Albay News March 2015

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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

Location of Albay within the Philippines

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.

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

Legazpi City nominee for Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize

• Source: http://http://www.rappler.com/nation/88533-legazpi-city-lee-kuan-yew-award-nominee
• Tuesday, March 31, 2015 6:20 pm

By Rhaydz B. Barcia (Rappler)

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – Eight years ago, Legazpi City, was like a shattered pot, crushed by Super Typhoon Reming that killed 1,500 people and destroyed multi-billion-peso private and government infrastructure, and agricultural crops.

The city seemed like a wasteland than a bustling metropolis in the Bicol region. The horrific natural disaster, however, did not hamper Legazpi City, under Mayor Noel Rosal, from rising from the rubble.

For overcoming the catastrophic impact of natural disasters, Legazpi City has been nominated for the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize 2016.

The Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize is a biennial award that “seeks to recognize cities and their key leaders and organizations for displaying foresight, good governance and innovation in tackling the many urban challenges faced, to bring about social, economic and environmental benefits in a holistic way to their communities,” according to the official website of the Prize.

Based on the letter sent to Rosal by the Embassy of the Republic of Singapore, the nomination of Legazpi City was based on its outstanding achievements and contributions to the creation of liveable, vibrant, and sustainable urban communities around the world.

The city’s nomination surprised city officials after the prize-giving body noted the competitiveness of Legazpi City.

“We’re surprised but happy for being nominated for the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize 2016. This is an honor and a challenge for us to work even more and to always rise up amid the challenge of extreme climate due to climate change for us to be the most liveable city in the Philippines,” Rosal said.

Recovery

Typhoon Milenyo (international name: Xangsane) first hit the Eastern Samar region on September 30, 2006, then gained strength as it pummelled the Bicol region.

On November 30, 2006, Super Typhoon Reming (international name: Durian) walloped the country. Legazpi City sustained a devastating hit, with one village nearly wiped out by rampaging volcanic debris from Mayon volcano, which had erupted that same year.

A mass exodus took place then – the city seemed lifeless – but local officials and businessmen worked together to recover from the disaster.

The city government led by Rosal partnered with the people of Legazpi and the private sector, specifically with Bicolano business tycoon Elizaldy S. Co in picking up the pieces to regain the city’s glory.

Legazpi City, center of trade and commerce in Bicol, became the fastest booming city in the country despite the Mayon eruption, and Typhoons Milenyo and Reming.

“After Super Typhoon Reming, Legazpi’s comparative business tax posted at P263,522,742.16 in 2013 local income (local taxes). If Legazpi is booming before, after Reming we rise back even better,” Rosal said.

Disaster not a hindrance

Rosal said that disaster should not be a hindrance for development.

“We have to think global but act local to compete with other big cities of the county through good governance by giving back to the people your taxes religiously such us establishment of hospital, farm to market roads, and school for education of our children. We’re able to send back to school 60% of dropped out students 7 years ago,” the mayor said.

To prove that the city government is taking care of poor people, Rosal said that in 2013, at least 23,717 poor families have Philhealth cards, the highest enrolment and contribution in Bicol.

The city government is constructing the P80-million Legazpi City Hospital for the poor to decongest the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital. The city government also built and runs the Legazpi City High School intended for talented but poor students.

Several projects are also lined up for the development of Legazpi: the P14.63 million multi-purpose hall that would accommodate 3,000 people in times of calamity, the P140-million 4-lane Yawa bridge, the P200-million mega highway, the P8-million core shelter program in Dapdap, and the P10-million school classrooms for upland national high school.

Fast-rising city

The city government is also fasttracking the implementation of the P500-million Legazpi City Urban Drainage project, a priority project under the Aquino administration to address the perennial flooding problem during rainy seasons.

The city has also beeing transformed into a “City of Fun and Adventure” which has seen an influx of investments and tourism-related developments.

Legazpi City is giving big number of tourists to Albay province. We’re hosting big events and we cannot deny the fact that Legazpi contributed a phenomenon to the development of Albay,” Rosal said.

He said this will be complemented with the operation of the Bicol International Airport in two years.

A recent Asian Institute of Management (AIM) study disclosed that Legazpi will be the next hub after Davao and Cebu, and is ranked fifth among fast-rising cities in the country in terms of infrastructure development, business growth, and peace and order.

The city has also convention hub. In 2014, the city government hosted at least 14 big national conventions, and is in the list of 10 Next Wave Cities of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP).

Three malls are being constructed this year in Legazpi, including LCC Mall, a venture between Ayala Land Inc and LCC group of companies.

Legazpi City takes path to Hall of Fame in this year’s search for Gawad Kalasag awards

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=748982
• Monday, March 30, 2015

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

LEGAZPI CITY, March 30 (PNA Features) – Fresh from winning the national championship crown of the Gawad Kalasag Awards—its second in two consecutive years, the local government here is taking this year the final segment of its path leading to the Hall of Fame of the same contest.

Attesting to facts that this key Bicol metropolis--officially recognized as one of the three most livable cities in the country today, is indeed a place where everyone is safe from both natural and man-made calamities, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) last Thursday awarded to the city government the same crown it first won in 2013.

The national championship crown represents the city government’s continuing excellence in disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) performed by its City DRRM Council (CDRRMC) that once again proved its supremacy in this area of local governance over other component and independent cities in the country.

The award was conferred at Camp Aguinaldo to City Mayor Noel Rosal and CDRRMC action officer Wilfredo “Pecos” Intia by NRRRMC Chair and National Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and NDRRMC Executive Director and Civil Defense Administrator Alexander Pama during awarding ceremonies in conclusion of the 2014 search for the 16th Gawad Kalasag.

Other than this city, 27 other winners -- including Barangay Oro Site here which also retained the national championship crown it won in the 2013 search for the Best DRRMC in the Urban Barangay Category--were also awarded during the occasion.

Gawad Kalasag is a nationwide award being given yearly in recognition of the outstanding performances of local government units (LGUs) including barangays as well as civil society organizations, private and public service institutions and volunteer groups in DRRM and in humanitarian assistance.

Launched in 1998, the awards project is among the national government’s mechanism in obtaining sustained commitment and support from DRRM practitioners in strengthening the resilience and adaptive capacities of the country and communities to disaster risks by recognizing their exceptional contributions.

Kalasag stands for Kalamidad at Sakuna, Labanan, Sariling Galing ang Kaligtasan and since the 2014 championship crowns were second in two consecutive years for both the city and Barangay Oro Site, they would be gunning for the Hall of Fame in this year’s search.

“While we have already proven the excellence of our DRRM, our obsession now is focused on improvements toward perfection not only to land in the Hall of Fame of Gawad Kalasag but primarily on sustaining our attainment of ‘zero casualty’ and resilience in the face of disasters,” Rosal told the Philippines News Agency on Monday.

That awarded excellence does not erase the fact that calamities remain a threat given the city’s geographical setting that is exposed to typhoons, volcanic eruptions and other forms of natural hazards so, “we have to work for more”, Rosal, who also heads the CDRRMC as its chair, said.

“This inspires us towards ensuring further that the city is indeed a very livable place not only for Legazpeños but also for the thousands of people coming on a year-round basis to our place as tourists, visitors, students, shoppers, businessmen and delegates of dozens of national and international conventions, seminars, conferences, sports competitions and other grand occasions that choose the city as venue,” he said.

The city was cited last year as among the three winners in the first Livable City Challenge organized by the National Competitive Commission, APEC 2015 National Organizing Council, World Wildlife Fund, Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Reconstruction and Asia Society and Urban Land Institute.

Iloilo City won the first place followed by this city which got the second spot and by Cebu that placed third in that competition which measured their respective strategic visions and plans for a resilient and livable city.

For Barangay Oro Site chieftain Joseph Philip Lee, this latest award serves as an affirmation of their BDRRMC’s being the country’s model in its category in DRRM programs and a challenge for them to sustain its gains in the coming years.

Lee said, he dedicates this new national championship award to all the people of Oro Site who have been very supportive of the BDRRMC in making the barangay calamity-resilient and every household disaster-ready and vigilant all the time.

“We intend to improve further from what we have achieved which gave us the award for the second time. This will be done by way of learning more on disaster preparedness, mitigation and resiliency from national agencies promoting the same, among them the NDRRMC and the Department of Science and Technology,” he said.

According to Intia, the city and Barangay Oro Site won the Gawad Kalasag National Awards for the second time this year because both the CDRRMC and BDRRMC achieved the national framework for disaster management required by the NDRRMC – which includes the areas of mitigation, preparedness, response and rescue and rehabilitation and recovery.

“We got our toughness against calamities from the painful lessons we’ve had from various disasters several years back—one of them was the February 1993 Mt. Mayon eruption that killed 75 villagers of the city who were caught by the sudden avalanche of super-hot volcanic materials while farming at the lower slope of the volcano,” Intia said.

After that incident, the city government worked on the permanent relocation to a safer place of all residents in barangays within the danger zone of the volcano, he said.

The other one was from the catastrophic impact of two super typhoons — "Milenyo" and "Reming" that battered in late 2006 the city as severely as if it was the doomsday, killing over 1,200 people who were swept by the massive flashflood that hit some of its low-lying barangays.

“Amid those devastating scenarios, the badly shaken spirit of the city regained its composure promptly and the herculean character its administration has developed for the local government and instilled among the governed swiftly roused back to work towards speedy recovery,” he recalled.

Now, life does not only continue to bloom in this city after those disasters but it has also been getting livelier and highly livable as the city administration continues to nourish its booming economy and explore more opportunities to rise high not only in DRRM but also in tourism and private business investments leading towards inclusive growth and development, he added.

Priest asks people to stop using gadgets during Lenten season

• Source: http://www.manilatimes.net/priest-asks-people-to-stop-using-gadgets-during-lenten-season/172708/
• Sunday, March 29, 2015 10:00 pm

By RHAYDZ B. BARCIA

LEGAZPI CITY: The outspoken prelate of the Diocese of Legazpi asked the public on Sunday to stop using gadgets for a week in observance of the Lenten season. Bishop Joel “Bong” Baylon of the Diocese of Legazpi made this plea to about 7,000 churchgoers attending the holy mass at St. Gregory the Great, Albay Cathedral on Sunday here. In his homily during the Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday) mass celebration, he said that abstinence should also apply to the use of fancy electronic gadgets like mobile phones and electronic tablets.

Bicol power coops nix bill to grant franchise to a new energy supplier

• Source: http://www.bicolmail.com/2012/?p=20220
• Saturday, March 28, 2015

By Danny O. Calleja

LEGAZPI CITY — Electricity retailers in Bicol are opposed to the proposed grant of a congressional franchise to a new independent power producer (IPP) that intends to serve as an alternative energy supplier for the region.

Allowing this [new] IPP to operate could result in higher power rates since it is a profit-oriented private company which is expected to add on profit to its power rates on top of its recovery of the cost of development and maintenance of its energy generation and distribution infrastructure, the Bicol Electric Cooperatives Association (BECA) said in a statement.

The statement was issued by the association over the week in opposition to House Bill No. 4935 which seeks to grant a franchise to Bicol Light and Power Corp.(BLPC) to operate and manage an energy distribution system in the entire region.

The bill — jointly sponsored by Reps. Deogracias Ramos, Jr. of the second district of Sorsogon, Elmer Panotes of Camarines Norte’s second district, and Salvio Fortuno of Camarines Sur’s fifth district — when enacted would allow the BPLC to “establish, operate, manage, own, lease, and maintain for public interest and commercial purposes.”

In an earlier statement, Ramos said the corporation, whose owners or people behind he did not name, will invest in the setting up and operation of a dependable and efficient power distribution system that will provide the Bicol provinces of Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate, and Sorsogon with alternative source of energy.

This new firm, he said, will join the power distribution business in the region in the essence of free trade competition to challenge all the existing suppliers and distributors into making their services efficient for the benefit of consumers.

It will also generate more jobs and boost the economic growth of Bicol with the anticipated coming in of more investments when power supply and cost is stabilized, Ramos said.

“We in Bicol have been confronted with constant power service interruptions and perpetual threat of disconnections due to the inefficiency, mismanagement, corruption and political meddling that are true among power cooperatives, resulting in bankruptcy,” Ramos said.

He cited the case of the Sorsogon II Electric Cooperative (Soreco II) which is suffering from a financial crisis and the cash-strapped Albay Electric Cooperative (Aleco) whose operation has been awarded by the government to a giant private firm due to huge indebtedness.

Brownouts and unrest among member-consumers of Aleco, however, have not ceased even as the operation and management of cooperative is now under Albay Power and Energy Corporation (APEC) of the San Miguel Corp.’s Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMC Global) to whom the National Electrification Administration has awarded its concession a year ago.

A case to win back Aleco from this giant private firm filed by member-consumers and old coop officials is now pending in a court in Legazpi City.

Soreco II, on the other hand, is under attack from its members for alleged shady deals and huge indebtedness that threaten to send the power coop into bankruptcy.

Masbate and Catanduanes are suffering from constant power shortages and higher cost of electricity as both provinces are off-grid areas served only by petroleum-fed generator sets provided by the National Power Corp. (NPC) and private suppliers, he noted.

Same problems are also being encountered by electric cooperatives in Camarines provinces, according to Ramos.

When approved by Congress, BLPC, Ramos said, will be granted a 15-year franchise.

Higher power rates that could result from the operations of this new IPP, the BECA said, may no longer be affordable to economically-depressed rural consumers in Bicol, resulting further in the deprivation of their right and privilege to have access to cheap electricity in their homes.

“The passage of the bill will be an act of ‘electrocuting’ the Bicol electric cooperatives and paving the way for the corporatization of all power utilities in the country, monopolized and controlled by the opulent and powerful,” it claimed.

The association perceives a serious and present danger in HB 4935 that could lead to the abolition of electric cooperatives leading to a massive displacement or unemployment of their workforce, wastage of assets funded by the government, and economic depression in the rural areas.

It could also render the National Electrification Administration irrelevant and redundant, and subsequently pave the way for its abolition, the BECA added.

These statements are carried in a resolution passed by the association during its regular meeting recently held in Daet, Camarines Norte.

BECA is composed of the Aleco, Camarines Sur Electric Cooperative I (Casureco I), Casureco II, Casureco III, Casureco IV, Camarines Norte Electric Cooperative (Canoreco), Soreco I, Soreco II, First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative, Masbate Electric Cooperative, and Ticao Island (Masbate) Electric Cooperative.

The first eight power cooperatives draw their power supply from various private energy giants like the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp., the Aboitiz Power Corp., and SMC-Global– through the transmission lines of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

PHL first CCA-DRR research institute to rise in Albay

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=748477
• Friday, March 27, 2015

By Rhaydz B. Barcia [(PNA), FPV/FGS/RBB/CBD]

LEGAZPI CITY, March 27 (PNA) -- The Philippines, through the province of Albay, will establish the first-ever research and operation center that will serve as a one-stop shop for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction (CCA-DRR) training institution for disaster responders, local officials, educators, farmers and indigenous communities on disaster mitigation and adaptation measures against the challenging threat of climate change.

The county’s first CCA-DRR research institution will go beyond disaster risk reduction training not only for disaster responders and public officials as it will also train educators, farmers, fishermen and indigenous communities to laymanize science and the effects of global warming that cause climatic change, Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda said.

“We want to go beyond disaster risk reduction, with Albay as a designated training institution for DRR as agreed upon with the Office of Civil Defense to train eight regions on disaster mitigation and adaptation measures. We want not only disaster responders and local officials to be trained but including our farmers, fishermen and indigenous communities for them to adapt to the changing climate and comprehend science as the core and impetus of our mission,” Salceda said.

The governor said the existing two-storey Albay Public Safety Emergency and Management Office building will be re-constructed as a five-storey building through the build-operate-transfer mode with local counterpart from the provincial government.

It will house research institution and training centers and related studies on disaster risk reduction management, agriculture and education.

Two years ago, the provincial government of Albay established the first-ever Climate Change Academy within the compound of the Bicol University in this city aimed to bolster the government’s response and adaptation measures to mitigate the adverse impact of global warming that triggers climate change.

The academy, according to Salceda, will serve as a think-thank and center for local and international academic studies and conferences. While the CCA-DRR training institution will go beyond disaster risk reduction management as it will train the grassroots.

“As center for training, we want not only the responders and local officials to be knowledgeable on disaster risk mitigation and adaptation measures but also the sectors who feed the world like farmers and fishermen. We need to work together to help and lessen the world’s carbon emission,” he said.

The Philippines, according to the green economist, contributes 0.31 percent of the aggregate carbon emission or 159 metric tons of CO2 in 2010. It is ranked 159th on GHG per capita basis versus 127th in income per capita. The Philippines has the 13th biggest population of 105 million (1.58% of total), GDP of USD351 billion or 40th largest in GDP (0.48% of total) and 41st in C02 (0.31% of total).

Citing the World Risk Index study, Salceda said the Philippines ranks among the top 3 "most at risk" countries in the world to natural hazards since 2011.

In 2014, it ranked second because of urban exposure.

The World Humanitarian Trend of 2014 reported that “the overall number of large-scale natural disasters has slowly decreased, but disasters associated with the effects of climate increased.”

In the report on World Humanitarian Trends and Trajectories to 2030, Philippines is on the top of the list.

Disaster damages for the country is, on the average, 0.52 percent of the GDP in 1990-2014, which represents an escalation from the 0.3 percent in1990-2009.

Like all developing countries, the Philippines contributes little to global emissions and bears even less responsibility for historical emissions, yet is among those that suffer the most but, at the same time, the least able to cope with the increasingly adverse effects of climate change.

“Learning from our experience in Albay, this may be possible in a framework where a green economy nurtures a low-emission, inclusive and empowering, resilient and sustainable development. It is important to note, that communities across the country have shown the way forward by ensuring mangrove forests are protected and plantation is encouraged for the purpose of contributing to carbon capture and enhancement of forest carbon stocks while securing protection against powerful storm surges,” Salceda, UN senior global champion on climate change adaptation and UN climate fund advisor, said.

Since Salceda’s getting at the helm the provincial government of Albay, forest cover has increased by 88 percent over the past seven years and mangrove forests almost quadrupled from 700 hectares to 2,400 hectares.

“Despite unremitting climate disruptions, we increased our rice production from 147,900 MT (2008) to 228,080 MT (2014) through proper use of water resources like irrigation. Many Filipino indigenous communities live to protect the sustainability of ecosystem services, equitable and sustainable use of resources while enhancing forest carbon stocks,” he noted.

They who protect the environment should be given their rightful space of participating in the local economy and benefit from them, he said. “We will, however, not deny the fact that the country will need help. We are striving to develop but challenged by hazards beyond our control. It is at this point that we see the value of solidarity. In the context of global climate action, climate financing is one of manifestation of such solidarity,” the governor pointed out.

For countries at the mercy of climate hazards like the Philippines, according to Salceda, adaptation will be a priority, bearing in mind that adaptation actions must contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases.

“If we want to avoid the climate-related disaster risks of the future, investments in climate and disaster science that lead to understanding not only of the hazards and how they are formed but also of vulnerabilities and capacities of people, crops, infrastructure, and biodiversity to contribute to both adaptation and mitigation will be necessary under the green economy framework.

For countries like the Philippines, surviving the next climate challenge requires a reduction of vulnerabilities as a pre-requisite for resilience. This means massive investment on infrastructure, industrialization, adaptive agriculture and safer settlements; only then will we, perhaps, earn resilience.

Salceda said mitigation is imperative because it is the only global response that would give time for people to adapt.

“Adaptation actions alone, no matter how purposive and massive, will not stall the intensifying climate-related hazards. GHG mitigation by a few countries will also not make a dent in the problem. That is why the Philippines will do its share in mitigation,” the green economist governor pointed out.

Salceda explained that the creation of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) gives hope as the only climate fund for developing countries.

“The GCF is the core channel of financing for both adaptation and mitigation, and loss and damage, supported by development and transfer of technology and capacity-building in any Paris agreement as proposed by the developing country parties of the UNFCCC. The current USD10.3-billion fund is a first step towards the USD100 billion annually by 2020 committed in Copenhagen,” Salceda said.

The demands for survival and development that trigger policy action, according to Salceda, must inspire and usher in a new economy that considers development not only as growth in the economy but also a meaningful, sustainable, inclusive, low-emitting and empowering development.

“Ours is not a plea for help rather a call to recognize the essential right of our people to life, environment and development. This recognition must be at the heart of any climate financing initiative in the era of a new green economy. Any decision in Paris must consider that climate change context is specific and must therefore take into account realities such as ours,” Salceda said.

200 CARP beneficiaries in Albay attend DTI livelihood training

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=11&rid=748186
• Thursday, March 26, 2015

(PNA), LAP/FGS/EMC/CBD

LEGAZPI CITY, March 26 (PNA) -- About 200 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) beneficiaries from different Agrarian Reform Communities in Albay are participating in the livelihood training conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)–Albay Provincial Office on Wednesday.

Entitled “SMERA (Small Medium Enterprise Roving Academy) Para sa mga Negosyanteng Paraoma,” the training is being held at the Concourse Convention Hall here.

SMERA, which is a continuous learning program for the development of micro, small and medium enterprises, is designed to promote entrepreneurship and develop key competencies in opportunities searching, product development, marketing and other skills training.

The activity is part of the DTI’s continuing program to assist the CARP beneficiaries to further help them in enhancing their skills and knowledge in developing sustainable livelihood, and eventually prepare their products for the global market.

The training is being conducted through lectures, discussions, demonstrations and workshop.

It is divided into two courses: Productivity Seminar Course and Skills Training Course.

The first course involves topics on Marketing: Awareness and Strategy, Promotion of Green Economic Development: Green Farm Practices, and Updates on CARP Programs.

The second course includes topics on Agricultural Waste Conversion, Capacity Development on Raw Vegetable Processing, Fashion Accessories, and Technology Training on Corn and Root Crops By-product Conversion.

The DTI activity is in partnership with the DTI-CARP National Program Office and the Department of Agrarian Reform-Albay.

It is in line with the government’s thrust to address economic development in the countryside through the provision of alternative livelihood opportunities to the community residents and to agrarian reform beneficiaries.

PNP-Bicol ready for Oplan Summer Vacation, Holy Week

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=747588
• Wednesday, March 25, 2015

By Nancy Ibo Mediavillo [(PNA), FFC/FGS/NIM/CBD/EBP]

LEGAZPI CITY, March 25 (PNA) -- The Philippine National Police-Bicol regional office is all prepared to keep the public safe and secured during the summer vacation, especially Holy Week, with at least 1,000 police officers and 3,000 force multipliers ready to ensure peace and order.

Chief Supt. Victor Deona, PNP-Bicol regional director, had given full instructions to his men to be on a 24-hour duty to implement Oplan Summer Vacation and Holy Week, said Senior Insp. Maria Luisa Calubaquib, PRO5 spokersperson.

Calubaquib said the PNP-Bicol leadership has implemented the operational security plan early for the safety of the vacationers and the residents alike.

The operational plan is effective on March 20 to May 31, she said.

The plan involves setting up of motorist assistance centers along the Maharlika Highway from Barangay Tabogon, Daet, Camarines Norte, to Matnog, Sorsogon, and in the island-provinces of Catanduanes and Masbate.

Police officers have also been posted in populous areas like transport terminals, airports, sea ports, markets, malls, churches and tourist destinations.

Deona has also assigned uniformed men in entry and exit points in the region and asked his men to intensify patrol and police visibility, especially in areas of convergence.

The police officers will be assisted by about 3,000 force multipliers from different sectors of the society like village law enforcers, security guards, radio communication groups like the Kabalikat Civicom and Barangay Peacekeeping and Action Teams.

Each police station has also put up a hotline where people needing assistance can call for assistance.

"We want to ensure peace, order and the security of the public in the entire region during the whole summer vacation," Calubaquib said.

She said the order of Deona covers all police offices and stations in the six provinces, towns and cities in the Bicol Region, whose chiefs will be required to submit accomplishment reports that would be reflected in their report cards to the Office of the Regional Director.

Philtoa picks Albay anew among top summer destinations

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=6&rid=747343
• Tuesday, March 24, 2015

By Johnny C. Nunez [(PNA), LAP/JCN/EBP]

LEGAZPI CITY, March 24 (PNA) -- The Philippine Travel and Operator’s Association (Philtoa) has once again picked Albay as among its top summer destinations. The province has remained among the top tourist destinations in the country in 2014 with a recorded 7.1-percent share of foreign arrivals.

Philtoa president Cesar Cruz said that other than the "sights and activities" as part of the major considerations in selecting top summer destinations, the organization also considers the local government’s political leadership and its commitment in providing a sustainable tourism program.

Governor Joey Salceda, banking on Albay’s global standard tourism destinations, has embarked on a strong and holistic program, which involves the province’s cultural heritage from historical religious edifices, old roads and houses, to ethnic culinary wealths, branching out most recently to sports tourism.

As a result, Albay’s domestic arrivals have doubled during the first three months of 2015 based on gate receipts at the Albay Parks and Wildlife, a favorite destination of local visitors, and a 40 percent increase in the number of visitors at the Cagsawa Ruins Park.

Albay will hold its Daragang Magayon Festival 2015 last week of March and the whole of April, with culinary tourism on the spotlight, and where famous chefs around the country will meet local talents for a gastronomic showdown.

Salceda was among the initial recipients of the Tourism Star Award by the Department of Tourism (DOT) for 2014, for exemplary excellence and dedication in driving the Philippine tourism industry forward, under the Tourism Star Philippines (TSP) program.

Philtoa has invited Salceda to speak at the organization’s 2nd general membership conference on April 8 to discuss updates on Albay’s summer holiday program, highlighting recommended destinations. Philtoa had declared Albay as its 2013 summer destination.

Salceda said Albay’s strong position in the industry and the continuous upward trend in its performance has further opened up more opportunities for investors in the hotel business, where more competitively priced rooms are needed to accommodate the growing numbers of tourists.

He said the “key is cheap accommodations and the key to cheap accommodations is more rooms, not just in Legazpi but in Daraga, Tabaco, Camalig, Guinobatan, Polangui, Sto. Domingo, Bacacay. This should get Albay into the budget domestic tour packages.”

Albay, Salceda said, has already laid down the requirements of a strong tourism program: robust year-round national promotions — most specially in social media, increased domestic flights, road access which are among the best in the country), and improved sea travel with the ROROs (Matnog, Bulan, Pioduran, Tabaco, Legazpi).

More tourists mean more demand in food and souvenir items, and activities, which should be priced competitively enough for domestic tourists, he said.

The province was declared the fastest growing tourism area in the country in 2013, with a 66-percent growth rate, way up the national figure and dubbed as a “tourism powerhouse” by the DOT. It “will likely lead in the next major wave of the country’s tourist inflow.”

Albay has emerged from being a disaster-afflicted to a dynamic province with a phenomenal tourism growth, from 8,700 foreign visitors in 2007 when Salceda assumed its governorship to 339,000 in 2013. The number has consitently remained above 300,000 since 2011 and has steadily increased.

DOT has continuously showcased Albay in many international tourism expositions, the latest of which was the 2015 Marche International Proffesionels d’Immobilier, an annual show participated in by influential property players worldwide, at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France March foreign 10 to 13, and the Manila FAME, March 13-16, the design and lifestyle event, trade platform for exports and design.

Albay is also pushing culinary tourism as among its most recent attractions. This will kick off with a showdown of the country’s famous chefs April 27 – 29 in support of DOT’s Flavors of the Philippines campaign and at the same time farther promote the province’s ethnic cuisines.

Various international and national tourism promotions where Albay was featured by DOT included the Berlin ITB 2012 in Germany, the London WTM 2013, Shanghai TM 2013, DOT Hongkong 2014, and special events of the Philippine Asia Travel Association and the Philippine Travel Operators’ Association.

Government allots P131 million for agriculture projects in Bicol

• Source: http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/government-allots-p131-million-for-agriculture-projects-in-bicol/
• Monday, March 23, 2015

(Philippines News Agency)

LEGAZPI CITY—The national government has allocated P131 million for various agricultural projects in the Bicol region under the Bottom-Up Budgeting (BUB) approach.

In a joint memorandum circular issued by the departments of Budget and Management, Interior and Local Government, Social Welfare and Development and the National Anti-Poverty Commission, all heads of the departments involved in the implementation would release the fund for BUB 2015 projects to implementing agencies as part of the General Appropriations Act.

Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) Regional Information Officer Ed Bailon said Camarines Sur got the biggest allocation at P35.3 million for the purchase of planting seeds and organic fertilizers, procurement of equipment, infrastructure and livelihood for farmers.

Sorsogon was allocated P24.1 million, followed by Albay with P21.5 million; Camarines Norte, P20.8 million; Catanduanes, P6.7 million; and Masbate, P6.6 million.

Bailon said that, in the Bicol region, 109 local government units (LGUs) have substantially implemented their Financial Management Improvement for calendar years 2014 and 2015.

“This means that they are qualified for the 2015 Bottom-up Budgeting fund,” he said.

In Albay, according to Bailon, most of the projects to be implemented within the year are infrastructure facilities, provision of agricultural machines, sustainable agri-based livelihood and other agri-business investments and distribution of assorted vegetables.

The BUB process is focused on engaging 300 to 400 of the poorest municipalities identified by the Cabinet’s Human Development and Poverty Reduction cluster.

Local-level engagement will be facilitated via relevant government agencies, local community leaders, LGUs and partner-civic organizations.

Legazpi attributes twin Gawad Kalasag national championship wins to firm anti-disaster commitment

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=8&rid=746864
• Sunday, March 22, 2015

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

LEGAZPI CITY, March 22 (PNA) -- The city government here and one of its urban villages will receive honors on March 26 for winning anew the Gawad Kalasag Awards national championship—a twin victory that its leaders attribute to their resolve in ensuring that each local community is a truly livable place for everybody.

“Basically, it is our unrelenting commitment to this area of governance supported by our people in the barangays that won for us for the second time the national championship awards,” City Mayor Noel Rosal on Sunday told the Philippines News Agency.

An announcement made by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) late last week named the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDDRM) as the best nationwide in the Component/Independent City Category of the 2014 Gawad Kalasag search.

Barangay Oro Site, a densely populated village at the heart of the city’s commercial district, on the other hand, won the number one spot for having the Best Barangay DRRMCs for the Urban Barangay Class. Launched in 1998, the awards is among the national government’s mechanism in obtaining sustained commitment and support from DRRM practitioners in strengthening the resilience and adaptive capacities of the country and communities to disaster risks by recognizing their exceptional contributions.

Kalasag stands for Kalamidad at Sakuna, Labanan, Sariling Galing ang Kaligtasan.

Rosal, who is CDRRMC chairman along with City Administrator and CDRRMC action man Pecos Intia, and Joseph Philip Lee, the Oro Site village chieftain and Barangay DRRMC head, will receive the awards during formal ceremonies at Camp Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

The accolades will be conferred on them by Department of National Defense Secretary and NDRRMC chair Voltaire Gazmin who will also honor all the 28 other national winners for their outstanding contributions in strengthening the resilience and adaptive capacities of the country and communities to disaster risks.

Intia said the recognitions, which both the city and Barangay Oro site won for the second time in two consecutive years (2013 and 2014), are affirmations of their being the country’s model in their respective categories in DRRM programs and a challenge for them to sustain those gains in the coming years.

“This inspires us towards working for more in ensuring that the city is indeed a very livable place not only for Legazpeños but also for the thousands of people coming on a year-round basis to our place as tourists, visitors, students, shoppers, businessmen and delegates of dozens of national and international conventions, seminars, conferences, sports competitions and other grand occasions that choose the city as venue,” he said.

The city was cited last year as among the three winners in the first Livable City Challenge organized by the National Competitive Commission, APEC 2015 National Organizing Council, World Wildlife Fund, Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Reconstruction and Asia Society and Urban Land Institute.

Iloilo City won the first place, followed by this city which got the second spot and by Cebu that placed third in that competition which measured their respective strategic visions and plans for a resilient and livable city.

Intia said the city got the Gawad Kalasag National Award for the second time this year because the CDRRMC achieved the national framework for disaster management required by the NDRRMC – which includes the areas of mitigation, preparedness, response and rescue and rehabilitation and recovery.

Rosal said “we got our toughness against calamities from the painful lessons we’ve had from various disasters several years back—one of them was the February 1993 Mt. Mayon eruption that killed 75 villagers of the city who were caught by the sudden avalanche of super-hot volcanic materials while farming at the lower slope of the volcano.”

After that incident, the city government worked on the permanent relocation to a safer place of all residents in barangays within the danger zone of the volcano.

The other one was from the catastrophic impact of two super typhoons — "Milenyo" and "Reming" that battered in late 2006 the city as severely as if it was the doomsday, killing over 1,200 people who were swept by the massive flashflood that hit some of its low-lying barangays.

“Amidst those devastating scenarios, the badly shaken spirit of the city regained its composure promptly and the herculean character its administration has developed for the local government and instilled among the governed swiftly roused back to work towards speedy recovery,” he recalled.

Now, life does not only continue to bloom in this city after those disasters. It has also been getting livelier and highly livable as the city administration continues to nourish its booming economy and explore more opportunities to rise high, he added.

Lee said he dedicates this new national championship award to all the people of Oro Site who have been very supportive of the BDRRMC in making the barangay calamity-resilient and every household disaster-ready and vigilant all the time.

Apart from the honors, both winners will receive from the NDRRMC cash prizes amounting Php100,000 each that should be spent for DRRM-related activities.

Bill to extend services of gov’t scientists passes House body

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=13&rid=746644
• Saturday, March 21, 2015

(PNA), RMA/FGS/DOC/CBD/PJN

LIGAO, Albay, March 21 (PNA) -- Albay third district Rep. Fernando Gonzalez on Saturday announced here that the bill he authored seeking the extension of services after mandatory retirement age of government scientists has been approved by the House committee on science and technology.

The approval, which came during a committee meeting last March 17, makes possible the passing of House Bill No. 515 into a law that will allow the extension for five years of the services of government scientists who would be due for compulsory retirement.

Principally sponsored by Gonzalez , the Bill seeks to amend Republic Act No. 8439, otherwise known as the Magna Carta for Scientists, Engineers, Researchers and Other Science and Technology Personnel in Government of 1997.

Gonzalez told the Philippine News Agency that although RA 8439 provides for the rehiring of a retired employee “who possesses technical qualifications and the capability to undertake specific scientific research activities, provided no qualified science and technology expert is available to undertake said scientific activities,” extending their services behind their mandatory retirement age is more favorable to both the government and the employee.

“It is of my honest belief that even at the age beyond 65, the mandatory retirement age for civil service employees, most, if not all scientists, are still at the peak of their mental capabilities and are still very much capable of continuing their invaluable work on scientific projects that they had been working on prior to retirement,” he said.

He clarified that while the Magna Carta covers all scientific personnel in government including science and technology (S&T) managers, supervisors and planners; members of the scientific career system; scientists, engineers and researchers; and Department of Science and Technology (DOST) technicians and related S&T personnel, HB No. 515 covers only “scientists."

RA 8439 defines S&T managers, supervisors and planners as those who are graduate degree holders or have at least 10 years of managerial experience or are performing executive, planning and policy-making functions to effectively carry out science-related activities.

Scientists, engineers and researchers, the same law says, are at least undergraduate degree holders in any of the natural science and engineering courses and are involved in research and development or other scientific and technological activities.

DOST technicians and related S & T personnel are those who obtained at least 12 units in science, engineering and other related courses or any appropriate training and are providing support services.

Gonzalez explained that under HB No. 515, the extension of services shall be subject to conditions such as the project that the scientist is working on at the time of compulsory retirement is within the priority research and development programs of the DOST and is identified as strategic to the national development.

Other conditions are that the scientist is still mentally and physically fit to complete the project; and the request for extension of services shall be submitted to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) for approval at least three months prior to the date of the compulsory retirement of the scientist, he said.

When the extension is approved, a scientist will continue receiving preferential salary approved by the President under the Magna Carta outside the existing law on salary scales and other benefits such as honorarium, share in royalties and hazard allowance.

Honorarium is for S & T personnel who rendered services beyond the established irregular workload of scientists, technologists, researchers and technicians whose broad and superior knowledge, expertise or professional standing in a specific field contributes to productivity and innovativeness shall be entitled to receive honorarium subject to rules to be set by the DOST.

Share in royalties is defined as a share in the proceeds of royalty payments arising from patents, copyrights and other intellectual property rights divided on a 60-40 percents basis in favor of the government and the entitlement is for personnel involved in the technology activity which has been produced or undertaken during the regular performance of their functions.

Hazard allowance, on the other hand, is paid to S& T personnel involved in hazardous undertakings or assigned in hazardous workplaces.

The amount ranges from 10 to 30 percent of their monthly basic salary depending on the nature and extent of the hazard involved.

Considered hazardous workplaces are radiation-exposed laboratories and service workshops; depressed areas; areas declared under a state of calamity or emergency; strife-torn or embattled areas; laboratories; and disease-infested places of assignment.

Gonzalez has thanked the House committee chaired by Rep. Victor Yu for approving the bill which when finally passed into a law will play an important role in the government efforts to entice scientists from the country’s universities to join the DOST and address the “brain drain” following retirements of some of the agency’s experts.

TESDA-Bicol allots Php177M for scholarship in 2015

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=746467
• Friday, March 20, 2015

By Nancy Ibo Mediavillo [(PNA), LAP/FGS/NIM/CBD/RSM]

LEGAZPI CITY, March 20 (PNA) -- At least Php177 million has been allotted by the Technical and Educational Skills Development Authority-Bicol for its scholarship program in the region this year.

TESDA-Bicol Regional Director Conrado Bares disclosed this in a press conference held Thursday at the TESDA conference room here.

The amount is for some 20,000 scholars in the six provinces of Albay, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Sorsogon and the island provinces of Catanduanes and Masbate.

The biggest allocation is for Training Work Skills Program, Php104.16 million; Bottom-Up Budgeting, Php25.20 million; Skills Training for Employment Program, Php25.50 million; and Private Education Students Financial Assistance, Php22.18 million.

Bares asked the public to contact their provincial offices for the details and procedure on how to apply for these various scholarships.

He clarified that the courses that can be pursued under the four scholarship programs are agriculture, fishery, agribusiness and agro-industrial, tourism, information technology, business process management, semi-conductor and electronics, automotive, general infrastructure, manufacturing, logistics, and trainers' methodology.

The TESDA head said there are 225 TESDA-accredited schools in the region.

Camarines Sur has 82; Albay, 58; Camarines Norte, 27; Masbate, 24; Sorsogon, 21; and Catanduanes, 13.

Bares said their office, through the Economic Sector of the Regional Development Council-Bicol headed by Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda, plans to put up additional training centers in remote areas of the region like in Pandan, Catanduanes; third district of Masbate; Pioduran, Albay; Capalongga, Camarines Norte; and other areas.

He said that aside from the TESDA, he urged local government units to also establish technical-vocational schools in their respective areas.

60 Legazpi street vendors get Nego Karts

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=745884
• Thursday, March 19, 2015

(PNA), FFC/FGS/EPS/CBD/EDS

LEGAZPI CITY, March 19 (PMA) -- Sixty ambulant vendors received Nego-Karts from Legazpi City Mayor Noel E. Rosal and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)-Bicol Assistant Regional Director Karen Trayvilla during a simple ceremony Wednesday at the newly constructed city’s Activity Center at the Motorpool Compound.

The Nego-Kart project is a shared responsibility or a counterparting agreement among the City Government of Legazpi, the DOLE regional office and the 60 ambulant vendors.

The beneficiaries contributed PHP1,500 each while the city administration committed PHP108,000 and the DOLE also shared PHP402,000 for assembling the karts.

This livelihood project is the result of a tie-up among the City’s Public Employment Services Office (PESO), market administrator Julius Del Rosario and 60 selected street food vendors as recipients of this project.

Rosal said that aside from these Nego-Karts, the city administration and the DOLE have also distributed some livelihood materials to the city’s women’s organizations for manicure services, cooking and other activities.

The city chief executive revealed that these ambulant vendors are considered as partners in development by the city government because these people have big contribution to the movement of the local economy.

He revealed that part of the plan of his administration is to establish a road night market in the commercial areas of this city to give those ambulant vendors sufficient time to do business as well as to encourage other people to also engage in the street food businesses.

Rosal also urged the beneficiaries of this project to always offer healthy, clean, safe and affordable food to the consuming public.

He asked the DOLE to always cooperate with the program of the city administration to give the people more employment opportunities in order to improve their daily living condition.

Trayvilla said this Nego-Kart project is part of the agenda of the national government under the Aquino administration for an inclusive growth that all people in the community will benefit.

The official disclosed that based on the record collated by the DOLE, Bicol Region has the highest poverty incidence and “this project is part of the solution to that kind of problem that we encountered by way of giving our constituents an opportunity to become self-employed.”

Through the help of Rosal and PESO manager Cristine Zantua, the services of the DOLE was very much effective in helping the people in the community, she pointed out.

Trayvilla urged the recipients to always take care of their Nego-Karts because these would serve as the tools for their livelihood activities that will surely help them increase their daily income.

The Nego-Kart is one of the many DOLE’s projects to assist the unemployed and to improve the lives of many hardworking persons in the community but they only earn insufficient income.

This project also provides assistance to all the ambulant vendors that will enable them to upgrade their products and services for the satisfaction of the consuming public.

The recipients expressed optimism and vowed to work in the right way of engaging in business and gave assurance to always protect the equipment that they received from the DOLE and the City Government of Legazpi.

Famous chefs gather in Albay for DMF 2015 Food Festival

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=745529
• Wednesday, March 18, 2015

By Johnny C. Nunez [(PNA), FFC/JCN/EBP]

LEGAZPI CITY, March 18 (PNA) -- The Philippines’ famous chefs will converge in Albay on April 27-29, in a creative showdown with local culinary masters designed to enable them to concoct their own versions of the province's popular and favorite cuisines.

The showdown will give Albay’s culinary tourism a more defined and expanded role in tourism development. It will be held at the Penaranda Park in front of the Provincial Capitol here as a component event of the month-long 2015 Daragang Magayon Festival (DMF15).

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said the event supports the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) Flavors of the Philippines campaign, and at the same time further enhances Albay’s local food favorites that will ultimately benefit the local restaurant industry.

Salceda said food is not just an appendix of the tourism industry; it is a legitimate tourism industry in itself that provides the best gastronomic experiential adventure for tourists, local or foreign.

“Albay's cuisines are very Pacific and the most Asian in nature. The use of gata (coconut milk), sili, pili, and the perfect addition of taro (gabi) leaves and the abundance of camote makes it one of the most flavorful culinary experience one can get anywhere in the Philippines,” said Salceda.

Albay is the largest pili nut producer and second largest camote producer in the country. Taro leaves are principal ingredients of the now famous ethnic culinary specialty, the Pinangat.

Among those expected to participate in the DMF15 food festival are Chef Gene Gonzales and son Chef Gino, Chef Boy Logro, Chef Rolando Laudico and wife Chef Jackie, who will team up with top Albay chefs for a series of exhibitions. The culinary experts will explore their creativity in coming up with their versions of Albay's favorite cuisines, both traditional and fusion.

The event will be featured as an out-of-town destination of Madrid Fusion Manila, and dubbed as Albay: The Coco Spice Tour. It will be first ever edition of the globally popular Madrid Fusion in the Philippines. It is considered a very important Spanish gastronomic congress.

Madrid Fusion’s invitational offers the chefs the opportunity to commune with and have breakfast at the foot of majestic Mayon Volcano, discover making pili nut processing, have a glimpse of the local market and homegrown culinary ingredients, learn how to prepare authentic pinangat (coconut and taro leaf dish) and Guinobatan’s longganisa, savor the flavor of laing pasta, taste the difference of dinuguan (pork blood stew) cooked with roasted coconut, bite into the delicious depth of bagnet Bicol express, and cool off with a chili ice cream.

Daragang Magayon Festival, a yearly cultural fare of Albay that has consistently and successfully given the province’s tourism the needed boost, will kick off last week of March and go on through the whole month of April. DOT has declared Albay as a “tourism powerhouse” and predicted to lead in the next major wave of the country’s tourist inflow.

Tagged as the hottest tourist destination in the country, Albay has displayed a phenomenal tourism growth, from 8,700 in 2007 when Salceda assumed the governorship, to 339,000 in 2013. The his figure has steadily grown since 2011.

DOT has continuously showcased Albay in many international tourism fairs, the latest of which was the March 10-13, 2015 Marche International Proffesionels d’Immobilier at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, an annual show participated in by influential property players worldwide.

Albay's west coast benefits from DENR’s coral management program

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=745043
• Tuesday, March 17, 2015

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

LEGAZPI CITY, March 17 (PNA) -- A national government program for the sustainable development and protection of the local marine ecosystem has been put in place in barangays along the western coastline of Albay.

Called the Sustainable Coral Reef Ecosystem Management Program (SCREMP), this undertaking being spearheaded by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will benefit at least 23 barangays covered by four local government units (LGUs) within the third congressional district of the province.

These LGUs are the City of Ligao and the municipalities of Libon, Pioduran and Oas whose marine ecosystem sitting along the northern coastline of Ticao and Burias Passes is considered unique and extremely important owing, among others, to its proximity to the sanctuaries of manta rays and whale sharks that are both government-protected species.

The Manta Ray Bowl that draws a notable number of international leisure divers is located off the nearby town of San Jacinto at Ticao Island of Masbate while the whale sharks locally called butandings that are major tourist drawer are seasonally homed each year at the neighboring coastal waters of Donsol, Sorsogon.

As an initial move for the full implementation of SCREMP, the Bicol University (BU), through its Research and Development Center, has already been conducting a series of “coastal vulnerability assessment” to determine the status of the area’s coral reefs and determine management measures that should be instituted under the program.

BU, representing research and academic institutions, is one of the DENR's partners in the implementation of this program that is also being coordinated with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of the Department of Agriculture, other concerned national government agencies, LGUs, non-government organizations and the private sectors.

DENR Regional Director Gilbert Gonzales on Tuesday here explained that SCREMP is a national program being carried out by the environment and natural resources department to conduct a strategic, sustainable and ecosystem-based approach in protecting and rehabilitating the coral reef ecosystem.

Its implementation in selected coastal areas in the country, which was started by the Aquino administration in 2012 and set to last until 2020, carries with it various components that include habitat and vulnerability assessments, coral reef rehabilitation and protection, social mobilization and development, marine protected area strengthening and networking and sustainable livelihood interventions, Gonzales said.

In livelihood interventions, he said, the estimated benefits of the SCREMP activities from this year to 2017 alone in terms of job generation would go to around 40,000 families, amounting to some PHP500 million that could be gained from activities such as coastal ecosystem enterprises and coral reef protection and management works.

Participating barangay residents will be trained for these undertakings by field officers from the DENR and other involved agencies who are equipped with expertise and basic information on such activities.

Gonzales said the Albay west coast was included as beneficiary of the program because it is identified as among the country’s Protected Landscape and Seascape, a priority site proclaimed protected area under the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS) Act of 1992 by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 291 dated April 23, 2000.

Like the other programs of the DENR, the implementation of SCREMP is expected to contribute to food security and improve human well-being of the coastal communities, implement sustainable management of coastal and marine resources through resource and habitat conservation, protection and rehabilitation, among other objectives, according to Gonzales.

Congressman Fernando Gonzalez lauded the DENR for the inclusion as beneficiary of the program of the coastal area of his district which he wanted also to be developed into a tourism haven in line with the government’s drive to create multi-faceted tourist destinations.

For this, Gonzalez has recently filed House Bill 4599 seeking that the unspoiled white sand beaches along the Albay west coast, whose diversity and unique attraction offer an alternative to the highly commercialized beaches and mangrove or Boracay and Palawan, be developed as an additional tourism site for the province.

The bill, when enacted into law, will declare the area as a tourism spot and task the Department of Tourism (DOT) in its development through funds to be appropriated by Congress.

The area includes the beaches along barangays Buenavista, Malidong, Basicao Coastal and Marigondon, all in Pioduran town; Maonon, Cabarian and Catbulawan of Ligao City; Badian, Cagmanaba, Maramba and Nagas of Oas; and Apud, Rawis, Talin-talin and Pantao of Libon.

According to Gonzalez, the development of the area, which in the past has been off the beaten path, was started in 2010 and going on today through the huge amount of money already allocated under the government’s general appropriations to complete the Albay West Coast road by 2016.

The proposed law says that “in coordination with other government agencies concerned, the DOT shall prepare, within one year from the approval of this Act a tourism development plan involving the construction, installation and/or maintenance of such appropriate facilities and infrastructure as shall encourage tourism in the area.”

The DOT shall also take the necessary steps to implement such development plan and incorporate the same in its tourism development program for the ensuing calendar year, the bill states.

Gonzalez explained that when the Albay west coast is declared as tourism development site, its beaches would add to the attractiveness of the province apart from what are offered by Mt. Mayon, the world’s most perfect cone-shaped volcano, the most photographed Cagsawa Ruins and other national historical and cultural heritage sites in the locality.

The SCREMP, on the other hand, will help maintain the natural wonders of the place by way of protecting and preserving the beauty and usefulness of its marine ecology, he added.

Tigerair flies Manila—Legazpi route starting March 29

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=6&rid=744677
• Monday, March 16, 2015

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

LEGAZPI CITY, March 16 (PNA) -- Low-budget leisure travel carrier Tigerair Philippines will start flying the Manila-Legazpi route on March 29, its management has announced.

“We are happy to announce our new flights to one of the most beautiful destinations in the Philippines – Legazpi. We look forward to offering low fares to even more destinations,” Leilani de Leon, the company’s legal and corporate affairs chief, said in a statement reaching here over the weekend.

De Leon said the airline company will use any of its fleet of four Airbus A320 aircraft in flying this new route that will make a total of 14 the destinations it serves: Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Clark, Cebu, General Santos, Iloilo, Kalibo, Legazpi, Manila, Roxas, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban, Tagbilaran, and Hong Kong.

Tigerair Philippines, formerly known as SEAir and South East Asian Airlines, is a low-cost airline headquartered in Manila and a franchise and subsidiary of JG Summit, the parent company of Cebu Pacific which operates the airline.

This Tigerair flight will bring to at least five the total number of flights serving the Manila-Legazpi route daily; the others are being made by Philippine Airlines (PAL), Cebu Pacific and Zest Air.

Cebu Pacific also maintains a four-flight weekly schedule between the Legazpi-Cebu route.

“Tigerair is very much welcome as it is a response to the need for more carriers serving the growing number of tourist and visitors coming to our city,” City Mayor Noel Rosal on Sunday told the Philippine News Agency here.

The city, he said, has been fast emerging as among the favorite travel destinations and venue of big national and international gatherings like conventions, meetings, conferences, sport events and tours making wise the decision of Tigerair management to fly the route.

While the city has been playing host to big occasions, the local government, at the same time caters to an influx of investments and massive urban development that continuously attract travelers, the mayor said.

After playing host to 17 grand gatherings during the first 10 weeks of this year, 14 more and still counting, so far have been set to take place here until the last week of November.

These already listed occasions expected to bring in tens of thousands of visitors from all over the country and abroad, come as the city guns for a slot in the five top convention destinations—at least in Luzon by 2020.

The biggest of these gatherings would be the 99th Annual Communication (ANCOM) of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in the Philippines which will be on April 23-16 at the city government-owned Ibalong Centrum for Recreation (ICR).

It is expected to be attended by more than 6,000 delegates from the hundreds of Masonic Lodges in the country and abroad.

“Our quest for preference as venue of big national and international gatherings is anchored on our being highly capable now of hosting and properly handling friendly visitors from any part of the world,” Rosal said.

The city is also eyeing this year a slot in the country’s top 10 best tourist destinations where it placed 14th in 2013 for achieving an impressive tourism industry growth represented by the listed 579,470 domestic and foreign tourist arrivals, which was higher by 32.27-percent rate from the previous year counted at only 141,370.

After surpassing that half-million tourism arrival mark, the city government improved further its tourism performance by hitting the 700,000 count last year for an industry growth rate of at least 25 percent which perhaps would be good enough for the city to capture one of the top slots in the country’s best tourist destinations.

“Our daily arrivals either via the average five daily commercial flights from Manila and Cebu or land trips coming from Metro Manila and several other origins in Luzon and the Visayas islands are the biggest contributors to our tourist arrivals, averaging around 1,500 daily,” he noted.

The city has indeed become a favorite destination not only because of the majestic Mt. Mayon, the world’s most perfect coned volcano, but also of the picturesque Albay Gulf with its aquamarine waters kissing the clean black volcanic sand beaches, the Legazpi Boulevard, Ligñon Hill, Kapuntukan Hill and lava front ATV (all-terrain vehicle)-driving terrain near the volcano’s foot, among other places to boast.

Legazpi’s unique culture, cuisine, natural wonders including Legazpeños’ resilience developed with their ability to endure natural calamities and disasters are endearing factors that also attract tourists and visitors, the mayor said.

Tourism facilities like hotels, dining places, recreational sites, convention sites, shopping and transportation hubs also offer no problem as since the past 10 years, such amenities have been sprouting like mushrooms around the city and ready to take in all visitors on any given time.

“Our city is one of the country’s top tourism destinations that is why we are making every inch of our development focused on tourism as a primary strategy in our pursuit for inclusive and horizontal growth,” he said.

This growth benefits 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 added.

2016 Palaro in Albay to become a sports tourism event

• Source: http://www.philstar.com/sports/2015/03/15/1433836/2016-palaro-albay-become-sports-tourism-event
• Sunday, March 15, 2015 12:00 am

By Danny O. Calleja (The Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has approved a P700-million budget for the 2016 Palarong Pambansa, with host Albay committing to put up a counterpart fund of P150 million.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said half of the budget approved by the President has already been released for the construction of sports facilities, among them the Albay Sports Complex in Guinobatan town, the games’ main venue.

The facility will have an international standard track oval and grandstand.

The Albay Palaro will be rolled out as a sports tourism event, the first time in the history of the national games. The event will be a source of additional revenue for the host province with the influx of tourists during the games, Salceda said.

Salceda said about 15,000 athletes and officials from the country’s 17 regions are expected to join the Palaro.

Aside from playing host, Albay also hopes to improve on its ninth-place finish in the 2014 Palaro in Laguna, where it garnered five of the nine golds earned by the region. Albay hopes to fare well in the May 3-9 Palaro this year in Tagum City.

In line with its tourism program, the host province will spread Palaro’s 21 events around the province to give participants and visitors a chance to explore Albay’s best tourism destinations and specialties.

“My guideline to Team Albay, the Palarong Pambansa 2016 technical working group, is to design a multi-venue layout, that shall distribute participants in different sports sites around the province so they can also enjoy our global standard tourism sites while competing,” Salceda said.

As a leading province in the country’s travel and tourism, Albay figured prominently in the March 10-13, 2015 Marche International Proffesionels d’Immobilier at the Palais de Festivals in Cannes, France.

The province has been featured in many national and international travel marketing fairs, including the Berlin ITB 2012, the London WTM 2013, the Shanghai ITM 2013, and the Department of Tourism promotions in Hong Kong in 2014.

The modernized sports facilities will be viable and sustainable for Albay since they can host future big international events like the Southeast Asian Games, Salceda added.

The games facilities will sport locally inspired designs, drawing ideas from Albay’s iconic products.

For instance, the Albay Sports Complex main arena will feature Abaca Weave and Pili Nut-inspired designs; the Oas Arena, with a “Puto”-inspired ambience and “Coco Coir” finish; and the gymnastic events building, with a “Pinangat”-inspired images.

In Daraga town, the Bagumbayan Gym will also be reconstructed and the historic Daraga Covered Court restored into a park.

The park was formerly known as the Ninoy Park in honor of Ninoy Aquino. Here, President Aquino, first sought the help of Albayanos in the quest for justice for his slain father.

Week-long euphoria to mark Ligao City’s 14th Foundation Day

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=6&rid=744396
• Saturday, March 14, 2015

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

LIGAO CITY, March 14 (PNA) – It will be a no-work day for workers in this fast-growing young Bicol metropolis on March 24 as the city culminates a week-long jubilation for its 14th Cityhood Anniversary this year.

The break was authorized by Malacañang through its recently issued Proclamation No. 965 declaring the anniversary date a non-working holiday.

Recognized as a barrio of Polangui, Albay, since 1606 and ceded to its nearby town of Oas in 1665 to finally become an independent municipality in 1666, this locality gained its city status on March 24, 2001 through Republic Act No. 9008 or the Ligao City Charter which was ratified in a plebiscite with a overwhelming “yes” votes of 17,753 as against the 1,387 “no”.

The Cityhood Anniversary Motorcade around the city will open the celebrations on Wednesday morning to signal the start of various events and activities for the day -- such as the photo exhibits, the regular mass blood-letting for donations, Financial Literacy Seminar, Persons with Disabilities Mini-Olympic and Mass Eye Screening.

The day will also see the inaugurations of the Barangay Calzada-Maharlika Diversion and the farm-to-market road linking Barangays Batang and Pinit that are both projects funded through national allocations initiated in Congress by Rep. Fernando Gonzalez of Albay’s 3rd Congressional District.

The Farmers’ Day that will honor peasants, whom the city government highly regards as the backbone of the local economy, will be on Day 2 of the celebrations -- featuring the opening of an agri-trade fair, farm photo exhibits, medical check-up, a job’s fair and career information drive and farmers’ “Laro ng Lahi”.

Farmers are special here because the local economy is anchored on 80-percent agriculture with some 20,000 hectares of its total land area devoted to agricultural crop production.

A Zumba Total Dance Fitness for Health will be staged in late afternoon while at the end of the day, there will be the Talent’s Night for the Binibining Ligao pageant.

The next days will be more of fun and excitement from a mass tree-planting activity, awarding day, youth concert dubbed MuziKabataan, coastal caravan featuring colorfully-decorated boats, Binibining Ligao Coronation Night, a synchronized estero and river clean-up, mass wedding, youth caravan, parade of festivals and the anniversary ball.

Several other sports events like Amazing Race-Coastal Edition, Cityhood Babies Race, pedicab race, chess and volleyball tournaments, the Takbo-Panalo: Fun Run to Fitness and Wealth and the Francisco V.Gonzalez Memorial Cup – Mountain Bike (MTB) Challenge have been lined up for the week-long celebrations.

“We expect thousands to arrive for this occasion that also serves as grand homecoming of Ligaueños who are working or now living anywhere in the country or overseas as an expression of the oneness of our people,” City Mayor Patricia Gonzalez-Alsua told the Philippines News Agency on Friday.

She said the week-long events depict religious, cultural and economic transformation of the locality from a second-class town to a component city that is proud of its rich cultural heritage and good social values.

Alsua said visitors and tourists also come for this special yearly occasion particularly that it is timed with the Lenten Season that brings in thousands of devotees and pilgrims to the Kawa-Kawa Hill Natural Park, one of the city’s key tourism sites for its featuring of the Way of the Cross with giant sculptures dramatizing the final days of the life of Jesus.

Nicknamed the “hill without a hilltop,” Kawa-Kawa Hill’s summit comes as a thin wall that surprisingly encircles a sunken three-hectare plateau, forming a sprawling flat surface that looks like an elegantly-landscaped amphitheater carpeted with carefully-mowed green grasses serving as a playground, activity complex, horseback-riding field and camping site.

Hence, the hill’s name is derived from such natural feature that resembles a “kawa,” the local term for cauldron or Chinese wok.

The top of its rim, however, offers the panoramic view—on the northwestern side—of the entire city sitting amid an expansive green field of rice paddies crisscrossed by irrigation systems deriving water from rivers whose banks are guarded by concrete flood-control structures.

Such scenery draws sighs of confidence that the city, whose development is primarily focused on its agricultural communities, is assured of sufficiency in farm-sourced food supply.

The natural ambience and healthful surroundings offered by Kawa-Kawa Hill is supported by the gentle blowing of the wind that soothes every visitor’s body with cool and refreshing air even during summer when the blooming of sunflowers on established fields all over the place down to street sides, backyards flower gardens and public parks in the city is an impressive sight.

Gonzalez describes the city, his hometown, as a locality with a distinct charm as it has the blend of relaxed atmosphere and a scenic view that soothes the tired mind, mesmerizes the body and delights one’s soul.

Its unspoiled beaches along three coastal barangays offer an alternative to the highly commercialized beaches of Boracay and Palawan as well as business opportunities for possible investors and entrepreneurs for further development into a tourism site, he added.

DepEd Bicol bares list of schools to offer senior high school in 2016

• Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/2591426235699/deped-bicol-bares-list-of-schools-to-offer-senior-high-school-in-2016
• Friday, March 13, 2015

By Joseph John J. Perez (JJJP-PIA5)

LEGAZPI CITY, March 13 (PIA) – The Department of Education (DepEd) confirms that 1,251 schools in Bicol are ready to offer the senior high school (SHS) program under the K to 12 curriculum by 2016.

“These schools, mostly big schools in the provinces, have basic facilities already and have already met the requirements of the SHS program,” DepEd Bicol Curriculum and Learning Management Division Chief Haydee Bolivar told the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) during the “Aramon Ta Daw” (Be Informed)” radio program recently.

Bolivar also clarified that the list is constantly updated as more schools qualify for the SHS program and as other learning institutions express intent in establishing SHS facilities.

In an earlier interview conducted by PIA in the same radio program, DepEd V Education Program Supervisor Cecile Ferro disclosed that the SHS program will offer four components or tracks; academic, technical/ vocational and livelihood (TVL), arts and design, and sports.

Bolivar further clarified that there will be four strands under the academic track, namely, Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and General Academic Strand (GAS).

Camarines Sur leads the provinces with 371 schools qualified to offer SHS followed by Albay with 251 and Sorsogon with 144 schools. Masbate province has 130 schools, Camarines Norte and Catanduanes have 108 schools each for SHS program.

Among the Bicol cities, Sorsogon City has the most number of schools with 35 followed by Legazpi and Tabaco Cities with 22 each, and Naga City with 19. Masbate meanwhile has 16 schools, Iriga City with 13 and Ligao City with 12.

All provinces and cities in the Bicol region have schools that will offer ABM, STEM and GAS under the academic track, and TVL.

However, both Ligao and Masbate Cities do not have any school yet that will offer HUMSS, while Iriga, Legazpi, Masbate and Sorsogon Cities is facing the same case for schools that will offer arts and design track. The same is true with Iriga, Legazpi, Ligao, and Sorsogon Cities with no schools yet to offer sports track under the SHS program.

In Albay, the following schools will offer senior high school: St. Benedict’s Academy, Rapu-Rapu Community College, Oas Community College, Virgin of Carmel High School, Libon Community College, Zamora Memorial College, Republic Colleges of Guinobatan, Inc., Bicol College, Mary’s Child Science Oriented School, Sunshine International School, St. Peter’s Academy, Dominican School of Camalig, Immaculate Conception High School, Carolyna Institute of Technology, Inc., St. Michael Academy and PLT College of Guinobatan.

In Camarines Sur, the schools identified for SHS offering are: La Florianne Institute of Learning, Inc., Pasacao Academy, Inc., Philippine Computer Foundation College, Inc., Mariner’s Polytechnic Colleges Foundation, Colegio De Santa Rita Foundation, Inc., Mataas na Paaralan ng Pagatpatan, St. John The Baptist Institute of Bicol, Inc., Holy Trinity College, WRI Colleges, Partido College, Siena College Tigaon, King Thomas Learning Academy, Inc., Bicol Central Academy, St. Paul Academy, Camarines Science Oriented High School, Inc., Colegio Del Santissimo Rosario, Partido State University and Santa Monica Academy.

In Camarines Norte, Our Lady of Lourdes College Foundation, AMA Computer Learning Center, St. John the Apostle Academy, Calabaca Academy, Manila Bicol South Road Academy, Maria Aurora Academy, Capalonga Institute, La Consolacion College-Daet, and Mabini Colleges confirmed that they will also open SHS.

The Christian Polytechnic Institute and Catanduanes Colleges will offer SHS in the island province of Catanduanes.

In Sorsogon, the following schools will also offer senior high school: AMA Computer Learning Center, Aemilianum College, Inc., St. Louise de Marillac College of Sorsogon, Solis Institute of Technology, Villanueva Gabao Institute, Inc., Estenias Science Foundation School, Inc., Data Base Technology Computer School, Sorsogon Our Lady of Foundation College, Inc. (ACSAT), Meriam College of Technology, Veritas College of Irosin, AMA Computer Learning Center, The Lewis College and the Dominican School of Pilar.

The University of St. Anthony, WRI Colleges and Ceguera Technological Colleges, Inc., in Iriga City will also do the same.

In Masbate, these schools are: Osmeña Colleges, Burias College, Inc., St. Anthony High School Seminary, Liceo de Baleno, Liceo de San Jose, Immaculate Conception Academy, Liceo de Masbate, Liceo de San Jacinto Foundation and Southern Masbate Roosevelt College.

In Legazpi City, the schools are: Informatics Computer Institute, Divine Word College of Legazpi, St. Raphael Academy, Aquinas University of Legazpi, Southern Luzon Technological College Foundation, Inc., Genecom Institute of Science and Technology, Inc., Computer Communication Development Institute, St. Agnes Academy, Datamex Institute of Computer Technology, and Mariners’ Polytechnic Colleges.

In Naga City, Ateneo De Naga University, Naga College Foundation, University of Nueva Caceres, St. Joseph School, WRI Colleges, Universidad de Santa Isabel, Naga Hope Christian School, Mariners Polytechnic College, Concepcion Pequeña National High School and Naga City Montessori School have also SHS offerings.

In Tabaco City, the schools that will offer the senior high school program are: Daniel B. Peña Memorial College Foundation, Informatics Computer Institute, Tabaco College, Computer Communication Development Institute, Polytechnic Institute of Tabaco, Dr. Carlos S. Lanting College, MTC Academy-Albay, Amando Cope College, St. Louise de Marillac School of Tabaco and Carolyna Institute of Technology, Incorporated.

National government allots Php125M for 210 villages in Albay under Barangay Forest Program

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=743828
• Thursday, March 12, 2015

By Nancy Ibo Mediavillo [(PNA), FFC/FGS/NIM/CBD/]

LEGAZPI CITY, March 12 (PNA) -- The national government has allotted Php125 million for the implementation of the Barangay Forest Program (BFP) under the National Greening Program (NGP) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) by virtue of Executive Order No. 26 issued by President Benigno S. Aquino III in 2011 and Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2013-03 of the DENR and the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Imee Baltazar, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer-Albay, said the amount represents the mobilization fund to start the program in Albay.

Each of the 210 barangays will receive Php20,000 for every hectare of land covered by the program, which aims to increase and protect trees in the villages.

Baltazar said that after one year, the barangay local government unit is required to allot fund from its internal revenue allotment.

She said the DENR-Bicol has already evaluated 204 villages included in the program and field personnel of the DENR, DILG and Provincial Government of Albay headed by Governor Joey Sarte Salceda are still evaluating other barangays.

The 204 barangays under the program are well distributed in the three cities and 15 towns of the province, covering 1,492.4798 hectares of land.

These are in Malilipot, 7; Malinao, 8; Sto. Domingo, 6; Tabaco, 9; Tiwi, 12; Daraga, 6; Legazpi, 15; Manito, 12; Rapu-Rapu, 11; Bacacay, 3; Libon, 18; Ligao, 14; Oas, 16; Jovellar, 11; Pioduran, 16; Camalig, 17; Guinobatan, 12; and Polangui, 11.

Ongoing works on Legazpi’s urban drainage system impress DPWH chief

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=743536
• Wednesday, March 11, 2015

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

LEGAZPI CITY, March 11 (PNA) -- Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio Singson was impressed with the on-going construction of the Legazpi City Urban Drainage System (LCUDS) during his visit here on Monday, Mayor Noel E. Rosal said Wednesday.

The LCUDS is considered a mega flood control project of the city administration and the DPWH, with a huge funding of Php2.1 billion from the national government.

The project started with an initial release of Php500 million included in the General Appropriations Act of 2012 followed by another Php300 million in 2014 from Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the DPWH Bicol regional office.

The civil works of the project, now being supervised by the DPWH in coordination with the Legazpi City Engineering Office, include the flood control structure along Tibu and Macabalo rivers to serve as waterways together with the rehabilitation and widening of canals in the main thoroughfare, which removed the old culvert-type canals and replaced these with the new wide box-type canals.

The project also involves the improvement and construction of flood control dikes, drainage systems and sea walls as part of the preparation for the installation of three giant pumping stations in barangays San Roque, Bay-bay and Victory Village.

These pumping facilities will be the first flood-mitigation structure in the Bicolandia patterned after project of the Japan International Cooperation Agency with a capacity of throwing-out three cubic meters of flood waters per second.

Singson disclosed that this flood control project is one of the most important factors in addressing the perennial flooding problems in this city that it will surely work for a quick release of flood waters during rainy seasons.

He said this kind of infrastructure project is the best structure that other local government units need to establish at their own respective areas, especially those localities vulnerable to typhoons and other forms of calamities.

Rosal said in his statement that this anti-flood control project materialized after the city suffered a very unforgettable experience brought by the aftermath of a destructive super typhoon “Reming” in 2006 that resulted in the huge number of casualties and destroyed the agricultural sector in this locality.

The city chief executive revealed that this anti-flood control structure materialized through the project study made by his administration in 2009 and submitted to Malacanang and approved by President Benigno Aquino III in 2010.

He pointed out that all residents along the Macabalo River that will affected by the construction of this drainage system were already relocated by the city administration to the resettlement site in the southern section of this city in Barangay Taysan.

He said these three pumping stations will be closed during heavy rains, high tides and typhoons because the flood waters from the slopes of Mount Mayon and other sources of waters from the rivers of nearby municipalities will be pumped out into the Albay Gulf.

Caravans promoting regional tourism launched

• Source: http://www.philstar.com/travel-and-tourism/2015/03/10/1432091/caravans-promoting-regional-tourism-launched
• Tuesday, March 10, 2015 4:33 pm

By Mike Frialde (philstar.com)

MANILA, Philippines — Tour operators on Tuesday launched a program featuring five major and three minor caravans designed to promote, re-establish, and reinforce tourism activities across selected regions.

The "Islands Philippines Fun Caravans" project of the Philippines Tour Operators Association (PHILTOA) is in line with the "Visit the Philippines 2015" campaign of the Department of Tourism.

PHILTOA is the largest association of registered tour operators, with allied members from various tourism sectors such as airlines, hotels, resorts, tourist transportation, and more.

PHILTOA president Cesar Cruz said the five major caravans are as follows: the Cordillera Heritage Warrior Caravan, which will encompass San Jose, Santa Fe, Lagawe, Banaue, Bontoc, Sagada, and Baguio provinces; the Southern Luzon Kulinarya that will involve the historical province of Cavite, Alaminos, San Pablo, Nagcarlan, Liliw, Majayjay, in the province of Laguna, Lucban, Tayabas, Sariaya, in Quezon province and San Juan in Batangas; the Visayas Charm Caravan that will underscore Bohol, Cebu, and Boracay; the Bicol Express for Naga, Legazpi, Sorsogon, and Misibis; and The Plains and Heights of Central Luzon Caravan, which will put the spotlight on Pinatubo, Tarlac, Baguio, Pangasinan, and Subic.

Meanwhile, the minor caravans are as follows: Rediscover Batanes for the grandness of Batanes’ plateaus; the Northern Palawan Eco Adventure Discovery for the lush islands, pristine coastlines, and cobalt waters of the Calamianes Group of Island; and Hola, Zamboanga for the vibrant culture and diverse landscape of the province.

Each caravan is calendared among different months throughout the year, lasting from three to seven days, depending on the number of municipalities included.

PHILTOA President Cesar Cruz added that the project is designed to provide flexibility in the choices of activities and accommodation in each destination based on the interest and affordability of the participants.

"The Island Philippines Fun Caravans will accommodate both foreign and local markets, where they can choose to bring their own vehicles or avail the caravan vehicle, of course, only if the destinations can be accessed via land transportation," Cruz said.

"The participants also have the option to avail of the accommodations that will be announced prior to the trip—campsite, lodging houses, hostels, or star-rated properties," he added.

Cruz said the caravans are meant to become interactive and participative, with programs that will encourage them to interact and immerse themselves in local communities.

Participants in the caravans will also be given dummy passports which will be stamped by the participating local government unit. There will also be mini-trade fairs, a festive welcome reception and other community-based activities showing off the best spots and emerging lifestyle and travel trends in municipalities included in the itinerary.

"As our tourism industry further shapes up through 'Visit the Philippines 2015', PHILTOA wanted to contribute through this caravan project, which aims to provide an effective platform for the promotion of different tourist destinations across the country," Cruz explained.

DOH Bicol organizes RH Regional Information Team

• Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/2591425871585/doh-bicol-organizes-rh-regional-information-team
• Monday, March 9, 2015

By Joseph John J. Perez (MAL/JJP-PIA5)

LEGAZPI CITY, March 9 (PIA) – The Department of Health (DoH) and the Commission on Population (POPCOM) Bicol regional offices has organized last week the Regional Implementation Team (RIT) to popularize and ensure implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) Law in the region.

The creation of RIT complies with Administrative Order No. 2015-0002 issued by DoH Acting Secretary Janette Garin on January 26 this year.

Also last week, the duo agencies led the orientation on the RPRH law which is also known as Republic Act 10354 among RIT members and other partner agencies which are identified in the said directive.

The AO provides that the DoH regional director will act as chairperson while the POPCOM regional director as co-chair and head of the RIT secretariat, together with representatives from the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Local Government Unit from Regional Development Council and representatives from civil society organizations (CSOs).

In Bicol, the RIT will be headed by both DOH RD Dr. Gloria Balboa and POPCOM RD Magdalena Abellera and will include other government agencies such as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), National Nutrition Council (NNC), and the Philippine Information Agency (PIA).

According to DoH Bicol Family Health cluster head Dr. Rita Mae Ang, the RIT shall manage the dissemination and implementation of all issuances pursuant to RPRH Law and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) at the regional and field levels.

Garin’s directive also defined the following tasks and functions of the RIT, that are, to coordinate the actions of the regional agencies implementing the law and its IRR in the areas of policy development, capacity building, advocacy, education, information, health service delivery, field operations, monitoring and evaluation; monitor the implementation and evaluate the impact of RPRH law and its IRR at the regional and field levels; organize, supervise and provide technical, financial and logistical support for field operations and monitoring and evaluation activities regionwide;

Craft an annual unified regional work and financial plan for RPRH Law implementation integrating resources from all members of the RIT; provide reports and recommendations to the National Implementing Team (NIT) to improve the implementation and impact of the RPRH law and its IRR in the region, among others.

Ang said that the creation of the RIT and NIT is in response to the need to establish a structure which will manage the implementation of the RPRH law and its IRR.

Earlier, Garin issued Department Personnel Order No. 2015-0200 on January 2015 designating member of the NIT with former Secretary of Health Dr. Esperanza Cabral as chairperson, DoH Assistant Secretary Dr. Paulyn Jean Ubial as co-chairperson and Executive Director Dr. Juan Antonio Perez III as vice-chairperson and head of secretariat.

Other members of the NIT are: Dr. Irma Concepcion of DOH’s Disease Prevention and Control Bureau, Director Ella Nalipoguit of DepEd, Director Margarita Sampang of DSWD, Senior Vice President Ruebn John Basa of PhilHealth, Undersecretary Florencia Casanova-Dorotan of National Anti-Poverty Commission, Executive Director Emmeline Versoza of Philippine Commission on Women, Deputy Executive Director mateo Lee, Jr. of the National Council on Disability Affairs, Governor Alfonso Umali, Jr. of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, and Executive Director Junice Demeterio – Melgar, CSO representative of the secretariat.

The RPRH law and its IRR have been deemed effective with the lifting of the Status Quo Ante Order by the Supreme Court last April 8, 2014, Garin’s directive stated.

Salceda credits Albay green economy to Albayanos’ social cohesion as resilient, committed human race

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=8&rid=742513
• Sunday, March 8, 2015

By Nancy Ibo Mediavillo [(PNA), CTB/FGS/NIM/CBD/SSC]

LEGAZPI CITY, March 8 (PNA) -– The world recognizes the green economy of Albay owing to the solid action of the Albayanos towards one objective and one direction -- like development.

Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda gave the credit to his provincemates during the launch on Saturday of the Barangay Forest Program under the National Greening Program of President Benigno S. Aquino III as mandated in his Executive Order No. 26 issued in 2011.

The Barangay Forest Program is a joint undertaking by the Provincial Government of Albay and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources headed by Secretary Ramon Paje, who also attended the occasion.

The program targets the planting of 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares of land all over the country up to 2016.

“Albay's green economy is the product of the Albayanos’ social cohesion as resilient, committed and adoptive human race,” Salceda claimed.

He disclosed that even President Francois Hollande of France and his entourage expressed deep appreciation of the what the Albayanos have been doing.

"We invested in nature instead of contingency," the green economist said.

For the past 20 years since l994, he said, there have been 300 typhoons that hit the province but Albay stood solid and refused to yield, arising each time a typhoon comes to reach what they have have attained now.

Salceda said every member of the Albay community has a role and contribution in the protection of the environment like mangrove forest plantation and protection.

The mangroves could contribute a lot to lessen the carbon being emitted into the air and the impact of strong typhoons.

The Albay chief executive officer said that in the past seven years, Albay’s forest cover increased up to 88 percent while mangrove plantation spread from only 700 hectares to 2,400 hectares.

He added that palay production shot up from 147,900 metric tons (MT) in 2008 to 228,080 MT in 2014, resulting in Albay’s rice sufficiency level of 93.7 percent.

Salceda said that for seven months, 50 whale sharks, locally known as butanding, have not left the waters of Sto. Domingo and other parts of Albay Gulf owing to the presence of plankton and other food that they feed on.

Based on studies, he said, mangrove plantations increase production of food for fish or enhance the productivity of food fish breeding.

The immediate past co-chair of the Green climate Fund said the number of foreign tourists that came to Albay ballooned from 8,700 in 2006 to 339,000 in 2014.

The province posted a 49-percent growth rate in foreign tourist arrival in 2012 and 66 percent in 2013.

"These natural calamities like typhoon, Mayon volcano eruption and our own problems are all given but it’s what we do about them that essentially shapes the direction and complexion of human welfare in Albay. The trade secret of Albay is unity.

It means Albayanos are always ready to unite. We have that social cohesion that allows people not to surrender but to commit and unite behind good goals," Salceda stressed as he thanked everybody who has helped in achieving his mission for the province of Albay and the Albayanos.

Officials elated by study result that excludes Legazpi from most hazardous cities

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=742308
• Saturday, March 7, 2015

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

LEGAZPI CITY, March 7 (PNA) -– A study whose result excluded this key Bicol metropolis near the foot of the active Mayon Volcano from among the 10 world cities most exposed to natural hazards — eight of them in the Philippines and one in the region - has drawn a deep sigh of relief from among its local officials.

“That proves that indeed, ours is among the three most livable cities in the country as officially recognized and has graduated from being highly prone to natural disasters like volcanic eruptions, storms, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides,” City Mayor Noel Rosal on Saturday told the Philippines News Agency here.

According to a recent report of Reuters, eight of 10 world cities most exposed to natural hazards are in the Philippines -- namely, Tuguegarao in Cagayan which ranked second in the 10; Lucena in Quezon Province, third; Manila, fourth; San Fernando in Pampanga, fifth; Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija, sixth; Batangas, seventh; San Carlos (no province mentioned in the report), ninth; and Naga in Camarines Sur (Bicol), tenth.

Topping the 10 is Port Vila in Vanuatu while Taipei was ranked 8th in the study, published on Wednesday by risk analysis firm Verisk Maplecroft which assessed the threat posed by storms, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, landslides and fires in more than 1,300 cities worldwide, the Reuters report said.

The Philippines, besides being hit by at least 20 typhoons every year, is exposed to these other natural hazards and the risk, according to the report, is compounded by poor institutional and societal capacity to manage, respond and recover from such disastrous events.

The Philippines is considered “high risk” in terms of the country’s ability to manage and mitigate the impacts of natural hazard and in part due to “entrenched corruption and high levels of poverty,” the report added.

“It is very pleasing to know that our city is spared from these negative descriptions labelled by the study on the country in terms of its capacity towards dealing with natural hazards and disasters as we have been able to institutionalize risk mitigation, resilience and good practices, including local government’s actions towards calamity preparedness and response,” Rosal said.

Wilfredo “Pecos’ Intia, the city administrator and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (DRRMC) action officer, said that a proof to these achievements of the city government was its being named national champion in 2013 Gawad Kalasag Awards of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

One of its barangays, Oro Site, was also chosen national champion in the urbanized barangay category in the same award during the same year.

Gawad Kalasag is being given yearly in recognition of excellence in disaster risk reduction and management and humanitarian assistance.

Kalasag stands for Kalamidad at Sakuna, Labanan, Sariling Galing ang Kaligtasan.

Last year, the city and Barangay Oro Site were once again chosen Gawad Kalasag regional champions along with two other institutions based in the locality—the Barangay Buraguis Day Care Center (BDCC) and the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital (BRTTH)--in their respective categories and are now competing in the national search whose results are yet to be announced.

“We are expecting to surpass our previous year’s number of winners in this ongoing search with these four bets that we have,” Intia said.

This city was also named the second most livable, next to Iloilo, defeating Cebu which landed in the third place in last year’s search called the Liveable Cities Design Challenge.

The competition was organized by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2015 National Organizing Council NOC), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Reconstruction (ASSURE) and Asia Society and Urban Land Institute (ULI).

It was organized in response to the urgency of dealing with climate change by way of getting city planners across the Philippines to be more aware and better prepared for disaster-risk reduction and by holding it, its organizers have been able to start a movement for better urban planning across the country to make cities fun, vibrant, and safe places to live, work, invest in and visit.

It can be recalled that the city suffered the catastrophic impact of two super typhoons — Milenyo and Reming -- that battered in late 2006 the place as severely as if it was the doomsday, killing over 1,000 residents.

In 1993, 75 persons mostly farmers of this city also perished when caught by the eruption of Mt. Mayon while farming at its lower slope.

But amid those devastating scenarios, Intia said, the badly shaken spirit of the city regained its composure promptly and the herculean character its administration has developed for the local government and instilled among the governed swiftly roused back to work.

“Life does not only continue to bloom now in this city after those disasters. It has also been getting livelier as we in the city administration continue to nourish its climate resilience, livable character and booming economy while exploring more opportunities to rise high. It is now known in the world as the City of Fun and Adventure, minus the risk of disasters” Rosal said.

Indeed, Legaspi has already transformed itself from the remains of natural calamities into a world-class city with an influx of investments and tourism-related developments and asserting these gains, among others, is the tremendous growth in the local tourism industry that placed the city among today’s leading travel destinations in the country, he added.

DOST seeks more Bicol students in ‘Pisay’ scholarship

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=742067
• Friday, March 6, 2015

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

LEGAZPI CITY, March 6 (PNA) – The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) regional office for Bicol here wants more Bicolano youth to be scholars of “Pisay”-- the nickname coined out of endearment by students, alumni, management and even parents of students for the Philippine Science High School System (PSHSS).

As a way of broadening the government’s prospects in building a pool of science and technology (S&T) experts who will someday become the country’s leaders, the DOST-Bicol is reaching out to the youth who may be less fortunate but can be competitive in the fields of science, mathematics and engineering, Regional Director Tomas Briñas on Friday said.

To qualify, graduating elementary pupils should apply for admission and take the qualifying examinations given nationwide before the end of the current school-year and passers in Bicol will be assured of slots in the next schoolyear at the PSHSS Bicol Regional Campus (BRC) in Goa, Camarines Sur, Briñas said.

Pisay’s National Competitive Exam (NCE), he explained, is a scholastic aptitude test designed to measure the scientific ability, quantitative ability, abstract reasoning and verbal aptitude of applicants.

PSHSS is a specialized public high school operating under the DOST and founded in 1964 to offer scholarship for high school students who will be trained towards careers in science and engineering.

It currently has 13 campuses all over the country, with three additional campuses to be opened by 2016.

The newest campus--PSHS-CALABARZON will open in June this year in Batangas City.

In Bicol and its regional campus established in 1998 within a six-hectare site in Barangay Tagontong, Goa, caters primarily to scientifically and mathematically gifted high school students of the region composed of the provinces of Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate and Sorsogon.

Its latest population is composed of 360 scholars, Brinas said.

“Pisay scholars are not just intelligent students. They should be excellent in science, math and engineering to help them cope with the school’s academic standard,” he said.

An explanation on how it is to qualify for Pisay scholarship makes one appreciate the school’s Php140,000 per student spending per year.

To qualify, an applicant should have an above average score in all of the four exam categories.

For example, in one category, if the average score of all 23,000 applicants is 60, then one has to get an above 60 score and even if he or she gets 100 percent in one category, but gets a below average score in another category, the applicant is automatically disqualified, Briñas explained.

Qualifiers get ranked -- the main campus in Diliman, Quezon City gets the top 240 qualifiers among its applicants and each regional Pisay campus admitting the top 90 qualifiers in their respective areas.

Such stringent qualification requirement is just the beginning as all throughout the schooling of Pisay students, they get immersed in science, mathematics and research without saying that they are all academics as they also get very good grounding in humanities, arts, social sciences and sports.

In his call for more applicants to the scholarship grant, the DOST regional chief said the PSHSS national management headed by executive director Larry Cabatic wants to accommodate more qualifiers from less fortunate families as a number of past qualifiers from well-off families prefer to enroll in more expensive schools, anyway.

It was reported that 10 years ago, 90 percent of Pisay qualifiers were from private schools and privileged families but it went down lately to 60, hence, the PSHSS management now intends to focus on students who really need and deserve to study in the country’s premier S&T secondary school, according to Briñas.

And how much does the government pay for these students called “Iskolar ng Bayan (public scholar)”?

According to Ma. Concepcion Sacay, finance chief of the PSHSS, its13 campuses as a whole have a budget of around Php1.5 billion in 2015—a big chunk of it goes to the students who receive monthly stipends worth Php500 to Php4,000, depending on their financial needs.

But rich or not, they are all given free books to be returned at the end of the school year, Sacay said, adding that other benefits include the annual Php1,800 uniform allowance and one-time round-trip transportation allowance to those eligible.

The DOST, according to Sacay, does not look at these spending as expenses but an investment since the government is investing for the future of these students—who are groomed as the future country leaders, though not in politics.

“I always tell our students that if you will be good, for example, in medicine, leaders will come to you for medical treatment. In that way, you become a leader yourself because you influence those who are on the top,” Cabatic said

Pisay scholars are the leaders of tomorrow and they can influence the future of the country, he explained.

PNP-Bicol gets 49 new patrol motorcycles

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=741787
• Thursday, March 5, 2015

(PNA), LAP/FGS/AMM/CBD/EDS

LEGAZPI CITY, March 5 (PNA) -- At least 49 patrol motorcycles were delivered at the Police Regional Office 5 (PRO5) at Camp Gen. Simeon A. Ola here, Thursday.

Police Senior Insp. Malu Calubaquib, PRO5 spokesperson, said the region is one of the beneficiaries out of the total of 806 units of motorcycle 125cc being distributed to Philippine National Police (PNP) offices in several regions.

Calubaquib said 14 of the motorcycles will be for the Albay Provincial Police Office, 6 for Camarines Norte PPO, 10 for Camarines Sur PPO, 3 for Catanduanes PPO, 9 for Masbate PPO, 3 for Sorsogon PPO and 4 for Naga City Police Office.

“This will augment the patrol vehicles to hasten police mobilization, especially for patrolling initiative,” she said.

Calubaquib said the move of the PNP has being done for the past years to assure peace and security in the community.

The PNP-Bicol spokesperson noted that some of their police officers are using their own vehicles, especially motorcycles, while on duty.

She admitted that in most cases, their personnel are spending their own money for the expenses of their transportation.

The schedule of the formal turnover to different police offices is yet to be scheduled.

NIA says Bicol ready to meet dry season with efficient irrigation systems

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=11&rid=741322
• Wednesday, March 4, 2015

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

LEGAZPI CITY, March 4 (PNA) – The regional office for Bicol of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said most of the region’s rice farms are now ready to meet the coming dry season this year with the good number of working irrigation systems put in place over the past four years.

So far, around 318,000 hectares of rice fields in the region, which is a significant improvement from the 255,00 hectares in 2012 are already covered by irrigations, Eduardo Yu, the NIA regional spokesman based in Naga City, said in a statement reaching here Wednesday.

During the past two years alone, the administration of President Benigno Aquino III, through the Department of Agriculture (Da) and NIA, poured in to Bicol over Php2 billion in funds for the establishment of new irrigation structures and restoration/rehabilitation of the old ones covering this bigger area of rice land, according to Yu.

Among the new big irrigation projects the NIA has recently established in the region are the Ibingan in Prieto Diaz, Sorsogon, covering some 700 hectares of rice fields, and the Sibagat Reservoir in Minalabac, Camarines Sur, covering a total of 262 hectares within the Bicol River Basin, Yu said.

In Camarines Norte, he said, NIA is maintaining 10 irrigation systems and assisting 35 communal irrigation facilities being run by irrigators' associations—all covering over 7,000 hectares of paddies or 38 percent of the province’s total rice area.

All over Albay, especially its third congressional district which is considered as the province’s rice granary, Yu said, small and large irrigation facilities are in place and working well, owing to the efforts of Congressman Fernando Gonzalez who has been closely coordinating with NIA in the assignment of projects where they are needed most.

With the dry season expected weeks away, Yu said his agency is confident it has made the region more prepared insofar as rice production is concerned, given these irrigation facilities and the good farming practices that Bicol farmers have already embraced against the impacts of climate change.

“All the farmers should do is follow the planting calendar—sowing by the start of the year and aiming to harvest by March of April then start with the next cropping season during the exit of summer in June for them to harvest by September or October,” he said.

In case of a longer summer or a dry spell, these irrigation facilities would play the role of maintaining the water supply for paddies even as Bicol farmers already know how to be flexible with their cropping schedules like moving their May-June rice planting period to July-August, in time for the onset of the rainy season and harvest by November-December.

With this, the region is expected to sustain its rice self-sufficient (RSS) status first achieved in 2013 that saw a production growth rate of 5.96 percent over 2012 for a 102.19-percent RSS level based on the regional production of over one million metric tons (MT) as against the regional consumption of around 822,000 MT.

In 2014, almost the same level of RSS was achieved by the region notwithstanding the long summer and the coming of three typhoons successively between July and November, by harvesting about 1.3 million MT for an over 100-percent RSS, according to DA records.

Even with those irrigation systems already established, Yu said, putting up of more facilities in the region are in progress out of the Php535 million funds allocated to the NIA regional office by the DA this year.

This amount is for a total of 212 projects across the region’s six provinces like the construction of new systems, rehabilitation of existing but run-down facilities and restoration of non-operating ones, Yu said.

The total amount is divided among the region’s six provinces, with Camarines Sur getting the biggest share of Php166 million; followed by Albay, Php135 million; Sorsogon, Php110.7 million; Camarines Norte, Php57 million; Masbate, Php40.6 million; and Catanduanes, Php26 million.

Camarines Sur’s allocation is for the restoration and rehabilitation works to maximize the irrigation of a total of around 911 hectares and the construction of new structures to service an additional 62 hectares of irrigable rice fields.

The province has the biggest rice area with 158,348, hectares supplying 45 percent of the regional rice regional requirement, followed by Albay with 48,638 hectares; Masbate, 39,148; Sorsogon, 33,804; Camarines Norte, 20,671; and Catanduanes 12,993 hectares.

All in all, this new fund for Bicol, Yu said, covers the establishment of new irrigation structures for 378 hectares and restoration, repair and rehabilitation of paddy water services for 2,700 hectares.

He said the implementation of this year’s projects in Bicol are more focused on restoration and improvement of existing irrigation systems as they could be immediately done since they no longer need feasibility studies as required by the construction of new ones.

Although smaller than the previous years’ budget, he said, this new allocation for Bicol could already help maximize the region’s contribution to the vigorous pursuit of the Aquino administration of its Food Staples Sufficiency Program (FSSP) for the country.

Hollande impressed by Albay Green Economy program

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=1&rid=740869
• Tuesday, March 3, 2015

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

LEGAZPI CITY, March 3 (PNA) -- French President Francois Hollande and his entourage have admitted being profoundly impressed by Albay’s Green Economy, a pioneering economic program on sustainable development and poverty alleviation hinged on environment protection.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda presented the program, along with his province’s much acclaimed climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies during a state dinner tendered by President Aquino in Malacanang last February 26 for Hollande and his delegation.

The French President was in the Philippines February 26 and 27, to drum up support for action on climate change ahead of his country’s hosting of the 21st Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or COP 21 in Paris in December this year.

Salceda summed up the gains of the green economy for Albay as: Zero casualty during disasters in 18 to 20 years, increased forest cover by 88% in seven years, increase in mangrove areas from 700 hectares to 2,400 hectares, increase in rice production — despite weather disturbances — from 147,291 metric tons in 2008 to 200,088 metric tons in 2013 through proper use of water resources, contributed 250 MW of geothermal, with 650 MW potential, investments in environment, enhanced ecotourism which hiked foreign tourists inflow from 8,700 in 2006 to 339,000 in 2013.

As Bicol Regional Development Council (RDC) chair and applying the green economic principle, Salceda has transformed his region into a fastest growing region in 2013 at 9.4% growth rate as against the 7.4% national average growth.

Apart from Hollande’s compliments, Albay Green Economy has also earned praises from 2008 Oscar Best Actress Marion Cotillard, now a leading climate change adaptation campaigner, who was with the French President’s delegation.

The actress said she heard a moving speech delivered by Salceda during the state dinner, where the governor discussed his province’s economic program. “It was a very passionate, beautiful speech that inspired us to make a stand,” she said, adding the “green economy is a solution to climate change, that is not only possible but imperative.”

The governor was invited to the affair to “contribute to the ongoing discourse on the development of disaster preparedness measures among local and national governments,” since Albay is a “model for best practices in disaster risk management and prevention not only for local government units in the Philippines, but for the rest of the world,” the French Embassy invitation said. Hollande personally congratulated Salceda, primarily for his achievements as CCA and DRR champion, and for Albay’s outstanding ‘Zero Casualty’ records during disasters.

President Aquino introduced Salceda to Hollande, referring to Albay as “a highway for typhoons but which consistently achieves zero casualty.”

"President Hollande congratulated me,” Salceda said, and I told him I was elected Green Climate Fund (GCF) chair… in Paris in October 2013. And I thanked him for making climate change the focus of his state visit, and France for being the second largest contributor of USD 1 billion to the GCF, during my term”, Salceda said.

France had favorably supported the GCF since its inception and made the USD 1 billion contribution during Salceda’s one-year term, 2013 to 2014, as chairman for Southeast Asia and the Developing Countries.

Salceda was named by UN as its Global Champion for CCA and DRR, and Albay as the Global Model.

Albay to establish barangay forests

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=740526
• Monday, March 2, 2015

By Mike de la Rama [(PNA), FPV/FGS/MDR/CBD/]

LEGAZPI CITY, March 2 (PNA) – The Provincial Government of Albay will start this month the establishment of barangay forests province- wide in support to the National Greening Program towards the implementation and attainment of the national government target of planting 1.5 billion seedlings nationwide.

Arnold Embestro, Provincial Environment Natural Resources Officer (ENRO) said the program aimed to establish sustainable trees in every barangays maintained by local residents.

“The livelihood component in this program is to allow local residents through their barangay officials to maintain and grow their trees and they will be paid depending on the number of trees grown.”

In the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Interior and Local Government joint Memorandum Circular there are 1.5 million hectares of public domain that will be established as barangay forests and portion of which will be utilized as nurseries to produce planting materials.

Embestro explained that aside from sustaining the environment, this (program) will help unemployed individuals to earn a living. He added that the development of the plantation should be guided by the NGP guidelines and commodity roadmap for calendar year 2013 to 2016 .

“The participating municipalities and barangays shall be responsible for the protection and maintenance of the areas they have developed,” Embestro said.

An agreement with the recipients will be entered into by both parties with the general provision: funds provided by the DENR under this Agreement shall be used by the Recipient Barangay exclusively for the conduct of said activities consistent with the work and financial plan.

Maintenance and protection of the developed areas under this Agreement shall be the conducted by the participating Barangay and funds thereof shall be provided by the participating Municipal and Barangay governments to ensure high survival of the established plantation.

Albayanos trek barefoot for Lenten atonement

• Source: http://www.manilatimes.net/albayanos-trek-barefoot-for-lenten-atonement/166489/
• Sunday, March 1, 2015 9:03 pm

By RHAYDZ B. BARCIA

LIGAO CITY: A month before the Lenten season, devout Filipino Catholics in Albay province made an atonement for their sins in various ways—some by flagellation, others by fasting and others by joining processions on foot as they trekked the “hill without a hilltop” over Kawa-Kawa hill. This Lenten season, the prelate, priests, nuns along with 6,000 youth and Rep. Fernando Gonzalez of Albay walked on barefoot under the heat of the sun for 6th Diocesan Way of the Cross held at 2:00 PM in Kawa-Kawa Hill this city. The trekking on foot was led by Bishop Joey “Bong” Baylon of the diocese of Legazpi.