Task Force Robredo formed for ongoing wake of Robredo

By Analiza S. Macatangay

NAGA CITY, Aug 22 (PIA) -- An incident command center to oversee the activities in line with the wake of the late DILG Secretary Jesse M. Robredo has been set up here.

The Secretary’s wake is open to the public at the Archbishop’s Palace since yesterday evening until Friday morning.

Dubbed Task Force Robredo, the group will facilitate inter-agency efforts to man the peace and security situations in and around the wake area, ensure the proper flow of vehicles through the imposition of a re-routing scheme to assist the motorists and provide the necessary logistics during the entire wake period.

The task force is headed by Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Secretary Ricky Carandang and Naga City Mayor John Bongat.

Carandang, who is also heading the committee on funeral arrangements, earlier issued Bulletin No.1 containing the public viewing schedules of the remains of the late Secretary Robredo.

On Friday, the remains will be transported from Naga City to Malacanang Palace. Initially, it is scheduled to be sent back at the city hall on Sunday.

Since last night, thousands of mourning Bicolanos and supporters coming from different parts of the region, lined up at the Archbishop’s palace to have a last glimpse of SILG Robredo inside his close coffin.

To ensure that mourners are out of harm’s way, the Philippine National Police has deployed 254 policemen to man three strategic areas – the vicinity within the Archbishop’s palace, the residence of Secretary Robredo and all roads where visitors and some activities during the entire duration of the wake and vigil will take place.

Last night during the wake, Robredo’s eldest daughter Jessica Marie also fondly called “Aika,” thanked everyone for their prayers and support in this difficult times that their family is going through.

A few years back, Aika wrote an essay about her father being the source of her inspiration during the 2003 Ramon Magsaysay Student Essay Competition. It won the grand prize for the High School Category.

"His decision to continue serving his native city and resist the lure of national prominence, which a higher elective post could have brought him, had the deepest impact on me and imparted to me life-long lessons: that no deed is too small nor too big if it makes other people’s burden lighter and their lives better; that greatness of spirit can be achieved not through wealth, power or popularity, but by living your life with quiet dignity and by becoming a man for others. By his example, I have been truly inspired to dare to make a difference, break ground, stand up for my own convictions and serve others selflessly and with integrity in whatever field I will find myself in," Aika wrote. (MAL/LSM-PIA5/Camarines Sur)



College, university teams vie for Ibalong Fest nat’l beach volleyball champ

By Marlon A. Loterte

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay, Aug 22 (PIA) -- Eight teams from various colleges and universities in the country spiked their way under the scorching heat of sun refreshed by the soothing freshness of the Pacific wind into the first Ibalong Festival National Women’s Beach Volleyball Invitational Championship here during the weekend.

One of the teams came from University of Santo Tomas (UST) while Far Eastern University (FEU) and National University (NU) fielded two teams each. The other teams are from La Salle University-Dasmariñas (Cavite), University of Perpetual Help System-Laguna and Aquinas University of Legazpi.

Sanctioned by the Philippine Volleyball Federation, the only national governing body of volleyball in the country, the games open on Saturday and will go through Sunday where the champion will be determined through a point system of judging, said Roy Dimaculangan, the event organizer.

“We have included women’s beach volleyball in the sports events of the Ibalong Festival as the city government introduces new innovations for more fun and adventure during the celebration this year,” said Dimaculangan on Friday.

Ibalong is a yearly jubilee in colorful celebration of the city’s mythical past instituted by the city government here into its promotion of local tourism and investment.

Dimaculangan said volleyball is a sport that has now achieved global popularity and played not only by men as it is also taken up by the women enthusiastically across the world.

The reason for the game’s popularity and the speed of success lie with the fact that it has simple rules and does not require a lot of preparation to play. All that is needed are a ball, a net and players.

Beach volleyball is a variation of the game that is also becoming very popular and standardized featuring two players on a team instead of the usual six. However, beach volleyball is also a sport in which both the men and the women take part.

“Beach volleyball especially of women is one of the most glorious sports of them all being a sport played by a team of glistening, athletic girls in bikinis. Certainly, it will add more fun to Ibalong Festival,” Dimaculangan said.

Beach volleyball aficionados will surely be delighted with the game to be held at the beach along the Legazpi City Boulevard that stretches along the fine black sand beach of the city bordering the Albay Albay Gulf.

Dimaculangan said playing beach volleyball is not just fun but provides a total workout that is good for the health. Anyone could play beach volleyball wherever there's a sand or net. The good thing about this sport is that anyone could play it: men and women, teenager and adult.

In this event, he said, having powerful legs is important although jumping and falling skills are more important. Well-tuned beach volleyball players know how it is more difficult to run and jump on sand rather than usual off-beach courts.

The rules for beach volleyball are just like the usual volleyball game. The only difference is that it is played on sand, usually by the beach where movements while basking at the heat of the sun when playing is excessively challenging.

“This challenge makes it a fun sport,” Dimaculangan added. (MAL/LGU Legazpi City)


Climate sensitive talks boost tourism amidst Ibalong Festival

By Marlon A. Loterte

LEGAZPI CITY, August 22 (PIA) -- The First Philippine Tourism Conference on Climate Change Adaptation (PTCCCA) on Aug. 23-25 to be held at the Oriental Hotel, Legazpi, is a big boost to the city’s tourism activity.

City Mayor Geraldine B. Rosal said this as the event with an expected 1,000 participants will be held side by side the Ibalong Festival which depicts local legendary heroes Handyong, Baltog and Bantong of the Bicol epic who fought man-made and natural calamities during the ancient Bicolandia.

The modern ‘heroes’ that ought to be molded within the premises of the conference will be the expected outcome of this historic and first of a kind Climate Change Adaptation strategy focusing on the tourism industry as a significant growth area for countryside to national economic development played by resilient stakeholders policy makers, key government agencies, planners, scientists, business entities and communities, among others.

The PTCCCA coincides with the Street Carnival of the annual Ibalong Festival will perk up investment ventures in the city as the twin events will be highlighted by the inauguration of the Boulevard de Legazpi, a new road opening going to the South Luzon International Airport

The Ibalong Festival that would keep everyone in the city animated during the whole of this month, kicked off on August 10 and closes on the 31st with the mayor rendering her “Ulat sa Bayan,” a report on the state of the city that would tackle her administration’s achievement for the whole year starting in August 2011.

It will be staged in an open ground at the newly developed Legazpi City Boulevard, a multi-billion-peso urban development site that opens a multidimensional facet of urbanization.

This development is giving way to the phenomenal growth the city has been achieving in the fields of tourism, commerce, industry, agriculture, information technology (IT), business process outsourcing (BPO), infrastructure, housing and transportation, among other aspects of local economy.

The Ibalong Festival will be highlighted by the Street Party that will see the participation of every man on the street in a night-long celebration through music, dances and other fanfares. The Ibalong Beer Plaza at the Boulevard which will run up to the last night of the month-long festival will also open on the same occasion.

City Mayor Geraldine Rosal, Tourism-Bicol Regional Director Maria “Nini” Ravanilla and Local Climate Change Adaptation for Development (LCCAD) Inc. President and PTCCCA Conference Director Nong Rangasa are the prime movers in this national conference.

Meanwhile, Aside from the walk-in confirmations to PTCCCA, the on-line registration of participants continues to pour in from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

President Benigno S. Aquino III is invited to keynote this remarkable conference to find solutions to the disastrous effects of extreme weather events like the recent floods that hit Metro Manila and the nearby provinces.

Senator Legarda, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Climate Change hopes to include the result of the PTCCCA deliberations in the framework plans to address the massive flooding in Metro Manila and the Camanava area following the revelation of Dr. Fernando Siringan, an expert of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute that Metro Manila has started to “sink” and why there is massive flooding even in the absence of a typhoon.

While the major partners are all excited in this event, local executives, development and planning officials, tourism officers, and other major stakeholders who have signified their attendance to the PTCCCA have already reached the maximum number of expected participants, still more are placing reservations and hotel accommodations.

Rangasa disclosed that flood-damaged areas like Pampanga, Bataan, Alaminos and Nueva Vizcaya are sending more participants than the expected number. (MAL/LCCAD-PIA5)


DOT expects Legazpi’s Ibalong Fest to boost Albay’s tourism growth

By Marlon A. Loterte

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay, Aug 22 (PIA) -- The Department of Tourism (DOT) is confident that this year's Ibalong Festival will improve the performance of the local tourism industry in Albay.

Now on its 21st year, the festival which celebrates the city’s mythical past, opened on Friday with a grand merrymaking that saw local officials, government employees, barangay leaders, students, various groups of young professionals and businessmen, visitors and tourists partying around the city.

“We are counting not only the arrivals during the month-long duration of the festival but within the whole year as Ibalong is a tourism promotion whose positive effect on the industry is long ranged,” DOT Regional Director Maria Ong-Ravanilla said on Tuesday.

Last year’s tourist arrivals here and throughout Albay was counted at over 350,000, posting a 17 percent increase over its 2010 performance. This increase surpassed the 2011 national tourism growth rate of 15 percent.

This year, early figures indicate a positive trend owing to various tourism-related activities like the provincial government-sponsored Magayon Festival and similar events initiated by several local government units like Tabak Festival in Tabaco City, Coron Festival in Tiwi, Baybayon Festival in Bacacay, Daragang Magayon in Daraga and Paroy Festival in Libon, among others.

The rise of this city as among the country’s top convention centers is also contributing significantly to the province’s phenomenal tourism industry growth as this draws thousands of visitors in any given occasion, Ravanilla said.

This month, 3,000 participants from all over the country are expected to attend the Conference on Climate Change Adaptation here on August 23 to 25 while the 64th national convention of the Junior Chamber International Philippine (Jaycees) is slated in the city on October.

In November, the national convention of the Municipal Mayors League of the Philippines will be held in this city as well.

Ibalong Festival is part of tourism program of the city that is proving very effective in promoting the place as a major tourist destination not only because of the majestic Mt. Mayon but because it is packed with fun, adventure and business opportunities, Ravanilla said.

“Anyway, it is always more fun in Legazpi because people here are known for their hospitality and its distinct tourism features with its people, great history, fascinating culture and enchanting arts. Mayon Volcano on the other hand serves not only as an attraction but rather a destination,” she added.

Noel Rosal, the city’s former mayor now the city administrator, said scaling the 2,463-meter elevation of the summit of Mayon, the Philippines’ most active volcano is truly an experience of a lifetime.

Climbing up to the level close to the summit or an area commonly referred to as the knife’s edge is for the intermediate-expert climber or for one who is very fit. It normally takes two days and one night to reach the summit and it is essential that one have a competent and knowledgeable local guide, he said.

To plan a climb to Mt. Mayon, one must register and log at the Mayon Volcano National Park (MVNP) and Ecological Campsite and Ecopark located at foot slope of the volcano specifically at Brgy. Lidong, Sto. Domingo, Albay.

It is recommended that climbers visit the DOT regional office at the Government Regional Center in Barangay Rawis to arrange for logistical requirements and safety precautions.

For the outdoor enthusiasts interested in day treks, one highly recommended trek is the Camp One site which is a four-hour climb going up under a normal pace from the Dona Pepita Golf Course and Ecopark or the MVNP.

This trail takes climbers to Camp One which is a base camp used by mountaineers before their final ascent to the summit of the volcano.

Located roughly 780 meters above sea level and situated beside a relatively dry waterfall bed, this site offers spectacular views of the countryside and ocean below.

“The journey to the site will take you through some intensely varying and beautiful terrain including a lahar flow gulley, light Agoho Pine forests, heavily covered giant fern forests and cogon grassland,” Rosal said.

As part of the Ibalong Festival’s adventure events, Tukad sa Mayon (Climb to Mayon), an organized mountain climbing tour up to the Mayon summit which will be participated in by both amateur and veteran climbers has been scheduled on August 24 and 25. (MAL/DOC-LGU Legazpi City/PIA5)



DOH V holds Tobacco Control Strategy forum

By: Sally A. Atento

LEGAZPI CITY, Aug 22 (PIA) -- The National Center for Health Promotion (NCHP) and the Center for Health Development of the Department of Health (DOH) in the region spearheaded a forum on the National Tobacco Control Strategy (NTCS) for media and tobacco-control stakeholders on August 16, this city.

Nestor F. Santiago, DOH-Center for Health Development Bicol regional director, said the event is in line with the goals set by the Bloomberg Initiative Project to consolidate the country’s effort in protecting public health from the devastating effect of tobacco use through sector-wide participation and involvement in tobacco control and implementation of the NTCS.

“The NTCS reflects the government’s political commitment to effective tobacco control for healthier Filipinos, building on the premise that Filipinos will be given the right to be protected from tobacco-related diseases and relieved from the burden of tobacco use in the years to come,” Santiago said.

Tasked to carry out the said goals is the National Tobacco Control Coordinating Office.

The Bloomberg Initiative Project is the framework used by the World Health Organization for tobacco control, which provides funds to government agencies and civil society organizations in different countries including the Philippines.

“Tobacco contributes to, or aggravates, eight of the top ten causes of deaths in the country. Thus, the present government is determined to continue in strengthening its tobacco control efforts to face the many challenges that tobacco use poses for public health,” Santiago said.

Together with the presentation of the NTCS by Dr. Ivanhoe Escartin, NCHP OIC, are discussions on salient issues on tobacco control such as the best practices on tobacco control among LGUs by Legazpi City Mayor Carmen Geraldine Rosal.

Legazpi City has been a Red Orchid Hall of Fame Awardee for three consecutive years of outstanding performance in the enforcement of smoke-free programs and policies together with the different sectors of society. (Sally Atento/MAL/SAA-PIA5/Albay)