Naga parochial school accepts girls, grade 7 students


By Analiza S. Macatangay

NAGA CITY, March 26 (PIA) --- The Naga Parochial School (NPS) marked another milestone when it finally decided to accept girls and Grade 7 students. This comes at a time when more and more exclusive schools veer towards co-educational set-up.

Fr. Rex Andrew C. Alarcon, NPS school director, confirmed this in a press conference Friday. The elementary school had been exclusively for boys in the past 65 years. Changes in admission policies will take effect in school year 2013-2014.

“This decision was also based on a survey of NPS parents. The results showed that majority of the respondents prefer a co-educational set-up for varied reasons. We also would like to cater to more students, who also want to receive the Catholic formation that the school offers, “ Alarcon said in an interview.

The decision to open the High School Department is also in support of the K to 12 educational reform being implemented by the national government. As the core and basic curriculum, the NPS management believe that it is just right to revive its classical education while maintaining its focus on Science and Math subjects.

“Archbishop Rolando J. Tirona of Archdiocese of Caceres and the Archdiocesan Education Committee, and NPS Board of Trustees jointly decided on this matter, believing that we are answering the need to open this door of opportunity to everyone, “ Alarcon added.

The opening of the High School Department also intends to encourage those who want to enter the priesthood through the High School seminary. NPS for the past decades, has served as the foundation of Catholic formation and contributed to the emergence of Diocesan priests in the region, producing more than 65 priests and 3 bishops for the record.

Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, Bishop Jose Rojas, D.D. and Bishop Gilbert Garcera, to name a few.

The NPS has also produced outstanding alumni who have created their own niche in respective endeavors. The late Senator Raul Roco and DILG Secretary Jesse M. Robredo both hailed from NPS and spent their elementary days inside the said school. (MAL/LSM-PIA5/Camarines Sur)



Life of every homeless family will improve with GK in Cam Norte

By Rosalita B. Manlangit

DAET, Camarines Norte, March 26 (PIA) – “The life of every homeless family will improve with the Gawad Kalinga (GK) Bayani Challenge 2013,” according to Zarena Bacerdo, 21, a resident of Barangay Daculang Bolo, San Lorenzo Ruiz town in this province.

Zarena is one of the beneficiaries in the GK Friendship Village in Barangay Laniton, San Lorenzo town during the holding of the 8th Bayani Challenge this year from March 23-27.

She said that through the unity, the building of houses will become easier and faster.

“The bayanihan is good because of the cooperation of volunteers despite religious differences,” according to Esperanza Prades, 50 years old of Purok 2, Barangay Laniton, San Lorenzo Ruiz. She is a sales vendor with 9 siblings.

“Masaya na hindi maintindihan, maraming tao at nagpapasalamat kami at kahit man lang sa pagod ay masuklian namin ang ibibigay na bahay sa amin”, say’s Mylene Samson, 35, Purok 2 of Barangay Laniton, San Lorenzo Ruiz, She is a laborer with 6 siblings.

The first day of the Bayani Challenge in March 23 was highlighted with the opening ceremony and Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signing of the stakeholders, opening ceremony, first day of house build and tree planting, holy mass. It will end on March 27 with holy mass, sharing and awarding ceremony and send off and boddle fight for the heroes or volunteers.

This is a nationwide activity where the GK Friendship Village in San Lorenzo Ruiz town is the only site in the Bicol Region and one of the 37 sites in 34 provinces in the country for the eighth Bayani Challenge this year.

Forty-four houses are to be constructed, 10 will be led by the local government unit of Daet, six by the provincial government of Camarines Norte, and six by the local government unit of San Lorenzo Ruiz with the total of 22 while the other 22 houses will be the counterpart of the GK Foundation. (MAL/RBM-PIA5/Camarines Norte).


Legazpi, Bacoor now tourism sister cities


LEGAZPI CITY, Mar 26 (PIA) -- A tourism sisterhood relationship has been forged between this city and the city of Bacoor in Cavite.

The partnership signed last March 21 during a simple ceremony at the Oriental Hotel here by this city’s mayor Geraldine Rosal and Strike Revilla of Bacoor City, the relationship will facilitate the mutual sharing of knowledge in tourism promotion between the two local government units (LGUs) separated by about 500-kilometer road distance.

Apart from tourism, the two cities will also share knowledge and experiences in the field of good governance towards economic prosperity and continuous successes in urban and rural development, Rosal said on Friday.

In tourism, this city that plays host to the iconic Mt. Mayon, the world’s most perfect cone and tourism wonder is referred to worldwide as the “City of Fun and Adventure”.

She said that this relationship will serve as an open window for opportunities to uplift the lives of all the people living around the territorial areas of the two cities.

Rosal pointed out that this sisterhood agreement would also serve as a vehicle to improve their initiatives towards the adoption of science and technology, culture and arts, planning and urban development, commerce, trade and industry, education, sports, environmental protection, public health, social services and other common concerns.

On the part of Revilla, he vowed to adopt the effective implementation of some programs and projects of Legazpi that he looks up as one of the most successful city in the country.

Revilla said his administration is very willing to share some programs to Legazpi as stipulated in the sisterhood agreement.

The city of Bacoor is a first class urban component city in the province of Cavite located approximately 15 kilometers southwest of Manila.

The city is among the key areas and formerly one of the fastest growing municipalities in Cavite mainly because of its location. (MAL/ Danny O. Calleja, LGU Legazpi City)


HUDCC ties up with police, agencies to stop squatting syndicates

By Joseph John Perez

LEGAZPI CITY, March 26 (PIA) -- The Housing Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) will train police personnel to detect fake land titles in the former’s effort to curb the activities of squatting syndicates.

Regional HUDCC head for Bicol Engr. Cristy Abaño said the agency sponsors today a regional training for at least 150 police personnel and participants from other agencies. The training aims to educate them on the modus operandi of professional squatters and squatting syndicates and fraud detection on land titles.

“Aside from their usual duty in maintaining peace and order during demolition activities, police officers must know how to properly address the cases of syndicated squatting and the proliferation of bogus land titles,” Abaño said.

The HUDCC is mandated as the lead agency under the Executive Order No. 153 issued on December 10, 2002 in the intensified campaign of the government against professional squatters and squatting syndicates, Abaño said.

Abaño said that fake land titles can be detected though identification of overt features of the title such as watermark, colors of fibers, planchettes, intaglio on borders, type of form and its uses, purposes including the judicial form number; verification of the date of issuance of title if consistent with the date the title of form was printed, serial number, TCT number especially the last two digits, the initials and signatures of the authorities; and comparison of the owner’s duplicate with the original title on file and other methods such as acetate or light exposure.

Professional squatters, she explained, are identified as, at first, they construct makeshift shanties and if left unchecked, will later construct concrete structures.

Squatting syndicates are classified into three types namely; class A, whose manner of operation is purely documentation which can be easily falsified, using contacts with other government agencies and courts; class B, who scout for a large community of squatters, organize them and orient them about the Titulo de Propiedad 4136 and OCT 01-4 Protocol; and class C, who organize urban poor associations and uses them as fronts.

Abaño revealed that the Philippines has an estimated population of 94 million with 1.9 percent annual growth rate wherein 62 percent estimated as part of urban population and will grow by 84 percent by 2050.

The national poverty incidence is pegged at 32 percent while poverty incidence in urban areas is only 17 percent that is considered as the main reason for the rural-urban migration, thus the growth of informal settlements, Abaño added. (MAL/JJP-PIA5/Albay)