Government spends P60M on Masbate irrigation

By Ernesto A. Delgado

MASBATE CITY, March 19 (PIA) -- At least 558 hectares of farms previously not served by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) would be supplied with water through the construction of facilities worth some P60 million this year.

NIA Administrator Antonio S. Nangel announced this Friday in a joint press conference with Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala where Nangel also revealed that the agency provides irrigation to a measly 2,134 hectares of farms in Masbate through a single dam and several networks of canals and water impounding structures that are already ageing.

In Milagros, Nangel said the NIA is looking at the rehabilitation of four communal irrigation systems.

He said the NIA will also act on the common request of Barangay Bangad and four adjoining barangays in Milagros to tap the water sources there in boosting irrigation for agriculture.

Nangel said the agency would bring irrigation services to at least half of 19,880 hectares within the watch of President Aquino to help meet his administration’s target of rice sufficiency for Masbate.

“All island provinces igagawa po natin ng road map. Magtutulungan po tayo hanggang ma-attain natin ang food sufficiency,” Alcala said. (MAL/EAD-PIA Masbate)


Sorsogon mourns death of cultural worker, artist

SORSOGON CITY, March 19 (PIA) -- After a bout with paralysis due to a stroke, Reynaldo “Tootsie” Jamoralin died past 4:00 p.m. of March 12, 2012 at the age of 66.

Founder and President of the Sorsogon Arts Council (SAC), he is considered as one of Sorsogon’s “Provincial” artists. His body lies in state at their residence in Sorsogon City.

Jamoralin was the editor and writer of the two editions of the book ‘Tracing: from Solsogon to Sorsogon,’ published by the SAC and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in 1994. He also edited and co-wrote Pulang Hamtik, a collection of biographical sketches, of Bikolano youth martyrs during the Martial Law years up to 1990s, published by the Bikol Agency for Nationalist and Human Initiatives, Inc. (BANHI).

As a member of the Kapisanan ng Mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas, he co-anchored the public affairs program “Damayan” over DZGN-FM during the late 80s till early 90s. A long-time journalist from the 1970s, he edited several local weekly community newspapers, notably the Sorsogon Times, Balangibog, and Sorsogon News Service including Sentro Sorsogon, which he himself published.

For a time he was correspondent and feature writer for the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) and credited for exposing the slaughter of whalesharks in Donsol popularly known locally as Butanding that initiated the advocacy for its protection in his front page article on March 23, 1998. He was a member of the board of editors of letra, a bikol magazine, the first regional cultural and literary magazine and Centro, a Bikol magazine.

A playwright and folklorist, he wrote the dance-drama in the Bikol dialect, Si Bulusan nan si Agingay, based on the local legend of Lakes Bulusan and Agingay, which received several production and tour grants from the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and NCCA, and Kantada ni Daragang Magayon, Mandirigma, adopted from Bikolano artist Merlinda Bobis’ epic poetry of the same title, which was toured around the country and presented at the CCP Little Theater in 2000. He also rewrote, revised, and adapted Sorsogon Sarswelista Asisclo Jimenez’s Pagkamoot sa Banuang Tinoboan, under a production and tour grant from the NCCA in 1994.

A long-time cultural worker, he was a founding member of the Kasanggayahan Foundation, Inc. and responsible for the institutionalization of Pantomina sa Tinampo every Kasanggayahan Festival in October. He was also a member of Sorsogon Heritage Society chaired by PDI Founder Eugenio Duran-Apostol, the publisher of Sarabihon, a journal of Sorsogon studies where he wrote several articles. He was also one of the organizers of Pagsurat, the first gathering of Bikol writers in 2000 at the Aquinas University of Legaspi attended by over a hundred participants including a septuagenarian chanter from Albay and New York-based poet Luis Cabalquinto.

He was the brains behind the establishment of the Sorsogon Museum and Heritage Center which involves the adaptive re-use and restoration of the old Sorsogon Provincial Hospital building built during the American occupation in the 1920s.

He earned his academic degree from the University of Santo Tomas, B.S. Major in Psychology. He taught at the Mass Communications Department of the Aemilianum College, Inc. in Sorsogon City.

He is survived by his wife Ella, sisters Mercia and Millet, daughter Suyin, adopted son Ian, and grandson CJ. (MAL/JJPerez/PIA Sorsogon)


Advocacy campaign against filariasis to intensify in Camarines Norte

By Rosalita B. Manlangit

DAET, Camarines Norte, March 19 (PIA) -- An advocacy campaign against filariasis through Mass Drug Administration (MDA) will be intensified in this province due to several cases recorded for the last five years here.

In an advocacy meeting held here recently spearheaded by the Department of Health- Center for Health Development – Bicol (DOH-CHD) and the Provincial Health Office (PHO) and attended the by the doctors and representatives of the different local government units and line government agencies, the group has formulated initial plans for the Mass Drug Administration (MDA) on filariasis.

Ma. Luisa M. Coreses, RN and Mosquito-Borne Desease Coordinator said that in their post MDA survey of Biennial Survey and Noctumal Blood Survey in the three sentenel sites in the towns of Sta. Elena, Paracale, and Labo from 2005 to 2011 there were 30 cases recorded.

She said that only 59.6 percent were the accomplishments of MDA in 2011 while 34.6 percent in 2010.

She explained that the elimination of filariasis as a public health problem in the Philippines is on 2015 and in global by 2020.

She cited that the disease starts in MEKONG Group of Countries in Brunei, Cambodia, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam. Philippines is the priority of the Global Technical Working Group for Filariasis elimination.

In Bicol, the Mass Drug Administration started in two pilot provinces in Sorsogon and Albay in 2001 and in Camarines Norte in 2002 in 4 towns and a regionwide MDA in 2003.

Earlier an Executive Order 369 was signed in 2004 that November every year as Filariasis Awareness and Mass Treatment Month and year 2005 the DOH target filariasis free but still there were cases recorded in the province and in some other provinces in the region.

The initial plans during the advocacy meeting is the simultaneous MDA for the Kabihug (indigenous people) in the different barangays where the IPs are located, advocacy through tri-media, press conference, MDA through door to door, distribution of IEC materials and others.

Filariasis is a parasitic disease caused by thread like nermatodes (roundworms) called “Wuchereria bancrofti” and “Brugai malayi” and transmitted through mosquito bites. These mosquitos can be found in the trees of abaka, banana, gabi, and pandan and bites in a day and mostly at night. (MAL/RBM-PIA Camarines Norte)


Official files bill on banning sale of cigarettes in public places

VIRAC, Catanduanes, March 16 (PIA) -- A member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP), Wilfredo Santelices, here filed a bill which prohibits the sale and even advertising cigarette products in public places.

According to the official, the bill is a counterpart of the law which prohibits smoking in public places.

He added that although it will take several processes before it is approved, it shall promote healthy lifestyle to the Catandunganons.

“It is an effective way to avoid vices especially among the youths,”said he. He likewise said that as a doctor, he is fully aware of the effects of cigarettes to one’s body.

Moreover, the public has different opinions about the resolution. According to some, it will be difficult to implement such bill and some are questioning how the said proposal can be implemented properly. (MAL/EAB/ PIA Catanduanes)


Peace and Order Council cites triumphs of peace efforts in Camarines Sur

By Analiza S. Macatangay

NAGA CITY, March 19 (PIA) -- “The key lies in building strong relationship and harnessing the support among stakeholders through peace and development operations,” this was the strong message conveyed by the men in uniform tasked to protect the peace and order situation of the Bicol Region, particularly Camarines Sur.

This success was attributed to the sustained efforts of the government troops to defeat various adversaries who intend to disrupt the country’s peace program, by intensifying the PAMANA program of government as the main tool for peace process. Aside from this, there were also other activities like medical missions, tree planting activities, cleanliness and beautification of barangays, and active participation in blood donation programs.

The men and women of the 902nd Infantry (Fight and Serve) Brigade, 9th Infantry (Spear) Division of the Philippine Army, had also made themselves visible through frequent barangay visitations, dialogues or pulong-pulong, intensified information drives, and posting of campaign billboards for peace and security, among others.

The Philippine National Police here, under the headship of PSSupt Procopio G. Lipana, PNP Camarines Sur OIC Provincial Director also had their share of significant contribution in the government’s triumph to bring peace in the community.

For one, the comparative crime volume decreased by 490 or 23.2 percent, from 2,101 in 2010 to 1,611 in 2011. Index crime in 2010 was pegged at 1,204 as against 833 in 2011, posing a reduction of 30.81 percent. Non index crime in 2010 on the other hand registered 897 incidences yet declined by 13.27 percent in 2011 when police recorded only a total of 778 cases.

Crime against person also decreased by 278 or 32.9 percent with 843 cases listed in 2010 as against 565 cases recorded in 2011. Crime against property also went down by 25.7 percent with only 268 cases recorded last year in contrast to 361 cases documented in 2010.

The Average Monthly Crime Rate (AMCR) registered at 8.45 for every 100,000 population province wide or 23.32 percent lower than the 11.02 recorded for the same period last year.

Camarines Sur Vice Governor Fortunato Pena commended the police force and the soldiers of the Philippine Army for the job well done and for coming up with programs to reduce the crime rate in the province.

He likewise urged the council and made a motion to come up with a resolution requesting the COMELEC to reconsider its decision of postponing the election at Barangay Butawanan in Siruma, Camarines Sur as there is no imminent danger or threat is present in the said municipality as alleged by some groups.

“I move that we pass a resolution requesting the Commissions on Elections (COMELEC) to schedule immediately the special election which was temporarily suspended citing reasons of an impending threat to the security which is actually non-existent,” Pena said.

Siruma and Presentacion were the only municipalities in Camarines Sur cited in the report as areas with the lowest crime incidents during the past years. (MAL/LSM-PIA 5, Camarines Sur)