Two major cities in R-XI vie for child-friendly award

DAVAO CITY, June 18 (PIA):     Two major cities in the Davao Region (Region XI) are in the thick of the race during the search for the most child-friendly local government units (LGUs) conducted to promote child-friendly governance.

After 13 years in hiatus, Davao City this year vies for the Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities as one of the contenders for the highly urbanized category.

Davao City  was at the limelight in the field of child-friendliness  in 1998 and 1999 when it bagged for two consecutive years the Presidential Award as the most  child-friendly high urbanized city in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Tagum City this year enters its fourth year in its bid to pick the child-friendly Presidential Award, competing for the component city category.

Tagum City Executive officer Delia dela Cruz  who heads Tagum City’s task group on child-friendly search, said the city has consistently been a national finalist of the Presidential Award.

“We are hoping to grab the child-friendly Presidential Award  this year,”  she said.

Regional Sub-Committee for the Welfare of Children (RSCWC) coordinator Lorelie Ramos of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) XI congratulates Davao City and Tagum City  as they are the sole entry for high-urbanized city and component city categories, respectively.

She too is hoping that the Davao Region will grab this year’s Presidential Award which will be conferred to  winning local government units during the observance of Children’s Month in October.

RSCWC 11 last week convened the members of Regional Awards Committee (RAC) which  already had a schedule for field visits starting next week.

The Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities was initiated by the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) in  line with  Executive Order No. 184.

The award recognizes the role of LGUs “in sustaining the promotion of children’s rights to survival,  development, protection and participation as well as in ensuring  child-friendly governance.”

It opens five categories by which LGUs  can participate. These are 1st to 3rd class municipality, 4th to 6th class municipalities,  component cities, independent component cities and highly urbanized cities.

The search will look for the presence of the gifts for children specifically the Local Development Plan for  Children, Local Investment Plan for Children and Local Code on Children, as well as, find out the resource allocation and utilization of contending LGUs. 

It will also rate entries as to their performance on service delivery, institution building and child participation. 

CWC Executive Director Brenda S. Vigo in her memorandum dated May 30 revealed   that the revised validation tool of the search, had integrated concerns on risk reduction and management, and the Seal of Good Housekeeping.   (PIA-11/Jeanevive Duron-Abangan)

Trip Ko Phoenix Fuels Basketball Cup final drafting set on June 16

DAVAO CITY, June 15 – After three successful seasons, Phoenix Petroleum is set to gather more young basketball players as it launches the 4th season of the Trip Ko Phoenix Fuels Basketball Cup.

About 1,500 young basketball players sought action during the tryouts of the basketball cup last Saturday and Sunday, June 9 and 10, 2012 at the Davao City Recreation Center, from 8 am to 3 pm. The tryout was open to all players from ages 14 to 16.

120 players will be chosen for the final drafting on Saturday, June 16, 2012.

The fourth season of the Trip Ko Phoenix Fuels Basketball Cup will open on June 24, 2012 with eight teams: Cyclomax Titan, Cyclomax 4T, Zoelo Extreme, Zoelo Diesel, Accelerate Vega, Accelerate Supreme, Cycle Fork and 2T Max.

The Trip Ko Phoenix Fuels Basketball Cup is presented and organized by Phoenix Petroleum. It is the first and only non-school based tournament for the youth in Davao City.

Aside from the basketball cup, Phoenix is also organizing two events for the upcoming 2012 Kadayawan festival: the Kadayawan Phoenix ‘I Recycle’ Run, and the Phoenix Kadayawan Cyclomax Motocross. (Phoenix)

Sarangani Province Situation Update #3

As of 4pm, June 14

Only 37 fishermen are still unaccounted for from the 61 missing mostly from Maasim as of 10am today, according to a consolidated report of PDRRMO which also updated the number of rescued/survivors at 307.

The number of casualties from the June 12 flashflood and storm surge remain at two.

Search and retrieval operations are still ongoing in beaches along Sarangani Bay and up to Balut Island by teams from Maasim MDRRMO, the Coast Guard and the Navy.

According to Glan MDRRMO, the total number of affected families in four barangays hit by flashflood is 765 families with 3,825 dependents.

These are from barangays Poblacion, Pangyan, Cross, Big Margus and Laguimit. Most of the victims’ households were swept away by the strong current and their fixtures and furniture and other belongings destroyed.

Glan Mayor Victor James Yap Sr. led this morning a convoy of medical team, government employees and trucks loaded with rice for distribution to the affected barangays.

This afternoon, the DSWD regional office 12 released a truckload of family food packs, tarpaulin and bedsheets as augmentation to flashflood victims in Glan.

In an “assessment of the incident”, Capt. George Ursabia, Commander of Coast Guard District South Eastern Mindanao (CGDSEM), told the PDRRMO today that there was “no storm” on June 12, “just sudden change of weather and sea conditions due to the shallow LPA 100 kms south of Mindanao at the time that apparently induced the southwest monsoon.

“Accordingly, it was so sudden that the change of sea condition was so abrupt, from calm to rough, with a wind of approximately 40 kts which lasted for more or less 25 hours (from 120100H June to 130200H June). Most of the fishermen were out at sea as early as in the evening of 11 June when the sea and weather were normal, not expecting such unusual change (of weather and sea conditions) as there were no signs of such in a progressive manner. Since yesterday morning, weather in the said area has improved after the shallow LPA went up somewhere in Surigao. In short, it was an unusual phenomenon that those out at sea already were caught flat footed.” (Sarangani Province/Information Office)

15-minute switching power interruptions set on June 17 and 18

DAVAO CITY, June 15 – Davao Light and Power Company will conduct two 15-minute switching power interruptions affecting customers situated in the downtown areas of the electric utility's franchise area. 

Corporate Communications Officer Ross Luga said that the service interruptions are necessary to allow Davao Light to conduct preventive maintenance servicing in its R. Castillo Substation. 

To keep the power interruptions within the least possible time, loads connected to the R. Castillo substation will be transferred to nearby substations which will take place on May 17, Sunday, from 4:00 a.m. to 4:15 a.m.

Normalization or return of loads back to its normal set-up will be on May 18, Monday, from 5:00 a.m. to 5:15 a.m. after maintenance works will be completed. 

Affected by these power interruptions are the customers residing from Bajada Power Plant going to Lanang up to corner Guadalupe Subd., including its internal areas & portion of Cabaguio Avenue. 

Similarly affected are customers from Arroyo St. up to Belisario Village along R. Castillo St. which also includes Brgy. San Juan, Ubalde Agdao. 

Davao Light apologizes for the inconvenience of these scheduled power interruptions but it will exert all efforts to restore electric service as scheduled or earlier. However, there may be instances where restoration may extend beyond the schedule due to unavoidable circumstances. 

The electric utility's Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) allows Davao Light to remotely control switches in the substations and along the distribution lines making it efficient in implementing maintenance works or restoration of power supply at its barest minimum during service interruptions.

Mining an issue of social justice –Binay

DAVAO CITY, June 15 – Vice President Jejomar C. Binay said communities that host mining operations should be the first ones to benefit from the economic gains from the mining industry.

“Mining goes beyond economic considerations. It is above all, a social justice issue. Communities that host mining operations should be granted opportunities like education, health care, clean water, and power as a bare minimum,” Binay said in a speech at the Philippine Society of Mining Engineers’ 2nd Mining Convention in Davao City today.

“The social and human profits emanating from mining should merit honest and profound focus. Minerals are non-renewable and once they are utilized, they will not grow back. It is therefore important that the gains from this enterprise bring financial strength to the true owners of this wealth – the people,” he added.

The Vice President also cited mining’s economic potential saying the Philippines has about 9 million hectares of potential mining land with only 1.4 million hectares being covered by mining permits.

“We have billions of tons of metallic and non-metallic mineral deposits buried within our soil,” Binay said.

“This is the strange contradiction that we live in, so many look for food and decent living above ground, while so much wealth lies literally beneath our feet,” he added.

However, Binay also acknowledged the impact of mining to the environment. He urged industry stakeholders to apply every measure and technology to ensure that the impact on the environment is managed and that proper rehabilitation is undertaken.

“Exceeding the bar of our desire to protect and preserve the earth we live in, is our duty to use its resources wisely and prudently for the benefit of all men,” Binay said.

“We cannot forever look at these riches as taboo and refuse to touch them, but neither can be we wasteful and careless in its consumption,” he added.

Binay also said that he stands “shoulder to shoulder” with President Benigno Aquino III in believing that a multipartite approach can find sustainable and environmentally-sound mining principles that will help the mining industry fulfill its true role in the economic development of the country.

He added that at the moment, the government is currently drafting a mining policy statement that seeks to increase the government’s share in mining revenues.

“I would like to reiterate that this policy statement, as President Benigno Aquino III himself has said, is still a work in progress. Our beloved President has assured us that discussions with the various entities that are very much concerned with mining in our country—including ecological groups, the mining groups, and local government units—will still have to be made,” Binay said. (Office of the Vice-President)

Binay: CLUP will address housing shortage in ARMM

DAVAO CITY, June 15 – Vice President Jejomar C. Binay today expressed confidence that the housing shortage in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will be addressed through the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP).

The Vice President, Chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), led the signing a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) and ARMM OIC Gov. Mujiv Hataman for technical assistance on the CLUP Cluster Planning Program.

Binay also headed the distribution of 97 Transfer of Certificate of Titles (TCTs) to beneficiaries of the Social Housing Finance Corporation’s (SHFC) Community Mortgage Program (CMP).

“The Memorandum of Understanding that Governor Hataman and I signed… signal our mutual commitment to pursue real urban development,” Binay told ARMM local government officials who witnessed the signing.

“Umaasa akong ang araw na ito ang simula ng mas malapit na samahan ng ARMM at ng mga ahensiyang pabahay ng pamahalaan,” he added.

The CLUP is the result of a structured decision-making process on how land is used in a local government unit (LGU), and is used as the primary and dominant bases for the future use of land resources and reclassification of agricultural lands.

The housing czar said the HLURB is tapping all of its regional field offices to support its CLUP zero backlog program.

He thanked Hataman for giving the national government the opportunity to orient the ARMM LGUs on the different programs and housing services of the key shelter agencies.

Through the MOA, HLURB commits to assist the local governments in ARMM to come up with their Comprehensive Land Use Plans and zoning ordinances, the Vice President said.

“This is why we are here today.  We are extending our hand to help the LGUs of ARMM assess their needs opposite their resources, strategically plan for their communities, prioritize projects and turn these into investment opportunities,” he said.

According to Binay, ARMM currently has more than 633,200 illegal settler families.

Binay also said that based on the HLURB records, only 49 out of 118 LGUs in ARMM, or 42 percent. have approved CLUPs/ZOs. These are also now due for updating.

“Sa pamamagitan ng CLUP, isinasaayos, pinipili, at isinasaalang-alang sa mga wastong sona ang inyong mga lupain batay sa gamit. Ang mga gamit na ito ay bilang residential area, commercial area, industrial area, food production area, environmentally protected area, at iba pa,” he said. (Office of the Vice-President)

CSC-XI announces exam for Local Scholarship Program

DAVAO CITY, June 15 – The Civil Service Commission (CSC) is now accepting applicants for the modified Local Scholarship Program (Master’s Degree Course) for School Year 2013-2014.

Open to all government employees, interested applicant must be a Bachelor’s Degree holder, occupies a second level position, and holds a permanent position with at least 2-years of continuous service.

An applicant should also have at least Very Satisfactory performance for the last two (2) rating periods and has not earned any Master’s Degree nor enrolled in any graduate course.

Applicant who has pending administrative case at the time of filing may apply for scholarship.

However, should he/she be later found guilty prior to his/her selection, prior to or at the time of the grant of scholarship or during the period of scholarship, as the case may be, his/her selection to the scholarship shall be deemed automatically revoked.

Tuition, book allowance, thesis writing assistance and such other related fees in the total amount of Php120,000.00 shall be given to each scholar.

This is on top of his/her monthly salary, allowances and other regular benefits as may be provided by law.

Deadline for filing is on July 20, 2012. Exam will be on August 12, 2012. No application/exam fees shall be collected.

Acceptance of applications is on a first-come, first-served basis. Though deadline for filing is set, the Commission may, at any time, stop it earlier, as soon as a sufficient number of applications have been received and accepted.

Forms are available at any CSC Regional or Field Office, where application shall be filed.

For more information on selection procedures and other requirements, contact the Regional Office at 299-1724, 299-1725, 299-1727 or the Field Office at 221-5551.

The Regional Office is along Ecoland Drive corner Beechnut St. , Ecoland Subd., Davao City while the Davao City Field Office is located at Palma Gil Elementary School Compound, Quirino Avenue, Davao City. (CSC-11)