Bicol gets P156 million for repairs of typhoon-damaged infrastructures, roads - DPWH V
by Ed de Leon

LEGAZPI CITY, November 14 (PIA) - President Benigno S. Aquino III has ordered the release of an initial P156,250,000.00 to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regional office here for the repair and rehabilitation of vital infrastructures damaged by the series of typhoons that hit Bicol recently, according to top official of DPWH V.

DPWH V regional director Danilo E. Dequito said that the fund release was part of the P1.197 billion calamity fund released nationwide.

He said that DPWH Sec. Rogelio Singson directed them to speed up the implementation of these rehabilitation projects without sacrificing the quality of the restored damaged infrastructures.

He said the amount will be used for the implementation of 32 rehabilitation projects in the six provinces of Bicol.

The DPWH regional director said that Albay was allocated P98 million for the implementation of nine rehabilitation projects in the three districts of the province while Camarines Sur was allocated P35 million for seven projects, Camarines Norte P17 million for four projects, Masbate P2 million for one project , Sorsogon P2 million for three projects and Catanduanes P1.5 million for also three projects.

It may be recalled that Bicol was affected by series of typhoons that hit the country recently namely: typhoons “Juaning,” “Mina,””Pedring,”and “Quiel” which triggered flash floods and landslides in many parts of Bicol that caused damages to roads, bridges, flood control structures and schools buildings and irrigation facilities. (MAL/EDLeon, PIA V)

P500M initial fund for flood pumping system assured

by Manny P. Solis

LEGAZPI CITY, November 14 (PIA) -- Malacañang has assured the city government here of an initial funding of P500 million for the establishment of flood water pumping stations in four strategic sites in the city.

City Administrator Noel Rosal said the allocation has been included in next year’s budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and it will be released as soon as the 2012 National Appropriations Act Act is enacted by Congress and signed into law by Pres. Benigno Aquino III.

“This P500 million fund will just be an initial release which would be used in civil works like the improvement and construction of flood control dikes, drainage systems and seawalls in Barangays San Roque, Bayabay and Victory Village as well as along the Macabalo River,” he said.

Following the construction, pumping stations each in these four sites will be put in place to pump flood waters out into the sea to address the perennial problem of flooding within the city’s commercial and residential areas during heavy downpours, according to Rosal.

“This will be the first of its kind flood mitigation structure which will be put up in the Bicol Region and its design is the same with the pumping stations of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) patterned with the project of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),” he said.

Each of the four pumping stations, according to Engr. Noel Encarnacion, chief of the Construction Division of the City Engineering Office (CEO), would be equipped with a 1.5 diameter water pump capable of pumping out three cubic meters of water per second.

“Under the guidance of then city mayor now CA Rosal, we completed the study on the flooding problem being experienced by the city in 2009. We then developed a proposed solution which is pumping and after preparing the design of the pumping stations, we submitted it to Malacañang last year and it was approved,” Encarnacion said.

Rosal said the implementation of this project will start in early next year based on the assurance made by the Office of the President and the DPWH Central Office of the funding allocation.

“It will signal the coming of the ultimate solution to the problem on flood that the city had been suffering since time immemorial,” he said.

Since the funding of P500 million is only an initial amount that would finance only the civil works, “we are also assured of additional allocations for the acquisition, installation and operations of the giant water pumps to the tune of over a billion pesos more,” Rosal added. (MAL/MPS, LGU Legazpi City)

Albay girl scouts promotes no smoking campaign via SFAN challenge

by Aida Alcazar-Naz

LEGAZPI CITY, November 11 (PIA) -- Children, girls at that can be effective advocates of no smoking.

Ligao City Vice Mayor Patricia G. Alsua said that when girl scouts throng in government buildings and public places in the city to promote no smoking she found the activity very effective.

Ligao, a no smoking city based on an ordinance passed by the sangguniang panglungsod this year was the exemplar for no smoking campaign by the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP) Albay Council and the Smoke-Free Albay Network (SFAN) of the Provincial Government of Albay.

Some 1,200 girl scouts who participated in the Albay encampment on the theme Girl Scouts Save the Planet willingly participated in the SFAN challenge in the afternoon of October 27.

The girls whose ages range from 10 to 16 were divided into four groups and enthusiastically did their tasks.

The S group posted stickers in public utility vehicles particularly, jeepneys and tricycles, while the F cluster visited the city hall and nearby public buildings looking for ashtrays and encouraged the owners to keep them if not throw them away. Ashtrays are prohibited in government offices based on Civil Service Commission Memorandum Circular No. 17 series of 2009 and DILG Circular no. 2011-15.

Meantime, the A gang appealed to smokers to stop smoking and if needing help to inform SFAN so that they can be enrolled in a cessation program. The N group posted no smoking sign in public offices.

According to Haidie Rivera of a non-government organization Advantage who accompanied the A group young, girls are effective promoters of no smoking as they were able to convince smokers to kick the habit.

Herbert Mayores, director of AMA College Legazpi described the positive reaction of people when the group he accompanied started posting signages in public buildings.

Each group was accompanied by adult scout leaders, SFAN members, and elements of the Philippine National Police during the SFAN challenge held at the poblacion of Ligao City.

Alma Lozada former GSP Albay executive director now SFAN member representing Bicol University Extension Service Center said that the SFAN challenge was the first ever in any GSP encampment.

The purpose of the activity did not only made the scouters promoters of no smoking but as an approach of educating girls that smoking is not good for the health whether one is a smoker or passive smoker.

The Albay Girl Scouts Encampment wash held October 24-29 at Kawakawa Ligao City, Albay. (MAL/AAN, PIA V)

Training on Community Base Monitoring System in Camarines Norte

by Rosalita Base-Manlangit

DAET, Camarines Norte, Nov. 14 (PIA) -– A four day training on Community Base Monitoring System (CBMS) through map digitizing was conducted November 8-11 at the Audio Visual Production Center (AVPC), provincial capitol spearheaded by Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) of the provincial government.

PPDO Architect Madonna Abular said the CBMS, through the use of computer program installer, will measure the prevalence of poverty and other basic data on health, employment, income, housing and others that will also serve as guide for planning of programs and projects of the government.

The outputs of the training were the graphs, maps and tables of the data coming from the survey that has been conducted previously by the municipalities in their constituents.

She said the training was attended by the Municipal Planning and Development Officers (MPDOs) of the 12 municipalities of the province.

She said topics discussed during the first day of the training include: installation of CBMS tools, producing core indicator using statsim, customizing table using statsim while on the second day were matching of statsim data outputs, digitizing maps and exercises on map digitizing.

Other topics for the 3rd and 4th day include the continuation of map digitizing, matching statsim data outputs, exporting CBMS core indicators data from statsim, importing statsim output in the CBMS database, exploring map layer properties, poverty mapping using the CBMS database, poverty mapping and interpreting indicator maps.

This was the 3rd training conducted on CBMS for MPDOs for updating the data base every 3 years in each municipalities of the province. (RBM, PIA Camarines Norte).