POLICE NETS 13 GUN BAN VIOLATORS IN BICOL

LEGAZPI CITY — Police operatives arrested 13 persons in various police checkpoints in three provinces of Bicol region for violation of the nationwide gun ban imposed b the Commission on Election (COMELEC).

According to the Regional Election Monitoring Action Center (REMAC) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) regional office here, police arrested 11 violators in Masbate and one each in the provinces of Camarines Sur as of January 18, 2010.

All violators are now facing charges on Illegal Possession of Firearms and for violation of COMELEC Resolution No. 8714, imposing the nationwide gun ban covering the entire election period from January 10 until June 9, this year.

The COMELEC directives is a proactive measure by government to strictly implement the total gun ban, as the country braces for the May 2010 elections, to once and for all curb the dirty election-related violence that has festered the country for decades.

Police checkpoints were set-up in all towns and cities in Bicol to impose stricter security measures, though will bring minimum inconvenience upon persons to be searched, but will have a long and lasting effect to curb the proliferation of loose firearms.

Checkpoints are conducted in well-lit and strategic places conforming to the established police operational procedures in the proper conduct of checkpoints and overall supervised by Joint Security Control Centers (JSCC) that oversees the implementation of the nationwide gun ban.

Arrested persons are treated humanely and with utmost respect for their constitutional rights. Police operatives manning checkpoints are strictly mandated to observe the “Plain View” doctrine in searches of vehicles and persons, and should observe the Rules of Evidence and Searches.

With Filipinos pinning so much hope on the outcome of May 2010 elections to make life better in this country, no effort must be spared to make this exercise as peaceful and credible as possible. This includes containing violence with the use of firearms and other deadly weapons. (PRO V/PIA)

DAR, NIA TURN-OVER IRRIGATION PROJECT TO CASIGURAN FARMERS

CASIGURAN, Sorsogon — The of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) have finally completed and turned over the Communal Irrigation System (CIS) project to the Tigbao-Banawang Irrigators Association (TBIA) of this municipality.

Leto P. Bernal, NIA Sorsogon Irrigators Development Section chief, said during the turn-over rites that the project has been carried out based on the needs identified by the beneficiaries themselves and “it is the now for the beneficiaries to take responsibility of its management, operation and maintenance.”

“Of course, we will continue to assist the association, which forms part of the Casiguran Agrarian Reform Cluster (ARC) Cluster B, in their continuous endeavors to pursue agricultural development and food security,” he stressed.

Rodrigo Estremera, Casiguran agrarian reform officer, said that the project, implemented under the Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Project (ARISP) II, intends to increase rice production to ensure higher income for farmers to finance their children’s education.

Salvador Hife, TBIA president, thanked and expressed his appreciation to DAR and NIA, noting that “the association had agreed to allot 75 kilos of palay per hectare every harvest to fund the CIS maintenance.

Hife also clarified that the palay allotment will not serve as payment but for maintenance of the facility, since the responsibility of taking care of the project now lies in their hands.
CIS will be benefiting a total of 89 hectares of rice land tilled by 112 farmers covering Barangays Tigbao and Banawang.

Through ARISP II, a dam in Talinga River in Tigbao was also constructed in 2004 to provide the water source for the irrigation system. (LAArbolente, DAR Sorsogon/PIA)

DISASTER MANAGERS, MEDIA INTERFACING
ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND PREPAREDNESS

LEGAZPI CITY — Disaster managers and media practitioners in the provinces of Camarines Sur and Catanduanes have renewed partnership to ensure efficient communication strategies to prevent the loss of lives and mitigate the impacts of calamities and disasters.

The provincial disaster coordinating councils (PDCC’s) and media practitioners from these two provinces had recently participated in a Seminar/Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) held at Barriada Complex of Corner’s Place Hotel here last January 12, 2009.

Accion Contre La Faim (ACF), an international humanitarian group against hunger, under the latter’s community-based disaster risk reduction project, spearheaded the one-day activity participated in by some 23 representatives from both sectors.

Rita Marie Petralba, ACF DRR project coordinator for Bicol, said the activity intends to increase awareness among disaster managers on EWS, on the other hand, define the roles and responsibilities of media on accurate and responsible information dissemination of information pertaining to advisories of warning agencies, DRR, preparedness and mitigation measures that need to carried out be local disaster coordinating councils.

Cedric Daep, Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) chief, delved on the different hazards and their implications, also emphasizing the need to establish Early Warning System (EWS) communication strategies in different local government levels.

Daep stressed the provincial, city or municipal, and barangay disaster managers should ensure that communication link in EWS must be observed for a more efficient risk reduction and preparation of the community in the wake of impending disaster or calamity.

Disaster managers, meanwhile, are now strengthening their collaboration with the media acknowledging the vital role of communication networks in the implementation of the Early Warning System (EWS).

Daep noted that the media should also be aware of the right and responsible way of communicating information to the communities, analysis of the problems, and identification of solutions related to dialects and broadcast communications during emergency.

Marlon Loterte of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Bicol, meanwhile, related the roles and responsibilities of media in the communication network on EWS.

Media should always be one of the main stakeholders in every government program, specifically on EWS for disaster preparedness, response and mitigation, recognizing the sector’s vital role in communicating information to ensure the safety of the people and prevent extensive damage on properties, among others. (MALoterte, PA V)

ALL SYSTEM GO FOR PALARONG BIKOL 2010

DAET, Camarines Norte – All systems go for the Palarong Bikol 2010 in this province set on February 1-5, according to Department of Education (DepEd) division office here.

Condrado Rempillo, DepEd Camarines Norte sports coordinator, said that delegations from the elementary and secondary levels are expected to arrive starting January 27 from different provinces and cities across Bicol region.

Prior to the sports competition, organizers slate the LITMUSDA rehearsal and pictorial of candidates for Search for Palarong Bicol on January 28; literary, musical and folkdance contest on January 29; and talent competition on January 30.

Palarong Bikol 2010 will formally open on January 31, to be highlighted by a parade, street dancing showcasing contingents from the 14 local government units, field demonstration, festival of festivals and Governor’s Night.

Rempillo said that sports activities will be held in different venues, including Basud National High School, Eco Athletic Field, Labo Sports Plaza, Division Office, Camarines Norte Agro Sports Center, Vinzons Pilot Elementary School, CNSC Abaño Laboratory School, Wiltan Hotel, Mabini College and La Consolacion College here.

Billeting of the delegate is also already arranged, security measures are already in placed and public utility vehicles’ operators and drivers were already briefed to ensure a visitor-friendly environment.

Sports events for the week-long Palarong Bikol will include archery, arnis, atletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, chess, gymnastics, sepak takraw, sipa, soccer football, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis and volleyball. (RBManlangit, PIA CamNorte)

CAMARINES SUR POSTS CREDITABLE RECORD ON EMPLOYMENT SERVICES

PILI, Camarines Sur — The provincial government of Camarines Sur, led by Governor LRay Villafuerte, posted a very commendable record assisting its constituents on job placements and in providing other essential services related to employment.

This is the clear import of the records and data which summed up the total number of individuals who availed of the services of the provincial government, under the auspices of the Camarines Sur Employment Center (CSEC).

This year alone, CSEC has provided assistance in the processing of 3,554 passports which brings to a total of 13,177 passports since 2006.

Said Mobile Passport Servicing at the provincial capitol, now included in the list of frontline services provided in the province’s Citizen Charter, will now be held every 1st and 3rd Thursdays and Fridays of the month from its former schedule of every 1st and 3rd Mondays and Tuesdays.

Likewise, the services offered by the National Statistics Office (NSO) at the same venue, also through the initiative of the CSEC that commenced last August, have posted some 241 processing of birth certificates, marriage contracts and certificates of no marriage.

CSEC, in partnership with reputable and accredited recruitment agencies, has also provided job opportunities here and abroad for the constituents of Camarines Sur. (AFernandez, MMEC/PIA)

DENR OFFICIALS IN BICOL REASSIGNED

LEGAZPI CITY – Some Community Environment and Natural Resources Officers (CENROs) of the DENR in Bicol have been reassigned.

In a special order dated January 6, 2010, DENR Regional Executive Director Joselin Marcus Fragada reassigned the following CENROs: Ponciano Mabesa, Jr. from San Jacinto, Masbate to Daet, Camarines Norte; Pio Bernal from Naga City, Camarines Sur to Goa, Cam. Sur; Eduardo Ampongan from Goa, Cam. Sur to Mobo, Masbate; Tito Migo from Mobo, Masbate to San Jacinto, Masbate; Imelda Baltazar from Legazpi City to NaGA City; Ricardo Ramos, Jr. from Daet, Camarines Norte to Legazpi City; Rene Camacho from Sorsogon City to Iriga City; and Luvimindo Chioco from Iriga City to Sorsogon City.

Fragada said the order takes effect immediately for 30 days and automatically renewed thereafter for same period and thereafter until such time a regular special order has been issued by the DENR Secretary. (ASAraya, DENR V/PIA)

PGMA confers Order of Sikatuna on US Ambassador Kenney

MANILA — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo conferred Thursday (January 21) the Order of Sikatuna, Rank of Datu with Gold Distinction, on Kristie Ann Kenney, outgoing US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Philippines.

The American lady diplomat merited the honor for her outstanding contribution to advance bilateral relations between the Philippines and the United States.

“I wish you all the best,” the President said after the ceremony, held this morning at Malacanang’s Music Room.

“It is such a great honor,” Kenny responded. “I appreciate your leadership, openness and support to me.”

The order is conferred on diplomats, officials, and nationals of foreign states who have rendered services in fostering, developing and strengthening relations between their country and the Philippines.

In Kenny’s case, the citation says she has done so much to educate the young people of the country, protect the environment, advance the interest of Filipino veterans, improve defense and security cooperation between the two countries, and foster peace and development in Mindanao.

The citation also notes her leadership in facilitating immediate assistance to the Philippines in times of calamity.

Kenney, the first woman US Ambassador to the Philippines, said the award was also for her two thousand colleagues at the US Embassy in Manila, both American and Filipino.

“I’m their face but they do the great work,” she said.

“It has been an extraordinary honor to represent my country in the Philippines, one of our oldest allies. I have felt very much at home in the Philippines, perhaps because our two countries have so much shared history. Our fathers and grandfathers shed blood together in World War II to protect our freedom. Millions of Filipinos live and work in the United States, and many Americans call the Philippines home. We are so much more than friends,” Kenney said in her farewell statement.

She asked Filipinos to extend the same hospitality to her successor Harry K. Thomas, who President Barack Obama has nominated as the first Afro-American US envoy to Manila. (PIA V Release)

PGMA names Icban acting press secretary

MANILA — Crispulo Icban Jr., editor in chief of the Manila Bulletin, will replace the late Press Secretary Cerge M. Remonde in an acting capacity.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made the announcement at the lunch Thursday (January 21) she hosted for the Malacañang Press Corps at the Palace.

“Like Cerge, Jun is first and foremost a journalist,” the President said of the new Cabinet secretary.

Icban is the ninth press secretary under President Arroyo. His predecessors were the late Noel Cabrera (whom he inherited from President Estrada), Rigoberto Tiglao, Silvestre Afable, Ignacio Bunye (who served twice), Hernani Braganza, Milton Alingod, Jesus Dureza, and Remonde.

Born in Tondo, Manila, on Aug. 3, 1935, Icban graduated from the Tarlac Central Elementary School in 1946 and from the Pampanga High School in 1950. He was class valedictorian in both instances.

He graduated from the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman with a bachelor of arts in English, magna cum laude, in 1954. In his senior year at UP, he served as editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian, the university students paper.

Upon graduation, he joined the Manila Times as general assistant in the editorial department, later as reporter covering the Department of Foreign Affairs, and then as editorial writer. He was subsequently appointed news editor, a position he held until 1972, when the paper was closed down upon declaration of martial law.

In 1957-58, he took a leave of absence from the Manila Times, to work for his master’s degree in journalism, under Fulbright and Smith Mundt Grant, at Syracuse University in New York.

In 1966-67, he was one of 12 American and six international newsmen in the annual Nieman Fellowship program at Harvard University in Massachusetts.

Icban served as professorial lecturer in journalism and English at the Philippine Women’s University (PWU) from 1956 to 1957 and at the UP-Diliman from 1958 to 1973.

He authored, in collaboration with Dean Gloria Feliciano of the UP Institute of Mass Communication, Philippine Mass Media in Perspective, a book now used as school reference.

In 1974, Icban joined the Manila Bulletin, as consultant to the publisher and later as news editor. He became editor-in-chief on Nov. 25, 2003.

Icban has received numerous awards in over half a century of service as journalist. He was named Outstanding Kapampangan by the Pampanga Provincial Government, 1988; and Distinguished Tarlaquenos by the Tarlac Provincial Government, 2003.

He was conferred a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Management, honoris causa, by the Pampanga Agricultural College on April 12, 2006.

He is married to Zenaida Pamintuan Icban of Bacolor, Pampanga. They have six children and 16 grandchildren. (PIA V Release)

PGMA confers Order of Lakandula on Press Secretary Cerge Remonde

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo conferred Thursday (January 21) the Order of Lakandula with Rank of Grand Cross (Bayani) on the late Press Secretary Cerge Remonde as he lay in state at the Heroes Hall in Malacanang Palace.

His widow, Marit Stinus-Remonde, received the posthumous award, given “for his outstanding service to the Republic of the Philippines and in recognition of his life as an exemplary media man and public servant.”

The late Cabinet Secretary’s body, brought from Heritage Park in Taguig City, was flown to Cebu this morning.

In her speech, the President praised Remonde for his selfless dedication as a public servant and for his achievement as a journalist, noting he reached his peak in her administration.

“Cerge gave fully of himself for the sake of our country, both in government for the last nine years and in media since he was 18 years old,” the President said.

According to the President, Remonde deserved the love and adoration of friends and colleagues that are pouring on him.

“A popular radio host, Cerge interviewed me frequently on the phone in Cebuano,” the President said. “ That exposure helped me because it made many people in the Visayas and Mindanao realize that I spoke Cebuano, and that resulted in my landslide win in 1995, 1998, and 2004 in Visayas and Mindanao, where people speak the language.

“When we would discuss in caucus proposed measures that involved media, Cerge was always consulted as a stakeholder,” the President said.

“I learned to take Cerge’s opinion into account, in my work as Senator and, later, as President,” she added. (PIA V Release)

Malaysia rejoins IMT of Mindanao peace process

MANILA — After more than a year of hiatus, Malaysia returns to the renegotiated Mindanao peace process by rejoining the International Monitoring Team (IMT) as its leader effective the middle of February, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Special Concerns Rafael Seguis confirmed Thursday.

Even when it was out of the IMT since December 2008, Malaysia has remained the facilitator of the now-resumed peace talks between the panels of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Seguis said Malaysia formally agreed to rejoin the IMT last December 7. Others in the IMT who served without a gap since the body was formed in 2004 are Libya, Brunei and, later, Japan.
The IMT will basically look into the ceasefire plans of the Philippine government as it prepares for the May 2010 national elections. Malaysia will deploy about 60 personnel from its various military forces.

Seguis also said that Norway, Indonesia and Qatar have been invited to join but their response is still awaited.

As to the resumed talks, Seguis said that “deepened exploratory talks” will continue in Kuala Lumpur next week.

He maintained that the MILF’s usual point of reference is the issue of a Bangsamoro ancestral domain, or a separate homeland for Muslims.

But the GRP, he added, will “never compromise” on what is constitutionally-mandated as Philippine territory.

The GRP-MILF talks resumed late 2009, after they conked out in August 2008 following a Supreme Court decision annulling the so-called Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain between the GRP and the MILF that favoured a physical area reserved for Moros only.
Seguis was not the head of the GRP panel at the time, though Mohagher Iqbal remained remained the MILF’s representative. (PIA V Release)