Albay News January 2016

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

Dietary supplement is a product that contains vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, enzymes, and/or other ingredients intended to supplement the diet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has special labeling requirements for dietary supplements and treats them as foods, not drugs.

Manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements and dietary ingredients are prohibited from marketing products that are adulterated or misbranded. That means that these firms are responsible for evaluating the safety and labeling of their products before marketing to ensure that they meet all the requirements of DSHEA and FDA regulations.

Mayon volcano albay province.jpg

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

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

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

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

WHY??

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

PCIC allots PHP22-M insurance coverage for Albay farmers, fishermen

(PNA), JBP/FGS/NIM/CBD/PJN

LEGAZPI CITY (PNA) -- The Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. has appropriated PHP22 million for the insurance coverage of farmers and fishermen in Albay this year, a top official of the government agency said Friday.

PCIC Bicol Regional Manager Corazon SM. Realubit personally informed Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda that the amount came from the PHP1.5-billion fund earmarked by the PCIC for the purpose nationwide.

Realubit said 70 out of the 81 provinces are covered by the fund.

She said once the the program is set on stream, 5,000 beneficiaries will enjoy free insurance coverage.

This number, the PCIC head said, could go higher, depending on the implementation.

She said the beneficiaries will not pay any single centavo.

"All they have to do is coordinate with the municipal or city agricultural officer and see to it they are in the survey list of farmers and fishermen done by the Department of Budget and Management, Philippine Statistical Authority and the city or municipal planning and development offices in 2012," Realubit said.

The list is called the National Registry System for Basic Sectors.

The PCIC regional head said priority as beneficiaries of the program are those who have not yet received any such assistance from the PCIC.

She said the amount a beneficiary can receive for his one-hectare farm is PHP20,000, although PCIC assessors will also look into the extent of damages to a claimant's ricefield, fishpond or animals.

Realubit said among those that can be covered by the insurance are those planted farms to rice, corn and coconut as well as post-harvest facilities, boats and others.

She said the program aims to minimized the losses of the sector in times of natural calamity, pest infestations and diseases affecting farms and animals.

DepEd, Albay ink deal for 2016 Palarong Pambansa

(PNA), RMA/FMC/SSC

MANILA, Jan. 30 (PNA) -- The Department of Education (DepEd) has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the provincial government of Albay in connection with the latter's hosting of the 2016 Palarong Pambansa in Legazpi City.

The MOA stipulates the duties and responsibilities of both parties to ensure a well-managed and professionally-run annual national multi-sporting event.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said this year’s staging of the Palaro would have many “firsts”, including the participation of the Negros Island region.

“I want to highlight that this is Albay’s first ever hosting of the Palaro. This is also the first time that 18 regions will take action -- not the usual 17 regions --because of the participation of the Negros Island Region,” Luistro said.

Luistro added that this was also the first time that the Palaro would be conducted following very specific provisions of the law.

Based on Republic Act No. 10588, also known as the Palarong Pambansa Act of 2013, the elementary level would have to compete in 15 games and the secondary with 17 games and four demonstration sports, namely Futsal, Wushu, Billiards and Wrestling. In addition, four special games will also be conducted for special athletes.

Participated in by elementary and secondary students from public and private schools nationwide, the annual sporting event will be held at the Bicol University, Legazpi City from April 10 to 16, 2016.

“We are institutionalizing this sports program to ensure that we are developing athletes that are of international caliber,” Luistro stressed.

“Together with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the provincial government of Albay, DepEd will see to it that the standards are at international level and that the coaching staff, the technical officials as well as the playing venues conform to international standards,” the education chief added.

Albay Governor Joey Salceda responded by stating the province’s readiness and eagerness to host the Palaro.

“We want to show that it will be a joyful Palaro. It's something that celebrates the spirit of national unity, especially in Albay,” said Salceda.

“Gusto naming ipakita na ang isang bayan, no matter how modest, no matter how limited its capacity, will still have the unity and ability to host the Palaro,” Salceda said, highlighting the province’s resiliency or ability to recover from adversity.

DRR advocates work on integration of CCA into school curriculum

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 29 (PNA) -- A project that primarily seeks to develop explicit learning materials and teaching modules on climate change adaptation (CCA) and on disaster risk and vulnerability reduction (DRVR) in the primary and secondary school levels will be rolled out here next month, according to its key initiator.

Manuel “Nong” Rangasa, executive director of the Local Climate Change Adaptation for Development (LCCAD) who is initiating the project, on Friday said the initiative focuses on the conceptual framework towards the integration of information-related to disasters in the K to 12 basic education program.

The LCCAD, which is based in this city, is the national CCA and DRVR training institution and service provider recognized by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) that provides theoretical moorings to national, local government units (LGUs) and multiple stakeholders.

Since its creation about four years ago, the LCCAD has been assisting LGUs in implementing their climate adaptive practices anchored on mainstreaming climate disaster risk and vulnerability reduction based on their Local Climate Change Action Plan as well as integration into already formulated Comprehensive Land Use Plan and the Comprehensive Development Plan.

The project, dubbed as “K to 12 Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk and Vulnerability Reduction: Learning Materials for Philippine Schools,” was an offshoot of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) recently entered into between the LCCAD and the Climate Change Commission (CCC), Rangasa said.

The MOA, which officially recognizes the LCCAD as capacity development service provider for CCA-DRVR convergence to LGUs, assigned the latter in the development of the K to 12 conceptual frameworks and in the rollout of the project implementation under the guidance of the CCC, Rangasa said.

In the signing of the MOA, he said CCC Secretary Emmanuel de Guzman took note of the LCCAD’s K to 12 conceptual framework that calls for the integration of information from three international agreements related to disasters crafted in 2015 that reflect the growing awareness about the need for more resilient communities and economies.

Rangasa said De Guzman was referring to the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction and the Sustainable Development Goals, as enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Year 2016, according to De Guzman, is a critical and exciting year as it marks the start of the implementation of these global agreements which are doubly significant for the Philippines as they address common, interlocking issues affecting the country’s aspiration for a prosperous, sustainable future.

These issues converge on the Philippines’ vulnerabilities which stem from its geographical location, socio-economic features like a rapidly growing population, and external factors like climate change that is outstripping the country’s natural coping capacity.

Rangasa said all of these issues had to be factored in the preparation of the next Philippine Development Plan with resilience becoming a national priority and the soon to be rolled out project primarily sought to develop explicit K to 12 learning materials and teaching curriculum modules on CCA and on DRVR in the primary/elementary and secondary levels.

The project, he said, was a brainchild of Albay third congressional district Rep. Fernando Gonzalez and fully supported by Mayor Noel Rosal of this city.

Gonzalez, who is vice-chair of the Bicol Recovery and Economic Development Committee, in an interview Friday, explained that the K to 12 conceptual framework was anchored on educating the youth, which is a significant element of a new strategy to embed CCA and DRVR in the Philippine educational system.

This new project, he said, was in support of the global campaign on making communities resilient to disaster amid the irreversible threat of climate change with emphasis on the compelling need for the integration of the efforts to address the vulnerabilities of all sectors in the country.

For his part, Rosal expressed optimism that the learning materials to be produced by the project will be a big help in shaping the present and future generations of students into becoming proactive citizens in relation to the government’s risk reduction program.

There was indeed an urgent need to incorporate information on CCA and DRVR in the learning materials to be produced to make them fully instructional and educational vis-à-vis the impact of climate change to community development, he said.

Rangasa said the project could very well be categorized as a sequel to the earlier project he initiated and implemented at the Albay Centre for Initiatives and Research on Climate Adaptation (CIRCA) in August 2008 when he was then the center’s executive director.

That old project, called “Climate Change Adaptation Integration into Curriculum in the Philippines”, was designed to bring climate change issues, impacts and responses into the consciousness of the present and the next generation of Albayanos and the Filipinos as a whole, by integrating such topics in the academic curriculum of primary and secondary schools.

The output of that project were the lesson exemplars in all subject areas in the elementary and secondary levels, which were pilot tested in a Training of Trainers Teaching Demo in some 713 public schools in Albay.

From July 2009 to the present, public schools in the province were using the lesson exemplars with CCA and disaster risk reduction (DRR) integrated into the lesson plan, Rangasa said.

The CCA integration into curriculum initiatives were interlinked but while the former targeted and served the teachers, the sequel to be produced by the new project, probably in handbook form, would serve not only as reference materials for students but for other sectors, public or private as well in need of information, education and communication materials on CCA and DRVR initiatives, he said.

The project rollout will be highlighted by a three-day technical write shops set Feb. 19-21 in this city and Rangasa said “it will be a tough series of technical write-shops for the selected writer-teachers coming from the eight school divisions in the whole Bicol Region consisting of seven city school divisions and one provincial division (Albay).”

“We will be buoyed up by the experience during the first workshop in 2008 for us to come up with a first of its kind CCA-DRVR learning materials for Filipino students as a sequel to the lesson exemplars for teachers developed and produced earlier,” said regional director Ramon Fiel Abcede of the Department of Education (DepEd), which will be in charge of the write-shops.

Required outputs for the project, according to Rangasa, will be provided, among others, by the office of Gonzalez, by Rosal who heads the League of City Mayors Bicol Chapter, DepEd, CCC and by the United Nations Development Programme.

Ecological peculiarity makes Jovellar town spectacular

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

JOVELLAR, Albay, Jan. 28 (PNA) -- Deep through the woods down the outskirts of this poor, sleepy Bicol town are peculiar natural settings that make the place incredibly spectacular.

Nestled along a mountain range greened by verdant woodlands classified by ecological authorities as rain forests, the municipality boasts of exotic underground rivers, breathtaking cave systems, amazing waterfalls and surprising peak.

Most famous among leisure travelers and picnickers who wish to commune with nature is a 120-meter-long cavern oddly serving as an underwater passage for the Quintinday River - a long, expansive watercourse spanning from the lower slope of Mt. Mayon crossing the town of Camalig to this town, down to the Jovellar River that flows through the nearby Donsol, Sorsogon.

Called the Quitinday Underground River situated in Barangay Quitinday, less than a kilometer from the downtown, this extraordinary water conduit offers a narrow arch at its upstream entrance to where the rapids turbulently flow into the four-meter-deep pool inside the cave.

The cave’s width varies from five to eight meters, depending on the irregular span between its walls that features a strange buildup of finely sculptured limestone rocks that eerily look like an army of animated small minions in fancy formations.

Water feed by founts at its ridge also drops intermittently from the cave’s roof, a continuing natural episode that forms overhead stalactites and stalagmites.

Hundreds of visitors coming daily, especially during weekends and summer, days won’t miss exploring with awe the underground river via bamboo rafts manned by young “boatmen” who skillfully propel their makeshift watercraft through its clear, cold and serene waters.

Quitinday River’s fantastic features also include a series of waterfalls, the most prominent of which is the called Sigpit (constricted) Falls because of its being ensconced between exciting rock walls wrapped in vine roots and foliage, giving it a high and narrow attributes.

Another facet that makes Quitinday River an astounding natural asset is the chain of 10 major cave systems that have complex patterns of superimposed passages representing a long history of cave development.

Experts who recently studied the antiquity of the place, according to municipal administrator Justin Luna, theorized that the flow velocity of the water that extracts classic sediments from the river gullies made of massive limestone rocks may have formed over centuries the cave systems.

All these wonders of Quitinday are arranged along the foot of Makatanaw-Dagat, a lushly vegetated peak towering about 500 meters over the municipality to offer unobstructed views of Mt. Mayon, Ticao and Burias Passes off Donsol and Pioduran towns and Albay Gulf by Legazpi City.

Another special attribute of this peak are its series of founts that marvelously jet in forms of tiny waterfalls into the river.

Luna said the local government has built a water reservoir at the mountain’s shoulder that feeds every household in the locality with fresh, crystal-clear water that is absolutely safe for drinking sans hygienic treatment.

This town, however, is not just about Quitinday when it comes to natural wonders as still, three kilometers from the poblacion is Magtaguinting Falls of Barangay Bagacay, a broad waterfall that grandiosely offers an alluring natural beauty.

Its water turbulently cascades from the height of 120 feet into the Naglaus River, which is part of a natural formation of largely unexplored underground river whose 500 meters long tunneled river that looks mysterious and weird could also be navigated using bamboo crafts for a unique experience.

This underground river is a grotto-like caver system set at the hillside of Barangay Del Rosario, about seven kilometers from the town proper traversable to the next barangay of Nabasan, Daraga, Albay and known as the local version of the Puerto Princesa Underground River in Palawan.

The river cave's mouth has a clear and cold lagoon framed by a unique formation of limestone rocks.

Another one of nature’s gifts to this small, sleepy municipality, listed as one of the poorest in Albay, is the Quibaraw Falls in Barangay San Vicente, three kilometers from the town center.

This waterfall, which cascades from 120 feet at the slope of a mountain can be reached via a one-kilometer ascending foot trail that traverses thick patches of old-growth trees.

Apart from all these marvelous natural formations, the municipality is also called the “river town”, being traversed by seven major rivers, among them the Jovellar-Donsol River that strategically runs through the center of the municipality from its source in Camalig town; and Cagnanaga River along its eastern boundary that empties into the Ilog River.

Others are the Kagbuwaya and Quipia Rivers, which flow down from the mountains of Camalig and Buyo River that originates from Pioduran town -- all join the Jovellar River that empties into the Donsol River, the vast waterway whose mouth is the feeding site of the famous whale sharks of Donsol.

And realizing lately that the bizarre features of its backyard are world-class eco-tourism attractions, the locality, situated in the out-of-the-way southwestern section of Albay, is now plucking itself from obscurity into the eyes of the travel industry world.

According to Lourdes Boreta, the municipal tourism officer, the local government has already put in place an intensified tourism industry promotion campaign even as so many tourists are already rediscovering the place for themselves.

Boreta said they are taking advantage of the current foreign market trend showing that international tourists no longer tend to repeat visiting a local destination as they follow a cycle leading them from one place to another.

This trend, she said, creates a demand for a new destination other than Palawan, Donsol and other old eco-tourism destinations “and we now offer our place as an alternative travel point where tourists would surely be delighted by our hospitality, sumptuous delicacies and marvelous natural sites.”

“Our town is no longer a hidden tourism treasure nowadays as people from different parts of the world have already been coming to discover our unveiled natural secrets, especially that we now have a good road that links us to the tourism town of Donsol,” Boreta told the Philippines News Agency during a weekend visit to the place.

The road she was referring to is the 25.6-kilometer Pioduran-Donsol Road whose concreting works by the Department of Public Works and Highways are nearing completion to link with the 24.9-kilometer Guinobatan-Jovellar Road leading to the national highway.

On the other hand, Albay third district congressional Rep. Fernando Gonzalez has filed a bill recently approved by the House committee on tourism seeking the declaration of the municipality as an ecotourism zone which, when enacted into law, will compel the Department of Tourism to give the place priority attention towards development.

Boreta said the congressional measure is urgently needed by the local government as it cannot afford the cost of development, given its very meager resources.

Bicol’s rich biodiversity, unique eco-tourism destinations impress American business tycoon

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 27 (PNA) -- The unique eco-tourism destinations in the countryside, rich biodiversity and friendly people impressed visiting American business tycoon Richard Fain, chairman and chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd.

“The Philippines is a nice and symbolic place to go with good environmental practices and warm, friendly and very hospitable people. It was a terrific experience here in Legazpi City and in Donsol, Sorsogon with warm and friendly people and remarkable good environmental efforts with WWF (World Wildlife Fund),” Fain told the Philippines News Agency in an exclusive interview at the Legazpi City Domestic Airport VIP Lounge on Monday afternoon.

The CEO of the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. -- a global cruise company that operates 38 ships under the Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean International, Pullmantur, Azamara Cruises and CDF Croisières de France brands, arrived in Legazpi City through his private jet on Saturday and met with Mayor Noel Rosal and Albay Governor Joey Salceda before heading to Donsol town in Sorsogon for whale shark interaction and environmental advocacy in pursuit of combating carbon gas emission.

He said his firm embarks on projects that will address carbon emission reduction, marine conservation issues for sustainable development goals.

The Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., the world’s second largest cruise company, established the Ocean Fund in 1996 to support marine conservation organizations in preserving the world's oceans.

The mission of the Ocean Fund is to support efforts to restore and maintain a healthy marine environment, minimize the impact of human activity on this environment, and promote awareness of ocean and coastal issues and respect for marine life.

In Legazpi, Fain visited several hotels and tourist destinations and lauded Rosal for his remarkable environmental projects that complemented the eco-tourism destinations and flourishing business establishments with Mayon volcano as Bicolandia’s icon.

In Donsol, Sorsogon, he went diving in San Miguel Island where he took a glimpse of the healthy corals, shoals of fish and even sea snakes.

He, however, was not able to glide with the gentle giant fish "butanding" or whale shark, unlike his colleagues.

Aside from praising the good environmental practices and friendly people in the countryside, Fain lauded the remarkable work ethics of the Filipinos.

He said his company prefers Filipino workers because of their outstanding work habit and capabilities.

The cruise ship magnate said the bulk of his employees are highly competent and hardworking Filipinos who are instrumental in the company’s continuous success.

“Our company has 11,000 Filipinos, the biggest crew among other nationalities. In the next five years we’re expecting to have 25,000 Filipinos as part of our crew. Our Filipino employees are terrific,” he said.

When asked if he is considering putting cruise ships in Legazpi, the country’s emerging tourist destination outside the National Capital Region, Fain said they are looking for a worldwide partnership and will be coming back to Legazpi.

“We’re announcing worldwide partnership. The Philippines is a good prospect for business. We have nine cruise ships in Asia,” he said.

Rosal, supported by Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez, is batting for international cruise ship operation in Legazpi to draw more tourists as an alternative mode of transportation aside from airplanes that use the international airport and by land route to Bicol Region, thus, create more jobs and investments in the countryside.

Climate change crusaders hail children's booklet on disaster preparedness

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 26 (PNA) -– A colorful booklet recently made available as a disaster risk reduction management tool for children has earned the admiration of local anti-climate change impact crusaders.

Published through a coalition of international groups working for the welfare of children, the booklet should be something that “no classroom should be without a copy of,” according to Climate Change Commission (CCC) Secretary Manny de Guzman.

In a statement reaching here Tuesday, De Guzman, who also serves as senior advisor at World Meteorological Organization and president at Asia Pacific Institute for Green Development, hailed the coalition “for this great initiative to make the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction child-friendly.”

The coalition, called Children in a Changing Climate, is composed of ChildFund Alliance, Plan International, Save the Children, World Vision International and United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).

The ChildFund Alliance is a global network of child-centered development organizations working in the poorest countries around the world to create opportunities for disadvantaged children.

Alliance members believe in the open exchange of resources and information as a means of reaching more children in need more effectively and members cooperate to share best practices in child survival, protection and development.

Together, the alliance works to eradicate the root causes and the effects of poverty on children by implementing meaningful solutions, resulting in positive future.

The Plan International is a development group operating in 51 countries across Africa, the Americas, and Asia to promote and protect children's rights while Save the Children is the world's leading independent organization for children working in around 120 countries to save children's lives, fight for their rights, and help them fulfill their potentials.

The World Vision is a global Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice and Unicef is a UN program that provides long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries.

The coalition, according to ChildFund, is a partnership of leading child-centered and humanitarian organizations, each with a commitment to share knowledge, coordinate and work with children as agents of change in full recognition of their capacity to prepare for and respond to shocks and stressors.

De Guzman said the colorful booklet titled Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: For Children points out that, kids who understand dangers, who are empowered and listened to, can play an important role in their own protection.

Adopted at the Third UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan on March 18, 2015, the Sendai Framework 2015-2030 is the outcome of stakeholder consultations initiated in March 2012 and inter-governmental negotiations from July 2014 to March 2015, supported by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction at the request of the UN General Assembly.

It is the successor instrument to the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015 conceived to give further impetus to the global work under the International Framework for Action for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction of 1989, the Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World and its plan of action, adopted in 1994 and the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction of 1999.

De Guzman stressed that when children speak out and their needs are prioritized, they contribute to long-term development after a disaster and build safer communities for everyone.

“This booklet is about disaster risk reduction – working together to reduce the chance that a hazard will turn into a disaster and preparing for disasters when they do happen. Disaster risk reduction should happen at the level of national government, local government and in communities and families. It means engaging and listening to everyone,” he said.

The Sendai Framework, De Guzman added, aims to make sure that everyone is ready when hazards strike, so that responses are more effective and better organized, the book says, stressing that everyone should be ready when hazards strike so that responses are more effective and better organized.

Written by Helen Kearney and edited by Felipe Cala of the ChildFund Alliance, the booklet of 70 pages acknowledges that “the children that care for our world are the real heroes.”

It reveals that 75 million of children around the world are affected by disasters and nine million of them were forced out of school by disaster in 2014 alone.

This child-friendly Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, its publisher says, was developed in consultation with children by the coalition, resulting in documents that support processes of child-friendly accountability by making the Sendai Framework accessible to children, especially those aged 10 to 14.

Manuel “Nong” Rangasa, the Local Climate Change Adaptation for Development (LCCAD) executive director who is based in Albay, said the booklet can be included as a tool in the K-12 mainstreaming of climate change adaptation and disaster risk vulnerability reduction (CCADRVR) project.

Legazpi City vies for 3rd level in ISA's public governance system

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

LEGAZPI CITY (PNA) -- Mayor Noel E. Rosal on Thursday said Legazpi City is vying for the third level of the Performance Governance System (PGS), which is the proficiency, required by Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA) for Public Governance.

Rosal said the city has been enrolled in the ISA for the past several years already.

In fact, the city has been recognized by the ISA as a Trailblazer City, the second highest award from the ISA, after the requirements in the initiated and complaint levels had been complied with already by the city administration.

These requirements were presented by Rosal and approved by the panelists of the ISA in 2014.

He said the PGS has four levels -- the initiated, complaint, proficiency and institutionalized levels.

“Three auditors will come here to check the projects of the city government under PGS. If we pass in this level, we will go for the level of institutionalization -- the highest level in terms of good governance; and if we pass in this level, we can be called as an Island of Good Governance wherein if there are foreign visitors, the national government will introduce Legazpi City to the visitors from other countries as a certified champion in governance,” Rosal said.

The PGS was introduced by the ISA as a transformation tool to nation-building to enable government institutions, including national agencies and LGUS, to deliver quality public service while advocating transparency, accountability and excellence in good governance.

It is a performance management framework that builds on the potentials of government organizations, allowing them to implement strategic projects to achieve and sustain their goals.

"The entry of Legazpi City in the PGS is a very good move on the part of the city administration that will help continue its various programs and projects for the development and progress of this city," Rosal said.

The Office of the Strategy Management of the city headed by former city councilor Chito Ante has created 38 Vision-Aligned Circles (VACs), composed of all elective city officials, department heads and regular employees.

Ante said every VAC has its own initiatives and the VACs have already created the city’s tourist tanods and city concierge.

They have also organized Istoryang Bikolnon, Boulevard Music Festival and Cleanliness Patrol in six villages in the boulevard area, five barangays within the Central Business District and other five villages within the areas of Albay district.

Ante said they proposed also the establishment of Mayon Quality Service Rating System, amendment of existing ordinance on tourist friendly tricycles, establishment of a weekend market and food street at the boulevard and formulated the Model Barangay Project.

He said they have already created tourist help desks in different key tourist destinations in this city.

The VACS have also formulated guidelines for the model tricycle drivers and prepared a tourist-friendly enhancement training module for operators and drivers of vans operating in this city.

They likewise proposed amendments to the City’s Citizen Charter, Ante added.

He said the VACS have conducted five information and education campaigns on the city’s vision among various sectoral groups and held training for 41 on-site STI Educators, including 20 women, on ten distinct Bicolano delicacies.

These groups have also created a City Employees Competency Data Base.

They have prepared a drainage maintenance program and conducted professional skills training and workshop modules for the frontline service providers of the city administration.

They further formulated 5S implementation plan, Ante said.

He said the VACS have also formulated policies and guidelines for model/outstanding city government employees and the guidelines for a quick response team at Barangay Bogtong.

They have also made a design for functional emergency hotlines/stickers in 25 villages within the Central Business District and conceptualized an Agri-Farm Tourism Design Project at the Legazpi Eco Park in the southern village of Homapon, he added.

Ante disclosed the VACS have collated and compiled Legazpi legendary stories, historical landmarks, poems, tigsik and rawit-dawit pieces and drafted an investment incentive package.

2016 Le Tour de Filipinas cyclists to circle Mayon twice; boost Albay sports tourism

By Johnny C. Nunez [(PNA), SCS/JCN/RSM]

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 24 (PNA) -- Albay’s sports tourism gets another big boost in February, when the province hosts the fourth stage of Le Tour de Filipinas 2016, where cyclists will circle the world famous Mayon Volcano twice on an out-and-back course of the Tour’s 147-kilometer final lap.

Le Tour de Filipinas, now on its 7th Edition, passes Albay for the second time only in seven years, but its organizers said it, by far, could be the most scenic, rare and extraordinary route of the tournament.

The race is sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the Asian cycling Federation and the Philippine Cycling Federation. UCI, based in Aigle, Switzerland, is an Olympic body organized to supervise and help direct the growth of sport cycling worldwide.

Sports has become an important component of Albay’s tourism, first introduced by Gov. Joey Salceda last year when he successfully negotiated the hosting of XTERRA Off Road Triathlon.

On its second edition this February, XTERRA is expected to bring even more foreign and local visitors. Participants in this race also tackle a portion of the off road course at the base of Mt. Mayon, near an old lava wall, onto the finish line at the grounds of the 201-year-old Cagsawa Ruins.

The Cagsawa Ruins grounds constitute the top surface of the rocks and other volcanic materials spewed out by Mayon Volcano when it erupted violently in 1814, and buried an entire Spanish settlement, including a huge baroque church. The site is prominently marked by the top portion of the church’s iconic bell tower framed beautifully by the magnificent splendor of the near-perfect cone-shaped and world famous Mayon in the background. The National Museum has recently declared the Ruins a National Cultural Treasure.

Albay also hosts the 2016 Palarong Pambansa in April.

Salceda said it will be staged as a sports tourism event, with the venues scattered around the province with a full view of Mayon Volcano, to give contestants and visitors alike the chance to go around and enjoy world class tourist attractions.

In the Feb. 18-21 UCI cycling event, 15 teams — 12 foreign and three local, composed of about a hundred cyclists — will vie for the Category 2.2 Race.

The 69-kilometer race, consists of four stages. It starts in Antipolo City and ends in Legazpi City in four days.

Aside from the cyclists, Salceda said Albay will also play host to a large contingent of tournament officials, the covering media, team supporters and the contestants’ kin and friends. The foreign teams joining Le Tour Filipinas are from Belarus, United Arab Emirates, Japan, the United States, Holland, Germany, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Laos.

The local teams aiming to grab the title are the 7-Eleven Road Bike Philippines, Kopiko Cebu Cycling Team and the PhilCycling National Under 23-Team.

A UCI release said the race’s Stage One is a 153-kilometer lap from Antipolo City to Lucena City in Quezon. Stage Two will be the winding 204-kilometer span from Lucena to Daet, Camarines Norte. Stage Three will bring the cyclists 187 kilometers further south to Legazpi City, the heart of Bicolandia, on Day 3.

The Final Stage on Day 4 will be a 147-kilometer lap around Mayon Volcano with the cyclist circling the volcano’s base twice. In the final stretch, the competing cyclists and their back-ups will pass through the cities of Tabaco and Ligao and the towns of Daraga, Camalig, Guinobatan, Malilipot, and Sto. Domingo, all of which are rich in tourist attractions.

Cagsawa Ruins to have new look

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

DARAGA, Albay, Jan. 23 (PNA) -- The more than two-century-old Cagsawa Ruins, recently declared as a historical treasure in the country by the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP), will soon undergo refurbishing as a means to protect, preserve and promote this national historical property.

Cristina Agapita Pacres, Daraga town tourism officer, said the national and local governments will spend this year some Php42 million to finance the restoration project of the 202-year-old cultural asset.

Pacres said the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) of the Department of Tourism (DOT) has approved the release of Php35 million to be used for the construction of structures that will improve the vast landscape of the historical treasure.

The TIEZA project has been bid out and implementation will start this year.

Pacres, however, said the original structural design by TIEZA will have to be changed to complement the view of the ruins.

“The design is too modern that it doesn’t match with the ruins’ landscape,” she stressed.

She said the design includes a tourist visitor center, function hall, water and electrical facilities and concrete fence.

The local government of Daraga set aside some Php2 million for the preservation works that include cordon structure around the ruins to prevent visitors to go near the ruins.

As for the contribution of the province, Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said it will put in additional Php5 million for the restoration works of the other items, especially holograms or glass showcase of three elements: the iglesia, convent, ayuntamiento and the municipio.

The Albay History and Culture Unit will take charge of the “conservation” vision for the Cagsawa Ruins as they are working with the UNESCO National Office for its recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Salceda said.

“The Cagsawa Ruins is now tentatively listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site,” he said.

The Cagsawa Ruins lies on a 1.5-hectare land that showcases the Cagsawa Ruins Belfry.

It is 11 kilometers from the Majestic Mayon Volcano, two kilometers from the town proper and eight kilometers from Legazpi City.

Albay now has three national cultural treasures: the Cagsawa Ruins and the Church of Our Lady of the Gate -- both in Daraga, and the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Tabaco City.

Father Jose Victor Lobrigo, the former parish priest of Our Lady of the Gate, said in an interview that there are other ruined churches in Albay that need declaration and preservation.

These are the Sinimbahanan in Barangay Budiao in Daraga, another one in Tiwi and the church ruins in Bacacay, among others.

Lobrigo said in the declaration and preservation of historical treasures “we have two things in mind: preservation of national patrimony and support.”

Ana Lorilla, an architect and co-chair of the Sub-Commission on Buildings, Lands, Sites and Cultural Heritage of the Diocese of Legazpi said that aside from the three cultural religious properties declared as historical treasures, there are several other religious sites that are being explored and studied.

Data from the Diocese of Legazpi indicate that there are 45 churches under the three vicariates.

Of these number, seven churches are considered with historical value as they were built in year 1700.

These old churches are St. John the Baptist Parish in Tabaco City, Saints Joachim and Anne Parish in Malinao town, Saint Lawrence the Maryr Parish in Tiwi, St. Dominic of Guzman Parish in Sto Domingo, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Malilipot, Saint John the Baptist in Camalig town and Our Lady of Gates Parish in Daraga town.

"A national cultural treasure is defined as a unique cultural property found locally, possessing outstanding historical, cultural, artistic and with scientific value, which is significant and important to the country,” the NMP said.

Pacres said that aside from the Cagsawa Ruins, one of Albay’s most popular tourist attractions, the local government of Daraga has embarked on a festival dubbed as The Cagsawa Festival, which has been observed every month of February since 2012.

She said that in February 2014, the province of Albay commemorated the 200th anniversary of the 1814 eruption by holding the Cagsawa Festival’s “Cagsawa Dos Siglos.”

The celebration aimed to pay tribute to the strength and resiliency of the people of Albay, according to Salceda.

Pacres said Albayanos are aware that they live within the shadow of a beautiful yet dangerous volcano .

Thus, the anniversary of the 1814 eruption also served as a reminder of the town's commitment to disaster risk reduction as part of the Daragueños' way of life to be able to achieve their goals of development for the community.

The festival showcases various activities and entertainment such as outdoor and sport events, culinary activities and cultural presentations of dances and plays.

Maria Ong-Ravanilla, DOT regional director, said in an interview that Cagsawa is considered as the historical landmark that molded the Albayanos in being resilient, determined, passionate and fun-loving people.

The Cagsawa Ruins is the most visited place by day visitors, both foreign and local, hitting the number of 350,000 tourist visitors every year, she said.

“Declaring it as a national treasure will help boost more our tourism industry, culturally and economically,” Ravanilla said.

Salceda said the declaration by National Museum Director Jeremy R. Barns issued on Dec. 23 and published in the NMP’s web site, affirms the Cagsawa Ruins’ landmark role and significance in the richness of the country’s cultural heritage.

In December last year, the NMP declared Cagsawa Ruins in Daraga, Albay as among the new batch of cultural properties to be included as “Important Cultural Properties” and “National Cultural Treasures” after going through thorough research, recommendations, and petitions in 2015.

To be declared as an Important Cultural Property, a land must possess “exceptional cultural, artistic and/or historical significance,” it said.

Bicol gets Php 1.3 B for widening of 33 bridges

By Manilyn Ugalde [(PNA), RMA/FGS/MU/CBD]

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 22 (PNA) -- Motorists have a reason to be alarmed and wary as the Department of Public Works and Highways continues in its massive road widening and concreting since 2013 but its hundreds of two-lane bridges in Bicol have remained narrow, posing great danger to them.

This prompted motorists to ask for the presence of highway patrol troops in the region's national highways to prevent obstructions in roads such as the rampant presence of "padyaks" (foot-pedaled bicycle with a side car) in national roads and palay drying both by residents and traders, which occupies newly concreted roads and pedestrian lanes.

Worse, the palay being dried is barricaded with stones that, they said, could cause accidents.

With an estimated 20 percent already accomplished in road widening to four lanes, the DPWH Bicol budget for 2016 was pegged at a whooping Php19.65 billion, according to DPWH assistant regional director Armando Estrella.

The DPWH widening program, Estrella said, was aimed at a 20-meter concreted national road nationwide.

The DPWH official explained that of the Php19.65 billion budget, however, only Php1.9 billion would be for the road widening-concreting and a total of Php1.3 billion for widening to four-lane of 33 bridges out of the 606 bridges in the region, comprising of six provinces.

According to Estrella, the DPWH was still facing delay in the road widening project, saying many sections whose road sides were still occupied by squatters and other obstructions.

The 33 bridges ready for reconstruction this year are those located only along the Maharlika Highway.

The Bicol portion of the Maharlika highway passes through certain towns in Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon only.

He admitted though that many short two-lane bridges along already- concreted four-lane roads pose danger to motorists.

Col. Jimmy Silva, a retired official of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, said he was traveling from Legazpi City one evening when he nearly hit a barely recognizable three-meter-long two-lane bridge in a widened road in Barangay Bonga, Bacacay town on his way to Tabaco City in Albay's first district.

He said the not-too-visible and unmarked small bridge is sandwiched by the two-lane Bonga Bridge 2 and Bonga Bridge 3, which have an estimated distance of 120 meters only from each other.

The retired BJMP official said he overtook three vehicles in convoy via the vacant and open concreted second lane in the right side after passing Bonga Bridge 2 when he suddenly noticed the presence of a short bridge that his car missed in seconds.

Silva also lashed at both local and national authorities for allowing pedicabs in national highway even during night time, saying padyaks abound from the town of Malilipot to Tabaco City to Malinao and Tiwi towns.

He said that during sunny days, the first district national road also becomes a scene of palay drying that is barricaded with big stones.

He urged the presence of highway patrol troops to stop these abuses in highway roads being neglected by the DPWH.

In 2008, then Tabaco City mayor Krisel Lagman Luistro declared Tabaco City as the padyak capital of the Philippines, with its estimated number of 7,000 units and even sought recognition from the Guinness Book of World Records for this.

With the proliferation of padyaks now operating along national roads, motorists find it rather uncomfortable driving along the highways.

Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda, who is the chairman of the Regional Development Council, has urged Secretary Rogelio Singson to facilitate funding for all two-lane bridges in the region as road widening continues, adding many two-lane bridges in a widened highway road, especially short bridges, indeed pose danger to motorists.

DOLE-Bicol launches one-stop center for OFWs

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 21 (PNA) -- The Department of Labor and Employment Regional Office-5 (DOLE-5) on Thursday formally launched the Bicol OFW Assist Well Processing Center (B-OFW-AWPC) at its office here.

DOLE Bicol Regional Director Nathaniel Lacambra led the occasion.

Also present were Regional Director Conrado Bares of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority- Bicol; Yco Tan Sr., co-chair of the National Economic and Development Authority Committee on Migration and Development; Rev. Fr. Paul Ocfemia of the Diocese of Legazpi, who solemnized the ceremonies, OFWs and media practitioners.

Lacambra said the occasion coincides with the activities being held in other regional offices of the DOLE nationwide in connection with the OFW Reintegration Program of the department.

Kristina B. Oliveros, DOLE regional reintegration officer under the National Reintegration Center for OFWs, said the DOLE launched the program as a one-stop center to assist the OFWs and their families in matters of employment, livelihood, legal assistance, counseling and other needs.

Oliveros encouraged OFWs who have returned to the region and their families to come to their office and show documents to validate their being OFW like travel documents, passport and employment records to avail of the services.

Some of the services being given by the center are livelihood training, like on meat processing, as well as financial awareness seminar and small business management training.

Oliveros said the center will be the one to coordinate with other government agencies and other sectors of the society in addressing the needs of the OFWs and their families.

Tan, on the other hand, said his office helps OFWs and their families.

He said they are now preparing the records or profiles of OFWs in the region as all provinces, cities, towns and barangays have OFWs.

The NEDA official said he is doing this as he was also once an OFW.

He lamented the report that there is one barangay in the region wherein 50 percent of the families of OFWs are dysfunctional, meaning, troubled and with problems.

Tan said this is the negative effect of working abroad or the social cost of migration.

He said it is the objective of his office, with the help of other government agencies and sectors of the society, to strengthen the families of the OFWs since no amount of money can equal a happy and united family.

BUB in barangay initially launched in Albay

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

LEGAZPI CITY (PNA) -- The Province of Albay is the first among the 80 provinces in the country to launch the implementation of the Bottom-Up Budgeting (BUB) scheme of budget preparation and application at the barangay level, Department of Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad said here Friday.

What took place in the Province of Bohol was just a pretest on BUB program implementation, he said.

Abad made this pronouncement during the launch of the budgeting process attended also by Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda, mayors of the three cities and 15 towns of Albay, village officials, representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) and regional officials of DBM, DSWD, DOH and Department of Interior and Local Government.

Abad said the implementation of BUB in Albay as a pilot province will start in 2017.

Each barangay, he said, will be allotted Php1 million.

The program will involve the partnership among national government agencies, local government units, villages and CSOs.in identifying projects and allotting funds for these endeavors that will be implemented in their respective areas.

The budget secretary stressed that the project and program to be done will depend on the need of the community.

He said a group will monitor the implementation of the project.

"The implementation will be by batches. It will depend on the readiness of each local government unit or barangay," Abad said.

There are 720 barangays in the three cities and 15 towns in Albay.

In the entire Bicol, there are 3,457 barangays in 107 towns, seven cities and six provinces.

There are 42,028 barangays in 80 provinces.

Soliman, on the other hand, said Albay was the first to be chosen in the implementation of BUB because the province is known in the field of good governance, good management and excellent accomplishments in various fields of endeavor.

In fact, the province has gained honors and recognition in and outside the country.

The BUB aims to alleviate poverty and ensure the effective and good governance of government officials in the national, regional, provincial and city or municipal levels down to the barangay level.

(NewsFeature) Cagsawa Ruins becomes 3rd national cultural treasure in Albay

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

DARAGA, Albay, Jan. 19 (PNA) -- Albay province has now three national cultural treasures to be proud of with the declaration of the 202-year-old Cagsawa Ruins in this town as one by the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP).

"A national cultural treasure is defined as a unique cultural property found locally, possessing outstanding historical, cultural, artistic and with scientific value, which is significant and important to the country,” the NMP said.

It is distinct and of a higher category than a national cultural property, it further said.

The Cagsawa Ruins stands as the mute witness of Mount Mayon's deadliest explosion that took place on February 1, 1814.

Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda said the site has become a symbol of the people’s resiliency to survive the adverse effects of calamities as well as climate change.

The NMP declared Cagsawa Ruins in December 2015 as a national cultural treasure.

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines also considers Cagsawa Ruins as an important protected area due to its significance in the cultural history of Albay.

Following the NMP declaration of Cagsawa Ruins, Albay province has now three national cultural treasures: Cagsawa Ruins, the Church of Our Lady of the Gate in Daraga, and the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Tabaco City.

Similarly, the symmetrical Mount Mayon, the world’s perfect cone-shaped volcano, and the Cagsawa Ruins have been tentatively included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, which is now awaiting confirmation.

Historically, Mayon's worst eruption to date was on Februay 1, 1814 when she vomited blazing rocks and lava.

The volcano expelled so much of her innards that it covered the former settlements of Budiao and Cagsawa.

About 1,200 fear-stricken villagers crammed into the Cagsawa church which later served as their grave when steaming volcanic debris buried the structure.

The February 1, 1814 eruption covered the villages around it with ash and lahar.

An estimated 15,000 people died, including 1,200 who sought shelter inside the Cagsawa Church.

Subsequent eruptions further covered the church until only the bell tower remained above ground.

The belfry has become one of Albay’s most famous landmarks and is one of its most popular tourist attractions.

The eruption that buried the Cagsawa Church was the fifth and the strongest, based on accounts of recorded previous eruptions since 1616.

Besides Cagsawa, a neighboring town, Budiao, was laid to waste by Mayon’s fury.

Only the walls of Budiao’s church remain today.

Three other towns -- Camalig, Guinobatan and Ligao (now a city) -- also suffered death and destruction.

The Cagsawa belfry is the remains of an 18th century Franciscan Church built in 1724 but was severely damaged by the 1814 eruption of Mayon Volcano.

History said the parish priest of Budiao was the lone survivor of catastrophic eruption.

He saved himself through a bent coconut tree.

The Cagsawa Church was buried gradually by volcanic deposits from subsequent eruptions.

Sand, gravel and boulders were washed down the slopes by rains and got lodged along the banks of the river near the church.

Today, the church belfry stands as the only man-made object left visible in the aftermath of the eruption.

On November 30, 2006 when typhoon "Reming" hit Bicol, Cagsawa Ruins was miraculously saved.

The Bicolanos believed that it was protected by the Divine Providence as thousands of souls were buried under the earth of Cagsawa Church in 1814's historic Mayon Volcano’s deadliest eruption.

When Mayon sleeps, farmers and tourists conquer her heights and slopes to plant vegetables, which gives the volcano a green mantle most of the year.

When she awakens, villagers run to the evacuation centers to escape her fury.

When the volcano erupts, this historic site draws thousands of foreign and local tourists -- including scientists, media and kibitzsers -- to the province to view her spectacular giant fireworks.

And while media look upon Mayon as news, volcanologists treat her as a science project and tourists admire her for her fireworks.

The people on her slopes make her their way of life.

For them, her children, Mayon is their hope and their life -- the symbol of their living and their dying.

Today, the Cagsawa Ruins Park is among the most popular tourist destinations in the province of Albay wherein tourists may also meet the traditional "herbolario" (faith healers) during their gathering and witness the trail run, cross-country bike race, a chicken-eating contest and an on-the-spot "pamaypay" (fan)-making competition, handicrafts being one of Daraga town’s main products.

The park boasts of a modest-sized swimming pool with plenty of lounges where visitors can relax and gaze at the majestic vista of Mt. Mayon.

Inside the park are restaurants where tourists and local residents can feast on native food and delicacies.

The Cagsawa Park is managed by the municipal government of Daraga, Albay.

Albay adopts local PPP code for smooth infra implementation, unhampered economic growth

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 18 (PNA) -- Albay has adopted a local version of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) code for the implementation of big infrastructure projects in the province designed to pursue unhampered economic growth, and become a development hub in Bicol and Southern Luzon.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said the new “Public-Private Partnership Code of Albay” could be regarded as a major breakthrough in local government administration, that will pave the way for implementing monumental infrastructure projects for economic growth — under the build, operate and transfer (BOT) scheme in a “climate of minimum government regulations.”

Salceda said Albay could probably be the first province to have drawn its own local PPP code, as it stands in the threshold of becoming the development hub in Southern Luzon, most particularly the Bicol Region. BOT is regarded as the easier way to administer big government infrastructure development.

The Albay Sangguniang Panlalawigan, headed by Vice Gov. Harold Ong Imperial, recently approved the local PPP code which provides “clear guidelines for public-private partnerships by the province and its component local government units (LGUs).”

Salceda said the Local Government Code allows LGUs to enter “into joint ventures and such other cooperative engagements with non-government and people’s organizations to engage in the delivery of certain basic services…”

Among others, the Albay PPP Code aims to identify specific undertakings and potential support, financial or otherwise, that may be granted to the Project Proponents, as well as specific incentives as provided for under the Local Government Investment Code, the governor said.

As chair of the Bicol Regional Development Council for nine years now, and the Luzon Area Development Council for three years, Salceda has sponsored and pushed for big infra projects among them the Bicol International Airport (BIA) set to open in 2017, and the national government’s P171-billion South Rail Line of the North-South Railways system, now being rescheduled for bidding under the PPP scheme.

For a start, Salceda said there are at least two proposed projects lined up for PPP provincial engagements -- the modern four-storey Climate Change Academy (CCA) building at the lot of the Albay Provincial Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO), and the Albay Dialysis Center at the Josefina Belmonte Duran Hospital in Ligao City.

The academy, the first of its kind in Asia, is currently based Bicol University campus here since its establishment four years ago. Founded by Salceda, its creation was hailed by climate change advocates from all over the world and had brought awards to Albay’s decisive campaign for climate change adaptation.

The governor said the academy needs a bigger area and a building of its own to cater to the growing number of enrollees from different LGUs in the country and officials from other countries who want to learn more and train in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.

Salceda said more and bigger infrastructure projects are seen to rise in Albay in the future, particularly after the BIA shall have opened, which will pave the way for more rapid economic growth.

He said the drawing of the Albay PPP code is anchored on the Constitutional provision that “the local government, as a territorial and political subdivision enjoys local autonomy… and local governments have the power to create their own sources of revenue”.

The BOT Law also states that concerned LGUs “may formulate additional guidelines/procedures not in conflict with the BOT Law, its IRR and the Local Government Code and its corresponding IRR,” he explained.

DOST-Bicol says first Filipino-made micro-satellite to help agriculture

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 17 (PNA) -- The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Bicol regional office here has expressed excitement over the first Filipino-made micro-satellite set to be launched this year as part of the government’s efforts towards improving the country’s agricultural activities.

“The talents of our own scientists are working for our people and we are confident that the benefits of this project will boil down to improving the lives of Filipinos in the long run. We are so proud of it,” DOST Bicol Regional Director Tomas Briñas said over the weekend.

The DOST‘s launch into this new horizon is driven mainly by the project’s major nationwide benefits such as improving agricultural productivity and food security, he said.

Once put in place, the microsat would be able to send critical data on weather systems which are crucial for the country’s farmers to adjust planting methods and procedures in the light of climate change.

A landmark project of the DOST through the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development, the first Filipino made micro-satellite is poised to fly high in the next two months, Briñas said, citing a recent information received from Department of Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo.

This micro-satellite, he said, uses cutting-edge technology, designed and assembled by Filipino scientists and engineers on a comprehensive training on satellite technology at Japan’s Tohoko and Hokkaido universities.

Named after Filipino mythological character "Diwata" (fairy), this new astronomical object that weighs just 50 kilograms -- but the benefits are indeed heavy -- was designed and developed by an all-Filipino team of scientists and engineers now based in Japan, Briñas quoted Montejo as saying.

These Filipino scientists were trained in this technology in the hope of providing vital information to farmers so they will be prepared on what crops to plant, when to plant and how they can come up with provisional contingencies in overcoming the ill effects of El Nino up to the middle of 2016, according to Montejo.

Just like in other countries around the world, Briñas said, this satellite technology will greatly improve the capability of the national weather agency, the DOST’s Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) to make accurate forecasts and weather monitoring that is crucial in agriculture.

The data that will be generated by Diwata will enable DOST-PAGASA to predict extreme weather systems like the El Niño phenomenon that can dramatically affect agricultural productivity and crop yield and threaten food security.

In fact, the PAGASA was able to map out its strategy months in advance before the onset of El Niño last March 2015, made possible due to satellite weather data that was sourced from independent satellite data providers at that time, Briñas said.

Using satellite data and imageries, the country’s weathermen are able to make a forecast on the extent and severity of weather phenomenon in the different provinces and regions on a month-to-month basis.

With Diwata, PAGASA’s forecasting will greatly be improved because of more available data at its disposal that would allow local farmers, agricultural officers of government units and the private sector involved in producing and processing agricultural products to plan and establish safety nets to cushion the impact of the dry spell, according to Briñas.

Earlier, Montejo had said that by investing in the country’s intellectual resources, harnessing the best minds in the country, DOST developed Diwata to provide Filipinos the opportunity to reap the many benefits it offers, aside from information critical to agriculture.

He cited as among these benefits the use of microsat’s data in monitoring the country’s forest cover and natural resources, implementation of a responsive disaster risk management program like Project NOAH, enhance water resources management systems and improve weather monitoring and forecasting, Montejo said.

NOAH is a project that enables the government to address the serious challenges brought by extreme hazard events by applying advanced science and technology tools, such as enhanced vulnerability maps and a shortened six-hour monitoring and flood warning system for communication along major river basins.

It has various components such as Hydromet sensors development, DREAM-Lidar, FloodNET, hazards information media, landslide hazard mapping, Doppler system development and storm surge inundation mapping that address major needs in various disaster situations.

Diwata, branded as “Proudly Filipino Made,” Briñas said, marks a milestone for the country’s venture into outer space as the Philippines and the two Japanese universities as project collaborators hand it over to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to be “our eye-in-the-sky.”

the JAXA as well as the Tohoko and Hokkaido universities supported the project as apart from training 10 Filipino students in creating and operating micro-satellites, they also shouldered more than P500 million of the P840.82 million program’s budget.

Japan is aiming to create a constellation of micro-satellites within the East and Southeast Asia region and establish Asian Microsatellite Consortium (AMC) together with neighboring countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Diwata will be sent to the United States, either in Florida or California, by JAXA for its launch into the International Space Station that will orbit the earth 400 kilometers up in space.

The DOST believes that this is a big step forward attaining technological self-reliance by harnessing the power of science, technology and innovation, Briñas added.

Declaration of less known Albay natural wonders as ecotourism zone nears approval -- solon

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

LIGAO CITY (PNA) – Rep. Fernando Gonzalez of Albay’s 3rd congressional district has expressed confidence that the province’s sleepy town of Jovellar, which boasts of natural wonders like exotic falls and breathtaking underground rivers, will be soon declared by Congress as an ecotourism zone.

“My House Bill 5967 seeking the declaration was approved by the Committee on Tourism before the adjournment of the session last December and when the sessions resume starting on Jan. 18, my hope is high that it would finally be passed to fast track the recognition of Jovellar as an ecotourism zone,” Gonzalez on Friday here told the Philippines News Agency.

In the bill, the congressman, who serves as vice-chair of the House Committees on Bicol Recovery and Economic Development, cited Republic Act 9593 or the Tourism Act of 2009 that declares “tourism as an indispensable element of the national economy and an industry of national interest and importance”.

Jovellar, a small, fifth class municipality of less than 20,000 people mostly engaged in farming, is listed by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) based on latest estimates as among the poorest Albay town, with a poverty incidence of 46.3 among families.

Occupying a total land area of 13,540 hectares at the southwestern tip of Albay, the municipality located some 35 kilometers from Legazpi City, the provincial capital, is the smallest among the six towns and one city comprising the province’s 3rd congressional district.

While the municipality is small, Gonzalez said, it prides itself of having hidden natural wonders such as the amazing Quitinday, Sigpit and Mataginting Falls as well as the stunning Naglaus Underground River.

Mataginting Falls is a broad waterfalls cascading into the Naglaus underground river, a natural formation which is a largely unexplored underground river whose 300 meters long tunneled river that looks mysterious and weird, can be navigated using bamboo crafts for a unique experience.

Sigpit Falls is a tourist attraction for its green and cold water with formation of stalactites and stalagmites, with rice field on top.

Quitinday Falls, with clear, ice-cold waters, is ensconced between exciting rock walls wrapped in vine roots and foliage, pour from three points—one in heavy steam and two others -- that split the waters into jets on its way down to the Quitinday River, another underground wonder.

Jovellar also has the broad Quipia River which is a boating favorite as it runs all the way to the nearby Sorsogon town of Donsol, the whale shark capital of the world.

Gonzalez said developing the municipality into an ecotourism zone will help the area generate investments that at the same time would provide employment opportunities for local residents, given that the influx of tourists would make the ecotourism zone a significant source of business opportunities.

As of today, he said, the lack of tourist facilities -- such as lodging houses and retail outlets and round-the-clock public transportation -- hinder the socio-economic and environmental development of the area.

These problems, however, can be properly addressed once the municipality becomes an ecotourism zone which, according to the Gonzalez's bill, shall be accorded priority development by the Department of Tourism (DOT).

When the bill is enacted into a law, it will mandate the DOT to prepare, in coordination with the local government and other agencies, a development plan involving the construction, installation and maintenance of appropriate faculties and infrastructure which shall enhance tourism in the area.

The development plan, it said, shall ensure the preservation and conservation of the natural beauty and indigenous nature of the area giving consideration to the formulation, development and implementation of programs and strategies that will generate livelihood and employment opportunities for the local inhabitants.

The DOT will likewise be mandated to implement the tourism development plan that will suit the natural characteristics of the area and shall incorporate the same in the overall development plans and programs for national implementation.

Under the proposed law, promoting Jovellar as an area for ecotourism in all its natural, regional and local promotion programs shall also be a responsibility of the DOT.

Ecotourism is defined by the International Ecotourism Society (IES) as responsible travel to natural areas that conserve the environment and improve the welfare of local people.

These destinations are often remote areas, whether inhabited or uninhabited, and are usually under some kind of environmental protection at the national, international, communal or private level.

Ecotourism, according to the IES, means education for both tourists and residents of nearby communities as tour operators should formulate and apply a code of conduct for both the traveler and the industry itself to minimize their negative impacts on sensitive environments and cultures.

Luring tourists into the place, Gonzalez said, is not difficult this time as the Php2.7-billion coastal roads interlinking municipalities along Burias and Ticao Passes, including Jovellar, are nearing completion.

These roads are the 46-kilometer artery along the Albay West Coast connecting several key fishing barangays within this city and the municipalities of Libon, Oas and Pioduran; the 25.6-kilometer Pioduran-Donsol (Sorsogon) Road; and the 24.9-kilometer Guinobatan-Jovellar-Donsol Road.

These projects that form part of the DPWH-DOT convergence program under the Aquino administration’s 2011-2016 National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP), when completed, would facilitate growth to the already booming tourism of Donsol and Albay’s 3rd district, enabling tourists to travel with ease.

The Donsol-Jovellar-Guinobatan road will make travel shorter between Donsol and areas covered by the third district of Albay, including this city, the site of the alluring Kawa-kawa Hill and Nature Park from where Mt. Mayon’s southwestern quadrant can be closely viewed.

Legazpi gets ready to host final stage of 2016 Le Tour de Filipinas

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 15 (PNA) – Over a month ahead of this year’s staging of the Le Tour de Filipinas, whose final stage will be hosted by this premier Bicol metropolis recognized by the world tourism industry as the City of Fun and Adventure, the local government on Friday started its preparations purposely to add more delight to the international sport event.

Referring to the preparations, Mayor Noel Rosal said “we would make it sure that all delegates — the competing cyclists and their respective teams, race officials, sports followers and other visitors for the event coming from all over the world—enjoy their coming to and stray in the city.”

Le Tour de Filipinas -- the only Philippine cycling tournament duly sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale, Philippine Cycling Federation and Asian Cycling Federation -- is a yearly professional road bicycle race first staged in Luzon in 1955.

Before carrying its current name, its previous names included the Tour of Luzon, Marlboro Tour and Tour ng Pilipinas.

Now on its 7th Edition, which will run on Feb. 18-21, the race will be composed of four stages to travel a total of 691 kilometers starting from Antipolo City and ending the first stage with a distance of 153 kilometers of mountainous road terrain in Lucena City, passing through the towns of Baras, Pililla, Siniloan, Pangil, Lumban, Pagsanjan and Lucban.

About a hundred professional cyclists composing the 15 competing teams—12 of them from abroad—will respond to the starting gun in Antipolo City, according to Rosal who attended the race’s press launch in Manila last Monday.

This will be the first time that the race will head to Bicol in seven years and, Rosal said, bikers’ teams from the United States, Germany, France, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Netherlands, Belarus, Taiwan, Laos and Luxembourg will be seeing action in the category 2.2 race.

The Philippines' teams joining the tournament are the 7-Eleven Road Bike Philippines, Kopiko Cebu Team and the Philippine National Squad.

All eyes in the race will be focused on Frenchman Thomas Lebas, last year’s individual category winner, who will be paraded anew by Japan’s Bridgestone Anchor Cycling Team, Rosal said.

The second stage on Feb. 19 will be from Lucena City via the Maharlika Highway through the famous “3M” zigzag climb in Atimonan, Quezon to the historic town of Daet, Camarines Norte’s provincial capital from where the third stage of 187 kilometers to this city will take off on the next day.

The fourth and final stage will be a double out-and-back course of 147 kilometers from the city and around the majestic Mt. Mayon, passing through the two other Albay cities of Tabaco and Ligao and the towns of Daraga, Camalig, Guinobatan, Malilipot and Sto. Domingo.

Parts of the city’s preparations, Rosal said, are the setting of road security, traffic management and crowd control measures in coordination with the local police and other local government units; and hotel room reservations, night tours around the city’s tourism sites and welcome and see off activities for the visitors, among other things needed to make their coming more memorable.

“I saw during the press launch the excitement among the cyclists, race crews and officials over the race’s coming to Legazpi for Mt. Mayon. However, we are going to show them that the city now is not only for the breathtaking view of the volcano’s magically-configured perfect cone but also for its sparkling metropolis loaded with heavy tourism-related activities, mouth-watering cuisine and exciting places to relax, play and enjoy a healthful living,” he said.

They will also find out that the city, which is home to warm and hospitable people, is already a world-class metropolis that caters to an influx of investments and massive urban development that continuously attract travelers, Rosal said.

The city’s air and coastal waters are certified “clean” by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources while the local police consider the peace, order and security prevailing over its communities as stable and manageable, he noted.

The city is also recognized now as a “convention capital” owing to its attractiveness as venue of sport competitions and big formal gatherings such as international conventions, conferences, meetings and reunions.

Last year, the city hosted over 50 grand national and international occasions, among them the 1st International Convention on Children and Family and the National Information and Communication Technology Summit, both in October, and the Nov. 14-15 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)–Adventure and Travel Conference.

These big gatherings brought in hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world as the city works on becoming one of the convention capitals of the country as part of its massive tourism industry development program.

All these involve tourism that is indeed taking a crucial role in the city in its pursuit for inclusive and horizontal growth that benefit not only big investors such as hotel operators but also the people in the countryside, where most of its tourist destinations are located, by providing more opportunities for employment and business ventures, Rosal said.

And since tourism growth, owing to its irresistible tourism products ranging from its natural wonders to world-class facilities, enlivens trade and commerce, the mayor said, the local business climate has also been made pleasant as investment opportunities have been going broader and more fortified.

Listed as number 14 in the country’s most visited tourism destinations in the country since two years ago, the city officially identified as one of the three most livable cities of the country is also vying for a slot in the five top tourist favorites at least for the Luzon area this year.

Antonio Reyes, the City Tourism Office chief, said the coming of Le Tour de Filipinas that is expected to bring in hundreds of visitors will be an addition to the count of arrivals in the city for this year.

Last year, he said, the city received tremendous number of arrivals which, when the official count is completed with local hotels submitting their lists, could reach one million, a remarkable growth from the over 700,000 in 2014.

The 7th Le Tour de Filipinas is supported not only by the city government but by 7-Eleven, Smart Communications, Isuzu Philippines, Petron, Novo Nordisk, Phenom Athletic Apparel and Kopiko, among others.

Legazpi City, DAR to train local farmers on cassava industry development

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 14 (PNA) -- The Legazpi City Agriculture Office, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Catholic Relief Services -- a non-government organization based in the United States, will conduct a series of capability-building training on the last week of January among agrarian reform beneficiaries and other legitimate farmers in the city on how to improve the cassava industry here, City Agriculture Office head Jess Kallos said Thursday.

Kallos said the training would give additional knowledge to and improve the skills of the farmers in order for them to become effective entrepreneurs.

It would also add to the livelihood activities in the community, he said.

With this training, all small groups of farmers would be clustered into only one group in order for them to avail of credit assistance and the bank could easily assist them, Kallos said.

The city agriculturist revealed that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) was also part of this program and would distribute starter kits like planting materials, fertilizers and cash for work to the qualified farmers.

There was already a fund from the DSWD downloaded to the city for improving cassava production to make it more attractive for human consumption and use as materials for processing of flour, feeds, dried chips and starch, he added.

Kallos disclosed that his office would provide the technology as well as to teach the beneficiaries the right way of planting cassava and help them on how to manage their money for proper planting activity in order to make it more productive.

BU expects higher level accreditation of Education programs

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

LEGAZPI CITY (PNA) -- Bicol University (BU), the region's premiere government-run higher education institution with main campuses in the city, is expecting to pass the recent assessment that will elevate its Education programs to a higher level of accreditation.

The assessment was conducted by the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities (AACCUP) for Level IV-Phase accreditation of the university’s College of Education (BUCE).

Headed by Dr. Manuel Corpuz, AACCUP executive director, the assessment team evaluated both the Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and the Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education programs of BUCE, university president Dr. Arnulfo Macariñas said Tuesday.

“We are confident to pass the assessment for the Level IV-Phase 2 accreditation as our academic programs have excellent outcomes in five areas such as instruction, research, extension service, international linkages and consortia and planning processes, he said.

Among the documents that the AACCUP team examined as part of the assessment, according to Macariñas, were those pertaining to whether the program objectives are consistent with the visions, missions, goals and objectives.

Also looked at were the extent of researches in refereed journals, studies on the impact of extension service programs and the planning processes that sustain quality in the academic programs.

Programs that pass AACCUP standards and are awarded accreditation status lend prestige to member-institutions since it is evidence of quality standards and help parents know to which program they may send their children for quality education, he explained.

BUCE first underwent the formal survey visit in 2001 and passed Level II accreditation in 2006, Level III in 2013 and Level IV-Phase 1 in 2014.

With this, higher accreditation expected, Macariñas said that indeed, the BUCE is going a long way from its humble beginning as Albay Normal School way back in the 1950s, then Bicol Teachers College in the early ‘60s and later as the teacher training college of the university in 1969.

Another audit which BU passed late last year was for the certificate of excellence at par with international standards from the Organization for Standardization (ISO).

“We passed the audit made last November by one of the leading international certifying bodies and satisfactorily complied with the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 in our campaign to retain the certification we first obtained five years ago,” Macariñas said.

The audit was conducted through campus visitations by a team from TÜV SÜD PSB Philippines, an internationally recognized certification body with accreditations by Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) and Philippines Accreditation Office (PAO).

Visited for the audit were the BU main campuses here, in Tabaco City hosting the College of Fisheries (BUCF) and in the Albay municipalities of Guinobatan and Polangui which are home to the College of Agriculture and Forestry (BUCAF) and the annex campus, respectively.

The ISO 9001:2008 certificate was awarded to BU in 2011 to become its first recipient among state universities in the Philippines.

It is a global symbol affirming the university’s processes and standards are at par with international management systems.

Its first recertification was received in 2013 and the second is expected to come soon as the TÜV SÜD PSB Philippines has recommended to TÜV SÜD International, with headquarters in Munich, Germany, that the ISO certificate of BU be maintained.

The scope of the audit leading to the possible renewed certification includes the provision and development of tertiary and graduate education degrees and non-degree courses as well as research and extension services.

The survey visit evaluated not only the conformity of the management system with the audit criteria but also the effectiveness of the management system to ensure that the organization is capable of meeting applicable statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements.

It also determined the effectiveness of the management system in ensuring that the organization is able to meet its specified objectives.

The ISO International Standards ensure that products and services are safe, reliable and of good quality.

For business, they are strategic tools that reduce costs by minimizing waste and errors and increasing productivity.

Educational institutions are increasingly recognizing these benefits and international standardization features in many curricula being recognized as the vital contribution educational institutions bring to raising awareness of standardization and its benefits.

The ISO Award for Higher Education was started in 2007 to promote and support higher education institutions running successful programs that raise awareness of the benefits of international standards.

Every two years, a selection panel -- including representatives from academia, economics and the media -- choose a higher education institution that is leading the way in education about standards.

The ISO audit system, Macariñas said, is just one of the quality assurance mechanisms utilized by BU to ensure the efficient performance of the university in meeting its goals such as commitment to quality and client satisfaction.

BU’s commitment to implement quality assurance methods in both the academic and support services and its zeal to build procedures for its maintenance is anchored on the BU vision to be a world-class university, he said.

The university is the oldest state-owned higher education institution in Bicol which has been on the lead in producing globally competitive graduates imbued with the highly held values of scholarship, leadership, character and service toward generating and disseminating new knowledge and technologies beneficial to all stakeholders and to improve the well-being of the community.

Green Convergence Philippines names Albay as first LGU Eco Champion

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 12 (PNA) -- Green Convergence Philippines (GCP) has named Albay as its LGU Eco Champion, the first province to win its newly launched award, for its successful and effective environment policies and ecologically sound tourism program.

Green Convergence is a coalition of networks, organizations and individuals working for a development paradigm that addresses the need for social and economic uplift, while preserving nature’s life support system including air, water and land, for generations to come.

GCP president Angelina P. Galang announced Albay’s latest award in a recent letter to Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, where she stressed the province’s “implementation of and compliance with various Philippine Environmental Laws sum up to good environmental governance and best practices which can be replicated by other local government units (LGUs).”

Salceda, also known as the Green Economist, is credited for pioneering the Albay Green Economy, anchored on the principles of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA), tripled the province’s mangrove area from 700 to 2,400 hectares, and expanded forest cover by 88% from 26,000 to 44,000 hectares from 2008 to 2014.

Salceda’s administration has also been globally hailed for its firm commitment to CCA and climate change mitigation. The governor is set to receive Albay’s award during the First Environment Summit scheduled February 9-11, 2016 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

Arnold Embestro, Salceda’s executive assistant for environment, who facilitated GCP’s strict award validation, said Albay will have a booth for its credentials as the first Eco Champion at the SMX Complex during the two-day summit. Among Albay’s strong points in winning the award was its organization of the Albay Climate Change Academy, the first in Asia and now a popular learning center for LGUs and even government executives from other countries on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, he shared.

GCP has partnered with the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the 2014 launch of the first-ever National Search for LGU Eco Champions. Galang said the purpose of this search is “to determine the local governments’ compliance with the various Philippine environmental laws and similar quasi-issuances that are aimed at protecting the environment and human lives”.

The search was conducted between September 2014 and February 2015 among 17 city governments and three top provinces. Albay garnered the highest compliance score of 115.5 points. This was subsequently validated by Green Convergence researchers.

Albay’s “invaluable contribution to the LGU Environmental Laws and Compliance research will help DENR/EMB to address gaps in our environmental governance and mainstream their implementation,” Galang said in her letter to Salceda.

Initially a geostatic intervention scheme to move people from harm’s way in risk areas to safer grounds, Albay’s Albay GUICADALE (Guinobatan- Camalig-Daraga-Legazpi) Economic Township is now fast shaping up as an economic development platform to transform its 64,000-hectares of mountain lands into a sprawling business boom center, with the Daraga International Airport at its center.The multi-billion peso GUICADALE in Barangay Alobo, Daraga, has been the best example of the “building back better elsewhere” principle in DRRM.

Albay has earned many national and international awards under Salceda’s administration, among them: the Gawad Kalasag Hall of Fame Award as Best Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council for three consecutive years; and three Galing Pook Awards, an assurance for a niche in the Hall of Fame of this highest government honor for LGUs.

More infra projects soon to be completed in Legazpi City

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 11 (PNA) -- Different major infrastructure projects in this city are expected to be finished while several important programs will be implemented this year, Mayor Noel Rosal bared on Monday.

Rosal cited the on-going construction of the Legazpi City public hospital, which is expected to finish by June while the target completion for the renovation of the City Health Office is on May before the national and local elections.

The state-of-the-art hospital is considered as one of the most modern health facilities in the Bicol Region and is located within a 3,000-square-meter lot owned the city government in the heart of the commercial district in Barangay Bitano.

The construction of the hospital is funded with PHP30 million allocated by the city administration, with a counterpart of PHP50 million from the Department of Health, the mayor said.

The city chief executive said the widening of Yawa bridge located in Barangay Rawis is being undertaken by the Department of Public works and Highways (DPWH) 2nd Engineering District and is expected to finish in March.

The project has a total funding of PHP140 million from the national government for the expansion of the existing two lanes into four-lane bridge with a total length of 140 meters and width of 14.4 meters, including 16.4 meters approach.

Upon completion of the project, this bridge will serve as a toll to decongest the traffic situation in that area going to the first district of the province.

DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson has approved already the road widening project in Barangay Rawis and is just only awaiting the approval of Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje for the cutting of old trees at the side of the road, Rosal pointed out.

He said that his administration will also construct another road opening project in Barangay Taysan and other portion of the southern areas of this city through a Php90 million funding from the national government.

The construction of the four-lanes mega highway in the southern section is now in the finishing touches in connection for the preparation for the opening of the on-going construction of the International airport expected to open next year.

These roads will be used as alternate routes by the motorists from the Province of Sorsosgon.

It will also decongest the traffic situation in the Municipality of Daraga.

Rosal said the civil works and the installation of the three pumping stations being undertaken by the DPWH Bicol regional office are almost finish and ready for the turnover to the city administration for the final operation of the project.

The project is part of the city’s Comprehensive Flood Control Program with a total funding of PHP2.1 billion from the national government.

Rosal noted that his administration will also install grand fountain and skating range at the Kalayaan Park through a PHP5-million funding from the DOT.

He revealed that the construction of the Gregorian Mall located within the 2,855-square-meter Locsin Park in Old Albay District is expected to be completed and be operational in April.

It is the 3-in-1 project being undertaken by the city administration and the WholeGrain Land Inc. that includes the construction of a mall, the Legazpi City Museum and the City Activity Center.

Rosal said the establishment of this Gregorian Mall is an innovative program that will bring more employment opportunities to residents and expected to boost its economic progress.

The 500-square-meter portion of the area will be occupied by the Locsin Activity Center that includes the construction of a basketball court, mini grandstand and covered court.

The 200-square-meter portion will be occupied by the city museum which would give more character in the locality and additional attraction to the different tourism personalities, Rosal said.

He disclosed that the SM Prime Holdings is now fine-tuning all necessary documents to break ground this month for the start of the construction of the SM Legazpi.

Dike built by Albay townsfolk offers sharp contrast to gov’t infra projects

By Mar S. Arguelles (Inquirer Southern Luzon)

STO. DOMINGO, Albay—Felisa Barqui, 46, shed tears of joy shortly after Typhoon “Nona” (international name: Melor) struck Albay in mid-December.

The source of her happiness: There was hardly any flood in her community, which used to be inundated at the slightest rain.

Until then, Barqui had not seen the benefit of the flood control project that she and her neighbors had built.

The new flood control dikes, according to Barqui, were built through volunteerism. They saved hundreds of families living along river channels and shorelines in her village, San Vicente, and its adjoining villages, Padayan and San Raphael.

The dikes stopped water cascading from the slopes of Mayon Volcano from flooding communities in the coastal villages, like what happened when Typhoon “Reming” lashed Bicol in 2006.

“We now feel safe and we can now sleep soundly without fear that floodwaters would sweep our homes during heavy rains and typhoons,” she said.

Memories about Reming still drive Barqui to tears, as she recalled how 54 houses, including hers, were washed away when the rising sea and water cascading from Mayon Volcano merged and inundated entire villages.

It came as no surprise that Barqui became one of 40 residents in her village who volunteered to do work in building a flood control structure supervised by a Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-appointed engineer.

The dike was one of the projects in Sto. Domingo funded by a P25.9-million grant from DSWD’s community development program under the Kapitbisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS).

Hundreds of villagers in the three coastal villages of San Vicente, Padayan and San Raphael helped carry out socialized projects that would improve their community and personal well-being, according to Jesseshan Marbella, the regional social marketing officer of DSWD’s Kalahi-CIDSS program for Bicol.

For the flood control project of San Vicente, she said the community received a P1.5-million grant from the program to build a 250-meter flood control structure along the San Vicente River. The construction, by the residents themselves, started in July and was completed just days before Nona struck on Dec. 14.

Bernard de los Santos, who chairs San Vicente’s Barangay Project Management Council (BPMC), said the dike protects 50 households in the village, half of which are beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, a cash assistance program to the country’s poor families.

De los Santos said the 40 who build the dike, 19 of whom were women, were not only paid wages but were also taught how to manage funds downloaded by DSWD directly to the BPMC.

De los Santos said when they started, “it was a bloody process” since they knew nothing about building a dike and many residents were at first apathetic to the bayanihan concept. In the end, however, perseverance paid off, he said.

In Barangay San Raphael, another 200-meter flood control project, built for P1.2 million, was implemented by 40 volunteers from the BPMC, chaired by Leorando Lolamres, 56.

Until then, Lolamres said, flooding was a way of life for residents in his village every time there was a heavy downpour.

San Raphael village chief Jose Maristela said they were not only confronted with rampaging floodwater during stormy weather but also had to contend with boulders that rolled down the slopes of Mayon.

Barangay Padayan, meanwhile, received P458,172 for the repair of a multipurpose center designed for training, conferences and as an exhibit area for livelihood products.

Sto. Domingo Mayor Herbie Aguas said the communities’ attitude was the key to the success in implementing the Kalahi-CIDSS projects.

Sto. Domingo, a picturesque town nestled at the foot of Mayon, overlooks the crystal blue waters of Albay Gulf.

It is tucked between two commercial centers—Legazpi City, 12 kilometers to the south, and Tabaco City, about 14 km to the north.

According to Aguas, the P25.9-million Kalahi grant paid for 26 community projects in the town’s 22 villages. The town would receive P12.9 million more next year and another P12.9 million by 2017, said Marbella.

GSIS allots PHP1.6B in emergency loan to members, pensioners in Oriental Mindoro, Albay, Sorsogon

(PNA), JBP/PR/SSC

MANILA (PNA) -- The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has earmarked PHP1.6 billion in emergency loan to members and pensioners in Oriental Mindoro, Albay and Sorsogon.

According to GSIS President and General Manager Robert G. Vergara, a total of 49,049 members and 9,315 pensioners will be eligible to avail of the emergency loan program in said areas until January 30, 2016.

“Active members working or residing in the declared calamity areas are eligible to borrow if they are not on leave of absence without pay, have no arrears in paying premium contributions, and have no loans in default (no unpaid amortization for more than six months). Pensioners who are residing in the calamity areas are qualified to avail of the program,” Vergara said.

The GSIS emergency loan package consists of an increased credit limit of PHP40,000 for active members who have outstanding balance in their existing emergency loan and PHP20,000 for first-time borrowers and pensioners.

“There are 28,980 active members in Oriental Mindoro, Albay and Sorsogon who may avail of the PHP40,000 loan, while 20,069 active members and 9,315 pensioners are qualified to avail of the PHP20,000 loan,” the pension fund chief explained.

The loan is payable in three years or 36 equal monthly installments at 6 percent interest per annum computed in advance and is covered by a loan redemption insurance, which deems the loan fully paid in case of death of the borrower, provided that the loan repayment is up to date.

Active members may apply using their GSIS eCard or their unified multipurpose identification (UMID) card through the GSIS Wireless Automated Processing System (GWAPS) kiosks located in GSIS offices, provincial capitols, city halls, selected municipal offices, large government agencies such as the Department of Education, 27 Robinsons Malls and SM Super Malls in Manila, Pampanga, and Cebu.

Pensioners need to personally apply in the GSIS offices in the calamity areas and fill out an application form.

Loan proceeds are electronically credited to the borrower’s GSIS eCard or unified multipurpose identification (UMID) card.

Active members who have been affected by Typhoon Nona but are not qualified to avail of the emergency loan may borrow from other GSIS loan windows such as the policy loan or the Enhanced Consoloan Plus where members may borrow a maximum amount equivalent to 14 times their monthly salary depending on their paid premiums remitted to the GSIS.

Pensioners, on the other hand, may avail of the GSIS pension loan where they could take out a loan of up to six times their monthly pension, depending on their age.

For more information on the emergency loan program, members and pensioners may call the GSIS Contact Center at 847-47-47; visit its website at www.gsis.gov.ph or email us at gsiscares@gsis.gov.ph.

Php2.1-B pumping project now ready to free Legazpi from floods

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

LEGAZPI CITY (PNA) -- The much-awaited operation of the vaunted three pumping stations under the controversial Php2.1-billion flood control project of this regional center city is seen to free this coastal city from perennial flooding that often renders business establishments close.

Legazpi City is reportedly below sea level during normal high tide so that seawater waves block the outflow of flood, said businessman Rafael Lo, a retired mayor of Polangui town who has businesses in the city.

Lo said it was the belief of most Legazpi residents that had Typhoon "Yolanda" not spared Albay province, Legazpi could have suffered worse than Tacloban City where more than 7,000 people died from storm surge.

City Mayor Noel Rosal said that with the three pumping stations, widening and concreting of creeks and construction of other major flood control projects in the city, Legazpi flooding would be greatly minimized.

During Typhoon Reming in November 2007, where close to 2,000 people were killed in the province of Albay, Legazpi suffered a harrowing experience when residential houses at the city's Albay district towards the coastal city poblacion were submerged by floods as high as four meters while a thousand of houses in the towns of Camalig and Daraga near the Yawa river were either washed out or buried, including Barangay Padang in Legazpi.

Disaster officials pointed out that the floods in Legazpi during Typhoon "Reming" came from storm rains and floods from Mt. Mayon and sea water from strong waves.

The Regional Development Council chaired by Governor Joey Sarte Salceda pushed for the realization of the Php2.1-billion Legazpi flood control project, Php335 million of which went to the three pumping stations.

Typhoon "Nona" could have tested the strength of the project.

Salceda said the rest of the Php2.1 billion budget has been programmed for other major flood control structures in the city alone.

The three pumping stations are situated at neighboring rivers in Barangays San Roque, Pigcale, and Victory village.

A Department of Public Works and Highways report said the major pumping station at Barangay Victory Village has so far not been completed yet, citing adjustments.

Salceda urged the DPWH to facilitate the construction of the third pumping station at Barangay Victory Village.

DPWH officials said the pumping station at Barangay Victory Village would clear the five-kilometer long Macabalo River emanating from the city's Albay district, affecting Barangays Tulatula, Maoyod, Cabangan, Imperial Court, Dapdap, Binanuahan East and West, Lapulapu, Victory village and Dinagaan.

These said barangays suffered the most during "Reming" when their houses were submerged by storm water as high as four meters while a thousand of houses in the towns of Daraga and Camalig near the Yawa river and Padang in Legazpi were either washed out, if not buried.

DPWH assistant regional director Armando Estrella said that with the construction of the wider Rawis flood control project, hopefully Barangay Rawis flooding will be solved and transportation towards the first district will not be affected.

The Rawis flood control project forms part of the Php145 million expansion to four-lane of the two-lane 130-meter-long Yawa Bridge, according to Don Asejo, information officer of the Albay 2nd District Engineering Office undertaking the project.

In a briefing at the Albay Provincial Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) with agencies concerned a day before Typhoon Nona struck on Dec. 14, the media asked DPWH Region 5 information officer Lucy Castaneda about the status of the much-awaited three pumping stations in Legazpi that have been boasted would solve the Legazpi flooding.

Castaneda said she has no knowledge about the pumping stations' status, adding it was already in the control of the city government on the strength of a Memorandum of Agreement between the DPWH and Legazpi City government.

But in the afternoon during the same continuing briefing at the APSEMO before Typhoon Nona, DPWH Engr. Egan Nunez, the pumping station project engineer, explained that the pumping stations have yet to be turned over to the city pending realization of the MOA as the third pumping station at Barangay Victory Village has yet to be completed.

He said that of the Php2.1 billion budget, which included the Php335 million for the three pumping stations, only Php1.3 billion has so far been spent.

According to Nunez, the counterpart of the city government under the MOA is the control of operation and maintenance of the three pumping stations once these are completed and turned over.

An official of the Sunwest Construction and Development Corp., which is implementing the Php2.1-billion project, said there own crewmen were ready to test operate the two completed pumping stations at Barangays San Roque and Pigcale during Typhoon Nona but, he said, it did not operate because there was no flooding.

The official, who spoke on condition his name be withheld for lack of authority to talk, however, said the MOA between the DPWH and Legazpi City has already been signed, only that the turnover has yet to be realized pending completion of the third pumping station.

He said with the consent of the DPWH, the two pumping stations were ready for testing during Typhoon Nona at the total expense of Sunwest.

Legazpi into massive transformations this year, says Mayor Rosal

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 7 (PNA) -- Great transformations, from its being elevated to a Highly Urbanized City (HUC) to the coming of more major private investments, are expected of this key Bicol urban metropolis this year.

“Expect good big things to take place from this year on. These will further improve the city’s image as a highly livable urban settlement, playing host to an inflow of big private investments, hundreds of thousands of tourists and enormous social and economic activities leading to inclusive growth,” Mayor Noel Rosal on Thursday said.

Towards being reclassified as a HUC, he said, the official result of the 2015 Population Census (PopCen) conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) last August will officially determine the latest human population figure of the city, which will be among its bases.

The city needs a population of not less than 200,000 to qualify, based on the provision of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 involving the conversion of a component city into a HUC.

As of the 2010 PopCen, the population of the city was officially counted at 182,201, which the PSA has projected to reach more than 200,000 by this year based on an estimated average annual growth rate of 2.1 percent.

Another criterion needed to be satisfied is local revenue which, according to RA 7160, a component city shall not be converted into a HUC unless its latest annual income is not less than Php500 million “based on 1991 constant prices, as certified by the city treasurer”.

City Budget Officer Obelia Baldano said that in 2015 alone, the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) has for its record a gross receipt of over Php700 million, a rate of revenue that continues to increase owing to the remarkable growth being achieved by the local business sector and the CTO’s aggressive implementation of its tax collection campaign.

The city government’s budget this year approved by the local legislative council is Php773 million based on the projected total revenue, she added.

With these requirements met, Rosal said, the city government will follow the procedure under Rule II, Article 12 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 7160 on

“Conversion of Component City Into a Highly-Urbanized City”, first of it is the passing of a resolution by the Sanggunian Panlunsod calling for the purpose.

This resolution, after approval and endorsement of the mayor, will be submitted to the President who, within 30 days from receipt, shall, after verifying that the income and population requirements have been met, declare the component city as a HUC.

According to RA 7160, “the conversion of a component city into a highly-urbanized city shall make it independent of the province where it is geographically located”.

Rosal said his administration is dramatically aiming for this conversion that will accelerate further the development of the city into a top-class urban locality being sought by investors for their business investments, thus, opening more job opportunities for the local manpower and more revenue that the local government could use in maximizing the delivery of social services to its people.

In anticipating big private investments, the Php1.5-billion Central City Mall established by Ayala Corp. on the 1.4-hectare property owned by the city government and opened last month will be in full operations soon as the latest entry into the growing number of giant business locators in the city.

SM Prime Holdings, one of the country’s premier shopping management firms, on the other hand, is now readying full-blast construction of its SM City Legazpi within a sprawling prime property at the heart of the city’s bustling business district.

Next in line is the expansion of business operations of Landco Business Park of the Gaisano Grand Group of Companies via the putting up of an additional investment worth around Php2 billion, which would see the establishment of a huge condo hotel and several commercial facilities.

The Cebu-based business conglomerate has studied the project thoroughly and according to its business development manager, Eric Tan, “Legazpi is very much ready for this huge investment.”

The new project, Tan said, is focused on a three-building condotel of 10 stories each within the Gaisano-owned and operated Landco Business Park, a master planned central business district in the heart of the city that the company has developed since 14 years ago and where its Pacific Mall Legazpi, the first full-sized integrated shopping center in, Bicol now stands.

It will be a 600- to 900-room condotel built based on the green economic development that the city adopts in promoting environment-friendly investments which includes green building regulations paired with preference purchasing clauses or marketing programs such as green certification programs for local businesses, Tan added.

Another big thing this year, according to Rosal, is the anticipated expansion of business in the city by the Robinsons Retail Holdings of the Gokongwei Group of companies which plans to put up the Robinsons Galleria Legazpi patterned after the Robinsons Galleria Cebu.

The Gokongwei Group now operates its Robinsons Supermarket and two commercial banks in the city.

“With all these, the city is having the country’s three business giants, plus less known big investors, competing with each other in putting up huge investments in the locality called in the travel industry world the City of Fun and Adventure and recognized as the second most livable city in the Philippines,” Rosal said.

All these good things happening in the city this year are supported by the enormous infrastructural development being initiated by both the national and local governments, one of them is the completion early this year of the Php2-billion flood control project featuring two giant water pumping stations, he said.

This project funded by the national government through the Department of Public Works and Highways would make the city flood-free and an all-weather locality, according to the mayor.

Also this year, the establishment of the international cruise terminal granted by the Tourism Industry and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA). with an initial amount of Php400 million to jumpstart the construction along the shoreline here of Albay Gulf, will be started, Rosal said.

The project involves the construction of an expansive wharf which, according to the Philippine Ports Authority, will be good enough to accommodate the standard size of an international cruise vessel that measures from 250 to 300 meters in length.

Bicol 5th Top performing region in 2015 CSC career exam

(MAL/SAA-PIA5/Albay)

LEGAZPI CITY (PIA) – The Bicol region ranked 5th among Top Performing regions in terms of passing rate in the October 18, 2015 Civil Service Commission (CSC) Professional and Sub-Professional Career Service Examination-Paper and Pencil Test (CSE-PPT).

“Collective figures show that Region 5 is among the top performing regions in terms of passing rate in the CSE-PPT held on October 18 last year,” CSC Bicol information officer Lynbee Niebla said.

Bicol notched 12.34% passing rate, ranking 5th among all the other regions in the country.

The top four are Region 7 (Central Visayas) with 14.28% passing rate, Region 3 (Central Luzon) with 14.02%, Region 4 (Southern Tagalog) with 13.71% and Region 6 (Western Visayas) with 13.43%.

Niebla said a total of 13,152 individuals passed the latest CSE-PPT conducted nationwide.

“This represents the 11.02% of the 119,333 total examinees for the professional and sub-professional levels,” she said.

Moreover, this figure does not include the 56,985 total registered examinees from regions and testing centers in the country affected by typhoon Lando and the haze in Indonesia.

“These areas include Regions 1, 2,NCR and CAR and testing centers in Olongapo City, Cabanatuan City and Bongao, Tawi-Tawi. The examinations in these areas were re-scheduled on December 6, 2015,” Niebla said.

Passers at sub-professional levels are qualified for first level positions in the government while professional level passers may join first and second level positions.

The first level includes clerical, trades, crafts and custodial positions that involve non-professional or sub-prof work requiring less than four years of college studies. Whereas, the second level covers professional, technical and scientific positions up to Division Chief level that involves such work requiring at least four years of college studies.

However Niebla noted that possessing a professional or sub-prof eligibility is just one of the requirements to be able to join government service.

“A civil service eligible, must also meet the education, experience and training requirements appropriate for permanent appointment to a government career service position,” Niebla added.

DENR, Green Convergence name Ligao City eco-champion

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 5 (PNA) –- For its best practices in environmental governance, Legazpi City has been chosen as one of the country’s eco-champions among local government units (LGUs) which will be awarded during the First Philippine Environment Summit slated in February.

The award will be given by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Green Convergence, a non-government organization that aims for a development paradigm that will address the need for social and economic uplift while preserving life-supporting water, air and land for generations to come.

Ligao City, headed by Mayor Patricia Gonzalez-Alsua, has been chosen as one of the LGU Eco Champions in the country for good environmental governance and best practices that will serve as a good example for other LGUs, DENR Bicol Regional Director Gilbert Gonzales on Monday here said.

The LGU Eco-Champions search panel of judges, who based their judgment on findings by competent researchers, was impressed by Alsua’s environmental leadership vision and achievements for the city, Gonzales said.

He added there is more about Ligao -- a young, 4th class city that strategically sits at the heart of Albay’s 3rd district, around 500 kilometers south of Manila -- when it comes to environmental governance.

For one, he said, the city has been aggressive in supporting national efforts in providing people a safe environment, evidenced by the local government’s early compliance to the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 through the early establishment of a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) where segregation of solid waste materials collected from barangays is done.

The city is also among the first LGUs in the region to establish a “Class AA” slaughterhouse that now provides the city a clean and sanitary conveyance and handling of animals and livestock for the local market.

The five major rivers surrounding the city’s urban core, being a downstream of Mt. Mayon, make the area prone to flood during heavy rains, but that is not a problem as mitigating measures have already been set in place, making the city a safer ground during the rainy season.

Flood control dikes, drainage canals, irrigation systems, and other flood mitigating infrastructures have been constructed in the past years to address the need for security against flood devastation.

For its marine resources, Ligao City was able to restore the richness of the sea and its surrounding ecology, protect it from uncalled for human activities and rally the support of the villagers.

Along strategic sites of its coastal waters covering an expanse of around 126 square-kilometers with a coastline length of about 8.4 kilometers, the city government developed mangrove forests that now served as breeding ground of various species of fish, crustaceans and other important species that contribute to the richness of its marine ecology.

Artificial reefs were also established on the fishing ground while a modest portion, starting from the shoreline, was delineated as fish sanctuary where any form of fishing activity is not permitted.

The corals have also sprouted back and the sea grasses are now there dancing gracefully with the gentle underwater current while the mangroves that the city planted several years back have also grown up, adding to the richness of the place’s marine ecosystem

Apart from that, the local fishing ground is also being kept under tight watch by the Ligao City Anti-Illegal Fishing Task Force, a composite team of enforcers from the Philippine National Police, Philippine Army, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, DENR and the local government.

These are only some of the efforts that have not gone in vain — from the preservation of its environmental resources towards upholding its natural beauty and maintenance of the richness of its land to flood-mitigating systems serving many purposes like preventing soil erosion to connecting communities and irrigating agricultural lands -- have turned the city’s vulnerability into an opportunity to fill out the needs of the communities, the DENR regional chief said.

The Eco-Champions awarding ceremonies will be among the highlights of the First Philippine Environment Summit on Feb. 9-11 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, Gonzales said.

Themed “Breakthroughs and Innovations Towards Sustainable Development”, the summit, he said, will bring together environment leaders of non-government organizations and civil society, government, business, academia, church, and other sectors in celebration of advancements in environmental protection achieved through private and public initiatives.

Pres. Benigno Aquino III, Luis Cardinal Tagle, former Supreme Court Justice Reynato Puno and internationally renowned environmental activists Dr. David Suzuki and Dr. Vandana Shiva are some of the invited speakers.

Also invited are leading presidential aspirants in the coming national elections who will be asked to present their environmental agendas.

Salceda: 2016 a banner year for 'Albay Rising'

By Johnny C. Nunez [(PNA), JMC/JCN/SSC]

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 4 (PNA) -- The year 2016 is a banner year for "Albay Rising," Albay’s development battlecry.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said his province goes "full throttle" this year towards its goal of sustainable development. He calls on his constituents to work with him in pursuit of their goal "for the greater glory of Albay."

"Albay Rising" embodies Salceda’s economic development vision for his province for the past nine years, comprising his three terms as governor, which ends June this year. He will run for Albay’s second congressional district seat in the May 2016 polls, virtually uncontested.

Salceda has enjoined Albayanos to get “all hands on the paddle” towards their sustainable development objective “through tourism, agriculture, small enterprises, education, health, social protection, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.”

One of the biggest events for Albay this year is its hosting of the Palarong Pambansa 2016 in April.

Salceda said the province will host it as a sports-tourism activity, the first in the history of the games, with the venues of the week-long games scattered around its most scenic places, designed to push further its booming tourism industry.

Albay’s tourism has won international recognitions, among them, as winner of the 2015 CEO Challenge of Pacific Area Tourism Association.

The governor estimates that for 2015, about 376,000 foreign tourists visited Albay or an 11 percent increase.

He expects more arrivals this year due to major events in the province, including Xterra Philippines, Palaro 2016 and other events of the Department of Tourism, “which we are optimizing or piggy-backing” on.

An ardent supporter of Department of Education’s K to 12 program, Salceda said Albay will work closely with DepEd to ensure the success of Senior High School in the province with its estimated enrolment of 21,800 students for school year 2016-2017.

Albay, he said will exert mightily all efforts to get the Bicol International Airport (BIA) in Daraga town completed faster and help push through the February 2016 competitive bidding of the PHP171 billion Southline railway to Legazpi City.

The BIA, the construction of which is scheduled to be completed in 2017, is Salceda’s brainchild. It is envisioned to open the floodgates for international tourism in Southern Luzon and contribute significantly to the country’s economic development.

Salceda chairs both the Bicol Regional Development Council for nine years now and the Luzon Area Development Coordinating Council for three years.

He said the South Railways line and the BIA will complement each other and together offer a package that should attract a deluge of private investments into Albay and the entire Bicol Region.

The governor said the province will work with six development partners - the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital, Bicol University, the Albay Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in Anislag, Daraga town, and the cities of Legazpi, Ligao and Tabaco.

Bicol University College of Nursing, Legazpi (Main Campus) has recently been named by the Commission on Higher Education in December 2015 as Center of Development.

Salceda also vowed to pursue more projects such as extending the San. Fernando-Oas-Daraga Road to Legazpi City to serve as 6-lane road to the BIA.

“To give our bustling urban zone breathing space, a new road will connect Padang to Bogtong in Legazpi City to Binitayan to Miisi in Daraga, and to Cabangan to Libod in Camalig town, which will also serve as escape route from Mayon Volcano’s 6-kilometer danger zone,” he added.

“We will also expedite execution of the successor 6-year plans for ALMASOR (Albay-Masbate-Sorsogon) Tourism Alliance facilities development and road links to destinations; and the GUICADALE Economic Township upland roads in Guinobatan, Camalig, Daraga and Legazpi. The crux of this major infrastructure development project is the approval of the conversion of the Legazpi National Airport into a 74-hectare Legazpi Green City and the future location of Albay International Convention Center,” he said.

250 4Ps beneficiaries, others in Legazpi City start small businesses

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 3 (PNA) -- At least 250 recipients of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and 240 women belonging to the poor sector in this city have started embarking on their micro-enterprises.

These individuals were trained by the Entrepinay Legazpi City Chapter on making powder soap and fabric conditioner as well as food products like puto pao, siomai and polvoron.

The training also had values formation, basic cash management and simple bookkeeping as components.

The participants were divided into eight groups, with about 30 persons for each session.

Aside from the training, the participants also received starter kits like materials and equipment in making the products which were distributed before Christmas.

The project is part of the ANTI-POVERTY (Addressing basic Needs Through Initiatives that Provide Opportunities and Viable Economic Resources That Yield income) Program of the Legazpi City Poverty Reduction Action Team (LCPRAT) conceived and spearheaded by the Entrepinay Legazpi City Chapter with the assistance of the Legazpi City government, the DSWD and the Department of Interior and Local Government under its Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Process (formerly Bottom-Up Budgeting System) of the government under the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

It is envisioned to provide livelihood for the beneficiaries to give them a source of income or at least save on the cost of buying these products.

The DSWD provided an amount of PhP2 million for the project while the Legazpi City government contributed PhP400,000 as its counterpart.

“As we all know, soap is one of our basic needs. We need to wash our hands as often as necessary. We have to wash our dishes and utensils at least three times a day. We have to wash family members’ clothes, sometimes daily,” Irene A. Solmirano, Entrepinay president, said.

Business establishments, especially hotels and restaurants, Solmirano said, need soap to maintain cleanliness.

“And, of course, food is indispensable from our tables,” she added.

ANTI-POVERTY is a joint project of Entrepinay-Legazpi Chapter, as the main proponent, and five other civil society organizations that are members of the 2014 LPRAT, namely: Legazpi City Senior Citizens Organization Inc., Legazpi City Slum Dwellers Federation Inc., Legazpi City Finest Retirees Association Inc., Legazpi City Women’s Federation Inc. and Bicol Consortium for Community Development Inc.

This project aims to contribute to the overall national goal of reducing poverty from 26 percent to 16 percent by 2016.

The Entrepinay-Legazpi will conduct a regular monitoring of the groups to guide them on their respective selected endeavors.

It further plans to form the trainees into a cooperative and conduct business clinics in 2016 with the support of the DSWD and the city government of Legazpi.

“We will also strengthen the marketing aspect of the program to strengthen and ensure the demand side of these micro-economic endeavors of our new entrepreneurs from the poor sector of our society,” Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal said.

Workers want P50 hike in daily wage, get P5 to P12

(PNA)

LEGAZPI CITY—The Department of Labor and Employment has recently approved an amount ranging from P5 to P12 as an increase in the minimum daily wages of Bicol’s workers in the private sector.

During the series of public hearings conducted over the year by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board, the region’s labor sector insisted on a P50 increase, saying that the cost of living had gone up due to soaring prices of basic commodities and services, including electricity and water, keeping below the poverty line households that earn only P236 per day.

They cited that the poverty threshold in Bicol as determined by the National Economic and Development Authority currently stands at P245 per day.

The region’s private sector’s workers work hard but the daily wage they receive makes it difficult for them to feed a family of five and send their children to school, according to the Alliance on Progressive Labor.

The group suggested that the proposed P50 hike would at least provide some relief to augment workers’ purchasing power.

Under Wage Order No. RBV-16, which took effect on Jan. 10, 2014, the regional daily minimum wage was P260 for establishments with more than 10 workers and P236 for those with less than 10 workers in both the agriculture and non-agriculture sectors.

Last week, the DOLE’s National Wages and Productivity Commission affirmed the latest wage order of Bicol’s RTWPB raising minimum daily wages by only P5 for workers in non-agriculture establishments whose employees are more than 10 workers and P12 for those working also in non-agriculture establishments employing not more than 10 workers.

Workers in agricultural establishments get a uniform increase of P12 in their daily wage.

These increases carried by Wage Order No. RBV-17 took effect last Dec. 25, DOLE Bicol regional director Nathaniel Lacambra on Tuesday here said.

Earlier, the DOLE regional office revealed that about 14 percent of Bicol employers do not comply with the prevailing minimum wage rate based on monitoring results despite the new online labor laws compliance system which automatically tracks down, rates and reports the output of compliance officers.

Lacambra said complaints for non-compliance shall be filed with the DOLE regional office and shall be subject to the mandatory 30-day conciliation and mediation process under the single-entry approach reform measure.

DOH-Bicol posts 79 firecracker victims

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

LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 1 (PNA) -- The Department of Health (DOH) Bicol regional office reported on Friday having recorded 79 persons as victims of firecracker-related injuries during the period Dec. 21, 2015 to Jan. 1, 2016.

The DOH report showed that of the total number of cases, 28 individuals, mostly children ,suffered these injuries during the New Year’s eve.

Doctor Evi Sarmiento, DOH Bicol Action Paputok Injury Reduction (APIR) program coordinator, said in a phone interview that most of the 79 victims were minors, with 49 cases or 62 percent had “piccolo” as the leading injury-causing firecracker.

Sarmiento said topping the list was Albay, with 43 cases; followed by Camarines Sur, 23; Camarines Norte, 6; Masbate, 3; and 2 each for Sorsogon and Catanduanes.

She said that this year's cases went up by 13 percent as compared to last year’s 69 cases while 93 injuries were reported in 2013.

Sarmiento said that based on the comparative data of injury cases reported during this New Year’s eve of 28, there was an increase of 46 percent as compared to 13 cases reported at the same period last year.

She said the agency tried its best to meet the national campaign for a zero-casualty goal on firecracker but failed in Bicol.

The DOH-Bicol official lamented that the campaign would have made it if only the local government units across the region and the law enforcement agencies had strictly enforced the ban on firecrackers, especially the sale of the product to minors.

She said piccolo and watusi firecrackers had been banned in the market but despite the ban, these products were still being sold, especially in sari-sari store outlets across the region.

These firecracker brands are commonly the ones bought by minors who usually fall victims of firecracker injuries every year, she said.

The report indicated that six out of 10 firecracker-related injuries involved minors, with ages ranging from six to 12 years.

Sarmiento even cited the case of a nine-year-old boy from Pili, Camarines Sur who was rushed to and confined on Thursday at the Bicol Medical Center in Naga City after suffering a serious wound at his back due to a piccolo blast.

Another case she cited was about a 36-year-old male from Camarines Norte that, according to the report, suffered an open fractured injury in his hands that needed to be amputated.

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