
The training course also had in its package learning on the proper way of providing frontline services such as food preparation and serving, housekeeping and hotel assistance, among others,” Ravanilla said.
And since the region is more on eco-tourism, she said, river cruising, mountaineering, shoreline and offshore guiding including sea diving are also be parts of the training course.
As an eco-tourism destination, Bicol is a beautiful region southeast of Manila which is boundless in terms of natural wonders distributed among its six provinces composed of Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate and Sorsogon.
It is a peninsula famous for its majestic mountains and volcanoes like Mounts Mayon, Malinao and Masaraga in Albay, Isarog and Asog in Camarines Sur and Bulusan in Sorsogon.
Apart from the iconic Mt. Mayon, Albay also boasts of its underground spectacles in Hoyop-Hoyopan, Calabidongan, Lingaw, San Ramon, Rawis, Pighulugan and Mataas Caves as well as the towering marvel of Ligñon Hill and exciting waterfalls and beaches.
The province also takes pride of its “green tourism” wonders offered by the fruit bats sanctuary at the BacMan geothermal complex in Mt. Inang Maharang of Manito town where the Parong Hot Springs and Nag-Aso Boiling Lake are also located.
Bicol also has the whale shark sanctuary in Donsol and hot springs down Mt. Bulusan in Sorsogon, majestic surfing sites in Catanduanes, the adventures in Caramoan, Camarines Sur, unexplored islands in Camarines Norte and the Manta Ray Bowl of Masbate.
The region also had other places, most of them undiscovered and undeveloped destinations, that tourists want to discover.
Among these are the exciting islets of Matnog, Sorsogon, and the marine wildlife parks and unexplored ancient caves in Masbate.
Around Mt. Mayon here, hiking and ATV (all-terrain vehicle) riding along lava hills and giant volcanic crevices are favorite engagements.
Climbing the 2,500-meter volcano is another major tourist activity that requires local mountaineering guides.
Dubbed as the as the "Switzerland of the Orient," Bulusan Lake is another eco-tourist drawer that lies at the heart of Mt. Bulusan Natural Park, covering a 3,672-hectare ecologically-rich old-growth forest.
The lake, covering an area of 16 hectares situated and cradled in the bosom of the active Bulusan Volcano, is venue for boating.
Ecotourism activities properly planned and managed would promote and guarantee the conservation and sustainable use of all biodiversity found within while providing business opportunities for the local community; involve women, children, indigenous peoples and the informal sector in all undertakings; and promote responsible tourism, Ravanilla said.
The DOT regional office will be providing the training as part of its commitment to the “Trabahong Turismo” project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to tap qualified members of families enrolled with the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) into the region’s booming tourism industry.
Launched recently in Bicol, the project also involves local government units (LGUs) through the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
It is open to wider partnerships with other agencies and the private sector in creating more livelihood opportunities for the region’s indigent sector, according to DSWD Regional Director Arnel Garcia.
A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) covering the joint implementation of this project that will take off next year has been signed by heads of the three agencies.
Under the MOA, the DSWD regional field unit in Bicol will identify the beneficiaries of the program who will be trained by the DOT.
LGUs are required to participate in the project by way of recognizing them as accredited tourism services providers.
“Trabaho Turismo” is one of the strategies conceptualized to uplift the level of well-being of the 4Ps beneficiaries from survival to self-sufficiency.
It is premised on the belief that if there is an available livelihood projects and opportunities they can be self-reliant and sustaining individuals, Garcia said.
There are about 357,000 Bicolano families enrolled in the program from where this new tourism-cum-employment program will be drawn and trained as tourist guides, he added.
Ravanilla said “Trabaho Turismo” is very timely with the opening of this city as the country’s new gateway for foreign travelers under Albay provincial government’s international chartered flight tourism program that is expected to fly in 50,000 Chinese visitors next year, growing to 150,000 by 2017.
The Xiamen-Albay flights will start January 30.
==Salceda asks Soliman to increase 4Ps beneficiaries to solve malnutrition in Albay==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=7&rid=599031
*Sunday, December 22, 2013
:By Rhadyz B. Barcia [(PNA), CTB/FGS/RBB/CBD/PJN]
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 22 (PNA) -- Ten municipalities in the provinces of Albay, Camarines Sur and Catanduanes have high numbers of undernourished preschoolers based on the report of the National Nutrition Council in Bicol.
In a bid to address the high prevalence of malnutrition in Albay province, Governor Joey Sarte Salceda has asked Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman to increase the number of beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), also known as the conditional cash transfer (CCT) here.
Salceda said the spike in Albay malnutrition from March 2011 to March 2012 among school-age children was a temporary break from the overall structural trend of hard-earned gains in the well-being and nutrition status by the province.
This, he said, was driven by typhoons “Bebeng,” “Chedeng,” “Egay,” “Falcon” and “Juaning,” and the protracted severe weather season from April 2011 to February 2012, which had 20 rainy days out of 28.
The governor noted that of the cumulative damages of P2.8 billion posted, P1.8 billion was the effect of “Juaning” alone which affected 765,000 people.
“In anticipation, we have lobbied with the DSWD to increase the 4Ps families from 11,000 to enable families with school-age children to cope with income stress due to severe weather impacts,” he said.
As of April 2012, 4Ps or CCT beneficiaries increased by 21,000 to 32,000 and another 30,000 in July 2012 to 74,000, which would entail P1.042 billion annually.
This represented an increase of 52,000 4Ps between now and before the malnutrition report came out.
“Almost P760 million went annually to food subsidy directly to poor families. With this alone, the malnutrition rate should readily revert to 10.6 percent in February 2014 (two months away for periodicity of survey) from the malnutrition spike of 17.6 percent,” Salceda said.
Aside from CCT augmentation, the provincial government is pursuing the fortification and and reconfiguration of its provincial nutrition interventions from barangay-based towards school-based for more efficient targeting.
“With these aggressive interventions, we are programming and we are confident to bring down malnutrition rates as computed by the Department of Education from 17 percent to 10 percent or easily at least second best in the region,” the governor said.
“Our policy response has been to seek additional 42,000 4Ps beneficiaries from DSWD since during that time due to low malnutrition in 2007 to 2009,” he added.
Salceda said Albay was given only 12,000.
“Based on the JERRPA (Juaning Early Recovery/Rehab Plan for Albay), which was endorsed by the Office of Civil Defense 5 and the Regional Development Council to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in November 2011.
We asked for additional 4Ps registrants. However, due to logistical requirements in terms of hiring of municipal links, the additional 42,000 approved by Sec. Dinky were implemented only in March 2013,” Salceda said.
“This would entail P640 million annually targetting Albay's poorest families and we expect that the additional P1,400 would essentially be used. We have asked the NNC to conduct another round of Operation Timbang to see whether six months of 4Ps had made significant dent. Our bigger worry right now is the fall in copra prices while rice prices have raised,” he added.
Salceda blamed the high prevalence of malnutrition in Albay to bad weather disturbances which affect the Albayanos.
Officials of NNC down to the nutritionists in the barangays, however, said local government units are focusing on infrastructure projects than basic services that would address the malnutrition problem in the countryside.
Though, according to Arlene Reario, NNC regional chief, more local chief executives across the region are now working for the eradication of malnutrition through better programs on basic services.
In the case of Albay, Salceda explained that the lagged effect of the severe climate impacts in 2010-2011 -- especially Juaning which affected 87,000 persons in Polangui, Libon, Oas and Malinao and also affected food (rice farms) production.
Through the conditional cash transfer program of the government in 2013, Albay had the biggest number of 4Ps beneficiaries, with 62,000 more 4Ps members listed.
The program was fully implemented last March, which is worth P1.05 billion per year for five years.
“This should allow us to improve our educational and health outcomes through better nutrition. Also, after suffering the adverse impacts of climate change, especially typhoon Juaning, came the spike in our poverty and malnutrition. Together with our own aggressive initiatives, our malnutrition should fall from 17.6 to pre-Juaning 10.6 percent or even our best of 4.7 percent with the improving copra prices,” Salceda said.
==Albay ‘Santa Clauses’ to cheer up survivors in 2 eastern Samar towns==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=3&rid=598979
*Saturday, December 21, 2013
:(PNA), CTB/FGS/EMC/CBD/RSM
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 21 (PNA) -- The Team Albay-Office of Civil Defense 5 will play Santa Clauses to bring happiness to “Yolanda” survivors in Basey and Marabut in eastern Samar this Christmas day.
The team will be headed by Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda himself.
The Team Albay-OCD 5 is composed of personnel from the Provincial Government of Albay, OCD5, Tactical Operations Group 5 of the Philippine Air Force, Naval Forces for Southern Luzon, Philippine Army, Philippine National Police, Provincial Health Office and Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office and other Albayano volunteers.
The group members will don the costume of Santa Clause and will do what the legendary does.
Salceda said they will give Noche Buena packs, do some feeding activities and render other Christmas treats like singing and dancing to ease up the sadness and sufferings of the climate monster survivors and, if needed, to render medical services.
It can be recalled that towns of Basey and Marabut were hardest hit by the onslaught of Yolanda on Nov. 8.
Salceda tasked Dr. Cedric Daep, Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office chief, to prepare activities for the two-day period that the team will stay in the two ravaged towns.
As of press time, some members of the group have already left for the area to prepare the place for the Christmas cheering activities and identify the residents to be given gifts.
It must be recalled that the Team Albay was the first to respond to the plight of the residents of Tacloban City after Yolanda battered Samar and Leyte and stayed there for almost two weeks to help in recovering dead bodies, provide potable water, give medical and psychosocial services and distribute food and medicines.
==Salceda moves to save 17 heritage assets of Albay from calamity threats of destruction==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=598708
*Friday, December 20, 2013
:(PNA), PDS/FGS/NIM/CBD/
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 20 (PNA)--Learning from the tragic experience brought by the catastrophic impacts of climate monster “Yolanda” on Samar and Leyte provinces and the devastating rumbles of earthquakes that hit Bohol earlier, the provincial government of Albay has earmarked P35 million for the preservation of the province’s cultural assets.
“Second to our natural icons like Mayon and geothermal, these assets constitute our most non-replicable and most distinctive properties. They provide the empirical, tangible and qualitative basis for the uniqueness, ethnicity and pride of our place and more so they are our comparative advantage for attracting tourists, investors and traders,” Albay Governor Joey Salceda explained.
Salceda said the province has proposed P35 million as its initial investment in cultural heritage preservation right this year since it is emerging to be the biggest lesson from Bohol and Leyte.
The heritage assets include the Cagsawa Ruins -- the iglesia, casa real and ayuntamiento, Porteria church in Daraga, Sinimbahahan ruins in Tiwi, convento ruins in Malinao, Tabaco church, Manalang house (of well-known writer Angela Manalang-Gloria) in Tabaco City, ruins in Bacacay, double-belfry church of Sto. Domingo, Budiao ruins, 10 colonial houses of Daraga, colonial houses of Camalig, Camalig church, Oas church, Colegio de San Buenaventura in Guinobatan, Gen. Ola museum, Cathedral de San Gregorio Magno, and Nuestra Señora de Salvacion.
The national government has also allotted P365 million for a one-step project in the 15-hectare Cagsawa Ruins area through the combined resources of the US Agency for International Development and departments of tourism and of social welfare and development.
The project involves the rehabilitation of the Cagsawa Ruins and three road networks that will connect Barangays Bascaran, Nabasan, Peñafrancia and Imalnod that lead to Cagsawa.
This will serve not only the tourists but also the local industries in the area.
The Cagsawa Ruins project will have a briefing area, a two-storey museum, three function halls and others.
“Our newly-formed Historico Cultural Unit headed by Abdon Balde Jr. has been compiling documentation that would qualify Cagsawa Ruins as a UNESCO heritage site. Last Oct. 6, I also met with our Paris embassy, our permanent representative to the international body, to follow up on our proposal,” he said.
Salceda said Virginia Miralao, the current direct general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), was her favorite professor in Ateneo de Manila and is actually responsible for much of the socio-anthropological world view that has guided the province in its developmental strategy formulation even for disaster risk reduction.
He said UNESCO experts were stunned by the damage to heritage churches in Bohol, Cebu, Samar and Leyte.
“This means less supply of heritage which should make our own portfolio more valuable, thus, it is more economically viable to invest in protection,” the governor added.
He stressed the need and the timing to focus on the preservation of the heritage assets before it is too late.
==DA names Legazpi ‘2013 rice achiever’==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=11&rid=598254
*Thursday, December 19, 2013
:By Emmanuel P. Solis [(PNA), LAP/FGS/EPS/CBD/]
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 19 (PNA) -- Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Proceso Alcala is expected to give a plaque of recognition and a cash award of P1 million to the City Government of Legazpi as one of the winners of the National Agri-Pinoy Rice Achiever Award in January next year at the Malacanang Palace, DA Bicol Regional Director Abelardo Bragas said Thursday.
The other winning local government units are Polangui in Albay and Castilla in Sorsogon, which will also receive the same incentives, while Albay and Camarines Sur LGUs will both receive P5 million and a plaque of recognition each.
Based on the criteria of the DA, all the LGU winners achieved rice production and sufficiency, increased the farmers’ income and had proper use of the internal revenue allotment allocated for rice sufficiency program.
Legazpi City Agriculturist Jesus Kallos disclosed that in 2012, his office posted a total rice production of 8,059.65 metric tons (MT) while in 2013, they had a total production of 8,915.56 (MT) with an increase of 855.91 MT or 10.61 percent or .54 MT increase in yield per hectare.
He said the promotion of rice self-sufficiency in the farm land areas of the city conducted by his office was the result of greater farmer participation, which exceeded the 980 hectares target of the city government to 2,123.76 hectares cultivated by the farmers.
Kallos stressed that the other factors for the achievement of the city’s rice production goal were the agricultural modernization and farm mechanization program as well as the strong support in the farm input assistance of the city administration that contributed so much to the needs in farming activities of the farmers.
The city agriculturist said the city administration will put up additional irrigation systems in the three agricultural villages of the city to sustain the supply of water in every cropping cycle.
He said he will also continue to conduct training and seminars among the city farmers to give them additional knowledge on how to apply the proper way of planting rice.
Despite smaller rice field areas in the city compared to other localities of the region, Legazpi has posted a total contribution of 4.35 percent rice production to the provincial government of Albay and .74 percent contribution to the record of the Bicol region, Kallos pointed out.
==Legazpi ties up with Japanese funding agency for dump site informal sector==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=8&rid=597944
*Wednesday, December 18, 2013
:By Danny O. Calleja (PNA), CTB/FGS/DOC/CBD/
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 18 (PNA) – The implementation of a project designed to improve the social well-being of families relying on local dump sites for their livelihood will take off soon here through funding provided by a Japanese agency.
The project called “Social Inclusion and Alternative Livelihoods for the Informal Waste Sector” is funded by the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) through the World Bank (WB).
It will be implemented jointly by the city government and the Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines (SWAPP), a non-profit organization composed of solid waste management practitioners from local government units (LGUs), national government agencies, non-governmental organizations and the academe.
At least 300 waste pickers and collectors called informal waste sector (IWS) at the existing sanitary landfill dumps and from households in the 45 urban barangays of the city are the target beneficiaries of the project, city Mayor Noel Rosal on Wednesday said.
“We are now ready to implement the project as preparations, such as the profiling of the eco-aides and waste pickers, have already been completed through the initiative of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO). They have also been formally organized and registered with the city government,” he said.
Rosal recalled that the city government last February signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the SWAPP covering the implementation the project.
As part of the partnership, the city and the SWAPP will jointly implement various activities such as organizational development, preparation and delivery of information campaigns, technical assistance, conduct of trainings and business and market development programs to support the social inclusion, alternative livelihood and business enterprises for the local IWS.
The project is a nationwide undertaking in behalf of over a hundred thousand families of men, women and children in the Philippines who are commonly migrants with limited opportunities and assets, living near dumps or in informal settlements in urban communities.
Close to 6,000 informal garbage workers and collectors in several areas in the country are expected to benefit from the US-million grant extended by the JSDF for a project designed to improve their incomes and livelihood, Grace Sapuay, SWAPP’s executive vice-president, said during the project conference held over the week at the Aquinas University here.
Administered by the WB, JSDF supports community-driven development and poverty- reduction projects for the poorest and most vulnerable groups in developing countries.
“We are helping LGUs, communities, and the private sector improve their capability to manage solid waste problems in their respective areas through research, training, technical assistance, information exchange, and network building,” Sapuay said.
The project, she explained, is providing support to the informal garbage workers and itinerant waste buyers located in selected cities and municipalities which are modernizing their solid waste management systems.
Under the country’s Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 (Republic Act No. 9003), LGUs are required to modernize their solid waste management practices and convert open dumps to sanitary landfills.
These changes may affect the livelihood of garbage workers and itinerant waste buyers.
Apart from this city, which has complied with the requirements of the law, two other LGUs — Tabaco City and the municipality of Polangui in Albay province -- are beneficiaries of the project.
A total of 515 families in Albay’s leading urban localities will receive a comprehensive package of assistance from the project.
This grant, which is intended to improve the livelihood of informal garbage workers in selected areas and provide better opportunities for them, will thus help address the impact of the implementation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, according to Sapuay.
This is a very important project because it helps address the plight of one of the most marginalized groups in society -- men, women and children earning a living from garbage, she added.
Informal garbage workers (waste pickers and itinerant waste buyers) are commonly unable to access livelihood opportunities through formal, safer or more lucrative means because of constraints like lack of education and basic livelihood skills as well as limited access to start-up funds for small business.
The project, according to Rosal, fits squarely with the mission of the city government which is to deliver direct benefits to the poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.
“It could make positive tangible effects in the lives of informal garbage workers in the city and in the modernization programs of the city government for waste disposal sites,” the mayor said.
Some of the grant money will be used for investment in equipment, bins and carts; formalization of the sector through registration, recognition and contractual arrangements; and improving working conditions, including the health and safety of informal workers, he said.
Under this project, local recycling organizations will get technical assistance for expanding their business operations and sources of income -- including litter cleanup and cleaning services, collection and transport, and curb side recycling, he said.
The project will also provide training for entrepreneurship and job placement, Rosal added.
==520,536 tourists visit Albay during first 10 months of 2013==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=6&rid=597573
*Tuesday, December 17, 2013
:(PNA), LAP/FGS/NIM/CBD/UTB
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 17 (PNA) -– The tourism industry of the province of Albay registered a 29-percent growth during the first 10 months of this year, higher than the 11.4-percent increase posted during the same period last year.
Based on the records of the Department of Tourism Bicol regional office, Albay was visited by 520,536 tourists from January to October this year as against the 403,480 chalked up last year.
The number in the current period is broken down as follows: local tourists, 369,648, and foreign visitors, 150,852.
Last year, local tourists numbered 371,608; while foreign travelers numbered 131,874.
Governor Joey Sarte Salceda said the growth of the tourism industry in the province is a result of an aggressive campaign and tourism program of the local government unit.
These were boosted by the hosting of the conferences of various groups in the country.
It can be recalled that Albay was named as the seventh Top Ten Largest Over-Night Destinations of the country last year as a result of its beautiful tourism sites, complete tourism facilities and services.
Salceda said Mayon volcano is still the number one tourist attraction of Albay, enhanced by the tourism assets of Cagsawa Ruins Park in Daraga town.
The province is just waiting for the park's declaration by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to declare it as a heritage park.
In addition to these are the Mayon Planetarium in Tabaco City; red clay pottery in Tiwi town; native delicacies like the "pinangat" of Camalig, the famous Bicol Express and the longganiza of Guinobatan; vintage houses; century-old churches and many other tourist and cultural attractions.
The various festivals in the province during the year have also contributed a lot in attracting tourists like the Daragang Magayon Festival in the month of April.
==Salceda stresses values of being Filipinos among Albayanos==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=597386
*Monday, December 16, 2013
:(PNA), CTB/FGS/NIM/CBD/UTB
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 16 (PNA) -- After the emotional and meaningful opening of the Karangahan Festival-Albay Green Christmas this year, Governor Joey Sarte Salceda came out with his message to Albayanos for the Christmas season.
Salceda said despite the mistakes, failures and shortcomings, the Albayanos should not be tired of being Filipinos.
"We should always maintain greatness, purity of heart, goodness, heroism and our selfish dedication to our country and fellowmen," he stressed.
The provincial chief executive urged every Albayano to always answer the challenge of heroism to build a prosperous future and a society with justice and reminded them of the love and graces that God has given to the Albayanos.
He urged them to use these graces and the strength of the Albayanos to further mold and keep alive the spirit of being Filipinos.
"A merry and meaningful Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all," Salceda said.
==Albayanos Twit Senate President Drilon on adopting us model in disaster preparedness==
*Source:http://www.catanduanestribune.com/article/3L1I
*Sunday, December 15, 2013
:(Catanduanes Tribune)
Senate President Franklin Drilon’s suggestion that the country adopts the US model in disaster preparedness drew twits from Albay which is the first province in the country to mobilize its own relief and medical mission to respond to the immediate needs of typhoon victims in Samar and Leyte.
“Why go far when the Albay model is doing well in coordinating various government agencies and private sectors?” said Albay Governor Joey Salceda in his face book noting the senate  president’s comments during the courtesy call of  new US Ambassador  Philip Goldberg.
The governor added Albay is practically the Vatican of disasters being highly vulnerable to storms, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunami.
“But since the implementation of the it’s regularly updated disaster risk reduction (DRR) program,” he pointed out. “Albay continues to adopt new ways of coping with changing needs and with casualty figure going down drastically.”
The governor likes to think Albay made the words “preemptive measures” and “zero casualty” household words. “I think the US has in fact learned from how Albay copes with calamities starting with the disastrous Typhoon Reming
For the record, Salceda said Team Albay was the first coordinated relief and medical team to arrive in Tacloban on a Sunday, two days after the super typhoon struck. “The Albay model was thoroughly tested in disaster preparedness and we are also model in knowledge management through the Climate Change Academy Albay.”
The governor recalled the speed with which Team Albay responded to the typhoon victims in  Tacloban: “We were there on a Sunday after the killer typhoon struck on a Friday. We came when no one dared, we retrieved the dead so the victims can grieve, we assisted pregnant mothers in giving birth; we helped operate local hospital, we opened a botica to give free medicines, among others.”
Team Albay also distributed hundreds of liters of free clean potable water and repacked almost half million relief goods and secured 500 tons of assorted materials within three days after the disaster struck.
It was only after Team Albay’s initial efforts that local and international aid relief materialized.
Sto. Domingo, Albay Mayor Herbie Aguas recalled the first time he arrived in Tacloban with Team Albay: “On the first day we arrived, we noticed that typhoon victims were subsisting on bananas found on the streets. A group of hungry and armed residents surrounded our truck asking for food. It was a good we have a security marshall. Darlan Darcy Barcelon and  Ed Casulla from media became traffic enforcers as there were complete chaos on the streets. An old man with a sackful of rice sought refuge in our truck crying. He admitted it was the first time he had to steal just to survive. Indeed, there were no sign of local government working in the place on the first four days after the typhoon struck.”
The Albay governor is in South Korea as special guest in the inauguration of the Green Climate Change  Fund (GCCF) headquarters.
His delivered his message at the opening ceremony thus: “In the Philippines, we have recently experienced in a painful manner why it is so urgent to act on climate change. I am, therefore, pleased that the Fund is on track to start its resource mobilization next year with a rapid and substantial initial capitalization, so that we can get the money flowing to the countries which are in greatest need. The opening of these headquarters shows that the Fund is getting ready – and now we need the support of the international community so that we can mitigate climate change and adapt to its adverse impacts."
GFCF aims to make a significant and ambitious contribution to the global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change with its US$ 100 billion in pledges from developed countries in response to the urgency and seriousness of global weather phenomenon.
Salceda said that as a representative of a developing country which emits the least but suffers the most, he came to the South Korean gathering not to beg or borrow but to collect. “Developed countries: if you emit, you must remit,” said his face book message full of climate change ramifications.
The governor said Albay not only learned its lesson but mastered the disaster response mechanism by practice, not in media briefings. “After Typhoon Reming, we have mastered those lessons in disaster risk reduction. We have in fact memorized it by heart and implemented it with surgical precision. And the best thing of all, Albay continues to share those lessons to everyone who is willing to learn or those who needs it most. We have willingly shared those lessons with the typhoon victims of Mindanao and the Visayas and even in Metro Manila during the onslaught of the habagat.”
The Albayanos reminded Drilon that the province’s quick humanitarian missions in Samar and Leyte were done with less budget and equipment. “All we had was a deep desire to help. Quickly we formed a very organized group with members from various agencies from military, medical, relief and engineering. In the heart of these missions are well-learned lessons on rehabilitation and risk reduction. It will reflect on our ability to cope as people if we have to look for foreign models in disaster preparedness.”
The governor concluded Team Albay was able to apply its own catechism of quick disaster response thus:
To feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty;
To clothe the naked;
To provide temporary shelter to the homeless;           
To bury the dead.
==Albay opens foreign language school for local tour guides==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=6&rid=596880
*Saturday, December 14, 2013
:By Danny O. Calleja [(PNA), CTB/FGS/DOC/CBD/RSM]
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 14 (PNA) -– Gov. Joey Salceda on Saturday said that Albay provincial government has established a foreign language learning facility that will accommodate would-be tour guides for thousands of tourists, mostly Chinese coming in through the province’s international chartered flights tourism program.
Located at the Bicol University-College of Arts and Letters (BU-CAL), the school will start classes in January next year initially to produce at least 40 Chinese-speaking tour guides in a month-long training to include cultural sensitivity teaching to be provided by a Chinese travel agency.
The provincial government, through its Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office (PTCAO), earlier initiated a partnership with BU President Fay Lauraya and Department of Tourism Regional Director Maria Ong-Ravanilla on this undertaking.
The province’s Historico-Ecocultural Unit headed by Abdon Balde Jr. will provide the tourism information and BU will provide the language.
DOT, on the other hand, will provide the tour-guiding basic skills which would enable a certification of those who will undergo the one-month training, according to Salceda.
At least 200 BU-CAL students are expected to go through the short-term course which offers immediate job opportunity prospect.
As the Chinese tourists are expected to grow exponentially, the initial number of 40 graduates is expected to reach 100 in 2014.
After producing Chinese-speaking graduates, the unit will shift its focus on Spanish language to be able to train tour guides in preparation for the first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit which will be hosted by the province in December next year and the Green Climate Fund in April, 2015.
The opening of the Chinese language course is part of the preparations for the Xiamen-Albay flights starting Jan. 30, which expects 18,000 tourists in 2014 -- growing to 50,000 in 2017, Salceda said.
Another part of the preparations is the upgrading of the domestic airport here that will serve as the new gateway for international chartered flights under this tourism program that also targets other major markets like Russia and Korea.
Before the end of this year or early in January next year, the Legazpi airport would be ready with its Customs, Immigration and Quarantine-Health (CIQ) and Quarantine Agriculture to meet the requirements involving international flights.
“Ahead of the opening of the Southern Luzon International Airport (SLIA) now ongoing construction in Daraga town, we are making use of the existing Legazpi Domestic Airport for chartered flights that will fly in foreign visitors who are making our province a new destination,” the governor said.
The province, he said, is taking advantage of the foreign market trend showing that international tourists do not tend to repeat a local destination as they follow a cycle leading them from one place to another.
This trend, according to Salceda, creates a demand for a new Philippine destination other than Cebu, Boracay, Bohol and Laoag where there are existing flights from and to various cities outside of the country, particularly China,” he said.
Having Albay as a new direct destination for the Chinese travel market, for example, means getting them to start a cycle from January to March of each year wherein they would arrive via chartered flights Sunday and leave Thursday, Salceda said.
With this, he said, the province would be expecting in terms of arrivals 200 persons per flight from China every five days for three months or 3,600 actual bodies who would be staying five nights -- meaning 18,000 guest nights per year.
Based on reports of international tourism organizations, Chinese tourists spend US$ 300 per night.
“With this as an example, a conservative estimate of US$ 275 per Chinese guest per night would be equivalent to about P213 million in tourism receipts that Albay would get starting from the moment they arrive at the airport and as they go along with city tours, enter the gate of Cagsawa Ruins, rent ATVs (all-terrain vehicles), eat in restaurants, get services from local providers and occupy hotel rooms,” Salceda said.
These are all in line with his policy to achieve inclusive growth for the province through tourism that will have direct impact to the community, the governor added.
“Tourism will definitely take a crucial role in the province’s and in Bicol region's pursuit for inclusive and horizontal growth that will benefit not only big investors such as hotel and resort owners and operators but also the people in the countryside where most of tourist destinations are located by providing more opportunities for employment and business ventures,” he stressed.
Other services and small-scale businesses such as transport, souvenir shops, handicrafts and the like are created as tourism activities intensify in an area, while large-scale tourism stakeholders are needed to expand to include employment for common people such as housekeeping and food services, Salceda added.
==Albay posts 29% tourism gains in first 3Qs of 2013==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=6&rid=596482
*Friday, December 13, 2013
:By Johnny C. Nunez (PNA), LAP/JCN/JSD
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 13 (PNA) -- Albay has sustained its fast and thriving tourism industry, posting an impressive 29.01 percent growth in the past three quarters of 2013, far better than the national average of 11.4 percent within the same period.
The impressive growth materialized despite challenges confronting the travel industry which has caused decline in other regional markets.
Albay Governor Joey Salceda, quoting reports from the Department of Tourism (DOT), said some 520,536 tourists visited Albay during the first nine months of this year compared to 403,480 in the same period last year, representing a 29.01 percent increase.
Of the 2013 recorded arrivals, domestic tourists grew by 36.11 percent with 369,684, over the same period last year, with only 271,606; and foreign visitors increased by 14.39 with 150,852 over 2012’s first three-quarter record of 131,874.
Salceda attributed the steady growth to the province’s strong tourism program and various projects implemented during the year, as well as its hosting of national gatherings sponsored by travel groups.
Salceda is DOT’s Tourism Champion during the 1st Gayon Bikol Awards held last September, for his innovations that contribute to sustainable improvements in policy and processes toward inclusive model tourism governance.
Albay ranked 7th in the Top Ten "largest overnight destinations" in the country in 2012, with its rich world-class tourism sites coupled with a strong and well organized tourism program.
Salceda said Albay’s Mayon volcano still remains as the leading tourist drawer, along with other natural wonders and cultural spots such as the postcard-pretty Cagsawa Ruins Park in Daraga town; the Mayon Planetarium in Tabaco City, the Pinangat-cuisine and century-old houses in Camalig; clay pottery-making in Tiwi and Spanish-era baroque churches in almost every town.
Albay’s year-round festivals, Salceda said, are also undoubtedly tourist come-ons, foremost of which is the Daragang Magayon Festival.
In February, Albay was featured as a highlight destination at the ITB-Berlin (in Gernany), the first time a local government was given such attention in the world’s largest travel fair.
In that gathering, the Almasor (Albay-Masbate-Sorsogon) Tourism Alliance, also referred to as “Soul of the South” convened by Salceda last year, as chair of the Bicol Regional Development Council, was hailed a fresh concept in tourism marketing.
Last July, the Philippine Tour Operators’ Association launched a familiarization tour of Albay, and participants were introduced to the province’s newest travel activities such as the Ligñon Hill Zipline and hanging bridge; the ATV (all-terrain vehicle) rides at the Mayon lava trail; the Embarcadero Zipline; and lighthouse-tower rappelling all in Legazpi City.
Many now also enjoy engaging in water sports along the Legazpi Boulevard, the country’s longest bay boulevard outside of Metro Manila, which is a hub for kayaking, jet-skiing and diving.
==Chinese tourists to flood Albay in 2014 via the Xiam-Legazpi gateway==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=6&rid=596101
*Thursday, December 12, 2013
:By Johnny Nunez [(PNA), LAM/JCN/JSD]
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 12 (PNA) -- Albay has stepped up its drive towards becoming the country’s newest tourist gateway, with guests ferried via chartered flights by 2014, direct from major world markets through the refurbished domestic airport here.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said they target of at least 17,000 guests from China alone by next year, using the new Albay International Gateway. Travel agencies, however, forecast a brighter prospect with more or less 50,000 flying in via the Xiamen-Legazpi route with its inaugural flight set January 30, 2014.
International tourism organizations report that Chinese tourists spend at least US$ 300 per night on the average. Even at just a conservative estimate of US$ 275 per Chinese guest per day. this would be equivalent to about P 213 million in tourism receipts Albay will get.
The governor said Albay expects arrivals of 200 tourists per flight from China every five days for three months or 3,600 actual bodies who would be staying five nights — meaning 18,000 guest nights per year.
He said the Xiamen-Legazpi direct flight, now a done deal, targets 150,000 Chinese guests by 2017 for Albay, as a major destination, alongside with Boracay and Cebu. The other foreign tourist markets are South Korea, Russia and Japan.
The system offers easy processing of Visa Upon Arrival, now used by various direct tourist destinations in the country. The system does away with the usual hassles of documentation and provides ease and convenience. Salceda said entry requirements for this market are arranged to smoothen things, with Albay as a “complete” destination by itself.
The 2014 opening of the gateway comes ahead of the 2016 target completion of the Southern Luzon International Airport, the actual floodgate for foreign guests to this part of the country. The Albay provincial government has recently approved P11 million for the retrofitting of its existing domestic airport facilities for this purpose.
The new gateway was organized by the Albay provincial government in coordination with the Department of Tourism to meet the demand for a new Philippine destination other than Cebu, Boracay, Bohol and Laoag where there are existing direct flights from and to various cities outside the country, particularly China.
Aside from China, Salceda said guests are expected to primarily come from South Korea, Russia and Japan. The Legazpi Domestic Airport will fully operationalize its CIQS (customs, immigration, quarantine health/agriculture security) systems for these flights.
“We have also discussed with Bicol University (BU) President Fay Lauraya for the training of 20 students in the Chinese language, with the travel agency providing inputs on Chinese culture and PGA on the tourist guiding,” the governor shared.
Salceda said Albay will use “the Laoag model as guide in the processing of Tourist Group Visa”. Under existing country-to-country agreements on tourism, Chinese guests can stay for as long as 59 days, while Japanese and Russian visitors for 30 days, without entry visa.
==18,000 Chinese tourists seen to come to Albay annually starting January 2014==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=6&rid=595801
*Wednesday, December 11, 2013
:(PNA), FFC/FGS/NIM/CBD/UTB
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 11 (PNA) -- At least 18,000 Chinese tourists will come to Albay annually starting January 2014 as the province stands ready to become an international gateway, Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda said.
“This means our province will become a new travel destination of tourists from countries like China, South Korea and Russia,” Salceda said.
This, he said, will be ahead of the opening and operation of the Southern Luzon International Airport in Barangay Alobo in neighboring Daraga town.
Salceda said this will entail the use of the Legazpi Airport.
“We should take advantage of the foreign market trend showing that international tourists do not tend to repeat a local destination as they follow a cycle leading them from one place to another,” Salceda explained.
He added that this practice paved the way for the opening of new tourist destinations aside from Cebu, Boracay, Bohol and Laoag where there are flights going to key cities in other countries like China.
Salceda said that based on studies of international tourism organizations, a Chinese tourist spends US$ 300 a night.
In one year, about P213 million will be earned by the tourism industry in Albay, which is a big contribution to the economy of the province.
==DOLE grants P1M to livelihood program for Legazpi’s poor; P140M up for employment assistance in Bicol==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=595467
*Tuesday, December 10, 2013
:(PNA), FFC/FGS/DOC/NIM/UTB
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 10 (PNA) -– After providing P1 million to an anti-poverty program for the poor here, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has earmarked P140 million to another set of livelihood assistance to the indigent sector of Bicol’s labor force that will be implemented next year.
The P1-million fund was recently released in terms of livelihood tools and equipment to 137 beneficiaries in five barangays of the city that had been earlier placed under the Bayanihan Program of the Philippine Army (PA).
The Bayanihan is part of the efforts for peace of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) wherein the PA is conducting continuous activities to find out the needs of communities and attend to issues villagers are raising.
The barangays are Rawis, Arimbay, Pawa, Tula-Tula and Victory where the beneficiaries of the program were identified by the local contingent of the military operating in the area and the city government under Mayor Noel Rosal.
"In these barangays where a number of families living in poverty are vulnerable to the threat of insurgency, livelihood assistance should be provided so that these families are given sources of lifetime income. When busy earning, these people will have no time entertaining the prodding of the communists,” DOLE Regional Director Nathaniel Lacambra said.
Each beneficiary, he said, received a package of tools and equipment, depending on their skills, where every package costs between P5,000 and P8,000.
“With this grant, our job in DOLE is done. Based on our agreement with the Army and the city government, they will now take care of the monitoring of the livelihood activities of the beneficiaries and submit report to us,” Lacambra said as he expressed confidence that the project will yield very good results.
In fact, he added, this project should be replicated in other regions of the country being pestered by insurgency.
“Giving chance to people who have gone a little bit astray in their life is a perfect example of government complementation,” Lacambra said.
He recalled that DOLE-Bicol is also the very first in the history of the agency to provide livelihood grants to ex-convicts or parolees in Sorsogon province in partnership with the Parole and Probation Office.
The P140-million allocation for next year, he said, would come from the DOLE’s regular livelihood funds, reinforced by its Bottom-Up-Budgeting (BuB) and its share from the budget originally intended for the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) but reassigned to implementing agencies.
The whole amount will be divided among Bicol’s six provinces, with Albay and Camarines Sur getting 25 percent each; Camarines Norte and Srosogon, 15 percent each; and Catanduanes and Masbate, 10 percent each, according to Lacambra.
Beneficiaries of this fund can avail of DOLE’s livelihood package such as Negosyo Sa Kariton (Nego Kart), Kabuhayan Starter Kits (DK-SK), Emergency Wage Employment Assistance (EWEA) and Group Livelihood Projects that are all given in support to Bicol’s regional development, he said.
==Edible Landscaping==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=10&rid=595056
*Monday, December 9, 2013
:By Johnny C. Nunez [(PNA), LOR/JCN/JSD]
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 9 (PNA) -- Albay Gov. Joey Salceda has urged his well off constituents to resort to ‘edible landscaping’ and help reduce imports, improve the environment and promote food security.
Home-based organic vegetable gardening, he said, is also among the strategies for climate change adaptation, and a practical way to beautify houses in subdivisions and suburban residences where mostly the only available area for planting is the front yard.
“Eat your landscape,” Salceda said during a recent interview, where he tackled the advantages of home-based organic vegetable gardening over the expensive traditional landscaping that gives no tangible returns to homeowners except esthetics.
Edible landscaping or EL is what backyard gardening is to the countryside. It now being introduced by the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) in cooperation with the University of the Philippines Los Banos, even among well off families, to enhance the country’s food production.
“Instead of just ornamental plants, government now encourages more households to plant vegetables in their front and back yards so we can provide for our basic needs, reduce vegetable imports and live healthy lives,” Salceda stressed.
A UN report shows that in 2012 alone, the Philippines spent P142 million in vegetable imports. The World Health Organization (WHO)also reported that the Philippines’ vegetable consumption of 60 kilos per person per year in 2007 was one of Asia’s lowest, which results in chronic malnutrition especially among children with shortage in intake of vitamins and minerals.
Salceda said people should be more practical and spend only on basic things that give them better returns, more particularly these days when survivors of super typhoon Yolanda in the Vizayas subsist on government rations and private sector donations.
EL, he added, also offers extensive livelihood opportunities for about 5.2 million Filipinos that are below the poverty threshold and could not afford the high cost of foods, especially in cities.
He said EL enhances the environment since more plants means less carbon dioxide emission that contributes to global warming and climate change, and at the same time promotes food security that could have a significant impact locally.
The governor has pioneered the campaign on climate change adaptation in his home province and now sits as co-chair of the UN Green Climate Fund, which is at the head of the campaign against global warming.
==Green Climate Fund officials hope to realize objectives soonest==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=12&rid=594949
*Sunday, December 8, 2013
:By Nancy I. Mediavillo [(PNA), CTB/FGS/NIM/CBD/RSM]
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 8 (PNA) –- Officials of the United Nations Green Climate Fund (UNGCF) expressed hope that they will realize the objectives of the Fund soonest, Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda told the PNA Sunday.
Salceda, UNGCF co-chairman, attended the recent opening and blessing of UNGCF office at the G-Tower Building in Songdo, Incheon City, South Korea.
He said he told his fellow officials that the Philippines has experienced the nightmare and so much hardships brought by super typhoon “Yolanda” and other calamities as result of climate change.
The green economist said he stressed before his co-Fund executives that it needs an immediate and solid action of the world to counter the effects and the risks brought by climate change.
Salceda said he is glad that the Fund is on the right track to be started t he next year.
“This would mean the flow of funds to countries that need them due to climate change,” he added.
In this connection, he called for the support of the countries all over the world to help mitigate the effects of climate change and implement climate change adaptation.
Salceda said Manfred Konukiewitz of Germany, UNGCF board co-chairman, thanked the hospitality of South Korea and its gesture to give a permanent office for the UNGCF.
He quoted his co-chairman as saying that the opening ceremony marks the end of interim phase of the Fund and the start of its full operation.
Konukiewitz added that South Korea has an important role in this operation even as he asked the support of every government and all sectors of the world to support the Fund and its objectives, Salceda related.
He said Héla Cheikhrouhou, UNGCF executive director, on the other hand, claimed that the occasion means the Fund is ready to be implemented.
Salceda quoted Oh-Seok Hyun, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance of South Korea, as saying that the occasion is the first chapter in the history of UNGCF and stressed the need for political will, strength and courage of every nation to implement the Fund.
The Green Climate Fund is a multilateral fund agreed to be put up by representatives to the 2010 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Cancun, Mexico, and was ratified in 2011.
GFC, which aims to make a significant and ambitious contribution to the global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change, has US$ 100 billion in pledges from developed countries by 2020 in response to the urgency and seriousness of this weather phenomenon.
The Fund, Salceda said, will contribute to the achievement of the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC which in the context of sustainable development shall promote the paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
It would also provide for the adaptation to the impacts of climate change, taking into account the needs of those developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
The Fund will be guided by the principles and provisions of the UNFCCC established in December 2011 with a vision to help the developing countries cushion the impacts of changing climate.
It is designated as an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC, in accordance with Article 11 of the Convention.
Arrangements will be concluded between the Conference of the Parties to ensure that it is accountable to, and functions under its guidance, Salceda said.
The Fund, he stressed, will operate in a transparent and accountable manner guided by efficiency and effectiveness so that it plays a key role in channeling new, additional, adequate and predictable financial resources to developing countries and will catalyze climate finance, both public and private, and at the international and national levels.
It will pursue a country-driven approach and promote and strengthen engagement at the country level through effective involvement of relevant institutions and stakeholders in scalable and flexible manner and will be a continuously learning institution guided by processes for monitoring and evaluation.
The Fund will strive to maximize the impact of its funding for adaptation and mitigation, and seek a balance between the two, while promoting environmental, social, economic and development co-benefits and taking a gender-sensitive approach, Salceda added.
==DA exec says Albay way ahead in agri disaster risk reduction (Feature)==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=8&rid=594798
*Saturday, December 7, 2013
: By Danny O. Calleja [(PNA), CTB/FGS/DOC/CBD/]
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 7 (PNA) – Take it from a Department of Agriculture (DA) executive who oversees disaster risk reduction (DRR) in agriculture — Albay province is way ahead of other localities in the country in terms of DRR.
“Albay does not wait for disaster to overwhelm the province’s agriculture as it has been making radical changes that enhance the resilience of its farmers, knowing that the cost of inaction far outweigh the cost of action,” according to Dr. Elena de los Santos, DA regional technical director for operations and extension .
These disasters that make Bicol’s and the country’s agriculture sector the most vulnerable, come from typhoons, storm surges, volcanic eruption, pests and disease infestations, she said during the recent Regional Forum on DRR in Agriculture initiated here by the DA’s Regional Field Unit (RFU) based in Pili, Camarines Sur.
Albay is especially exposed to eruptions of Mt. Mayon that usually affect its three cities and five of its 14 municipalities where about 120,000 people, mostly farmers, are threatened by pyroclastic flow, mudflow and lava flow.
Typhoons causing floods, landslides, mudflow, storm surge and strong wind that could destroy thousands of hectares of agricultural areas and around 190,000 houses and major landslides caused by other weather hazards that may affect 116 barangays or about 40,173 households also hang like a “Sword of Damocles” over the province’s neck.
Against all of these, however, the provincial government -- with its ultimate goal of “zero casualty” -- has, among others, institutionalized the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) with regular annual budget appropriation for DRRM and permanent personnel.
It also institutionalized research and education in partnership with academe; equipped itself and local government units (LGUs) with risk maps developed by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB) and maintains population data by type of hazard existing on file used as input in planning and conducts integration of DRR to Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
Education and training are also done by the local technical staff of APSEMO while structural projects are funded sufficiently and implemented religiously as part of the regular program.
These and many more commitments to climate change adaptation and DRRM earned for the province recognition of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction as Role Model in Institutionalized and Innovative Disaster Risk Management based on 10 essentials, the first indicated by local organizations, including local governments that sufficiently equipped with capacities for climate and disaster risk reduction.
The second essential is indicated, among others, by financial services available to vulnerable and marginalized households for pre- and/or post-disaster times.
To sustain recovery efforts, Albay Governor Joey Salceda, through an initial P2-million budget, earlier initiated the Bayan-Anihan in partnership with the DA as a post disaster program where backyard vegetable farms in limited production areas such as resettlement sites are established as a strategy to both climate change adaptation and the combat of poverty and hunger.
The governor said “these kinds of programs are part of our climate change adaptation strategy and at the same time, a way to eradicate poverty and hunger in the province.”
The next essentials involve, among others, land-use policies and planning regulations for housing and critical risk-reducing infrastructure like drainage and flood controls, taking current and projected climate risk and disaster risk into account; and the inclusion of DRR policies, strategies and implementation plans within existing land-use and development plans.
The conduct of awareness-building or education programs on DRR and disaster preparedness for local communities have also been included along with local government support in the restoration, protection and sustainable management of ecosystems services like forests, coastal zones, wetlands, water resources, livestock, fisheries and river-basins to reduce local vulnerability and protection against floods, drought, landslides or seismic hazards.
Salceda’s DRR program is holistic given that post-disaster or recovery projects are integral part of DRR cycle done in Albay, thus, “Humanitarian Response for Recovery Plans and Programs” from 2008 to 2010 includes disaster risk management and environmental management.
For disaster risk management, disaster preparedness training, disaster drills and exercises are implemented in order that the community is empowered in handling any types of disaster while for environmental management, solid waste management and enhancement program such as tree planting, capability building on solid waste management and beautification activities are conducted.
The DA forum, which was part of the government project in Enhancing Capacities for Disaster Risk Reduction in Agriculture being implemented in the country, especially in the region through the support of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), took all these interventions and activities of Albay as a showcase.
The project primarily aims to enhance livelihood resilience for small-scale farmers and fisher folk in disaster-prone areas through the institutionalization of DRR in agriculture, an undertaking that could be considered in Albay province done way ahead of the other provinces, De los Santos said.
The forum was purposely conducted here so that agricultural stakeholders, program implementers and other local government units in the region who participated could see for themselves what have been put in place by the Albay provincial government to be called DRR champion, she said.
Presented in the forum were the accomplishments of the province in DRR in agriculture from where interventions, strategies and activities to complement the existing regional action plan for the project were identified.
Topics tackled were FAO’s perspective in agriculture, progress on community-based disaster risk reduction management, good farming practices options, post-disaster needs assessment, and regional plan of action involving analysis and policy implications.
==Classes in Albay suspended due to rain==
*Source:http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/541635/classes-in-albay-suspended-due-to-rain
*Friday, December 6, 2013 2:35 pm
:By Mar S. Arguelles (Inquirer Southern Luzon)
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—Provincial officials suspended classes at all levels in private and public schools in Albay before noon Friday as a public safety measure due to continuous heavy rain in most of the Bicol area.
Albay Governor Joey Salceda issued the order to suspend classes in Albay effective 11 a.m. Friday following a consultation with the Philippine Atmospheric and Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration  and the Albay Public Safety, Emergency and Management Office, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said in a public advisory.
Salceda explained in a text message that the suspension was a disaster mitigating measure to ensure the safety of students and teachers across the province after Pagasa forecast moderate to heavy rainfall in Albay up to Friday  evening, which could trigger floods in low-lying areas.
The weather bureau, in its bulletin Friday, said the tail end of a cold front would bring moderate to heavy rainfall to the Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions.
Salceda also advised various local disaster councils in the 15 towns and three cities of the province to be on alert for possible flooding in low-lying areas.
==Salceda seeks world gov't's support to rebuild wreckage, combat threats of climate change==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=8&rid=593998
*Thursday, December 5, 2013
:By Johnny C. Nunez [(PNA), CTB/JCN/UTB]
SONGDO, Incheon City, South Korea Dec. 5 (PNA) -- Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, co-chair of the UN Green Climate Fund (GCF), issued a call from here Thursday, urging world governments to support and cooperate in the gargantuan task of rebuilding the devastation of climate change and combat its threats.
Salceda made the call as the GCF settled down December 4 in its new headquarters in this bustling Songdo Free Economic Zone in Incheon. He said his office shall initialize the operationalization of the fund to help small countries - like the Philippines - transcend the disastrous and persistent impacts of climate.
“The impacts of climate change on developing countries, most particularly in Asia, is globally accepted as cataclysmic; Haiyan, (Yolanda) which struck Central Philippines in November 7, left 5,719 dead, 11.2 million people affected, 1.1 million homes damaged and destroyed, and 4.4 million people displaced,” Salceda said.
He recounted how, with the help of the international community, his province Albay was able to rise up from a similar cataclysm in 2006 brought about by Typhoon Durian, which decimated 40% of its Gross Domestic Product, destroyed 203,000 homes and affected 1.1 million people.Administered by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the GCF has transferred from its temporary headquarters in Bonn, Germany to the modern Green Tower Building in Songdo, which is now the hub for UN offices. South Korea has won its strong bid to host the GCF.
The GCF headquarters inauguration was graced by South Korean President Park Kun Hye, who welcomed the GCF dignitaries.
The GCF, or the Fund, is tasked to promote the paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Salceda, who is also UN spokesman for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, said the GCF shall put more pressure on the international community to operationalize the fund in 2014, finance preparedness activities for developing countries and help provide for such programs.
Salceda is GCF co-chair for developing countries and Southeast Asia.
“In Paris, the GCF Board agreed that resource mobilization should begin at least three months after the second board meeting in May also scheduled in Songdo,” Salceda said during the rites that officially opened the GCF headquarters.
Present during the event, aside from the Korean President, were GCF co-chair, Manfred Konukiewitz, for developed countries, Korean Deputy Finance Minister Oh-Seok Hyun, GCF Executive Director Hela Cheikhrouhou, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, and Incheon Metropolitan City Mayor Young Gil.
Speaking before guests at the ceremony opening the GCF headquarters, Salceda also thanked the “Korean people for their help in 2007, in rebuilding 10% of the entire housing reconstruction in Albay damaged by Durian.”
“Six years after, and two days after Haiyan hit the Vizayas, I have led Team Albay with 179 personnel and 17 vehicles and became the first humanitarian mission to arrive - during the critical hours where lives could still be saved - in Tacloban City,” Salceda told the climate advocates.
He said Team Albay was “first to provide medical services in the area, first to provide free medicines, first to retrieve cadavers, first to raise the flag in the Leyte provincial capitol, and first to open a gasoline station.”
At the devastation Ground Zero, Team Albay also produced and delivered 1.2 million liters for the survivors through its water filtration machine, retrieved 622 corpses, provided free medicines and medical services to 2,142 patients, repacked 450,000 relief goods for the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and sourced 420 tons of relief goods.
Salceda said Team Albay has proven it can do more than what a 179-man team can in an emergency, but as CNN commented, they (Team Albay) do not talk but just keep on working and retrieving corpses.
He said the GCF can be likened to the Star of Bethlehem which led the Three Kings to the manger. It is like a Globe Positioning System for international events market especially with the opening of offices here by the World Bank, UN United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and North-East Asia.
As noted by world delegates to the event, the convergence here of these agencies “makes Songdo, Incheon the epicenter of global climate finance and the center for global engagements and international conversations on climate change.”
==Male, female forum participants learn value of team work vs. hazards==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=593674
*Wednesday, December 4, 2013
:(PNA), CTB/FGS/EMC/CBD/UTB
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 4 (PNA) -- Working together, men and women can identify hazards that threaten their lives, homes, livelihood and communities and address vulnerability conditions, other factors -- and together, they can build safer, adaptive and disaster-resilient communities.
This was what some 60 participants in the Gender and Development (GAD) Convergence Forum held at the Ninong's Hotel on East Washington Drive, Legazpi City, on Dec. 3, came to realize at the end of activity.
The forum has for its theme “Gender Mainstreaming in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management."
The GAD convergence forum was conducted by the Provincial Government of Albay under the auspices of the Provincial Council of Women and the Spanish government’s Española de Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarollo (AECID).
Dr. Cedric Daep, head of the Albay Provincial Safety and Emergency Monitoring Office, was among the resource speakers while the Office of Civil Defense 5 was a resource agency.
Participants in this women-centered activity were GAD in-charge persons and officials, employees of local government units of Tiwi and Polangui, representatives from government line agencies and civil society organizations, media practitioners, members and officers of the Albay Provincial Council of Women and some officials and employees of the Provincial Government under the stewardship of Gov. Joey S. Salceda.
==EMB assures air in Legazpi is clean==
*Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=8&rid=593232
*Tuesday, December 3, 2013
:By Danny O. Calleja [(PNA), LAP/FGS/DOC/CBD/]
LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 3 (PNA) -– Take a deep breath and make a sigh of relief, assured that the air in this prime Bicol city called the City of Fun and Adventure is indeed clean.
Take this assurance from Roberto Sheen, Bicol regional technical director of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Sheen said EMB records show that in recent years of smoke belching monitoring and air quality measurement, the city has maintained a good status of air quality.
“We will continue monitoring, especially now that our office is already equipped with a state-of-the-art instrument to regularly determine local air quality and determine the level of pollution prevailing in the city’s atmosphere,” he said on Tuesday.
The EMB regional chief said his office is now installing a brand-new Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS), the first ever to be acquired by the bureau for Bicol.
A DOAS is an instrument that measures concentrations of atmospheric trace gases such as nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide, among others, that are chemically reactive factors of air quality in a given area.
Nitrogen oxides are produced when air is subjected to high temperature and high pressure such as in diesel engines while carbon monoxide is a product of incomplete combustion whose principal source is gasoline engine.
Nitrogen dioxide, on the other hand, is a toxic gas with a pungent, irritating and rotten smell released naturally by volcanic activity and is a potent global warming gas.
DOAS is also capable of determining levels of carbon dioxide and methane that are important greenhouse gases produced anthropogenically but mainly by plants and microorganisms, and from natural geothermal sources.
The DOAS that the EMB acquired, Sheen said, is combined with basic optical spectrometers such as prisms or diffraction gratings and automated, ground-based observation platforms to become a powerful means for the measurement of air pollutants.
A DOAS system consists of a light source and a detector, with an open path in between to measure a spectrum of the light that passes through it.
Any gas present there will leave its spectral fingerprint on the measured spectrum and the amount of light absorbed is proportional to the amount of gas present, he explained.
Sheen said EMB technicians have already set up the instrument at the bureau’s regional office at the Regional Government Center in Barangay Rawis here and now familiarizing with its operations.
After this, Sheen’s office will start the air quality monitoring in the city and come up regularly with reports so that the public and local government units are guided on measures that should be undertaken to maintain good air quality to achieve an air pollution-free environment in the locality.
The air quality monitoring, he said, is part of the mandate of the DENR, through the EMB, to generate necessary information in formulating a comprehensive air pollution management and control program.
The EMB regional offices regularly monitor roadside total suspended particulates (TSP) concentrations nationwide.
Monitoring of ambient concentrations of air pollutants other than TSP is conducted only in Metro Manila and in the cities of Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao.
Criteria pollutants are air contaminants for which the National Ambient Air Quality (NAAQ) Guideline Values have been established under the Clean Air Act of 1999.
EMB monitors the concentrations of these criteria pollutants, which include TSP; particulate matter 10 microns in diameter or smaller (PM10); sulfur dioxide; nitrogen dioxide; carbon monoxide; lead; and ozone.
The most recent period that air quality was determined through measurements here conducted by the EMB were between 2003 and 2004 or five years after the start of the implementation of the Clean Air Act wherein TSP concentrations exceeded the mean annual NAAQ guideline value.
Should the next measurements to be regularly conducted now that EMB-Bicol is already equipped with a DOAS would show higher level of air pollution, Sheen said local governments must initiate appropriate measures to address it.
Among these measures is the enforcement of the ban on the use of two-stroke engines in tricycles which is provided under the Clean Air Act, the provision of bicycle lanes on existing roads to encourage biking and minimize the use of motor vehicles and the absolute ban of cigarette smoking in public places, he added.
==Albay allocates P11M for upgrading of Legazpi airport==
*Source:http://cbanga360.net/2013/12/02/albay-allocates-p11m-upgrading-legazpi-airport/
*Monday, December 2, 2013 11:54 am
: (PNA)
A new gateway for chartered flights
The domestic airport in Legazpi receives a boost from the provincial government of Albay with the allotment of P11 million for upgrading geared towards making the city a prospective gateway for chartered flights of foreign tourists.
This was confirmed as the provincial legislature unanimously approved last week the allocation requested by Gov. Joey Salceda.
The proposed upgrade is part of requirements in making the province a new gateway of foreign travellers via chartered flights directly coming from major markets like China, Korea and Russia.
In is also in preparation for the first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit hosted by the province in December and the Green Climate Fund in April, in 2014.
Apart from the delegates coming to these international conferences, Salceda said, about a dozen of chartered flights carrying tourists from China have also been arranged and would start arriving in next year as soon as the upgrade and other requirements are met.
Part of the upgrade, Salceda said here on Saturday, is the setting up of Customs, Immigration and Quarantine-Health and Quarantine Agriculture to meet the requirements standard of international flights.
“Ahead of the opening of the Southern Luzon International Airport (SLIA) now ongoing construction in Daraga town, we are making use of the existing Legazpi domestic airport for chartered flights that would fly in foreign visitors who are making our province a new destination,” the governor said.
The province, he said, is taking advantage of the foreign market trend showing that international tourists do not tend to repeat a local destination as they follow a cycle leading them from one place to another.
This trend, according to Salceda, creates a demand for a new Philippine destination other than Cebu, Boracay, Bohol and Laoag where there are existing flights from and to various cities outside of the country, particularly China.
Having Albay as a new direct destination for the Chinese market, for example, means getting them to start a cycle from January to March of each year wherein they would arrive via chartered flights Sunday and leave Thursday, Salceda said.
With this, he said, the province would be expecting in terms of arrivals 200 persons per flight from China every five days for three months or 3,600 actual bodies who would be staying five nights or 18,000 guest nights per year.
Based on reports of international tourism organizations, Chinese tourists spend US$ 300 per night.
“With this as an example, a conservative estimate of US$ 275 per Chinese guest per night would be equivalent to about P213 million in tourism receipts that Albay will get starting from the moment they arrive at the airport and as they go along with city tours, enter the gate of Cagsawa Ruins, rent ATVs (all-terrain vehicles), eat in restaurants, get services from local providers and occupy hotel rooms,” Salceda said.
These are all in line with his policy to achieve inclusive growth for the province through tourism that will have direct impact on the community, the governor added.
“Tourism will definitely take a crucial role in the province’s and in Bicol region’s pursuit for inclusive and horizontal growth that will benefit not only big investors such as hotel and resort owners and operators but also the people in the countryside where most of tourist destinations are located by providing more opportunities for employment and business ventures,” he stressed.
Other services and small-scale businesses such as transport, souvenir shops, handicrafts and the like are created as tourism activities intensify in an area, while large-scale tourism stakeholders are needed to expand to include employment for common people such as housekeeping and food services, Salceda added.
According to Department of Tourism (DOT) Bicol regional director Maria Ong-Ravanilla, a group of local tour operators is working closely with this chartered flight tourism program.
Arrangements, she said, have already reached a 100-percent positive outcome insofar as the Chinese market is concerned.
Chinese travelers, however, are impulsive on the visa process that is why their biggest drawers are Jeju Island and Bali, Indonesia, that do not require entry visas, she said.
Albay, Salceda said, is arranging ways to provide ease and convenience so that entry requirements for this market are put in place as smooth as possible so that Chinese tourists would be able to enjoy the province as an alternative “complete” destination.
“We will be using the Laoag model as a guide in the processing of tourist group visa wherein tour operators will request for a recommendation letter from the Department of Foreign Affairs or its foreign post that a group of tourists will be visiting the province and this will serve as TGV for Chinese visitors,” he said.
Besides, Salceda said, there is already an agreement among countries regarding the laxity of issuing visas and on the problem with the Chinese market, with AJAX Rule, they are given 59 days upon landing in the Philippines”.
Multiple entry visa upon arrival (MEVUA) or Note Verbale for Chinese and Indian visitors can be requested from the DFA foreign post at least one week prior to travel to the Philippines and they can stay for 59 days. Japanese and Russian visitors can stay for 30 days and are not required to apply for entry visa.
For the Korean market, on the other hand, that is more on honeymooners and golfing travelers, the tour operators group is now working on the actual details such as visa needs and obtaining positive responses from the market.
On the Russian market, Vladivostok, in the Russian fareast, has direct flights to Cebu and Kalibo but Russians are getting tired of these places, reason why they are seeking new destinations, according to Salceda, adding that a Russian guest spend US$ 1,000 per night on incidental expenses exclusive of accommodation costs.
Under this new tourism project, the governor said, there would be chartered flights for the Russian market from November to March and Misibis Bay Resort will be allocating a minimum of 20 rooms for them every nine days which means 180 room nights per cycle.
Misibis is a private tropical hideaway built on a pristine stretch of a beach along the southern tip of Cagraray island in Bacacay, Albay which is considered as the luxury island playground in the Philippines.
From these three travel markets alone, Albay’s estimated arrivals are 10,000 in the first year, probably 2014, when all requirements are satisfied.
==Government researchers say Bicol abaca strong vs substitutes==
*Source:http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/en/business/agri-commodities/23665-government-researchers-say-bicol-abaca-strong-vs-substitutes
*Sunday, December 1, 2013
:(PNA)
LEGAZPI CITY—Despite the emergence of synthetic substitutes, abaca keeps Bicol on top of its producers’ circle and remains unshakable in both the domestic and international markets, according to the Bicol Consortium for Agriculture and Resources Research and Development (BCARRD).
Synthetic ropes may have some technical advantages, but abaca has qualities that meet the needs for special purposes—specifically for oil drilling, navies, merchant shipping and construction—thus, maintaining for the Philippines its strong foothold in the global market, BCARRD Director Ninfa Pelea said over the week here.
She said this and many more good news about the product during the two-day Farmers Industry Encounter through the Science and Technology Agenda (Fiesta) at the Embarcadero de Legazpi that ended on Friday.
Organized by the BCARRD, the affair showcased the various abaca products and emerging opportunities, with science and technology playing a significant role in the industry.
Pelea said the country’s abaca industry continues with its bright prospects, especially in the export market,  as many countries are shifting to the use of abaca products to replace synthetic and other non-biodegradable raw materials.
This, as the current global advocacy of going natural and going green is becoming more intense with the growing awareness and concern to protect the environment.
Abaca as a renewable resource can be an excellent part of the overall solution to climate change, as the plant absorbs more carbon dioxide than its emission, and is 100-percent biodegradable, which cannot harm the environment.
With this, eco-friendly materials like abaca are utilized by industries for products like home furnishings and housewares, fashion and its accessories, packaging of food, apparel and other items.
Pelea said demands in synthetic products, such as plastic bags, have been steadily declining as consumers now prefer to use eco-friendly fabric bags to replace plastic bags in their shopping sprees.
According to reports, Western consumers are shifting their preference from using plastic bags to fabric products because the former have been causing a lot of problems in the environment, such as littering and pollution.
“In this city alone, you don’t see stores, malls and other commercial establishments using plastic bags because of the ban being imposed by the local government,” Pelea said.
In various industries, instead of glass fiber, the use of abaca fiber brought primary energy savings of 60 percent, thus significantly reducing carbon-dioxide emission, the report said.
Other car-manufacturing companies, especially in the European Union, are expected to use natural fibers as material for their car parts in compliance with the end-of-life-vehicle regulation of the European Parliament.
Such regulation requires these firms to design and make their car components easier to recycle and safer to dispose at the end of life of their vehicle.
As composite material, abaca fiber has potentials in boat/shipbuilding industries, aeronautics, as well as in the construction business, especially in high-rise buildings, according to a report by the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA).
With stricter policies against the dumping of synthetic fishnets and cordage materials in open seas as enforced by most European nations, users are returning to the use of natural biodegradable materials like abaca fiber, the PhilFIDA report added.
Pelea said abaca pulp has also been gaining more popularity, owing to the expanding demand for specialty papers for tea bags, meat and sausage casings, currency papers, metalized papers, cigarette papers, filters, high-tech capacitor papers, and other non-woven materials and disposables, Pelea said.
Most specialty papers require high porosity and excellent tear, bursting and tensile strength, which characterize abaca fiber and shun synthetics that burn more readily than natural ones, are prone to heat damage and generate more electrostatic charge by rubbing than with natural fibers.
Pelea said the Philippines, especially Bicol, with Catanduanes maintaining its hold of the top slot in abaca production, could expect more demand for abaca fiber owing to its growing popularity, the opening of new markets for tea bags and meat casing in India, China and Eastern Europe, and increased demand by the US and Russia for abaca-based fiber paper and wrappers for cigarettes.
Abaca is now highly preferred for cordage material over synthetic materials, which are not environment-friendly and also serving as replacement for asbestos, which is carcinogenic and banned in other countries, she said.
A study conducted by the European Nature Heritage Fund said the utilization of abaca fiber in composites for highly stressed parts of automobiles would result in numerous ecological, as well as economic, benefits.
Replacing glass fibers by natural fibers could reduce the weight of automotive parts and enables the recycling of these components, it added.
The Fiesta, themed “Celebrating Bicol’s Amazing Abaca: Fiesta na, Pasko Pa,” featured a techno-business forum, fashion show, photography contest and e-marketing training among others.

Latest revision as of 15:54, 10 January 2014

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Albay - Archived News
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Seal of the Province of Albay
Interactive Google Satellite Map of the Province of Albay
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Location of Albay within the Philippines
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Provincial Capitol Building of Albay, in Legazpi City

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.

Mayon volcano albay province.jpg

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:
  1. 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.
  2. The victims who are waiting for the right moment to retaliate. They can’t win yet, so they tolerate.

Albay to embark on P321 M road network project in 2014 to develop upland areas

By Floreño G. Solmirano [(PNA), LOR/FGS/CBD/JSD]

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 31 (PNA) -– The province of Albay will pursue in 2014 the construction of a road network that involves a total amount of P321 million, which is included in the 2014 General Appropriations Act.

The project, part of the Guicadale Economic Platform, will expand the developable land area of Albay by 81,123 hectares, mostly around the South Luzon International Airport (SLIA) that is now undergoing construction, according to Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda.

Guicadale stands for the adjoining towns of Guinobatan, Camalig and Daraga and the city of Legazpi.

The Guicadale Economic Platform was proposed by the Provincial Government of Albay, which also conducted the feasibility study that was completed in July 2008.

“This is the key geostrategic intervention of Albay for spatial integration of upland areas suitable to settlements and commercial development,” Salceda said.

He said the road network project targeted to be started in 2014 consists of a circumferential road and new arterial roads branching out from the urban centers of the three towns and this city.

The road network includes the Cotmon-Maninila-Taplacon-Taloto road costing P100 million; Tabon-Tabon–Gabawan–Estanza-Taysan-Puro, P81 million; Guicadale to Donsol (Mayon-Bigao-San Vicente-Ibaugan-Gogon), P140 million; and Salvacion–White Deer, P 100 million.

The project will consist of 17 road sections, wherein 11 sectors will comprise the circumferential road and six sections are arterial roads.

It will also involve new road opening and improvement of existing ones with a total length of 109.3 kilometers.

The Albay governor said the estimated total cost of the project is P 854.2 million -- broken down into local and barangay roads, P 739.5 million; national roads, P 114.7 million.

“It will benefit a total population of 187,314 covering the local government units’ territories of Guicadale,” Salceda said.

The Regional Development Council for Bicol, which is chaired by Salceda, approved the road network project during its full council meeting in May this year.

“The project was designed to encourage economic activities safe from the threats posed by Mayon volcano eruptions, lahar flows, floods and tsunamis,” the green economist said.

Salceda, a noted investment adviser and co-chair of the board of the US$ 100-billion United Nations Green Climate Fund, envisions the project to eventually realize the goal of creating Mega Daraga and Metro Albay.

“Aside from being far from the threats posed by Mayon, its other expected benefits include efficient access to the Southern Luzon International Airport, safer relocation sites for families affected by natural calamities, new economic investment opportunities, increased farm income through reduced transport costs, improved living condition through efficient access to health and welfare facilities, linkage of agricultural areas to the market centers and integration of the economies of Albay and Sorsogon provinces,” he stressed.

The project, Salceda added, is consistent with the Regional Physical Framework Plan in terms of land use, settlement and infrastructure planning.

The Economic Internal Rate of Return of the project is estimated at 23.65 percent while the net present value is P 872.54 million.

(Yearender) Albay posts three significant ‘firsts’ in 2013

(PNA), LAP/FGS/RBB/MSA/CBD/UTB

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 30 (PNA) -– Albay recorded three significant “firsts” in 2013.

Almost a place in the Guinness

Once again, Albayanos showed their unity and formed the world’s largest human no-smoking sign for Guinness World Records (GWR) on June 28 in a 5,033-square-meter area at the Bicol University football grounds here.

Some 13,892 Albayanos, out of about 17,000 who registered from all walks of life led by Gov. Joey S. Salceda, displayed oneness and strong determination to form the world’s largest human no-smoking sign.

Braving the heat of the morning sun and amid an atmosphere of fun, thousands of highly-spirited people from the academe, national government agencies, local government units, private establishments, religious groups and civil society organizations converged as early as 6 a.m. in two designated assembly points – one at the Albay’s Penaranda Park and the other was in the BU oval ground.

Salceda personally supervised the province's attempt to form the world biggest human anti-smoking sign.

Albay, however, failed to make it to the record because, according to Guinness officials, there were certain gaps in the giant no-smoking sign that were captured by a video recording.

Though the province failed in its attempt to land in the GWR, those who took part in executing the world’s largest human no-smoking sign are still filled with stories of achievement and fulfillment.

First, no-smoking advocates hailed the formal signing in public on that day by Salceda of the implementing rules and regulations of the province-wide ordinance.

Second, although the attempt failed to put the event in the Guinness book, the World Records Academy has informed the Smoke Free Albay Network, the group tasked to assist in the implementation of the Albay Smoke-Free Ordinance, that the event was already accepted as a world record.

Holy Rosary-inspired coral reef

Albayanos, assisted by divers of various government agencies and civic organizations, on August 3 planted a 65-meter-long coral reef in the form of a “Holy Rosary” at 20-foot deep underwater area off the coastal villages of San Vicente and Pandayan, about a kilometer from Sto. Domingo town proper.

Environment-loving individuals from civil society organizations, church, academe, government agencies, and provincial and town officials braved the gloomy weather and showed unity in submerging what they claimed as the first of its kind world's largest underwater rosary-shaped coral reef.

The venture, a project of the Legazpi and Daraga chapters of the Junior Chamber International – a youth leadership development organization, aimed to restore the coral reefs in the Albay Gulf, a major source of marine products.

The Rosary-inspired coral reef is also in honor of the “Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary,” the patroness of the Sto. Domingo parish.

Before the project launch, healing priest Fr. Momoy Borromeo, Salceda and town Mayor Herbie Aguas led a procession of the image of the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary -- joined by hundreds of project participants and residents this town.

Borromeo also prayed over and blessed the four zones -- north, south, east and west -- of the coral reef rosary beads.

Engineer Martin Reynoso, JCI executive vice president and project officer, said the rosary coral reef structure was put underwater by at least 20 scuba divers in about five hours.

The Rosary-shaped coral reef is composed of 60 coral beads and a five-meter cross set up at a 300-square-meter area under the sea by divers from the Bicol Scuba Divers Foundation, Inc., Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard and JCI.

The coral beads and coral cross were implanted with 65 micro solar panels on concrete structure with wires, lead conductor and glass jar, Reynoso said, adding that the 60 concrete coral beads represent the mysteries of the Holy Rosary -- Joyful, Glorious, Sorrowful, and the Mysteries of Light.

First Asian GCF co-chair

Salceda was elected as co-chair of the board of the Green Climate Fund, the first Asian to co-chair such a prestigious body, during its fifth meeting held in Paris on October 7-10.

The Albay governor said he had the unanimous support of representatives from developing countries.

Established by the conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2011, the GCF is intended to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Salceda said the 24-member GCF board that he co-chairs oversees the operation of the Fund, which has pledges of US$ 100 billion by 2020, and approves the funding of projects in line with the Fund’s principles, criteria, modalities, policies and programs.

In pitching for his candidacy, Salceda, who is also the Regional Development Council chair for Bicol, said the Fund should prompt positive consequences in the lives of ordinary people.

With 2014 as the target for the operationalization of the Fund, the green economist and world-renowned investment consultant aims to make the Fund work for developing countries, including small islands developing states, least developed countries, Africa and highly vulnerable communities in countries like the Philippines, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

Salceda’s election is a strong expression of confidence in the Philippines and further raises the country’s profile in the international community, according to Bicolano observers, who hailed his election as GCF chair.

Five killed in Mayon eruption

Behind these good news, however, unfolded news of deaths.

Five mountaineers, four German nationals and their local guide, died at the vicinity of Camp 2 along the slope of Mayon near its peak when they reportedly fell into a gulley as a result of a phreatic or steam-driven ash explosion that hit Mayon Volcano at about 8:04 a.m., May 7, a Tuesday.

The explosion sent a vertical column of ash blended with stones almost three kilometers in height, which drifted west-southwest towards Guinobatan town and caused a mantle of about 2-3-millimeter thick ash that covered some portions of Barangay Muladbucad Grande.

Authorities identified the dead German nationals as Joan Eduza, Roland Pieza, Farah Franes and Fibian Stifler, and the local tour guide from Malilipot town as Jerome Berin.

Eight other climbers were injured after the volcano vomited ashes with big stones that reportedly hit the victims at the head, back, hands and feet.

A phreatic explosion is caused by the pressure of heat that developed underneath the volcano, causing a steam that pushed ash up and caused it to come out as ash cloud, explained Ed Laguerta, resident volcanologist of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

“It is like a heated pressure cooker,” Laguerta added.Residents noted that it rained Monday night and said rainwater could have reached the superheated magma inside the volcano, thus, producing steam.

Laguerta said Mayon last erupted in 2009.

NPA leader, 7 others killed in Sorsogon clash

A New People’s Army leader was among the eight NPA members who were killed in an early encounter on July 4 with government troopers in Barangay (village) Upper Calmayon, a hinterland village in Juban town in Sorsogon.

Army Col. Joselito Kakilala, commander of the 903rd Infantry Brigade operating in Sorsogon province, identified the NPA leader as Arnel Estiller alias Ka Ariston, secretary of the communist Guerrilla Front Larangan 2.

Kakilala said two women were also among the eight that were killed in a 35-minute fight with a platoon of soldiers belonging to the 31st Infantry Battalion.

He said one of the slain women was a former teacher that had joined the communist movement.

Kakilala added that the 20-man NPA band that clashed with the Army soldiers were part of the augmentation force sent to Sorsogon to carry out assault mission against government forces and civilians.

Salceda urges Filipinos to remember Rizal's principles, cites hero’s role in Philippine Revolution

By Connie B. Destura [(PNA), CTB/FGS/CBD/OJN]

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 29 (PNA) -- As the nation commemorates the 117th death anniversary of Jose P. Rizal on Monday, Dec. 30, Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda has urged Filipinos, especially Albayanos, to remember his teachings, works and principles.

While Rizal’s books, “El Filibusterismo” and “Noli Me Tangere,” had been read by only a few, as not many Filipinos could afford to buy and read these novels written in Spanish, Andres Bonifacio and other Katipunan members had thoroughly gone through their pages, Salceda said.

“These novels had opened their eyes to the oppression experienced by their countrymen under the Spanish colonial rule,” he added.

These, the Albay chief executive said, inspired the Bonifacio-led Katipuneros to push through with the revolution.

“Rizal’s novels, therefore, sparked the Philippine Revolution of 1896,” Salceda pointed out.

The Noli was published in Berlin in 1887 while the Fili came out of the press in Ghent in 1891 through the help of Rizal’s friends.

Rizal did not finish his third novel, “Makamisa,” which he tried to write in Tagalog, since he found difficulty in writing in the local vernacular.

Salceda said Rizal bequeathed to the Filipinos his teachings through his writings and displayed his heroism in his principles and sound judgment, on which he stood steadfastly until his death.

He recalled Rizal’s Napoleonic complex as he related that once his siblings were laughing at him when they saw him making a monument.

“Go ahead, you laugh, but someday people will make monuments of me,” Salceda quoted the national hero as saying.

“True enough, we see his monuments in many places in recognition of his important role in our country’s history,” the green economist said, adding “His face is on the Philippine currency, cigarette pack and match box while his name figures on main roads.”

Chinese, Spanish, Japanese and Filipino traits ran in Rizal’ blood, Salceda said.

Rizal was the fifth generation grandchild of Domingo Lam-co, a traditional Chinese from Jinjiang, Quanzhou, while his grandfathers on his mother side were a Spanish engineer, Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo, and a Japanese, Eugenio Ursua, the Albay governor added.

Known for his thriftiness and prudence, Rizal’s favorite food while in the Philippines was “sardinas seco,” or simply “daing at tuyo” (dried fish), while in Europe, he would leave his friends during lunch time or supper hour to eat biscuit as he spent his money on buying books, Salceda said.

The Albay governor recalled that when Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1892, he helped found La Liga Filipina that pushed for reforms but the Spanish government abolish it and exiled Rizal in Dapitan.

While in Dapitan, he established a school, taught and practiced medicine.

One of Rizal’s patients was George Taufer from Hong Kong, who brought with him his adopted daughter, Josephine Bracken, with whom Rizal had a child who unfortunately died just hours after birth.

Rizal and Bracken left Dapitan on Aug. 1, 1896 for Cuba via Spain.

Bonifacio’s revolution broke out on Aug. 26 of the same year and Rizal was arrested on Oct. 6 upon his arrival in Barcelona on charges of being involved in the rebellion.

He was brought back to the Philippines, jailed in Fort Santiago and was court-martialed for rebellion, sedition and conspiracy.

On Dec. 30, 1896, Rizal was shot by Filipino civil guards who had behind them Spanish soldiers who were ready to shoot them in case they would not execute Rizal.

“Rizal’s persistence, penchant for women and prudence were part of his being an ordinary man, like us. He was not a superstar nor superman nor God. He was like us, one of us, and therefore, we could be like him and follow his footsteps,” Salceda remarked.

He asked the Filipinos not to grieve on Rizal’s death anniversary but instead rejoice on his meaningful and successful life.

37 Home for Women residents, staff members learn baking for livelihood

(PNA), SCS/FGS/EMC/CBD/RSM

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 28 (PNA) -– Thirty-seven residents and staff members of the Home for Women and Girls at the Department of Social Welfare and Development Complex in Barangay Nasisi, Ligao City, have completed a three-day skills training on baking.

The training was conducted by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s Albay Provincial Office and financed by the Philippine Good Work Mission Foundation Inc.

DSWD-Bicol Regional Director Arnel Garcia said the training aims to equip the center residents with livelihood skills in order to prepare them for a gainful employment the moment they leave the center for an independent living.

It also forms part of their therapeutic activity for them to be able to overcome their emotional and psychological problems, Garcia stressed.

With the assistance of Teresita Caceres, project development officer III, and other center staff, the DSWD will open a bakery in the facility, following the sustainable livelihood scheme.

The residents will also be trained on Basic Business Management, Garcia said.

15 Legazpi City villages bag ‘Dugong Bicol’ awards

By Emmanuel P. Solis [(PNA), LAP/FGS/EPS/CBD/JSD]

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 27 (PNA) –- Fifteen villages in this city received awards for donating blood taken from at least one percent of the total population of each barangay or 25 blood bags collected in each locality required by the Department of Health.

DOH Bicol Regional Director Gloria Balboa handed over the plaques of recognition to the 15 chiefs of the awardee-villages during the 5th Regional Dugong Bicol Awards day recently held at the Oriental hotel here.

The 15 awardees were barangays EM’s Barrio 1 headed by its Punong Barangay (chairman) or PB Andronico Gerardino; EM’s Barrio 2, PB Echidita Salcedo; EM’s Barrio 3, PB Teresita Alisago; EM’s Barrio 4, PB Felixberto Codorniz; Maoyod, PB Romeo A. Madraso; Ilawod East, PB Joel Buenaflor; Lapu-Lapu, PB Gemma Espiritu; Victory Village, PB Joie Bahoy; PNR Site, PB Beatriz Toledo; Bitano, PB Joel Balinis; Padang, PB Manuel Alagaban Sr.; Dapdap, PB Marites Barcelon; Mariawa, Anabelle Teope; Rawis, PB Oscar Robert Cristobal; and San Francisco, PB Ronaldo Aringo.

The bloodletting activities conducted by the health officers and village officials were done in support of Republic Act 7719 or the National Blood Services Law of 1994 which aims to provide sufficient supply of blood to blood banks and to promote voluntary donations, Balboa said.

The move, she added, would ensure an ample supply of blood and that the donated blood is free from diseases that may cause even more complications to the recipients.

The collected blood will be used by the needy patients to prevent or lessen maternal death cases and save the lives of the people who suffered from illnesses by way of blood transfusion. the DOH official added.

Legazpi City Mayor Noel E. Rosal commended all the barangay leaders who got awards and other government agencies and organizations who actively participated in the regular bloodletting activities of the city administration.

Rosal described them as the heroes of patients who have survived because of blood transfusion.

He urged the barangay leaders to continue participating in the bloodletting activities of the city to promote voluntary donation and provide adequate supply of blood for needy patients.

The city chief executive disclosed that the rehabilitation of the community health office and the construction of the blood bank station in the city will start early next year.

Bicol towns now equipped with maps for ‘zero casualty’ during disasters

(PNA), FGS/DOC/CBD/UTB

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 26 (PNA) –- Bicol local authorities are now equipped with maps that will enable them to pinpoint specific areas where to focus disaster preparedness and mitigation measures for “zero casualty” during natural calamity situations.

The maps, technically prepared by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), are now in the hands of Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Councils (MDRRMCs) -- particularly in 83 of the region’s 107 municipalities classified as highly vulnerable areas.

Latest to receive the maps are all the 11 municipalities in Catanduanes, an island province by the Pacific Ocean with no pronounced seasons but regularly visited by typhoons.

The MGB identifies the island as most landslide-prone province in the region based on a study it has conducted.

The study says that Catanduanes’ landslides are mainly because rock formations in the province are already old and have already cracked.

Its mountainous terrains are covered with thick soil that erode during heavy rains due to the past commercial logging activities wherein illegal cutting of trees still happens until now.

The maps in hard copies accompanied by “soft” or digitized copies from where local disaster authorities could identify zones prone to natural hazards such as earthquake, storm surge, rain or earthquake-triggered landslides, tsunami, flood and liquefaction.

These are in 1:50,000-scale, Arlene Dayao, the MGB regional technical director, on Thursday said.

The maps determine flood hazard susceptibility zones based on the geomorphological analysis of land forms and the fluvial system.

Information on flood occurrences, flood depths, duration of inundation as well as topographic information supported the geomorphologically-based flood, Dayao said.

On liquefaction, she said, there are no reported occurrences based on several field interviews.

However, zones of different liquefaction potential were derived based on the geomorphological analysis of the study area following previous studies.

Landslide hazard susceptibility zones, on the other hand, were derived through qualitative map combination using lithology, geomorphology, slope gradient and fault distance.

The Global Information System (GIS) was used in the map with combination and subjective weights were assigned to each unit in the parameter map.

The maps also delineate areas of possible ground settlement through the analysis of the geomorphological lay of the study area, the sub-surface soils and the ground water levels, according to Dayao.

Another set of maps, in 1:80,000-scale of the same hazards but covering the entire island of Catanduanes, was also given to the Catanduanes provincial government for use by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC), she said.

These geohazard maps, whose preparation and distribution are under the government’s Ready Multi-hazard Mapping and Assessment for Effective Community-based Disaster Risk Management Project, are designed according to their geographic and tectonic settings with emphasis on areas highly exposed to natural hazards, she said.

The project is funded by the Australian Aid Program through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

It is being implemented nationwide, particularly in 29 of the country’s 79 provinces that have been determined to be of greatest risk to disasters, especially those along the eastern seaboard that include Catanduanes, Dayao said.

With these materials on their hands, she said, it would now be the responsibility of the respective DRRMCs of each local government unit in Bicol to deduce from the multi-hazard maps, particularly the digital version, the risks being faced by each of its barangays so that the vital information could be properly communicated to village officials and residents.

Other Bicol towns that already have these maps in possession are this city and the two other Albay cities of Ligao and Tabaco and all the province’s municipalities -- Camalig, Daraga, Guinobatan, Malinao, Malilipot, Tiwi, Sto. Domingo, Bacacay, Rapu-Rapu, Jovellar, Manito, Oas, Libon, Pioduran and Polangui.

Albay’s three cities and the towns of Camalig, Daraga, Guinobatan, Malinao and Malilipot have some of their barangays listed in the maps as highly vulnerable to floods and lahar flows because of their proximity to Mt. Mayon, with some sitting within the permanent danger zone.

The other towns far from the volcano have their own risk factors such as Tiwi, which plays host to the 350-megawatt geothermal energy complex being run by Chevron; Rapu-Rapu, an island town where the Korean-owned Rapu-rapu Minerals, Inc. (RMMI) operates a polymetallic project through open-pit mining; and Manito, site of the giant geothermal field of the Energy Development Corporation.

Oas, Libon and Polangui are also listed as flood-prone areas, being part of the Bicol River Basin (BRB) -- a vast wetland covering various towns of Albay, Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte.

In Camarines Sur, those towns mapped as geohazard areas are Baao, Balatan, Bato, Bombon, Buhi, Bula, Cabusao, Calabanga, Camaligan, Canaman, Caramoan, Gainza, Libmanan, Magarao, Milaor, Minalabac, Nabua, Ocampo, Pamplona, Pasacao, Pili, Sangay, San Fernando, Sipocot, Siruma and Tinambac -- all within the BRB.

The other Camarines Sur municipalities are Lupi, Ragay and Del Gallego that are called the railroad towns of mountainous terrain whose forest covers have perished due to logging and other environmental-destructive activities.

The rest listed are Buhi, Garchitorena, Goa, Lagonoy, Presentacion, San Jose and Tigaon -- all upland-coastal areas threatened by floods and landslides.

The cities of Naga and Iriga, both in Camarines Sur, are also listed as flood-prone, being parts of the BRB.

In Camarines Norte, all the 12 towns -- Daet, the capital town; Jose Panganiban, Labo and Paracale, the mining towns; and Basud, Talisay, San Lorenzo Ruiz, Vinzons, Capalonga, San Vicente, Sta. Elena, Mercedes all, mountain areas pestered by illegal logging -- are geohazard sites, according to the MGB mapping.

In Sorsogon province, the maps identify Sorsogon City, the provincial capital, and 12 of its 14 towns -- namely Bulan, Bulusan, Barcelona, Casiguran, Castilla, Gubat, Irosin, Juban, Magallanes, Matnog, Prieto Diaz and Sta. Magdalena.

All these LGUs have portions that are considered risk areas, according to the MGB.

Down Masbate, the mapped risk areas are the city -- which is the provincial capital, the gold- mining town of Aroroy and the coastal municipalities of Cataingan, Balud, Cawayan, Dimasalang, Placer and Uson -- all within the province’s mainland.

Police Online

By Niño Luces

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay — To deliver news and information faster to its immediate community, the Police Regional Office 5 (PRO5) announced the launching of its website recently. They also opened accounts in Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites for posting information pertaining to their programs and activities. PRO5 Spokesperson Malou Calubaquib said the move is part of the Philippine National Police’s (PNP’s) nationwide program to create a website to allow its personnel and the public to keep track of updates and activities as they happen.

Gov’t agencies in Bicol join hands to provide livelihood to 4Ps beneficiaries

(PNA), LAP/FGS/EMC/CBD/UTB

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 24 (PNA) -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office V has entered into a memorandum of understanding with 13 national government agencies and the Committee on Bicol Recovery and Economic Development for the launching of a convergence program called “Banig at Walis Tingtingng Pamilyang Bicolnon.”

DSWD Bicol Regional Director Arnel Garcia said the MOU aims to provide a framework for a partnership arrangement among the agencies to mobilize the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries, rural women organizations, farmers’ organizations and other groups of marginalized and vulnerable sectors of the society and empower them for a long-term livelihood opportunity using a sustainable livelihood framework.

The agencies involved are the Department of Agriculture, Philippine Coconut Authority, Fiber Industry Development Authority, Department of Trade and Industry, Cooperative Development Authority, Department of Agrarian Reform, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Science and Technology.

With the DSWD as the chairperson, these agencies formed the Bagwis Bicol Inter-agency Committee.

The agencies agreed to launch a convergence program called “Banig at Walis Tingting ng Bicolnon or Bagwis Bicol,” which aims at recognizing the need for the provision of ethical financial and non-financial services to advocate poverty reduction.

Garcia said Bagwis Bicol will focus more on the production of banig (mats) and walis tingting (hard brooms).

The project is targeted to be fully operational by 2014.

DOT readies training program on tour guiding for Bicol indigents

By Danny O. Calleja [(PNA), LAP/FGS/DOC/CBD/]

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 23 (PNA) –- The Department of Tourism (DOT) is into a project that will train members of Bicol’s indigent communities to become tourist guides in the region that is known as among the country’s top travel destinations.

“We have designed a training course that will first introduce tourism awareness among these beginners in the industry. After that, they will undergo multi-lingual lessons to enable them to communicate in different foreign tongues,” DOT Regional Director Maria Ong-Ravanilla on Monday said here.

The training course also had in its package learning on the proper way of providing frontline services such as food preparation and serving, housekeeping and hotel assistance, among others,” Ravanilla said.

And since the region is more on eco-tourism, she said, river cruising, mountaineering, shoreline and offshore guiding including sea diving are also be parts of the training course.

As an eco-tourism destination, Bicol is a beautiful region southeast of Manila which is boundless in terms of natural wonders distributed among its six provinces composed of Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate and Sorsogon.

It is a peninsula famous for its majestic mountains and volcanoes like Mounts Mayon, Malinao and Masaraga in Albay, Isarog and Asog in Camarines Sur and Bulusan in Sorsogon.

Apart from the iconic Mt. Mayon, Albay also boasts of its underground spectacles in Hoyop-Hoyopan, Calabidongan, Lingaw, San Ramon, Rawis, Pighulugan and Mataas Caves as well as the towering marvel of Ligñon Hill and exciting waterfalls and beaches.

The province also takes pride of its “green tourism” wonders offered by the fruit bats sanctuary at the BacMan geothermal complex in Mt. Inang Maharang of Manito town where the Parong Hot Springs and Nag-Aso Boiling Lake are also located.

Bicol also has the whale shark sanctuary in Donsol and hot springs down Mt. Bulusan in Sorsogon, majestic surfing sites in Catanduanes, the adventures in Caramoan, Camarines Sur, unexplored islands in Camarines Norte and the Manta Ray Bowl of Masbate.

The region also had other places, most of them undiscovered and undeveloped destinations, that tourists want to discover.

Among these are the exciting islets of Matnog, Sorsogon, and the marine wildlife parks and unexplored ancient caves in Masbate.

Around Mt. Mayon here, hiking and ATV (all-terrain vehicle) riding along lava hills and giant volcanic crevices are favorite engagements.

Climbing the 2,500-meter volcano is another major tourist activity that requires local mountaineering guides.

Dubbed as the as the "Switzerland of the Orient," Bulusan Lake is another eco-tourist drawer that lies at the heart of Mt. Bulusan Natural Park, covering a 3,672-hectare ecologically-rich old-growth forest.

The lake, covering an area of 16 hectares situated and cradled in the bosom of the active Bulusan Volcano, is venue for boating.

Ecotourism activities properly planned and managed would promote and guarantee the conservation and sustainable use of all biodiversity found within while providing business opportunities for the local community; involve women, children, indigenous peoples and the informal sector in all undertakings; and promote responsible tourism, Ravanilla said.

The DOT regional office will be providing the training as part of its commitment to the “Trabahong Turismo” project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to tap qualified members of families enrolled with the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) into the region’s booming tourism industry.

Launched recently in Bicol, the project also involves local government units (LGUs) through the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

It is open to wider partnerships with other agencies and the private sector in creating more livelihood opportunities for the region’s indigent sector, according to DSWD Regional Director Arnel Garcia.

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) covering the joint implementation of this project that will take off next year has been signed by heads of the three agencies.

Under the MOA, the DSWD regional field unit in Bicol will identify the beneficiaries of the program who will be trained by the DOT.

LGUs are required to participate in the project by way of recognizing them as accredited tourism services providers.

“Trabaho Turismo” is one of the strategies conceptualized to uplift the level of well-being of the 4Ps beneficiaries from survival to self-sufficiency.

It is premised on the belief that if there is an available livelihood projects and opportunities they can be self-reliant and sustaining individuals, Garcia said.

There are about 357,000 Bicolano families enrolled in the program from where this new tourism-cum-employment program will be drawn and trained as tourist guides, he added.

Ravanilla said “Trabaho Turismo” is very timely with the opening of this city as the country’s new gateway for foreign travelers under Albay provincial government’s international chartered flight tourism program that is expected to fly in 50,000 Chinese visitors next year, growing to 150,000 by 2017.

The Xiamen-Albay flights will start January 30.

Salceda asks Soliman to increase 4Ps beneficiaries to solve malnutrition in Albay

By Rhadyz B. Barcia [(PNA), CTB/FGS/RBB/CBD/PJN]

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 22 (PNA) -- Ten municipalities in the provinces of Albay, Camarines Sur and Catanduanes have high numbers of undernourished preschoolers based on the report of the National Nutrition Council in Bicol.

In a bid to address the high prevalence of malnutrition in Albay province, Governor Joey Sarte Salceda has asked Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman to increase the number of beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), also known as the conditional cash transfer (CCT) here.

Salceda said the spike in Albay malnutrition from March 2011 to March 2012 among school-age children was a temporary break from the overall structural trend of hard-earned gains in the well-being and nutrition status by the province.

This, he said, was driven by typhoons “Bebeng,” “Chedeng,” “Egay,” “Falcon” and “Juaning,” and the protracted severe weather season from April 2011 to February 2012, which had 20 rainy days out of 28.

The governor noted that of the cumulative damages of P2.8 billion posted, P1.8 billion was the effect of “Juaning” alone which affected 765,000 people.

“In anticipation, we have lobbied with the DSWD to increase the 4Ps families from 11,000 to enable families with school-age children to cope with income stress due to severe weather impacts,” he said.

As of April 2012, 4Ps or CCT beneficiaries increased by 21,000 to 32,000 and another 30,000 in July 2012 to 74,000, which would entail P1.042 billion annually.

This represented an increase of 52,000 4Ps between now and before the malnutrition report came out.

“Almost P760 million went annually to food subsidy directly to poor families. With this alone, the malnutrition rate should readily revert to 10.6 percent in February 2014 (two months away for periodicity of survey) from the malnutrition spike of 17.6 percent,” Salceda said.

Aside from CCT augmentation, the provincial government is pursuing the fortification and and reconfiguration of its provincial nutrition interventions from barangay-based towards school-based for more efficient targeting.

“With these aggressive interventions, we are programming and we are confident to bring down malnutrition rates as computed by the Department of Education from 17 percent to 10 percent or easily at least second best in the region,” the governor said.

“Our policy response has been to seek additional 42,000 4Ps beneficiaries from DSWD since during that time due to low malnutrition in 2007 to 2009,” he added.

Salceda said Albay was given only 12,000.

“Based on the JERRPA (Juaning Early Recovery/Rehab Plan for Albay), which was endorsed by the Office of Civil Defense 5 and the Regional Development Council to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in November 2011.

We asked for additional 4Ps registrants. However, due to logistical requirements in terms of hiring of municipal links, the additional 42,000 approved by Sec. Dinky were implemented only in March 2013,” Salceda said.

“This would entail P640 million annually targetting Albay's poorest families and we expect that the additional P1,400 would essentially be used. We have asked the NNC to conduct another round of Operation Timbang to see whether six months of 4Ps had made significant dent. Our bigger worry right now is the fall in copra prices while rice prices have raised,” he added.

Salceda blamed the high prevalence of malnutrition in Albay to bad weather disturbances which affect the Albayanos.

Officials of NNC down to the nutritionists in the barangays, however, said local government units are focusing on infrastructure projects than basic services that would address the malnutrition problem in the countryside.

Though, according to Arlene Reario, NNC regional chief, more local chief executives across the region are now working for the eradication of malnutrition through better programs on basic services.

In the case of Albay, Salceda explained that the lagged effect of the severe climate impacts in 2010-2011 -- especially Juaning which affected 87,000 persons in Polangui, Libon, Oas and Malinao and also affected food (rice farms) production.

Through the conditional cash transfer program of the government in 2013, Albay had the biggest number of 4Ps beneficiaries, with 62,000 more 4Ps members listed.

The program was fully implemented last March, which is worth P1.05 billion per year for five years.

“This should allow us to improve our educational and health outcomes through better nutrition. Also, after suffering the adverse impacts of climate change, especially typhoon Juaning, came the spike in our poverty and malnutrition. Together with our own aggressive initiatives, our malnutrition should fall from 17.6 to pre-Juaning 10.6 percent or even our best of 4.7 percent with the improving copra prices,” Salceda said.

Albay ‘Santa Clauses’ to cheer up survivors in 2 eastern Samar towns

(PNA), CTB/FGS/EMC/CBD/RSM

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 21 (PNA) -- The Team Albay-Office of Civil Defense 5 will play Santa Clauses to bring happiness to “Yolanda” survivors in Basey and Marabut in eastern Samar this Christmas day.

The team will be headed by Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda himself.

The Team Albay-OCD 5 is composed of personnel from the Provincial Government of Albay, OCD5, Tactical Operations Group 5 of the Philippine Air Force, Naval Forces for Southern Luzon, Philippine Army, Philippine National Police, Provincial Health Office and Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office and other Albayano volunteers.

The group members will don the costume of Santa Clause and will do what the legendary does.

Salceda said they will give Noche Buena packs, do some feeding activities and render other Christmas treats like singing and dancing to ease up the sadness and sufferings of the climate monster survivors and, if needed, to render medical services.

It can be recalled that towns of Basey and Marabut were hardest hit by the onslaught of Yolanda on Nov. 8.

Salceda tasked Dr. Cedric Daep, Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office chief, to prepare activities for the two-day period that the team will stay in the two ravaged towns.

As of press time, some members of the group have already left for the area to prepare the place for the Christmas cheering activities and identify the residents to be given gifts.

It must be recalled that the Team Albay was the first to respond to the plight of the residents of Tacloban City after Yolanda battered Samar and Leyte and stayed there for almost two weeks to help in recovering dead bodies, provide potable water, give medical and psychosocial services and distribute food and medicines.


Salceda moves to save 17 heritage assets of Albay from calamity threats of destruction

(PNA), PDS/FGS/NIM/CBD/

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 20 (PNA)--Learning from the tragic experience brought by the catastrophic impacts of climate monster “Yolanda” on Samar and Leyte provinces and the devastating rumbles of earthquakes that hit Bohol earlier, the provincial government of Albay has earmarked P35 million for the preservation of the province’s cultural assets.

“Second to our natural icons like Mayon and geothermal, these assets constitute our most non-replicable and most distinctive properties. They provide the empirical, tangible and qualitative basis for the uniqueness, ethnicity and pride of our place and more so they are our comparative advantage for attracting tourists, investors and traders,” Albay Governor Joey Salceda explained.

Salceda said the province has proposed P35 million as its initial investment in cultural heritage preservation right this year since it is emerging to be the biggest lesson from Bohol and Leyte.

The heritage assets include the Cagsawa Ruins -- the iglesia, casa real and ayuntamiento, Porteria church in Daraga, Sinimbahahan ruins in Tiwi, convento ruins in Malinao, Tabaco church, Manalang house (of well-known writer Angela Manalang-Gloria) in Tabaco City, ruins in Bacacay, double-belfry church of Sto. Domingo, Budiao ruins, 10 colonial houses of Daraga, colonial houses of Camalig, Camalig church, Oas church, Colegio de San Buenaventura in Guinobatan, Gen. Ola museum, Cathedral de San Gregorio Magno, and Nuestra Señora de Salvacion.

The national government has also allotted P365 million for a one-step project in the 15-hectare Cagsawa Ruins area through the combined resources of the US Agency for International Development and departments of tourism and of social welfare and development.

The project involves the rehabilitation of the Cagsawa Ruins and three road networks that will connect Barangays Bascaran, Nabasan, Peñafrancia and Imalnod that lead to Cagsawa.

This will serve not only the tourists but also the local industries in the area.

The Cagsawa Ruins project will have a briefing area, a two-storey museum, three function halls and others.

“Our newly-formed Historico Cultural Unit headed by Abdon Balde Jr. has been compiling documentation that would qualify Cagsawa Ruins as a UNESCO heritage site. Last Oct. 6, I also met with our Paris embassy, our permanent representative to the international body, to follow up on our proposal,” he said.

Salceda said Virginia Miralao, the current direct general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), was her favorite professor in Ateneo de Manila and is actually responsible for much of the socio-anthropological world view that has guided the province in its developmental strategy formulation even for disaster risk reduction.

He said UNESCO experts were stunned by the damage to heritage churches in Bohol, Cebu, Samar and Leyte.

“This means less supply of heritage which should make our own portfolio more valuable, thus, it is more economically viable to invest in protection,” the governor added.

He stressed the need and the timing to focus on the preservation of the heritage assets before it is too late.

DA names Legazpi ‘2013 rice achiever’

By Emmanuel P. Solis [(PNA), LAP/FGS/EPS/CBD/]

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 19 (PNA) -- Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Proceso Alcala is expected to give a plaque of recognition and a cash award of P1 million to the City Government of Legazpi as one of the winners of the National Agri-Pinoy Rice Achiever Award in January next year at the Malacanang Palace, DA Bicol Regional Director Abelardo Bragas said Thursday.

The other winning local government units are Polangui in Albay and Castilla in Sorsogon, which will also receive the same incentives, while Albay and Camarines Sur LGUs will both receive P5 million and a plaque of recognition each.

Based on the criteria of the DA, all the LGU winners achieved rice production and sufficiency, increased the farmers’ income and had proper use of the internal revenue allotment allocated for rice sufficiency program.

Legazpi City Agriculturist Jesus Kallos disclosed that in 2012, his office posted a total rice production of 8,059.65 metric tons (MT) while in 2013, they had a total production of 8,915.56 (MT) with an increase of 855.91 MT or 10.61 percent or .54 MT increase in yield per hectare.

He said the promotion of rice self-sufficiency in the farm land areas of the city conducted by his office was the result of greater farmer participation, which exceeded the 980 hectares target of the city government to 2,123.76 hectares cultivated by the farmers.

Kallos stressed that the other factors for the achievement of the city’s rice production goal were the agricultural modernization and farm mechanization program as well as the strong support in the farm input assistance of the city administration that contributed so much to the needs in farming activities of the farmers.

The city agriculturist said the city administration will put up additional irrigation systems in the three agricultural villages of the city to sustain the supply of water in every cropping cycle.

He said he will also continue to conduct training and seminars among the city farmers to give them additional knowledge on how to apply the proper way of planting rice.

Despite smaller rice field areas in the city compared to other localities of the region, Legazpi has posted a total contribution of 4.35 percent rice production to the provincial government of Albay and .74 percent contribution to the record of the Bicol region, Kallos pointed out.

Legazpi ties up with Japanese funding agency for dump site informal sector

By Danny O. Calleja (PNA), CTB/FGS/DOC/CBD/

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 18 (PNA) – The implementation of a project designed to improve the social well-being of families relying on local dump sites for their livelihood will take off soon here through funding provided by a Japanese agency.

The project called “Social Inclusion and Alternative Livelihoods for the Informal Waste Sector” is funded by the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) through the World Bank (WB).

It will be implemented jointly by the city government and the Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines (SWAPP), a non-profit organization composed of solid waste management practitioners from local government units (LGUs), national government agencies, non-governmental organizations and the academe.

At least 300 waste pickers and collectors called informal waste sector (IWS) at the existing sanitary landfill dumps and from households in the 45 urban barangays of the city are the target beneficiaries of the project, city Mayor Noel Rosal on Wednesday said.

“We are now ready to implement the project as preparations, such as the profiling of the eco-aides and waste pickers, have already been completed through the initiative of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO). They have also been formally organized and registered with the city government,” he said.

Rosal recalled that the city government last February signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the SWAPP covering the implementation the project.

As part of the partnership, the city and the SWAPP will jointly implement various activities such as organizational development, preparation and delivery of information campaigns, technical assistance, conduct of trainings and business and market development programs to support the social inclusion, alternative livelihood and business enterprises for the local IWS.

The project is a nationwide undertaking in behalf of over a hundred thousand families of men, women and children in the Philippines who are commonly migrants with limited opportunities and assets, living near dumps or in informal settlements in urban communities.

Close to 6,000 informal garbage workers and collectors in several areas in the country are expected to benefit from the US-million grant extended by the JSDF for a project designed to improve their incomes and livelihood, Grace Sapuay, SWAPP’s executive vice-president, said during the project conference held over the week at the Aquinas University here.

Administered by the WB, JSDF supports community-driven development and poverty- reduction projects for the poorest and most vulnerable groups in developing countries.

“We are helping LGUs, communities, and the private sector improve their capability to manage solid waste problems in their respective areas through research, training, technical assistance, information exchange, and network building,” Sapuay said.

The project, she explained, is providing support to the informal garbage workers and itinerant waste buyers located in selected cities and municipalities which are modernizing their solid waste management systems.

Under the country’s Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 (Republic Act No. 9003), LGUs are required to modernize their solid waste management practices and convert open dumps to sanitary landfills.

These changes may affect the livelihood of garbage workers and itinerant waste buyers.

Apart from this city, which has complied with the requirements of the law, two other LGUs — Tabaco City and the municipality of Polangui in Albay province -- are beneficiaries of the project.

A total of 515 families in Albay’s leading urban localities will receive a comprehensive package of assistance from the project.

This grant, which is intended to improve the livelihood of informal garbage workers in selected areas and provide better opportunities for them, will thus help address the impact of the implementation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, according to Sapuay.

This is a very important project because it helps address the plight of one of the most marginalized groups in society -- men, women and children earning a living from garbage, she added.

Informal garbage workers (waste pickers and itinerant waste buyers) are commonly unable to access livelihood opportunities through formal, safer or more lucrative means because of constraints like lack of education and basic livelihood skills as well as limited access to start-up funds for small business.

The project, according to Rosal, fits squarely with the mission of the city government which is to deliver direct benefits to the poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.

“It could make positive tangible effects in the lives of informal garbage workers in the city and in the modernization programs of the city government for waste disposal sites,” the mayor said.

Some of the grant money will be used for investment in equipment, bins and carts; formalization of the sector through registration, recognition and contractual arrangements; and improving working conditions, including the health and safety of informal workers, he said.

Under this project, local recycling organizations will get technical assistance for expanding their business operations and sources of income -- including litter cleanup and cleaning services, collection and transport, and curb side recycling, he said.

The project will also provide training for entrepreneurship and job placement, Rosal added.

520,536 tourists visit Albay during first 10 months of 2013

(PNA), LAP/FGS/NIM/CBD/UTB

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 17 (PNA) -– The tourism industry of the province of Albay registered a 29-percent growth during the first 10 months of this year, higher than the 11.4-percent increase posted during the same period last year.

Based on the records of the Department of Tourism Bicol regional office, Albay was visited by 520,536 tourists from January to October this year as against the 403,480 chalked up last year.

The number in the current period is broken down as follows: local tourists, 369,648, and foreign visitors, 150,852.

Last year, local tourists numbered 371,608; while foreign travelers numbered 131,874.

Governor Joey Sarte Salceda said the growth of the tourism industry in the province is a result of an aggressive campaign and tourism program of the local government unit.

These were boosted by the hosting of the conferences of various groups in the country.

It can be recalled that Albay was named as the seventh Top Ten Largest Over-Night Destinations of the country last year as a result of its beautiful tourism sites, complete tourism facilities and services.

Salceda said Mayon volcano is still the number one tourist attraction of Albay, enhanced by the tourism assets of Cagsawa Ruins Park in Daraga town.

The province is just waiting for the park's declaration by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to declare it as a heritage park.

In addition to these are the Mayon Planetarium in Tabaco City; red clay pottery in Tiwi town; native delicacies like the "pinangat" of Camalig, the famous Bicol Express and the longganiza of Guinobatan; vintage houses; century-old churches and many other tourist and cultural attractions.

The various festivals in the province during the year have also contributed a lot in attracting tourists like the Daragang Magayon Festival in the month of April.

Salceda stresses values of being Filipinos among Albayanos

(PNA), CTB/FGS/NIM/CBD/UTB

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 16 (PNA) -- After the emotional and meaningful opening of the Karangahan Festival-Albay Green Christmas this year, Governor Joey Sarte Salceda came out with his message to Albayanos for the Christmas season.

Salceda said despite the mistakes, failures and shortcomings, the Albayanos should not be tired of being Filipinos.

"We should always maintain greatness, purity of heart, goodness, heroism and our selfish dedication to our country and fellowmen," he stressed.

The provincial chief executive urged every Albayano to always answer the challenge of heroism to build a prosperous future and a society with justice and reminded them of the love and graces that God has given to the Albayanos.

He urged them to use these graces and the strength of the Albayanos to further mold and keep alive the spirit of being Filipinos.

"A merry and meaningful Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all," Salceda said.

Albayanos Twit Senate President Drilon on adopting us model in disaster preparedness

(Catanduanes Tribune)

Senate President Franklin Drilon’s suggestion that the country adopts the US model in disaster preparedness drew twits from Albay which is the first province in the country to mobilize its own relief and medical mission to respond to the immediate needs of typhoon victims in Samar and Leyte.

“Why go far when the Albay model is doing well in coordinating various government agencies and private sectors?” said Albay Governor Joey Salceda in his face book noting the senate president’s comments during the courtesy call of new US Ambassador Philip Goldberg.

The governor added Albay is practically the Vatican of disasters being highly vulnerable to storms, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunami.

“But since the implementation of the it’s regularly updated disaster risk reduction (DRR) program,” he pointed out. “Albay continues to adopt new ways of coping with changing needs and with casualty figure going down drastically.”

The governor likes to think Albay made the words “preemptive measures” and “zero casualty” household words. “I think the US has in fact learned from how Albay copes with calamities starting with the disastrous Typhoon Reming

For the record, Salceda said Team Albay was the first coordinated relief and medical team to arrive in Tacloban on a Sunday, two days after the super typhoon struck. “The Albay model was thoroughly tested in disaster preparedness and we are also model in knowledge management through the Climate Change Academy Albay.”

The governor recalled the speed with which Team Albay responded to the typhoon victims in Tacloban: “We were there on a Sunday after the killer typhoon struck on a Friday. We came when no one dared, we retrieved the dead so the victims can grieve, we assisted pregnant mothers in giving birth; we helped operate local hospital, we opened a botica to give free medicines, among others.”

Team Albay also distributed hundreds of liters of free clean potable water and repacked almost half million relief goods and secured 500 tons of assorted materials within three days after the disaster struck.

It was only after Team Albay’s initial efforts that local and international aid relief materialized.

Sto. Domingo, Albay Mayor Herbie Aguas recalled the first time he arrived in Tacloban with Team Albay: “On the first day we arrived, we noticed that typhoon victims were subsisting on bananas found on the streets. A group of hungry and armed residents surrounded our truck asking for food. It was a good we have a security marshall. Darlan Darcy Barcelon and Ed Casulla from media became traffic enforcers as there were complete chaos on the streets. An old man with a sackful of rice sought refuge in our truck crying. He admitted it was the first time he had to steal just to survive. Indeed, there were no sign of local government working in the place on the first four days after the typhoon struck.”

The Albay governor is in South Korea as special guest in the inauguration of the Green Climate Change Fund (GCCF) headquarters.

His delivered his message at the opening ceremony thus: “In the Philippines, we have recently experienced in a painful manner why it is so urgent to act on climate change. I am, therefore, pleased that the Fund is on track to start its resource mobilization next year with a rapid and substantial initial capitalization, so that we can get the money flowing to the countries which are in greatest need. The opening of these headquarters shows that the Fund is getting ready – and now we need the support of the international community so that we can mitigate climate change and adapt to its adverse impacts."

GFCF aims to make a significant and ambitious contribution to the global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change with its US$ 100 billion in pledges from developed countries in response to the urgency and seriousness of global weather phenomenon.

Salceda said that as a representative of a developing country which emits the least but suffers the most, he came to the South Korean gathering not to beg or borrow but to collect. “Developed countries: if you emit, you must remit,” said his face book message full of climate change ramifications.

The governor said Albay not only learned its lesson but mastered the disaster response mechanism by practice, not in media briefings. “After Typhoon Reming, we have mastered those lessons in disaster risk reduction. We have in fact memorized it by heart and implemented it with surgical precision. And the best thing of all, Albay continues to share those lessons to everyone who is willing to learn or those who needs it most. We have willingly shared those lessons with the typhoon victims of Mindanao and the Visayas and even in Metro Manila during the onslaught of the habagat.”

The Albayanos reminded Drilon that the province’s quick humanitarian missions in Samar and Leyte were done with less budget and equipment. “All we had was a deep desire to help. Quickly we formed a very organized group with members from various agencies from military, medical, relief and engineering. In the heart of these missions are well-learned lessons on rehabilitation and risk reduction. It will reflect on our ability to cope as people if we have to look for foreign models in disaster preparedness.”

The governor concluded Team Albay was able to apply its own catechism of quick disaster response thus:

To feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty; To clothe the naked; To provide temporary shelter to the homeless; To bury the dead.

Albay opens foreign language school for local tour guides

By Danny O. Calleja [(PNA), CTB/FGS/DOC/CBD/RSM]

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 14 (PNA) -– Gov. Joey Salceda on Saturday said that Albay provincial government has established a foreign language learning facility that will accommodate would-be tour guides for thousands of tourists, mostly Chinese coming in through the province’s international chartered flights tourism program.

Located at the Bicol University-College of Arts and Letters (BU-CAL), the school will start classes in January next year initially to produce at least 40 Chinese-speaking tour guides in a month-long training to include cultural sensitivity teaching to be provided by a Chinese travel agency.

The provincial government, through its Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office (PTCAO), earlier initiated a partnership with BU President Fay Lauraya and Department of Tourism Regional Director Maria Ong-Ravanilla on this undertaking.

The province’s Historico-Ecocultural Unit headed by Abdon Balde Jr. will provide the tourism information and BU will provide the language.

DOT, on the other hand, will provide the tour-guiding basic skills which would enable a certification of those who will undergo the one-month training, according to Salceda.

At least 200 BU-CAL students are expected to go through the short-term course which offers immediate job opportunity prospect.

As the Chinese tourists are expected to grow exponentially, the initial number of 40 graduates is expected to reach 100 in 2014.

After producing Chinese-speaking graduates, the unit will shift its focus on Spanish language to be able to train tour guides in preparation for the first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit which will be hosted by the province in December next year and the Green Climate Fund in April, 2015.

The opening of the Chinese language course is part of the preparations for the Xiamen-Albay flights starting Jan. 30, which expects 18,000 tourists in 2014 -- growing to 50,000 in 2017, Salceda said.

Another part of the preparations is the upgrading of the domestic airport here that will serve as the new gateway for international chartered flights under this tourism program that also targets other major markets like Russia and Korea.

Before the end of this year or early in January next year, the Legazpi airport would be ready with its Customs, Immigration and Quarantine-Health (CIQ) and Quarantine Agriculture to meet the requirements involving international flights.

“Ahead of the opening of the Southern Luzon International Airport (SLIA) now ongoing construction in Daraga town, we are making use of the existing Legazpi Domestic Airport for chartered flights that will fly in foreign visitors who are making our province a new destination,” the governor said.

The province, he said, is taking advantage of the foreign market trend showing that international tourists do not tend to repeat a local destination as they follow a cycle leading them from one place to another.

This trend, according to Salceda, creates a demand for a new Philippine destination other than Cebu, Boracay, Bohol and Laoag where there are existing flights from and to various cities outside of the country, particularly China,” he said.

Having Albay as a new direct destination for the Chinese travel market, for example, means getting them to start a cycle from January to March of each year wherein they would arrive via chartered flights Sunday and leave Thursday, Salceda said.

With this, he said, the province would be expecting in terms of arrivals 200 persons per flight from China every five days for three months or 3,600 actual bodies who would be staying five nights -- meaning 18,000 guest nights per year.

Based on reports of international tourism organizations, Chinese tourists spend US$ 300 per night.

“With this as an example, a conservative estimate of US$ 275 per Chinese guest per night would be equivalent to about P213 million in tourism receipts that Albay would get starting from the moment they arrive at the airport and as they go along with city tours, enter the gate of Cagsawa Ruins, rent ATVs (all-terrain vehicles), eat in restaurants, get services from local providers and occupy hotel rooms,” Salceda said.

These are all in line with his policy to achieve inclusive growth for the province through tourism that will have direct impact to the community, the governor added.

“Tourism will definitely take a crucial role in the province’s and in Bicol region's pursuit for inclusive and horizontal growth that will benefit not only big investors such as hotel and resort owners and operators but also the people in the countryside where most of tourist destinations are located by providing more opportunities for employment and business ventures,” he stressed.

Other services and small-scale businesses such as transport, souvenir shops, handicrafts and the like are created as tourism activities intensify in an area, while large-scale tourism stakeholders are needed to expand to include employment for common people such as housekeeping and food services, Salceda added.

Albay posts 29% tourism gains in first 3Qs of 2013

By Johnny C. Nunez (PNA), LAP/JCN/JSD

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 13 (PNA) -- Albay has sustained its fast and thriving tourism industry, posting an impressive 29.01 percent growth in the past three quarters of 2013, far better than the national average of 11.4 percent within the same period.

The impressive growth materialized despite challenges confronting the travel industry which has caused decline in other regional markets.

Albay Governor Joey Salceda, quoting reports from the Department of Tourism (DOT), said some 520,536 tourists visited Albay during the first nine months of this year compared to 403,480 in the same period last year, representing a 29.01 percent increase.

Of the 2013 recorded arrivals, domestic tourists grew by 36.11 percent with 369,684, over the same period last year, with only 271,606; and foreign visitors increased by 14.39 with 150,852 over 2012’s first three-quarter record of 131,874.

Salceda attributed the steady growth to the province’s strong tourism program and various projects implemented during the year, as well as its hosting of national gatherings sponsored by travel groups.

Salceda is DOT’s Tourism Champion during the 1st Gayon Bikol Awards held last September, for his innovations that contribute to sustainable improvements in policy and processes toward inclusive model tourism governance.

Albay ranked 7th in the Top Ten "largest overnight destinations" in the country in 2012, with its rich world-class tourism sites coupled with a strong and well organized tourism program.

Salceda said Albay’s Mayon volcano still remains as the leading tourist drawer, along with other natural wonders and cultural spots such as the postcard-pretty Cagsawa Ruins Park in Daraga town; the Mayon Planetarium in Tabaco City, the Pinangat-cuisine and century-old houses in Camalig; clay pottery-making in Tiwi and Spanish-era baroque churches in almost every town.

Albay’s year-round festivals, Salceda said, are also undoubtedly tourist come-ons, foremost of which is the Daragang Magayon Festival.

In February, Albay was featured as a highlight destination at the ITB-Berlin (in Gernany), the first time a local government was given such attention in the world’s largest travel fair.

In that gathering, the Almasor (Albay-Masbate-Sorsogon) Tourism Alliance, also referred to as “Soul of the South” convened by Salceda last year, as chair of the Bicol Regional Development Council, was hailed a fresh concept in tourism marketing.

Last July, the Philippine Tour Operators’ Association launched a familiarization tour of Albay, and participants were introduced to the province’s newest travel activities such as the Ligñon Hill Zipline and hanging bridge; the ATV (all-terrain vehicle) rides at the Mayon lava trail; the Embarcadero Zipline; and lighthouse-tower rappelling all in Legazpi City.

Many now also enjoy engaging in water sports along the Legazpi Boulevard, the country’s longest bay boulevard outside of Metro Manila, which is a hub for kayaking, jet-skiing and diving.

Chinese tourists to flood Albay in 2014 via the Xiam-Legazpi gateway

By Johnny Nunez [(PNA), LAM/JCN/JSD]

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 12 (PNA) -- Albay has stepped up its drive towards becoming the country’s newest tourist gateway, with guests ferried via chartered flights by 2014, direct from major world markets through the refurbished domestic airport here.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said they target of at least 17,000 guests from China alone by next year, using the new Albay International Gateway. Travel agencies, however, forecast a brighter prospect with more or less 50,000 flying in via the Xiamen-Legazpi route with its inaugural flight set January 30, 2014.

International tourism organizations report that Chinese tourists spend at least US$ 300 per night on the average. Even at just a conservative estimate of US$ 275 per Chinese guest per day. this would be equivalent to about P 213 million in tourism receipts Albay will get.

The governor said Albay expects arrivals of 200 tourists per flight from China every five days for three months or 3,600 actual bodies who would be staying five nights — meaning 18,000 guest nights per year.

He said the Xiamen-Legazpi direct flight, now a done deal, targets 150,000 Chinese guests by 2017 for Albay, as a major destination, alongside with Boracay and Cebu. The other foreign tourist markets are South Korea, Russia and Japan.

The system offers easy processing of Visa Upon Arrival, now used by various direct tourist destinations in the country. The system does away with the usual hassles of documentation and provides ease and convenience. Salceda said entry requirements for this market are arranged to smoothen things, with Albay as a “complete” destination by itself.

The 2014 opening of the gateway comes ahead of the 2016 target completion of the Southern Luzon International Airport, the actual floodgate for foreign guests to this part of the country. The Albay provincial government has recently approved P11 million for the retrofitting of its existing domestic airport facilities for this purpose.

The new gateway was organized by the Albay provincial government in coordination with the Department of Tourism to meet the demand for a new Philippine destination other than Cebu, Boracay, Bohol and Laoag where there are existing direct flights from and to various cities outside the country, particularly China.

Aside from China, Salceda said guests are expected to primarily come from South Korea, Russia and Japan. The Legazpi Domestic Airport will fully operationalize its CIQS (customs, immigration, quarantine health/agriculture security) systems for these flights.

“We have also discussed with Bicol University (BU) President Fay Lauraya for the training of 20 students in the Chinese language, with the travel agency providing inputs on Chinese culture and PGA on the tourist guiding,” the governor shared.

Salceda said Albay will use “the Laoag model as guide in the processing of Tourist Group Visa”. Under existing country-to-country agreements on tourism, Chinese guests can stay for as long as 59 days, while Japanese and Russian visitors for 30 days, without entry visa.

18,000 Chinese tourists seen to come to Albay annually starting January 2014

(PNA), FFC/FGS/NIM/CBD/UTB

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 11 (PNA) -- At least 18,000 Chinese tourists will come to Albay annually starting January 2014 as the province stands ready to become an international gateway, Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda said.

“This means our province will become a new travel destination of tourists from countries like China, South Korea and Russia,” Salceda said.

This, he said, will be ahead of the opening and operation of the Southern Luzon International Airport in Barangay Alobo in neighboring Daraga town.

Salceda said this will entail the use of the Legazpi Airport.

“We should take advantage of the foreign market trend showing that international tourists do not tend to repeat a local destination as they follow a cycle leading them from one place to another,” Salceda explained.

He added that this practice paved the way for the opening of new tourist destinations aside from Cebu, Boracay, Bohol and Laoag where there are flights going to key cities in other countries like China.

Salceda said that based on studies of international tourism organizations, a Chinese tourist spends US$ 300 a night.

In one year, about P213 million will be earned by the tourism industry in Albay, which is a big contribution to the economy of the province.


DOLE grants P1M to livelihood program for Legazpi’s poor; P140M up for employment assistance in Bicol

(PNA), FFC/FGS/DOC/NIM/UTB

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 10 (PNA) -– After providing P1 million to an anti-poverty program for the poor here, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has earmarked P140 million to another set of livelihood assistance to the indigent sector of Bicol’s labor force that will be implemented next year.

The P1-million fund was recently released in terms of livelihood tools and equipment to 137 beneficiaries in five barangays of the city that had been earlier placed under the Bayanihan Program of the Philippine Army (PA).

The Bayanihan is part of the efforts for peace of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) wherein the PA is conducting continuous activities to find out the needs of communities and attend to issues villagers are raising.

The barangays are Rawis, Arimbay, Pawa, Tula-Tula and Victory where the beneficiaries of the program were identified by the local contingent of the military operating in the area and the city government under Mayor Noel Rosal.

"In these barangays where a number of families living in poverty are vulnerable to the threat of insurgency, livelihood assistance should be provided so that these families are given sources of lifetime income. When busy earning, these people will have no time entertaining the prodding of the communists,” DOLE Regional Director Nathaniel Lacambra said.

Each beneficiary, he said, received a package of tools and equipment, depending on their skills, where every package costs between P5,000 and P8,000.

“With this grant, our job in DOLE is done. Based on our agreement with the Army and the city government, they will now take care of the monitoring of the livelihood activities of the beneficiaries and submit report to us,” Lacambra said as he expressed confidence that the project will yield very good results.

In fact, he added, this project should be replicated in other regions of the country being pestered by insurgency.

“Giving chance to people who have gone a little bit astray in their life is a perfect example of government complementation,” Lacambra said.

He recalled that DOLE-Bicol is also the very first in the history of the agency to provide livelihood grants to ex-convicts or parolees in Sorsogon province in partnership with the Parole and Probation Office.

The P140-million allocation for next year, he said, would come from the DOLE’s regular livelihood funds, reinforced by its Bottom-Up-Budgeting (BuB) and its share from the budget originally intended for the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) but reassigned to implementing agencies.

The whole amount will be divided among Bicol’s six provinces, with Albay and Camarines Sur getting 25 percent each; Camarines Norte and Srosogon, 15 percent each; and Catanduanes and Masbate, 10 percent each, according to Lacambra.

Beneficiaries of this fund can avail of DOLE’s livelihood package such as Negosyo Sa Kariton (Nego Kart), Kabuhayan Starter Kits (DK-SK), Emergency Wage Employment Assistance (EWEA) and Group Livelihood Projects that are all given in support to Bicol’s regional development, he said.

Edible Landscaping

By Johnny C. Nunez [(PNA), LOR/JCN/JSD]

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 9 (PNA) -- Albay Gov. Joey Salceda has urged his well off constituents to resort to ‘edible landscaping’ and help reduce imports, improve the environment and promote food security.

Home-based organic vegetable gardening, he said, is also among the strategies for climate change adaptation, and a practical way to beautify houses in subdivisions and suburban residences where mostly the only available area for planting is the front yard.

“Eat your landscape,” Salceda said during a recent interview, where he tackled the advantages of home-based organic vegetable gardening over the expensive traditional landscaping that gives no tangible returns to homeowners except esthetics.

Edible landscaping or EL is what backyard gardening is to the countryside. It now being introduced by the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) in cooperation with the University of the Philippines Los Banos, even among well off families, to enhance the country’s food production.

“Instead of just ornamental plants, government now encourages more households to plant vegetables in their front and back yards so we can provide for our basic needs, reduce vegetable imports and live healthy lives,” Salceda stressed.

A UN report shows that in 2012 alone, the Philippines spent P142 million in vegetable imports. The World Health Organization (WHO)also reported that the Philippines’ vegetable consumption of 60 kilos per person per year in 2007 was one of Asia’s lowest, which results in chronic malnutrition especially among children with shortage in intake of vitamins and minerals.

Salceda said people should be more practical and spend only on basic things that give them better returns, more particularly these days when survivors of super typhoon Yolanda in the Vizayas subsist on government rations and private sector donations.

EL, he added, also offers extensive livelihood opportunities for about 5.2 million Filipinos that are below the poverty threshold and could not afford the high cost of foods, especially in cities.

He said EL enhances the environment since more plants means less carbon dioxide emission that contributes to global warming and climate change, and at the same time promotes food security that could have a significant impact locally.

The governor has pioneered the campaign on climate change adaptation in his home province and now sits as co-chair of the UN Green Climate Fund, which is at the head of the campaign against global warming.

Green Climate Fund officials hope to realize objectives soonest

By Nancy I. Mediavillo [(PNA), CTB/FGS/NIM/CBD/RSM]

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 8 (PNA) –- Officials of the United Nations Green Climate Fund (UNGCF) expressed hope that they will realize the objectives of the Fund soonest, Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda told the PNA Sunday.

Salceda, UNGCF co-chairman, attended the recent opening and blessing of UNGCF office at the G-Tower Building in Songdo, Incheon City, South Korea.

He said he told his fellow officials that the Philippines has experienced the nightmare and so much hardships brought by super typhoon “Yolanda” and other calamities as result of climate change.

The green economist said he stressed before his co-Fund executives that it needs an immediate and solid action of the world to counter the effects and the risks brought by climate change.

Salceda said he is glad that the Fund is on the right track to be started t he next year.

“This would mean the flow of funds to countries that need them due to climate change,” he added.

In this connection, he called for the support of the countries all over the world to help mitigate the effects of climate change and implement climate change adaptation.

Salceda said Manfred Konukiewitz of Germany, UNGCF board co-chairman, thanked the hospitality of South Korea and its gesture to give a permanent office for the UNGCF.

He quoted his co-chairman as saying that the opening ceremony marks the end of interim phase of the Fund and the start of its full operation.

Konukiewitz added that South Korea has an important role in this operation even as he asked the support of every government and all sectors of the world to support the Fund and its objectives, Salceda related.

He said Héla Cheikhrouhou, UNGCF executive director, on the other hand, claimed that the occasion means the Fund is ready to be implemented.

Salceda quoted Oh-Seok Hyun, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance of South Korea, as saying that the occasion is the first chapter in the history of UNGCF and stressed the need for political will, strength and courage of every nation to implement the Fund.

The Green Climate Fund is a multilateral fund agreed to be put up by representatives to the 2010 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Cancun, Mexico, and was ratified in 2011.

GFC, which aims to make a significant and ambitious contribution to the global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change, has US$ 100 billion in pledges from developed countries by 2020 in response to the urgency and seriousness of this weather phenomenon.

The Fund, Salceda said, will contribute to the achievement of the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC which in the context of sustainable development shall promote the paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

It would also provide for the adaptation to the impacts of climate change, taking into account the needs of those developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

The Fund will be guided by the principles and provisions of the UNFCCC established in December 2011 with a vision to help the developing countries cushion the impacts of changing climate.

It is designated as an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC, in accordance with Article 11 of the Convention.

Arrangements will be concluded between the Conference of the Parties to ensure that it is accountable to, and functions under its guidance, Salceda said.

The Fund, he stressed, will operate in a transparent and accountable manner guided by efficiency and effectiveness so that it plays a key role in channeling new, additional, adequate and predictable financial resources to developing countries and will catalyze climate finance, both public and private, and at the international and national levels.

It will pursue a country-driven approach and promote and strengthen engagement at the country level through effective involvement of relevant institutions and stakeholders in scalable and flexible manner and will be a continuously learning institution guided by processes for monitoring and evaluation.

The Fund will strive to maximize the impact of its funding for adaptation and mitigation, and seek a balance between the two, while promoting environmental, social, economic and development co-benefits and taking a gender-sensitive approach, Salceda added.

DA exec says Albay way ahead in agri disaster risk reduction (Feature)

By Danny O. Calleja [(PNA), CTB/FGS/DOC/CBD/]

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 7 (PNA) – Take it from a Department of Agriculture (DA) executive who oversees disaster risk reduction (DRR) in agriculture — Albay province is way ahead of other localities in the country in terms of DRR.

“Albay does not wait for disaster to overwhelm the province’s agriculture as it has been making radical changes that enhance the resilience of its farmers, knowing that the cost of inaction far outweigh the cost of action,” according to Dr. Elena de los Santos, DA regional technical director for operations and extension .

These disasters that make Bicol’s and the country’s agriculture sector the most vulnerable, come from typhoons, storm surges, volcanic eruption, pests and disease infestations, she said during the recent Regional Forum on DRR in Agriculture initiated here by the DA’s Regional Field Unit (RFU) based in Pili, Camarines Sur.

Albay is especially exposed to eruptions of Mt. Mayon that usually affect its three cities and five of its 14 municipalities where about 120,000 people, mostly farmers, are threatened by pyroclastic flow, mudflow and lava flow.

Typhoons causing floods, landslides, mudflow, storm surge and strong wind that could destroy thousands of hectares of agricultural areas and around 190,000 houses and major landslides caused by other weather hazards that may affect 116 barangays or about 40,173 households also hang like a “Sword of Damocles” over the province’s neck.

Against all of these, however, the provincial government -- with its ultimate goal of “zero casualty” -- has, among others, institutionalized the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) with regular annual budget appropriation for DRRM and permanent personnel.

It also institutionalized research and education in partnership with academe; equipped itself and local government units (LGUs) with risk maps developed by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB) and maintains population data by type of hazard existing on file used as input in planning and conducts integration of DRR to Comprehensive Land Use Plan.

Education and training are also done by the local technical staff of APSEMO while structural projects are funded sufficiently and implemented religiously as part of the regular program.

These and many more commitments to climate change adaptation and DRRM earned for the province recognition of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction as Role Model in Institutionalized and Innovative Disaster Risk Management based on 10 essentials, the first indicated by local organizations, including local governments that sufficiently equipped with capacities for climate and disaster risk reduction.

The second essential is indicated, among others, by financial services available to vulnerable and marginalized households for pre- and/or post-disaster times.

To sustain recovery efforts, Albay Governor Joey Salceda, through an initial P2-million budget, earlier initiated the Bayan-Anihan in partnership with the DA as a post disaster program where backyard vegetable farms in limited production areas such as resettlement sites are established as a strategy to both climate change adaptation and the combat of poverty and hunger.

The governor said “these kinds of programs are part of our climate change adaptation strategy and at the same time, a way to eradicate poverty and hunger in the province.”

The next essentials involve, among others, land-use policies and planning regulations for housing and critical risk-reducing infrastructure like drainage and flood controls, taking current and projected climate risk and disaster risk into account; and the inclusion of DRR policies, strategies and implementation plans within existing land-use and development plans.

The conduct of awareness-building or education programs on DRR and disaster preparedness for local communities have also been included along with local government support in the restoration, protection and sustainable management of ecosystems services like forests, coastal zones, wetlands, water resources, livestock, fisheries and river-basins to reduce local vulnerability and protection against floods, drought, landslides or seismic hazards.

Salceda’s DRR program is holistic given that post-disaster or recovery projects are integral part of DRR cycle done in Albay, thus, “Humanitarian Response for Recovery Plans and Programs” from 2008 to 2010 includes disaster risk management and environmental management.

For disaster risk management, disaster preparedness training, disaster drills and exercises are implemented in order that the community is empowered in handling any types of disaster while for environmental management, solid waste management and enhancement program such as tree planting, capability building on solid waste management and beautification activities are conducted.

The DA forum, which was part of the government project in Enhancing Capacities for Disaster Risk Reduction in Agriculture being implemented in the country, especially in the region through the support of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), took all these interventions and activities of Albay as a showcase.

The project primarily aims to enhance livelihood resilience for small-scale farmers and fisher folk in disaster-prone areas through the institutionalization of DRR in agriculture, an undertaking that could be considered in Albay province done way ahead of the other provinces, De los Santos said.

The forum was purposely conducted here so that agricultural stakeholders, program implementers and other local government units in the region who participated could see for themselves what have been put in place by the Albay provincial government to be called DRR champion, she said.

Presented in the forum were the accomplishments of the province in DRR in agriculture from where interventions, strategies and activities to complement the existing regional action plan for the project were identified.

Topics tackled were FAO’s perspective in agriculture, progress on community-based disaster risk reduction management, good farming practices options, post-disaster needs assessment, and regional plan of action involving analysis and policy implications.

Classes in Albay suspended due to rain

By Mar S. Arguelles (Inquirer Southern Luzon)

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—Provincial officials suspended classes at all levels in private and public schools in Albay before noon Friday as a public safety measure due to continuous heavy rain in most of the Bicol area.

Albay Governor Joey Salceda issued the order to suspend classes in Albay effective 11 a.m. Friday following a consultation with the Philippine Atmospheric and Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration and the Albay Public Safety, Emergency and Management Office, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said in a public advisory.

Salceda explained in a text message that the suspension was a disaster mitigating measure to ensure the safety of students and teachers across the province after Pagasa forecast moderate to heavy rainfall in Albay up to Friday evening, which could trigger floods in low-lying areas.

The weather bureau, in its bulletin Friday, said the tail end of a cold front would bring moderate to heavy rainfall to the Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions.

Salceda also advised various local disaster councils in the 15 towns and three cities of the province to be on alert for possible flooding in low-lying areas.

Salceda seeks world gov't's support to rebuild wreckage, combat threats of climate change

By Johnny C. Nunez [(PNA), CTB/JCN/UTB]

SONGDO, Incheon City, South Korea Dec. 5 (PNA) -- Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, co-chair of the UN Green Climate Fund (GCF), issued a call from here Thursday, urging world governments to support and cooperate in the gargantuan task of rebuilding the devastation of climate change and combat its threats.

Salceda made the call as the GCF settled down December 4 in its new headquarters in this bustling Songdo Free Economic Zone in Incheon. He said his office shall initialize the operationalization of the fund to help small countries - like the Philippines - transcend the disastrous and persistent impacts of climate.

“The impacts of climate change on developing countries, most particularly in Asia, is globally accepted as cataclysmic; Haiyan, (Yolanda) which struck Central Philippines in November 7, left 5,719 dead, 11.2 million people affected, 1.1 million homes damaged and destroyed, and 4.4 million people displaced,” Salceda said.

He recounted how, with the help of the international community, his province Albay was able to rise up from a similar cataclysm in 2006 brought about by Typhoon Durian, which decimated 40% of its Gross Domestic Product, destroyed 203,000 homes and affected 1.1 million people.Administered by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the GCF has transferred from its temporary headquarters in Bonn, Germany to the modern Green Tower Building in Songdo, which is now the hub for UN offices. South Korea has won its strong bid to host the GCF.

The GCF headquarters inauguration was graced by South Korean President Park Kun Hye, who welcomed the GCF dignitaries.

The GCF, or the Fund, is tasked to promote the paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Salceda, who is also UN spokesman for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, said the GCF shall put more pressure on the international community to operationalize the fund in 2014, finance preparedness activities for developing countries and help provide for such programs.

Salceda is GCF co-chair for developing countries and Southeast Asia.

“In Paris, the GCF Board agreed that resource mobilization should begin at least three months after the second board meeting in May also scheduled in Songdo,” Salceda said during the rites that officially opened the GCF headquarters.

Present during the event, aside from the Korean President, were GCF co-chair, Manfred Konukiewitz, for developed countries, Korean Deputy Finance Minister Oh-Seok Hyun, GCF Executive Director Hela Cheikhrouhou, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, and Incheon Metropolitan City Mayor Young Gil.

Speaking before guests at the ceremony opening the GCF headquarters, Salceda also thanked the “Korean people for their help in 2007, in rebuilding 10% of the entire housing reconstruction in Albay damaged by Durian.”

“Six years after, and two days after Haiyan hit the Vizayas, I have led Team Albay with 179 personnel and 17 vehicles and became the first humanitarian mission to arrive - during the critical hours where lives could still be saved - in Tacloban City,” Salceda told the climate advocates.

He said Team Albay was “first to provide medical services in the area, first to provide free medicines, first to retrieve cadavers, first to raise the flag in the Leyte provincial capitol, and first to open a gasoline station.”

At the devastation Ground Zero, Team Albay also produced and delivered 1.2 million liters for the survivors through its water filtration machine, retrieved 622 corpses, provided free medicines and medical services to 2,142 patients, repacked 450,000 relief goods for the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and sourced 420 tons of relief goods.

Salceda said Team Albay has proven it can do more than what a 179-man team can in an emergency, but as CNN commented, they (Team Albay) do not talk but just keep on working and retrieving corpses.

He said the GCF can be likened to the Star of Bethlehem which led the Three Kings to the manger. It is like a Globe Positioning System for international events market especially with the opening of offices here by the World Bank, UN United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and North-East Asia.

As noted by world delegates to the event, the convergence here of these agencies “makes Songdo, Incheon the epicenter of global climate finance and the center for global engagements and international conversations on climate change.”

Male, female forum participants learn value of team work vs. hazards

(PNA), CTB/FGS/EMC/CBD/UTB

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 4 (PNA) -- Working together, men and women can identify hazards that threaten their lives, homes, livelihood and communities and address vulnerability conditions, other factors -- and together, they can build safer, adaptive and disaster-resilient communities.

This was what some 60 participants in the Gender and Development (GAD) Convergence Forum held at the Ninong's Hotel on East Washington Drive, Legazpi City, on Dec. 3, came to realize at the end of activity.

The forum has for its theme “Gender Mainstreaming in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management."

The GAD convergence forum was conducted by the Provincial Government of Albay under the auspices of the Provincial Council of Women and the Spanish government’s Española de Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarollo (AECID).

Dr. Cedric Daep, head of the Albay Provincial Safety and Emergency Monitoring Office, was among the resource speakers while the Office of Civil Defense 5 was a resource agency.

Participants in this women-centered activity were GAD in-charge persons and officials, employees of local government units of Tiwi and Polangui, representatives from government line agencies and civil society organizations, media practitioners, members and officers of the Albay Provincial Council of Women and some officials and employees of the Provincial Government under the stewardship of Gov. Joey S. Salceda.

EMB assures air in Legazpi is clean

By Danny O. Calleja [(PNA), LAP/FGS/DOC/CBD/]

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 3 (PNA) -– Take a deep breath and make a sigh of relief, assured that the air in this prime Bicol city called the City of Fun and Adventure is indeed clean.

Take this assurance from Roberto Sheen, Bicol regional technical director of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Sheen said EMB records show that in recent years of smoke belching monitoring and air quality measurement, the city has maintained a good status of air quality.

“We will continue monitoring, especially now that our office is already equipped with a state-of-the-art instrument to regularly determine local air quality and determine the level of pollution prevailing in the city’s atmosphere,” he said on Tuesday.

The EMB regional chief said his office is now installing a brand-new Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS), the first ever to be acquired by the bureau for Bicol.

A DOAS is an instrument that measures concentrations of atmospheric trace gases such as nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide, among others, that are chemically reactive factors of air quality in a given area.

Nitrogen oxides are produced when air is subjected to high temperature and high pressure such as in diesel engines while carbon monoxide is a product of incomplete combustion whose principal source is gasoline engine.

Nitrogen dioxide, on the other hand, is a toxic gas with a pungent, irritating and rotten smell released naturally by volcanic activity and is a potent global warming gas.

DOAS is also capable of determining levels of carbon dioxide and methane that are important greenhouse gases produced anthropogenically but mainly by plants and microorganisms, and from natural geothermal sources.

The DOAS that the EMB acquired, Sheen said, is combined with basic optical spectrometers such as prisms or diffraction gratings and automated, ground-based observation platforms to become a powerful means for the measurement of air pollutants.

A DOAS system consists of a light source and a detector, with an open path in between to measure a spectrum of the light that passes through it.

Any gas present there will leave its spectral fingerprint on the measured spectrum and the amount of light absorbed is proportional to the amount of gas present, he explained.

Sheen said EMB technicians have already set up the instrument at the bureau’s regional office at the Regional Government Center in Barangay Rawis here and now familiarizing with its operations.

After this, Sheen’s office will start the air quality monitoring in the city and come up regularly with reports so that the public and local government units are guided on measures that should be undertaken to maintain good air quality to achieve an air pollution-free environment in the locality.

The air quality monitoring, he said, is part of the mandate of the DENR, through the EMB, to generate necessary information in formulating a comprehensive air pollution management and control program.

The EMB regional offices regularly monitor roadside total suspended particulates (TSP) concentrations nationwide.

Monitoring of ambient concentrations of air pollutants other than TSP is conducted only in Metro Manila and in the cities of Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao.

Criteria pollutants are air contaminants for which the National Ambient Air Quality (NAAQ) Guideline Values have been established under the Clean Air Act of 1999.

EMB monitors the concentrations of these criteria pollutants, which include TSP; particulate matter 10 microns in diameter or smaller (PM10); sulfur dioxide; nitrogen dioxide; carbon monoxide; lead; and ozone.

The most recent period that air quality was determined through measurements here conducted by the EMB were between 2003 and 2004 or five years after the start of the implementation of the Clean Air Act wherein TSP concentrations exceeded the mean annual NAAQ guideline value.

Should the next measurements to be regularly conducted now that EMB-Bicol is already equipped with a DOAS would show higher level of air pollution, Sheen said local governments must initiate appropriate measures to address it.

Among these measures is the enforcement of the ban on the use of two-stroke engines in tricycles which is provided under the Clean Air Act, the provision of bicycle lanes on existing roads to encourage biking and minimize the use of motor vehicles and the absolute ban of cigarette smoking in public places, he added.

Albay allocates P11M for upgrading of Legazpi airport

(PNA)

A new gateway for chartered flights

The domestic airport in Legazpi receives a boost from the provincial government of Albay with the allotment of P11 million for upgrading geared towards making the city a prospective gateway for chartered flights of foreign tourists.

This was confirmed as the provincial legislature unanimously approved last week the allocation requested by Gov. Joey Salceda.

The proposed upgrade is part of requirements in making the province a new gateway of foreign travellers via chartered flights directly coming from major markets like China, Korea and Russia.

In is also in preparation for the first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit hosted by the province in December and the Green Climate Fund in April, in 2014.

Apart from the delegates coming to these international conferences, Salceda said, about a dozen of chartered flights carrying tourists from China have also been arranged and would start arriving in next year as soon as the upgrade and other requirements are met.

Part of the upgrade, Salceda said here on Saturday, is the setting up of Customs, Immigration and Quarantine-Health and Quarantine Agriculture to meet the requirements standard of international flights.

“Ahead of the opening of the Southern Luzon International Airport (SLIA) now ongoing construction in Daraga town, we are making use of the existing Legazpi domestic airport for chartered flights that would fly in foreign visitors who are making our province a new destination,” the governor said.

The province, he said, is taking advantage of the foreign market trend showing that international tourists do not tend to repeat a local destination as they follow a cycle leading them from one place to another.

This trend, according to Salceda, creates a demand for a new Philippine destination other than Cebu, Boracay, Bohol and Laoag where there are existing flights from and to various cities outside of the country, particularly China.

Having Albay as a new direct destination for the Chinese market, for example, means getting them to start a cycle from January to March of each year wherein they would arrive via chartered flights Sunday and leave Thursday, Salceda said.

With this, he said, the province would be expecting in terms of arrivals 200 persons per flight from China every five days for three months or 3,600 actual bodies who would be staying five nights or 18,000 guest nights per year.

Based on reports of international tourism organizations, Chinese tourists spend US$ 300 per night.

“With this as an example, a conservative estimate of US$ 275 per Chinese guest per night would be equivalent to about P213 million in tourism receipts that Albay will get starting from the moment they arrive at the airport and as they go along with city tours, enter the gate of Cagsawa Ruins, rent ATVs (all-terrain vehicles), eat in restaurants, get services from local providers and occupy hotel rooms,” Salceda said.

These are all in line with his policy to achieve inclusive growth for the province through tourism that will have direct impact on the community, the governor added.

“Tourism will definitely take a crucial role in the province’s and in Bicol region’s pursuit for inclusive and horizontal growth that will benefit not only big investors such as hotel and resort owners and operators but also the people in the countryside where most of tourist destinations are located by providing more opportunities for employment and business ventures,” he stressed.

Other services and small-scale businesses such as transport, souvenir shops, handicrafts and the like are created as tourism activities intensify in an area, while large-scale tourism stakeholders are needed to expand to include employment for common people such as housekeeping and food services, Salceda added.

According to Department of Tourism (DOT) Bicol regional director Maria Ong-Ravanilla, a group of local tour operators is working closely with this chartered flight tourism program.

Arrangements, she said, have already reached a 100-percent positive outcome insofar as the Chinese market is concerned.

Chinese travelers, however, are impulsive on the visa process that is why their biggest drawers are Jeju Island and Bali, Indonesia, that do not require entry visas, she said.

Albay, Salceda said, is arranging ways to provide ease and convenience so that entry requirements for this market are put in place as smooth as possible so that Chinese tourists would be able to enjoy the province as an alternative “complete” destination.

“We will be using the Laoag model as a guide in the processing of tourist group visa wherein tour operators will request for a recommendation letter from the Department of Foreign Affairs or its foreign post that a group of tourists will be visiting the province and this will serve as TGV for Chinese visitors,” he said.

Besides, Salceda said, there is already an agreement among countries regarding the laxity of issuing visas and on the problem with the Chinese market, with AJAX Rule, they are given 59 days upon landing in the Philippines”.

Multiple entry visa upon arrival (MEVUA) or Note Verbale for Chinese and Indian visitors can be requested from the DFA foreign post at least one week prior to travel to the Philippines and they can stay for 59 days. Japanese and Russian visitors can stay for 30 days and are not required to apply for entry visa.

For the Korean market, on the other hand, that is more on honeymooners and golfing travelers, the tour operators group is now working on the actual details such as visa needs and obtaining positive responses from the market.

On the Russian market, Vladivostok, in the Russian fareast, has direct flights to Cebu and Kalibo but Russians are getting tired of these places, reason why they are seeking new destinations, according to Salceda, adding that a Russian guest spend US$ 1,000 per night on incidental expenses exclusive of accommodation costs.

Under this new tourism project, the governor said, there would be chartered flights for the Russian market from November to March and Misibis Bay Resort will be allocating a minimum of 20 rooms for them every nine days which means 180 room nights per cycle.

Misibis is a private tropical hideaway built on a pristine stretch of a beach along the southern tip of Cagraray island in Bacacay, Albay which is considered as the luxury island playground in the Philippines.

From these three travel markets alone, Albay’s estimated arrivals are 10,000 in the first year, probably 2014, when all requirements are satisfied.

Government researchers say Bicol abaca strong vs substitutes

(PNA)

LEGAZPI CITY—Despite the emergence of synthetic substitutes, abaca keeps Bicol on top of its producers’ circle and remains unshakable in both the domestic and international markets, according to the Bicol Consortium for Agriculture and Resources Research and Development (BCARRD).

Synthetic ropes may have some technical advantages, but abaca has qualities that meet the needs for special purposes—specifically for oil drilling, navies, merchant shipping and construction—thus, maintaining for the Philippines its strong foothold in the global market, BCARRD Director Ninfa Pelea said over the week here.

She said this and many more good news about the product during the two-day Farmers Industry Encounter through the Science and Technology Agenda (Fiesta) at the Embarcadero de Legazpi that ended on Friday.

Organized by the BCARRD, the affair showcased the various abaca products and emerging opportunities, with science and technology playing a significant role in the industry.

Pelea said the country’s abaca industry continues with its bright prospects, especially in the export market, as many countries are shifting to the use of abaca products to replace synthetic and other non-biodegradable raw materials.

This, as the current global advocacy of going natural and going green is becoming more intense with the growing awareness and concern to protect the environment.

Abaca as a renewable resource can be an excellent part of the overall solution to climate change, as the plant absorbs more carbon dioxide than its emission, and is 100-percent biodegradable, which cannot harm the environment.

With this, eco-friendly materials like abaca are utilized by industries for products like home furnishings and housewares, fashion and its accessories, packaging of food, apparel and other items.

Pelea said demands in synthetic products, such as plastic bags, have been steadily declining as consumers now prefer to use eco-friendly fabric bags to replace plastic bags in their shopping sprees.

According to reports, Western consumers are shifting their preference from using plastic bags to fabric products because the former have been causing a lot of problems in the environment, such as littering and pollution.

“In this city alone, you don’t see stores, malls and other commercial establishments using plastic bags because of the ban being imposed by the local government,” Pelea said.

In various industries, instead of glass fiber, the use of abaca fiber brought primary energy savings of 60 percent, thus significantly reducing carbon-dioxide emission, the report said.

Other car-manufacturing companies, especially in the European Union, are expected to use natural fibers as material for their car parts in compliance with the end-of-life-vehicle regulation of the European Parliament.

Such regulation requires these firms to design and make their car components easier to recycle and safer to dispose at the end of life of their vehicle.

As composite material, abaca fiber has potentials in boat/shipbuilding industries, aeronautics, as well as in the construction business, especially in high-rise buildings, according to a report by the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA).

With stricter policies against the dumping of synthetic fishnets and cordage materials in open seas as enforced by most European nations, users are returning to the use of natural biodegradable materials like abaca fiber, the PhilFIDA report added.

Pelea said abaca pulp has also been gaining more popularity, owing to the expanding demand for specialty papers for tea bags, meat and sausage casings, currency papers, metalized papers, cigarette papers, filters, high-tech capacitor papers, and other non-woven materials and disposables, Pelea said.

Most specialty papers require high porosity and excellent tear, bursting and tensile strength, which characterize abaca fiber and shun synthetics that burn more readily than natural ones, are prone to heat damage and generate more electrostatic charge by rubbing than with natural fibers.

Pelea said the Philippines, especially Bicol, with Catanduanes maintaining its hold of the top slot in abaca production, could expect more demand for abaca fiber owing to its growing popularity, the opening of new markets for tea bags and meat casing in India, China and Eastern Europe, and increased demand by the US and Russia for abaca-based fiber paper and wrappers for cigarettes.

Abaca is now highly preferred for cordage material over synthetic materials, which are not environment-friendly and also serving as replacement for asbestos, which is carcinogenic and banned in other countries, she said.

A study conducted by the European Nature Heritage Fund said the utilization of abaca fiber in composites for highly stressed parts of automobiles would result in numerous ecological, as well as economic, benefits.

Replacing glass fibers by natural fibers could reduce the weight of automotive parts and enables the recycling of these components, it added.

The Fiesta, themed “Celebrating Bicol’s Amazing Abaca: Fiesta na, Pasko Pa,” featured a techno-business forum, fashion show, photography contest and e-marketing training among others.

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