Batanes News January 2012

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Batanes Province

Wars of ancient history were about possessions, territory, power, control, family, betrayal, lover's quarrel, politics and sometimes religion.

But we are in the Modern era and supposedly more educated and enlightened .

Think about this. Don't just brush off these questions.

  • Why is RELIGION still involved in WARS? Isn't religion supposed to be about PEACE?
  • Ask yourself; What religion always campaign to have its religious laws be accepted as government laws, always involved in wars and consistently causing WARS, yet insists that it's a religion of peace?

WHY??

There are only two kinds of people who teach tolerance:
  1. The Bullies. They want you to tolerate them so they can continue to maliciously deprive you. Do not believe these bullies teaching tolerance, saying that it’s the path to prevent hatred and prejudice.
  2. The victims who are waiting for the right moment to retaliate. They can’t win yet, so they tolerate.
Oldest House in Ivana.jpg
Oldest house in Ivana, Batanes

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.


NPC Awards P4.2-B Supply Contracts

State-run National Power Corporation has awarded P4.2 billion worth of supply contracts to four petroleum companies which shall deliver the fuel requirements of its Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) for this year.

The biggest of the contracts went to Petron Corporation for P2.44 billion. Its fuel deliveries will be for NPC-SPUG assets in Calayan islands; as well as North Luzon, Quezon and Mindoro/Romblon jurisdictions.

Oil major Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation cornered the other hefty contract of P1.16 billion; and its supply area coverage will be Basco in Batanes, Marinduque, and also the Mindoro and Romblon areas.

Independent player Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. cornered a supply deal of P550.57 million for the fuel needs of Power Barge 113; while Filpride Resources Inc. of the Villavicencio group got a P92.93-million share in the supply pie.

Tender documents would show that the approved budget cost for the fuel requirements awarded was at P6.273 billion, higher than the total cost cornered for the supply deals.

The volume auctioned by the power firm hovered at 138,502 kiloliters; comprising of 116,301 kiloliters of diesel and 22,201 kiloliters of fuel oil.

The other delivery points assigned to Phoenix Petroleum will be the NPC-SPUG facilities in Western Mindanao and Eastern Mindanao.

The SPUG areas to be supplied by Filpride Resources, on the other, will be part of northern Luzon as well as the Palanan and Casiguran (Aurora) cluster.

NPC noted the volume of contracts awarded will already cover the fuel needs of its off-grid facility operations for the whole duration of 2012.

Since the privatization of its assets, NPC’s residual mandate would be to reinforce the provision of electricity in off-grid and far-flung areas.

With the financial strain it suffered last year that hamstrung its fuel procurement strategies, the company is making sure that it will not be saddled with the same dilemma this year so the SPUG areas will not be threatened again with power interruptions.

TESDA sets first ever training course on tour guiding in Batanes

BASCO, Batanes- The Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA) will be conducting the first ever training course on tour guiding in the province starting January 21.

Juanita Acacio TESDA administrative officer said the training is set for 196 hours or 25 days at the TESDA-supervised school, the Batanes Technical Skills Development Center.

Acacio said the tour guiding course is designed to enhance knowledge, skills and attitudes of an individual in the field of tour guiding services (TGS) national certificate (NC) ll, such as coordinating tour program/ itinerary; guiding and accompanying tourists in the locality in accordance with industry standards.

“The course will cover basic, common and core competencies so that TESDA will no longer hire tour guiding trainers from outside Batanes in the future trainings because the product of this training could already serve as future trainers,” Acacio after this tour guiding training course.

The lead lecturer on tour guiding will be Dr. Florecita Barsana Acacio, an Australia-based Ivatan. She is the hospitality management consultant, and University of the Philippines curriculum consultant on hospitality management.

The local trainers are National Certificate (NC II) holders Rogelio Doplito, an employee of the provincial government, and Juliet Cataluña, a national broadsheet correspondent.

Doplito is a private part time tour guide for the past eight years, tour guiding local and foreign tourists to historical sites in Batanes Islands. On the other hand, Cataluña was the former chairman of the Batanes Eco-tourism cooperative for five years and had been tour guiding in her private capacity for the past seven years.

Batanes colleges accredit courses under TESDA ladderized education program

BASCO, Batanes- The Batanes State College (BSC) and Saint Dominic College (SDC) have accredited courses under the ladderized education program of the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA).

Juanita Acacio, TESDA administrative officer said eight courses in BSC and two courses in SDC have been granted National Certificate (NC) level II.

The Batanes State College offers courses such as food and beverage services, automotive servicing, plumbing, consumer electronics, bar tending, food processing and baking while the Saint Dominic College offers Automotive servicing and computer hardware servicing.

With their accreditation to National Certificate II, Acacio said, their scholars obtained NC II eligibility through assessment tests in oral, written and practicum.

Scholars who passed the assessment tests use the NC II as passport for work in prestigious companies in the province or in Metro Manila.

Acacio said some of their scholars in Baking and Food Services are employed at the St. Dominic College Canteen and Bakery Inc., and at the Octagon Bed and Dine both located in Basco.

The TESDA scholarship programs have reduced financial burden for the Ivatan average earners because their children enjoy free tuition fee in local college institutions. They have free transportation expenses and pay minimal boarding fees. (TCB/NGA/PIA Batanes)

Juanita Acacio Administrative officer of TESDA says two schools in Batanes namely, the Batanes State College and the St. Dominic College have accredited their courses under the TESDA ladderized education program.

Municipal health office brings health services closer to Itbayat Island residents

ITBAYAT, Batanes- Residents of this island municipality are now reaping the benefits of the innovations on health services brought by municipal health officer Dr. Allan Sande.

Beneficiary Rosalia Castillo said they are touched by the efforts of Sande, a non-Ivatan physician from Cagayan de Oro who is serving the people of Itbayat like his own townmates.

He initiated regular visits or reach-out medical activities to far-flung barangays like Yauran and Raele (San Jose) every Friday from 2:00 to 5:00 pm.

Sande also scheduled a regular check up for malnourished children in Itbayat with the assistance of rural health nurses. He likewise conducted lectures on healthy lifestyles among the parents of the children.

The residents said Sande’s innovation brought convenience to the families of the far-flung barangays, who could not afford to bring their children to the hospital for check up.

Congressional District Office completes tree planting target

BASCO, Batanes- The greening program implementation of the Congressional District Office (CDO) dubbed as Heritage Tree Planting Project has already completed its commitment to plant 319,000 seedlings from August to December 2011.

According to CDO greening program coordinator Edwin Abulencia, from August to November CDO planted 165,526 seedings and the remaining 153,474 seedlings were planted in December.

The seedlings were planted by the CDO casual employees who were assigned in all barangays of the six municipalities.

The CDO has prioritized watersheds in the 6 municipalities and along the national roads as tree planting sites. The group also replaced the growing trees that were affected by the widening of roads.

The national greening project coordinator said they took advantage of the rains from October to December for their tree planting activities.

Batanes State College sustains adopt fishing village project

BASCO, Batanes- The Batanes State College (BSC), in coordination with the local government of Mahatao headed by Mayor Pedro F. Poncio, has adopted Diura Fishing Village of Mahatao town, aimed at training the village fishermen or the mataws on processing of surimi products, tocino, fish ball and longganisa out of “Dibang,” or common flying fish.

The Diura fishing village has 37 families, all seasoned fishermen who are well-known in Mahatao for their abundant catch. They are all members of the Diura Fishermen’s Association.

The adoption of the said fishing village took place in 2010 and it is now catering the school’s fishing processing program with the integration of vegetable production and root crops and meat processing.

Inspired by the existing income-generating fish ponds in the village operated by the local government of Mahatao, BSC has constructed a fish laboratory farm in Diura that specializes in tilapia hatchery operation to provide the needed fingerlings aimed at boosting the aqua culture in the province.

BSC faculty member Arlene Bermejo said that as their adoptive institution, BSC is continuously providing the Diura fishing village with services and trainings on disaster preparedness, vegetable and root crops production, meat processing and fish processing and preservation.

“Common to fisher folks is preserving fish by drying. But after the fish processing training, they produced processed fish,” Bermejo noted.

Every Christmas holidays, the BSC family also expresses gratitude to the residents of Diura fishing village through program and gift giving both in kind and in cash.

First national museum in Batanes inaugurated

BASCO, Batanes- The first national museum in Batanes located at the old Long Range Naval (LORAN) station in Barangay Imnajbu, Uyugan, 25 kilometers south of Basco, was inaugurated last January 7.

Dr. Ana Labrador of the national museum in Manila said that establishing a museum in Batanes is a pride of the province and a jumping point of visitors to visit a place.

She also said that the function of a museum is to give information, give access to exhibition of artifacts that may be supported by a publication, programs of series of lectures, seminars and other activities.

“The museum is expected to draw tourists because it is educational, it allows viewers to learn how people survived in the past,” Labrador said.

During the groundbreaking ceremonies, a mini exhibit of local artifacts was also held which made the event more colorful.

A team from the national museum in Manila, who conducted ocular inspection last October, said the rehabilitation and restructuring would take about a year which is why the anticipated opening of the national museum is targeted in 2013.

NFA Ships Emergency Rice Supply to Batanes

The National Food Authority [NFA] has shipped a total of 2,000 bags of rice to Batanes to effectively augment the food security inventory in the province.

According to NFA, the emergency rice shipment was made in the wake of the dwindling commercial rice stocks in the province caused by the difficulty in transporting rice through the shipping route crossing the Balintang Channel.

The difficulty in crossing the Balintang Channel has discouraged the commercial traders to continue with their regular rice shipments.

To mobilize rice transport, the NFA hired MV SAVERS, a commercial ship which, unfortunately, also experienced difficulty in crossing Balintang channel and therefore had to dock at Calayan island.

As part of emergency protocols, on December 30, the NFA through the Department of Agriculture coordinated with the Department of National Defense to airlift some 200 bags of rice to the province using the C-130 of the Philippine Air Force.

The rice airlift temporarily addressed the tightness in supply problems until the main shipment arrived on January 1 when the MV SAVERS had finally crossed Balintang Channel.

The NFA emphasized it will continue to perform its mandate to provide emergency supply source in areas anywhere in the country wanting supply of the staple.

In the case of Batanes, the agency will remain committed to supply additional buffer stocks as long as there is a problem in the supply of commercial rice in the area.

DSWD mandates provision of comfort rooms in all day care centers

BASCO, Batanes- Municipal Local Government operations Officer Eunicia Gato said that local government units should provide built-in comfort rooms in all day care centers in their respective municipalities.

In the ongoing monitoring activity of LGU Basco for the search for model barangay, the monitoring teams included in the set of criteria the presence of a built-in comfort room at the day care centers for the safety, sanitation and convenience of day care pupils.

As of November 2011, only four of the six day care centers in Basco complied with the construction of comfort room in the day care centers. These are barangays San Antonio, San Joaquin, Kayvaluganan and Kayhuvukan.

The other two barangay are in the process of constructing comfort rooms and the day care pupils are still using a separate structure near the day care centers.

Basco mayor stands pat on curfew for minors

BASCO, Batanes- Basco mayor Demetrius Paul C. Narag said he will continue to to implement the curfew for minors in the municipality.

In the recent multi-sectoral advocacy, information and education campaign, Narag said the implementation of the curfew is to ensure the safety and welfare of the minors, and to lessen the occurrence of teenage pregnancies and crimes which involve children in Basco.

Narag also sought the cooperation of business establishments, especially the computer and internet shops to strictly observe the curfew hours particularly 9:00 p.m. for minors l2 yrs. old and below and l0:00 to l2:00 pm for minors l3 to l7 years old.

Some businessmen said closing at 10:00 p.m. means income cutting but Narag said he is bent on running after the violators.

The mayor said that although there is a bigger number of business establishments who complied than those who do not, there is a need to continuously advocate for the 100 percent compliance of the municipal ordinance.

Narag also sought the support of the provincial and municipal social welfare and development officers, schools, churches, media, police personnel, PTCA officials and all agencies in Basco to exert efforts for the proper implementation of the curfew.

DPWH reports completed infra projects in Batanes

BASCO, Batanes- About six infrastructure projects in the province are now 100 percent complete, according to the report from the office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Batanes District Engineering Office.

The projects include the Itbayat water supply system, repair of Itbayat Central School, repair of Raele elementary school, completion of Chabtucan-Chanarian Tukon farm-to market road (FMR), Brgy. Kayhuvokan, Basco day care multi purpose building, cementing of FMR Desin-vadishi in Mahatao phase 1, and rehabilitation of Ivana Elementary School.

Based on the agency report, 23 infra projects are on-going, three of these are nearing completion such as Road Protective Structure Guard Wall in Tukon Basco, upgrading of national road Itbayat airport-Mauyen port road, and the construction of Dichu-Ramay FMR Phase 11, Mahatao.

Earlier, the DPWH also reported the completion of the construction of Basco water system Phase 6, upgrading of national road to airport, Itbayat, construction of Taytay-Vahangsien right of way in Basco and concreting of FMR phase 1 in Uyugan.

Batanes PDRRMC to be more proactive in 2012, says Batanes Gov.

BASCO, Batanes- In a move to address problems concerning disasters, peace and order and other issues, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chaired by Vicente S. Gato called a meeting attended by 13 agency members and three local chief executives of Basco, Ivana and Uyugan.

Gov. Gato stressed that there is a need to discuss the pressing problems of the province before unmanageable circumstances arise.

Gov. Gato commendable the proper implementation of curfew for minors which aims to reduce crime incidence in the province and for the safety of the minor. He said he will schedule a meeting with school principals to ensure that the said ordinance will be fully implemented in Basco as he urged other LGUs to come up with a similar ordinance in their municipalities.

Meantime, Mayor Demetrius Paul Narag has called on computer shops operators to cooperate in the implementation of curfew on minors.

Another issue discussed during the meeting is lack of facilities to chase Taiwanese poachers.

Gov. Gato disclosed that as per reports reaching his office, there are nightly sightings in the north of Itbayat island but they don’t have vessels to be used in monitoring and chasing the poachers.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels are assigned in Mindanao because their services are very much needed there.

Gov. Gato said they will set another meeting to come up with solutions to the problem and he also told the PDRRMC members that starting this year, their meeting will be conducted quarterly, and not only when there are issues and problems that are needed to be resolved.

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