PNOY’s ENDORSEMENT OF RH BILL URGED

LEGAZPI CITY — President Benigno Aquino III should complement his advocacy on voluntary family planning, birth spacing and contraceptive use by likewise endorsing the immediate passage of the reproductive health bill whose central idea is freedom of informed choice.

House Minority Leader and Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel C. Lagman has stated that this endorsement would fittingly cap the Aquino administration’s first 100 days and mitigate early setbacks.

Lagman said, “House Bill No. 96, the first of several reproductive health bills re-filed in the 15th Congress, and I principally authored, guarantees the right to make free and informed decisions and promotes without bias all modern natural and artificial methods of family planning that are medically safe, legal and effective.”

He furthered that the bill underscores in its Explanatory Note that “neither the State nor the Church has the authority to compel the people or the faithful what family planning method to adopt. The choice belongs to parents and couples, particularly to women who have an inherent right over their own bodies.”

The Philippines is the only middle-income Asian country without a comprehensive reproductive health law.

Lagman stressed that the need to institutionalize by legislation a progressive reproductive health policy is imperative to counteract the vagaries and idiosyncrasies of changing administrations and leaders.

In 2008, Millennium Development Goal No. 5 on improvement of maternal health and reduction of maternal mortality was amended to include the achievement of “universal access to reproductive health” by 2015.

The Philippines is one of 189 signatory countries to the Millennium Declaration 10 years ago this month.

Reproductive health and family planning are interlinked with all of the eight MDGs from the eradication of extreme hunger and poverty, combating HIV-AIDS and reducing child mortality to achieving universal primary education and ensuring environmental sustainability.

Lagman noted that when the first comprehensive version of the RH bill was filed in the 11th Congress 10 years ago, the Philippine population was about 75 million. A decade later or on 01 July 2010 when House Bill No. 96 was filed, the country’s population has ballooned to 93.4 million or a staggering increase of 19.3 million or an average increase of almost two million annually.

He also cited that while the Philippines is the 12th most populous country in the world, its human development index ranking has slipped to 105th among 182 countries in the latest Human Development Report released by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2009.

The solon stressed that a high population growth rate of 2.04% impacts adversely on all indicators of human development like health, education, food security, employment, mass housing and the environment. (Office of Minority Leader Edcel C. Lagman/PIA/mal)

ALBAY CITES LOCAL GOVERNMENTS' MEASURES TO FIGHT DENGUE

LEGAZPI CITY – The Provincial Government of Albay has adopted an awards program to motivate local government units combat dengue in their localities setting sight a “zero casualties” target and prevent the spread of the dreaded disease.

Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda said that the awards program recognizes the performance or achievements of city and municipal governments in the province for preempting or stamping out dengue cases in their respective areas.

“We reward outputs, not inputs; real outcomes, not efforts,” stressed Salceda.

The awards program, the governor furthered, will be given for both monthly and year-to-date feats of LGUs to prevent and control dengue infections and death.

Awards up for grabs include “Zero Dengue for the Month” commencing this Setember 2010 for LGUs with no recorded dengue cases; while the “Performance Award” will be conferred only to LGUs with a minimum of six (6) months dengue-free out of the part eight (8) months.

In the event of a tie, the city or municipality with the lowest incidence will determine the rank of the awardees, computed on the basis of dengue cases recorded over the total population.

Meanwhile, the Provincial Health Office (PHO) of Albay has cited Libon town garnering both awards for Zero Dengue for the Month of August and ranking first as dengue-free for seven months out of the past eight months. The town recorded the lone dengue case on March, this year, out of its 71,328 population, with an attack rate of 0.001 percent.

Jovellar has also recorded zero dengue case for August and ranks second for seven months dengue-free with also lone dengue case in February out of 18,249 population implying a 0.005 percent attack rate, followed by Malilipot with two cases out of 34,802 population, 0.006 percent attack rate, and six months dengue-free; Oas recording four cases out of 66,188, 0.006 percent, and five months dengue-free; and Malinao, four cases out of 40,939 with 0.010 percent and five months dengue-free.

PHO Albay has recorded 1,095 dengue cases out of the 1,233,695 population across Albay from January to August this year, with three deaths recoded in Daraga town (2) and Tabaco City (1).

PHO Albay chief Dr. Luis Mendoza has announced that awardees will be conferred with the certificates of recognition this coming Friday (October 1) at the AECID Hall of the PDMO Building, Provincial Capitol here to coincide with the briefing for the National Philhealth Registration Day. (MALoterte, PIA V)

DSWD CHIEF LEADS DISTRIBUTION OF CONDITIONAL CASH GRANT, PODER LAUNCHING IN BICOL

NAGA CITY — Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman led Thursday (September 23) the distribution of conditional cash grant under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps)to 1,385 extremely poor families in this city.

Resident-beneficiaries hailed from five barangays, including Pacol, Balatas, Sabang, Mabolo and Concepcion Pequeña, all earlier identified as poverty stricken villages that need government intervention.

Contrary to some claims that the 4Ps is one of the “dole-out” programs carried out by the government, Soliman has asserted that the fund is far from that sort since recipients have to follow certain obligations in order to avail of the conditional cash assistance.

Under the program, parents are obliged to attend sessions on Parent Effectiveness gatherings, Family Planning seminars, and other similar endeavors aimed at equipping them with know how on good parenting and good household management.

The monthly cash grant would also require its beneficiaries, particularly pregnant mothers to have a regular preventive health check-up and ensure the vaccination of their children with age range from 0 to 5 years of age. Preschoolers, ages ranging between 3 to 5 years old should have an 85 percent attendance rate in day care or preschool classes, while elementary and high school students from 6 to 14 years old should also be regularly attending school. Regular de-worming on children-beneficiaries is also a must.

Aside from personally handing over the cash grant, Soliman also witnessed the launching of programs and projects under the Poder Y Prosperidad dela Comunidad funded by the Spanish development agency, Agencia Española dela Cooperacion International para el Desarollo (PODER).

PODER also served as Presedent Aquino’s centerpiece program specifically for those communities living beyond the poverty threshold. Aids or assistance would come from the local government units which will provide various lifeline activities geared towards social development and improving the lives of poor constituents.
These projects aimed at alleviating poverty focusing on human capital investment to the poorest of the poor households in the country. (LSMacatangay, PIA CamSur/mal)

ARMY, REBELS CLASH IN CATANDUANES

SAN ANDRES, Catanduanes — Army soldiers, while in pursuit of the killers of a village youth leader, clashed Tuesday (September 28) with more or less ten suspected NPA bandits in Catanduanes, a military official said.

Lieutenant Colonel Danilo Aquino, commander of the Army’s 83rd Infantry Battalion, said that a squad of soldiers, led by Corporal Rocky Bumalay, caught up with the fleeing bandits of the Probinsyang Yunit Gerilya led by a certain Ka James in Magsaysay village in Bagamanoc town at around 9:30 am.

Aquino added that a running gun battle ensued as the bandits scampered to various directions following several minutes of gunfight and dragging with them their casualties.

“No one is injured among government soldiers while they recovered an M16 rifle believed to be owned by one of the rebel casualties and three backpacks containing subversive documents,” he bared.

Aquino also said that pursuit operations employing more troops are ongoing as of press time.

He said that civilian residents are updating the soldiers about the general direction of the bandits’ escape route.

The military authorities in Catanduanes have launched continuous manhunt operations to arrest the rebels who shot and killed two village officials namely Jay Carlo Cameleon and Lando Tavar a week ago.

The two victims were accused as military informants by the rebels who are becoming weary about the accurate information fed to the military leading to the series of arrests and clashes in all of Bicol’s six provinces.

In 2010, the Army’s 9th Infantry Division has recorded 24 deaths among civilians as a result of the NPA’s extra-judicial killings in the Bicol region. (HMCabunoc, DPAO 9ID PA/PIA/mal)

BU, ISSAAS BICOL HOST 10TH ISSAAS NATIONAL CONFAB

LEGAZPI CITY — The International Society for Southeast Asian Agricultural Sciences (ISSAAS) ‐ Bicol Chapter and Bicol University jointly host the 10th National Congress on September 28 to 30, 2010 at Bicol University Amphitheater here to provide an avenue to discuss updates on emerging trends, issues and directions in agriculture to help build more resilient communities in the country.

The conference evolves on the theme “Resilient Communities through Agriculture” with five sub-themes; namely, climate change adaptation for sustainable agriculture, ensuring food safety, sustainable management of bio‐resources, agri‐entrepreneurship for productivity and efficiency and community empowerment.

This year’s congress aims: to (1) encourage and create awareness of the people on climate change and its possible impacts to the various aspects of agriculture; (2) share experiences and exchange current information on technological advancement as well as on implementation of innovative development and adaptation programs in response to climate change; and (3) discuss the role of agriculture in building resilient communities to climate change and natural disasters.

Three plenary lectures will be delivered by Mr. Alejo N. Balaguer of Department Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Dr. Arnulfo M. Mascariñas, Director of Bicol University Research and Development Center (BURDC) and Dr. Nena O. Espiritu, professor at the College of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).

Parallel sessions will follow where over 90 papers revolving around the congress theme will be presented. In addition, there will be poster presentations and an educational tour on the third day which will give the participants and first‐time travelers to Albay a chance to see tourist sites and local products the province has to offer. Business meeting of the members of ISSAAS ‐ Philippines and oath taking of new members and officers will also be conducted.

This congress will be participated in by researchers, practitioners and development/extension workers from government agencies, non‐government organizations and private sectors, academicians and teachers from various higher learning institutions, and students from the different provinces of the country. (MBMamansag,BURDC/PIA)

4Ps NOW EXPANDS TO CATANDUANES

LEGAZPI CITY — A total of 1,338 families in the province of Catanduanes will benefit from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) following validation and registration of qualified beneficiaries were conducted by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Bicol last September 6-10, 2010.

DSWD Bicol Regional Rirector Remia Tapispisan bared these families are from the municipalities of Bagamanoc, Caramoran and Pandan.

Breakdown of the beneficiaries shows that 458 of these beneficiaries were from Bagamanoc, 436 from Caramoran, and 444 from Pandan.

Tapispisan added that these municipalities belong to the set three areas of the program which were selected based on the 2003 Small Area Estimates, poverty incidence and pockets of poverty.

4Ps is a poverty alleviation strategy of the government which aims to break the intergenerational poverty cycle by promoting behavioral transformations among parents. Cash grant amounting to P1,400 shall be provided to extremely poor households for the improvement of their health, nutrition and education particularly of their children aged 0-14 years old.

The program will require each family beneficiary to comply with the following conditionalities:
a) pregnant women must avail of pre and post natal care and be attended by skilled attendant during child birth, b) parents must attend responsible parenthood sessions, mothers classes and family planning, c) children 0-5 years old must receive regular preventive check-ups and vaccines, d) children 3-5 years old must attend day care classes, e) children 6-14 years old must attend elementary and high school classes at least 85% of the time. They will however be terminated from the program if they fail to comply with these conditions.

The program now covers 59 municipalities with 86,601 household beneficiaries in the six provinces of the Bicol Region. (AMayor, 4Ps PIO-DSWD/PIA/mal)

Malacanang welcomes OECD move to strike off RP from gray list

MANILA — Malacanang welcomed the move of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to strike off the Philippines from its list of tax havens.

“We are happy the Philippines is out of the gray list. It is a significant step in our fight against money laundering and tax evasion,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail de la Fuente- Valte said in a press briefing at Malacanang on Wednesday.

The OECD, in a statement, said the Philippines “moved up to the list of jurisdictions that have substantially implemented the internationally agreed tax standard."

The OECD statement further said the Philippines “overturned domestic legal restrictions that prevented its tax authorities from obtaining and exchanging certain types of information, such as bank information.”

The Philippines had been on the "gray list" of territories that had committed to internationally accepted tax standards but had not yet fully implemented them.

The OECD announcement came shortly after Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima signed Revenue Regulations (RR) 10-2010 that will be used to implement Republic Act (RA) 10021, or The Exchange of Information on Tax Matters Act.

RR 10-2010, which became a law in March this year, will still have to be published in a newspaper of general circulation before taking effect 15 days after.

The OECD statement noted that the Philippines has a network of more than 30 treaties that provide for exchange of information in tax matters. Until now, however, domestic legal restrictions prevented its tax authorities from obtaining and exchanging certain types of information ... The new law and regulations remove these restrictions, thus enabling many of the Philippines’ existing treaties to meet the international standard." (PIA V Release)

President Aquino visits La Salle blast victims

MANILA — President Benigno S. Aquino III visited Wednesday (September 29) the victims of the explosion that rocked the last day of the bar exams at La Salle Taft in Manila last Sunday.

The President talked to three of the 47 victims, most of whom are law students who joined the revelry outside the university.

First to be visited by the Chief Executive was Raissa Laurel, 23, second year law student of San Sebastian whose legs were amputated as a result of the blast.

Dr. Reynaldo Ang, an orthopedic surgeon from the Philippine General Hospital where the victim was confined, said Laurel’s legs were badly damaged by the blast.

“Mangled ang legs ng patient, the soft tissues were not very good, they are lost,” he said. “After a while the patient might need plastic surgery and prosthetics.”

Ang said, however, that Laurel is fast recovering, hinting that it might take a month for her to be discharged.

Raissa’s mother, Reggie, said her daughter, a member of a choir in their Christian church, was supposed to have a choral presentation at the PhilamLife Auditorium that fateful Sunday afternoon.

She said her daughter might have escaped injury had she left earlier for their choral presentation.

Also visited by the President at the Manila Doctors Hospital were Joana Ledda, 23, daughter of Sanggunian Bayan member and a Municipal Health Officer in Bauan, La Union and Camille Villasin, a sophomore student from San Beda and daughter of Philippine Association of Water Districts (PAWD) president Nestor Villasin.

Accompanying the President in the hospital visit were Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma and Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ramon Carandang. (PIA V Release)

Malacañang urges all Filipinos to join Philhealth

MANILA — Malacañang urged all Filipinos to join the government’s health insurance program by registering themselves and their qualified dependents with Philhealth on Saturday, October 2.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte issued the call during a press conference in Malacañang on Wednesday (September 29).

“I would like to remind everyone that October 2 is…going to be National Philhealth Day. We encourage everybody to go out if you have not yet registered at Philhealth, please go out on Saturday and do so,” Valte said.

The Department of Health has designated October 2 as “Philhealth Sabado” to allow non-members to become part of the government’s health insurance program to ensure themselves access to quality health services.

“PhilHealth Sabado is the start of a continuing advocacy program to increase Filipino’s awareness and knowledge on the importance of becoming a PhilHealth member,” the DoH said in a statement, adding that being a member “will ensure access to quality health services to the member and his/her dependents.”

“PhilHealth Sabado fullfills universal health insurance coverage within three years as promised in the first State of the Nation Address of President Benigno S. Aquino III,” the DOH statement said.

All interested applicants are invited to visit the Philhealth Registration Desk located in any of the following: Philhealth Regional and Service Offices, Department of Health Centers for Health Development and Hospitals, participating public schools and designated areas predetermined by local government units for registration instructions. (PIA V Release)

Palace lauds Comelec resolution granting exemptions to appointments ban

MANILA — Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. on Wednesday (September 29) lauded the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for granting Malacañang's request for an exemption on the appointment ban because of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls on October 25, saying this would allow President Benigno Aquino III to fill up critical government posts.

The government is prohibited from appointing or transferring officials and employees during the campaign period under a resolution issued by the poll body, but the Comelec en banc approved the request of Ochoa to grant exemptions for 143 key positions last Monday.

In a letter to Comelec sent September 24, Ochoa explained to the poll body that the appointments were being made “not for the purpose of influencing or affecting the results of the barangay elections” but to ensure the “proper functioning of the offices or agencies concerned.”

“The President arrived last Tuesday in good spirits, and this resolution was welcome news for him as he wants to continue naming individuals to posts that need to be filled as soon as possible,” the Executive Secretary said.

The exemptions cover 143 positions in government, such as non-career ambassadors, regional trial court judges, officials in line agencies and special bodies, and government-owned and -controlled corporations like the Manila Waterworks Sewerage System.

The Comelec has said that similar exemptions were granted to Malacañang and other offices in the past so as not to disrupt government operations and public service.

Specifically, the poll body eased the prohibitions set in Section 261 (g, h and x) of the Omnibus Election Code and Comelec Resolution No. 9040 on the appointment of new employees, whether temporary or casual; creation of any new position; transfer or detail any officer or employee, including public school teachers; and suspension of elective officials, without the prior approval of the Comelec.

Under Comelec Resolution No. 9040, no appointments shall be made from September 25 to October 25, and transfer or detail of employees from September 25 to November 10, 2010. (PIA V Release)

Lawmakers laud P-Noy's accomplishments in US trip

MANILA — Lawmakers lauded on Wednesday (September 29) the success of President Benigno S. Aquino III in bringing home from his trip to the United States some US$ 2.8 billion worth of investments that would help boost the economy and generate more job opportunities for Filipinos.

Marikina City Rep. Marcelino Teodoro said the US$ 2.8 billion, or P123.2 billion worth of investment brought in by the President is a commendable accomplishment by the Aquino administration as these will result in positive social and economic changes.

"These investments will help boost local and other foreign investments in the country. Aside from the economic returns from taxes that these will generate, these investments will provide better job opportunities for Filipinos," he said.

On the other hand, Compostela Valley Rep. Maria Carmen Apsay said the President's efforts at bringing in investments are testament to international community's commitment to invest in the country.
She lauded President Aquino's feat, saying these investments will go a long way towards building economic independence.

"The President's achievement is the fruit of all our efforts to move forward, and we will continue to work together in creating and building economic independence," the Mindanao solon said.

"Patuloy rin po tayong magtatrabaho upang salubungin ang ganitong pagpundar sa ating bansa at bayan (We will continue to work harder to match the effort of the administration)," she added.

For his part, Misamis Occidental Rep. Loreto Leo Ocampos said he is impressed by the performance of the President in his U.S. trip.

"He (President Aquino) has delivered the bacon resulting in thousands of jobs, thereby boosting the local economy," he said.

But for Gabriela Party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan, she said the whole nation would have to wait for these investments to be actualized.

"The proof of the pudding is in the eating," she said. (PIA V Release)