Cebu City’s Pantawid Pamilya program a model in C. Visayas
By Eli C. Dalumpines

CEBU CITY, May 24 (PIA) – Implementation of the Pantawid Pamilya program in Cebu City is a model in Central Visayas, an official of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) here informed. 

Aileen Lariba, program information and advocacy officer of Pantawid Pamilya for Central Visayas, during the recent meeting of the Cebu Association of City and Municipal Public Information Officers (CAOCAMPIO), said that Cebu City is running the program exceptionally well with only a minimum supervision from her office.

The Pantawid Pamilya is a flagship program of Pres. Bengino Aquino III that provides financial assistance to the poorest of the poor in the country in two basic essential needs --- health and education.

Under the poverty alleviation program, each household beneficiary receives monthly financial aid of P500 for health maintenance and P300 for education needs of one school child under the age of 14 years up to a maximum of three schoolchildren-recipients per family.

Lariba cited the 2009 incident where the city implemented the program independently for almost a year after a misunderstanding arose between the staff of the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) and the City Link Officer assigned by the DSWD Regional Office here to coordinate with the city government, on the issue of some lost documents.

Lariba attributed this successful implementation to the hard work and dedication of the DSWS staff and the support of the city officials, particularly Mayor Michael Rama who showed much concern for the program beneficiaries.

DSWS chief Cathy Iso confirmed that implementing the program is really an arduous task considering the voluminous documents that they have to maintain for their 2,998 beneficiaries, not to mention the time and effort they are spending in monitoring.

Iso disclosed that she and her staff are even extending their office hours on evenings and on weekends to conduct follow up seminars to beneficiaries who are working and whose spare time are only in the evenings and during weekends.  

She, however, claimed that they are effectively monitoring its implementation as evidenced by the number of members who have been delisted for failure to adhere to the conditions set for the program.

DSWS has already delisted five beneficiaries since the program was implemented
in 2009, according to Iso.

At present, Cebu City has 10 barangays that are being targeted for the program. 

Iso, however, informed that they are also through validating another 13 barangays that are due for inclusion to the expanded Pantawid Pamilya program. (FCR/ECD/PIA 7-Cebu)

===========

Police in C. Visayas steps up preparations for school opening

By Fayette C.  Rinen

CEBU CITY, May 23 (PIA) – With classes due to start in two weeks time, the Police Regional Office (PRO)-7 steps up its security preparations to ensure that peace and order is maintained during the beginning of classes.

PRO-7 Regional Director C/Supt. Ager Ontog Jr. has ordered provincial commanders and city police directors in Central Visayas to ensure that preparations are in place to ensure the safety of students as the school year opens in June.

Field policemen are also asked to assist school children when they cross the streets to avoid road accidents while police visibility is also strengthened to ease grave concerns of parents on child kidnapping as the controversial kidnap-slay case of Ellah Joy Pique has yet to be resolved.

Security preparations with the imminent opening of classes will be the main subject for discussion in the monthly ‘Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis’ (TSIP) Forum handled by the Philippine Information Agency-Cebu on Wednesday, May 25 as the different city police chiefs in Metro Cebu and theCebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) will discuss in details the measures that have been implemented.

Other related concerns that will be taken up are the cases of snatching and pickpocketing that tend to rise especially near school areas where a large volume of crowd gather and the issue on frat war.

Amid the issue on delayed police response during a recent burglary break-in on the house of Provincial Board Member Julian Daan where robbers carted away P1M worth of jewelries and P300 cash, of which displeased Gov. Gwen Garcia who immediately called on an investigation into the matter, ideal police response time will be a matter for discussion during the forum.  Albeit the case was swiftly resolved by the Talisay City Police Office and the robbers collared and some jewelries recovered.

Crime volume for the first five months this year vis a vis the same period in 2010 is part of the sub-topics because as has been previously said, crime incidence tends to increase in May as the school year nears based on crime trending by months.  

Gen. Ontog will lead the panelists along with other top officials from the PRO-7 as well as the different city police directors of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapulapu as well as the CPPO and the Armed Forces of the Philippines - Central Command. (PIA 7-Cebu)

==========

DILG-7 releases over P3.895M Pantawid Pasada funds to 98 LGUs in CV

CENTRAL VISAYAS, May 23 (PIA) --- The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG-7) in the region has released last week Php3,895,500M Pantawid Pasada fund to 98 LGUs as fuel subsidy to 25,970 certified tricycle franchisees in Central Visayas.  

DILG-7 regional director Pedro A. Noval, Jr. announced that each tricycle franchise owner shall get a one-time gasoline subsidy of P150 per franchisee.

To date, the Municipalities of Vallehermoso, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, Siquijor had already received the amount of P45,450.00 and were already distributed to the beneficiaries.

Fifteen (15) cities and municipalities had already received their respective checks amounting to P630,150.00 while forty-one (41) other LGUs to follow after the submission of the certified list of franchisees in their respective areas.

The distribution of the fund is part of the Pantawid Pasada or the Public Transport Assistance Program (PTAP) of the government that President Aquino issued through EO-32. 

The PTAP aims to provide assistance to the public transport sector to cushion the impact and the resulting effects of oil price hikes on the costs of fuel, food and other basic commodities. 

Noval explained, the sum is part of the P134.4M Pantawid Pasada program fund the government released to partly subsidize 896,024 certified tricycle franchisees nationwide.

DILG Secretary Jesse M. Robredo urged local government units in the country to provide counterpart funding to help tricycle franchise owners cope fuel price hikes. 

Under the Pantawid Pasada guidelines, DILG regional offices shall forge a memorandum of agreement with concerned local chief executives who shall provide and certify the list of tricycle franchisees in their localities, including their addresses and the number plates of operating tricycles. 

The list shall be the basis for DILG regional and field offices in the computation of subsidy. 

Mayors were likewise directed to set-up a PTAP Assistance and Complaint Desk to receive feedback and to address complaints from the beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, the Municipality of Calape , Bohol intends to put up funds to cover tricycle franchisees that are not included in their original list submitted to DILG.(PIA-7/Hazel F. Gloria and DILG-7/Willie Jean Cabanag, IO)

===========

“Brigada Eskwela” kicks off today in all schools nationwide

CENTRAL VISAYAS, May 23, (PIA) --- The Department of Education’s National Schools Maintenance Week (NSMW) popularly known as “Brigada Eskwela Week” starts  today with about 38,000 public elementary school and more than 7,000 public high schools nationwide participating for the much needed cleaning and beautification in preparation for the opening of classes this  June 6.

Brigada Eskwela is a school maintenance program by Dep-Ed that engages all education stakeholders to contribute their time, effort and resources in ensuring that public school facilities are set in time for the forthcoming school opening.

Education Secretary Armin A. Luistro led the launching of Brigada Eskwela Week today with a caravan from the DepEd Central Office in Pasig City to the Bago Bantay Elementary School in Quezon City, where a short launching program was held.

According to Luistro, aside from the major launching, similar activities were also held in the regions and provinces around the country spearheaded by their respective DepEd regional directors, superintendents and principals.

In a memorandum he issued recently to all DepEd offices nationwide, Luistro directed all school principals to lead the voluntary efforts by recruiting and encouraging parent volunteers to participate in this yearly activity ang share their time and effort to perform minor repairs on their children’s schools.

In Region 7, Assistant Regional Director Carmelita Dulangon headed the launching at Ubujan Elementary School together with a Caravan to Talibon Town in Bohol  with all DepEd Officials in attendance.

According to Dr. Clara Rebecca Falconi, DepEd-7 Regional Information Officer in a phone interview, the education department hopes to attract more volunteers and generate more resources in this year’s Brigada Eskwela in Central Visayas.

While no cash donations are accepted, local businessmen and other civic groups are encouraged to donate some needed materials like paint, cement, wood, nails, gravel, sand and the like. (PIA-7/mbcn/Maryknoll B. Lague-CTU)