Forum on redefining role of media in CCA, DRR on Aug 22

LEGAZPI CITY, Aug 16 (PIA/Navforsol) -- The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan 2011-2028 provides the specific direction that the country has to take in order to attain safer, adaptive and disaster resilient Filipino communities towards sustainable development.

Considered the DRRM roadmap, the plan also calls for institutionalizing the role of all sectors, including the media, in different stages of risk reduction.

It is in this context that Naval Forces Southern Luzon (Navforsol) has collaborated with the provincial government of Albay, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) 5, Philippine Information Agency (PIA) 5 and media outfits in the region for the first ever media forum on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) for practitioners from Albay and Sorsogon provinces last July 22 in Legazpi City.

After the successful forum, the said agencies tie up with 9th Infantry Division, Philippine Army for the 2nd Media Forum for media practitioners from Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Masbate and Catanduanes provinces on August 22 at Villa Caceres Hotel.

With the theme, “Defining the role of Media Practitioners in Disaster Risk Management,” more than a hundred media practitioners are expected to attend the said forum. Also invited are DRRMO officers of local government units of the provinces with Hon. John G. Bongat of Naga City as the keynote speaker.

“The objective of this forum is to impart to the members of the media the necessary knowledge on policies, strategies and techniques in managing pre and post disaster situations. The forum will also serve as the foundation in drafting the Philippine DRRM/CCA guidelines for media practitioners,” said Commodore Abraham Celzo, Commander of Naval Forces Southern Luzon.

“The forum will also feature risk reduction and climate change adaptation programs of the national government. For this particular forum, we have invited the Department of Agriculture 5 to share with us their risk reduction initiatives and climate-smart agricultural programs,” Director Bernardo R Alejandro IV of OCD 5 and chairman of RDRRMC Bicol said.

The current AFP campaign is hinged on multisectoral collaboration in order to address security challenges to the safety, security and way of life of every Filipino.

“Considered as a potent threat to every community, disaster management requires participation of everyone. As a relevant component of our society, we hope that through this initiative, we will be able to enlighten our friends from the media that they have a critical role to play not only during actual disasters but also before and after calamities strike,” Celso. (MAL/CRBullos-Navforsol/PIA5)


Catanduanes State College gets P200,000 dev’t assistance from CHED

By Edna A. Bagadiong

VIRAC, Catanduanes, Aug 16 (PIA) -- The Catanduanes State College (CSC) received a P200,000-development assistance from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Minerva I. Morales, CSC president, received the Institutional Development Assistance for Accreditation (IDAA) on July 9.

The grant is CHED’s support to Catanduanes State Colleges’ (CSC) ongoing accreditation efforts where 11 of its academic programs were evaluated by the Accrediting Agency for Chartered Colleges and Universities (AACCUP) on August 6 to 11.

The academic programs scheduled for accreditation are Accountancy (3rd Survey), Business Administration (3rd Survey), Nutrition and Dietetics (3rd Survey), Science – Biology (2nd Survey), Science – Mathematics (2nd Survey), Civil Engineering (1st Survey), Information System (1st Survey), Agriculture (1st Survey), Doctoral – Ed.D. (1st Survey), Master – MBA (1st Survey), Arts and Sciences – Public Administration (1st Survey), and Agriculture-Panganiban Campus (Preliminary Visit).

A memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed by CHED Chairperson Patricia B. Licuanan and Dr. Minerva I. Morales covers the implementation of the development assistance fund.

The accreditation of academic programs is a continuing quality assurance undertaking of the CSC administration. To date, the institution has 19 academic programs accredited by the AACCUP.

AACCUP defines accreditation as the formal recognition of an educational program as possessing certain standards of quality or excellence based on analysis of the merits of its educational operation in relation to its objectives.

AACCUP said accreditation lends prestige to member institutions, justified by the possession of quality standards and unremitting efforts to maintain them at high level. Aside from this, it helps parents to know which program they may send their children to for quality education.

AACCUP adds that accreditation makes all those engaged in education aware of standards of excellence that they should strive to attain. In addition, it makes possible for those proposing funding and those who are to fund to know what to support and how much support is needed. The strengths and weaknesses of the programs could also be assessed easily through accreditation.

Students on the other hand who are graduates of accredited academic programs especially teacher education automatically earn points in the evaluation of their application for a teaching position.

Based on Guidelines on the Hiring of Public School Teachers contained in the DepEd Order No. 2 series of 2002, students who earned their degree from schools whose teacher education program is accredited as Level I will get four points, Level II 8 points, Level III 12 points and Level IV 15 points. (MAL/EAB-PIA5/GSR-CSC)