Gov’t-NGO partnership to help green the country

CENTRAL VISAYAS, May 19 (PIA) --- The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) and the Cebu Provincial Government will seal an agreement to help in the National Greening Program (NGP) of the Aquino administration.

DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo in his letter to RAFI chief operating officer Dominica Chua said, this is to make sure that the energies and resources of DILG and its development partners are directed toward the realization of the National Greening Program (NGP).

In the agreement, RAFI will spearhead the implementation of its GREENIN Philippines Program, a forest-based carbon sequestration approach to help address the impact of environmental degradation and climate change.

The NGO will also take the lead in the conduct of the Run 2 Plant 4 GREENIN Philippines event that aims to plant 100,000 indigenous tree seedlings in a simultaneous tree planting activity in the 52 cities and municipalities of Cebu on June 25, 2011.

DILG on the other hand will promote and support a systematic information and dissemination campaign for the GREENIN Philippines Program, being an integral part of the Billion Trees Program under the NGP.

DILG will also make available all concerned DILG officers for RAFI’s initiatives to develop real forests.

The Cebu Provincial Government will issue a directive to pass a resolution or an ordinance enjoining cities, municipalities and barangays to support and adopt the GREENIN Philippines Program.

Through the expanded Green and Wholesome Environment that Nurtures Our Cebu Program (e-GWEN), it will mobilize 51 cities and municipalities to hold the Run 2 Plant 4 GREENIN Philippines in their localities on June 25, simultaneous with the main event in Talisay City .

The Cebu Provincial Government will also provide the logistical support and to allocate funds to ensure that seedlings and other implements are made available during the simultaneous planting.

  

“We will surely be glad if a tripartite memorandum of agreement with RAFI and the Provincial Government of Cebu will prosper in the next few days, as RAFI’s initiatives and demonstrated commitment for the environment are very vital in this undertaking,” Robredo said. (PIA-7/Minerva BC Newman with reports from RAFI)

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A wider view of K+12 Program

CEBU CITY, May 18 (PIA)--- With the aim of preparing students for the world of work, employment, higher education and competencies, the Department of Education enhanced a new curriculum that will cater the learning needs of the students under the K+12 program of education.

During the weekly forum of Association of Government Officers (AGIO) at the PIA regional office recently, Dr. Clara Rebecca Falconi, Education Supervisor II of DepEd-7 answered all the queries of the press on the integration of the K+12 program to all public and private schools.

Falconi noted that the K+12 program extends basic education from 10 years to 12 years to ensure better education and wider opportunities for the students after graduation.

The K+12 program of education starts with kindergarten, which is mandatory for all 5 year olds in public schools starting this school year 2011-2012.

She added that kindergarten would be followed by six years of elementary education, four years of junior high school and 2 years of senior high school, which is a pre-requisite for college.

The implementation of the 12-year curriculum will start with the incoming Grade 1 students of SY 2012-2013 and the incoming freshmen of SY 2012-2013 will be the first beneficiary of Senior High School. 

Senior high school, as she pressed can “allow students to focus on their competencies that are relevant to their chosen job and provide time for students to consolidate acquired academic and vocational skills”.

In addition, K+12 also involves various career tracks for the students to choose what field of work is inclined to them and in that way, they are more eligible to land a job either they can finish college or not.

Falconi recalled that before the implementation of K+12 program in the country, there were still three Asian countries that didn’t adopt the K+12 program including Philippines but now the country remains the only one not adopting to this program.

As of the issue regarding teachers for the K+12 program, Lea Apao, DepEd-7 Education Supervisor II and the Regional PIO said that there are additional teachers for the program.

On the other hand, Falconi and Apao also discussed regarding the Memorandum No. 84 implementing Brigada Eskwela series of 2011 which is known as National Schools Maintainance Week which is set to happen this coming May 23-28 nationwide.

To be participated by students, parents, school personnel, parents, barangay officials, other stakeholders and the community in general as a preparation for the incoming classes this June 6. (PIA-7/mbcn/Chrisley Ann C. Hinayas-CTU)

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Almost 60T poor families in Cebu benefit from the Pantawid Pamilya Program

By Fayette C. Rinen

CEBU CITY, May 18 (PIA) -  Almost 60,000 poor families in Cebu under the ‘Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino’ Program have received the first allocation of their monthly financial subsidy for health and education as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-7 is coordinating with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) here and G-Cash of Globe Telecom on the schedule of payouts for the second phase of distribution.

“All poor household beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program in Central Visayasincluding Cebu have received their financial assistance from the government for their health and education needs for the months of January and February. Right now, we are currently working for the distribution of the second phase of the cash subsidy for the months of March and April,” Aileen Lariba, the program information and advocacy officer of DSWD-7 disclosed during this morning’s Kapihan sa PIA that featured the flagship program of the Aquino Administration.    

Lariba said the first payout for the 58, 689 impoverished household-recipients in Cebu totaled P55M. The figure is the amount of the cash subsidy for the first two months of the year, this is said.

The financial allocation for the second pay-out for March and April is ready but “this will depend on the availability of the bank’s schedule and the schedule of the beneficiaries for they have to be transported in claiming their cash subsidy,” Lariba said.

The Pantawid Pamilya Program is a financial subsidy given by the National Government through the DSWD to identified poor families nationwide to augment their needs on health and education. The cash subsidy for health per household is P500 and P300 each for every schoolchild below 14 years old with a maximum of three schoolchildren-beneficiaries per family.

Lariba said that the cash subsidy is now given every two months instead of on a quarterly basis.

The program stands to benefit 2.3M identified poorest of the poor families throughout the country with a budget allocation of P27B for this year alone.

The volume of beneficiaries for this year has grown to 2.3M from 1M last year while in Central Visayas, from less than 50,000 household-recipients in 2010, the figure almost tripled for this year at almost 150,000 poor families, Lariba said.

“Around 4.3M poor families across the country are supposed to benefit from the program but because of budget constraints, the initial implementation back in 2009 only benefitted 1M household-recipients. But Pres. Aquino expanded the number of beneficiaries to 2.3 M for this year,” she added.

The Pantawid Pamilya Program is a poverty alleviation measure that aims to assist the poorest of the poor families on two basic essential needs --- health and education ---  and is part of the Philippine Government’s commitment to the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals in eradicating poverty. (PIA 7-Cebu)

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Financial aid for poor families under Pantawid Pamilya is for health & educ. needs, not for food consumption by Fayette C. Rinen CEBU CITY, May 18 (PIA) - “The financial assistance given to poor families under the ‘Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino’ Program is to augment their needs on health and education and is not a dole-out for their food consumption.”  This is the firm statement of the program information and advocacy officer Aileen Lariba of theDepartment of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-7 as she appealed to critics of the program why others were not able to access to such cash subsidy given by the government. Lariba said how the recipients were chosen underwent a rigorous process and that no politics was involved during the selection of beneficiaries. “Based on the list of the poorest of the poor provinces of the National Statistics and Coordinating Board, the DSWD used the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction as basis for identification of household-recipients where enumerators were hired and identified beneficiaries were personally interviewed and their household situation meticulously checked,” according to Lariba. Household-recipients at the time of interview back in 2008 should have children below 14 years of age attending school and that their residence is their complete address to ensure that the program, which runs for five years, is sustained, Lariba said. Critical criteria also included the income of the family which should not average more than P10,000 a month, no motorized vehicle, no land ownership, and no relatives working abroad, this is learned. The DSWD-7 officer again stressed that “this is not a dole-out for food consumption. This financial assistance is an additional aid to augment needs on health and education to qualified beneficiaries” amid complaints by some individuals not included in the list of recipients. Lariba however, acknowledged that there are also poor families out there who need financial assistance but that in order to be qualified as beneficiary, certain requirements have to be met and guidelines to be followed. “The educational assistance is given because the government wants parents to value education as a tool to break the cycle of poverty while health assistance is essential in our goal to reducematernal and child mortality and morbidity rate,” Lariba said. The number of beneficiaries in the region has risen from less than 50,000 last year to 148,000 in 2011 with Cebu Province getting the largest bulk of the volume of recipients with 58,689 poor families followed by Negros Oriental with over 40,000 and Bohol with more than 28,000 impoverished families while Siquijor has 1,989 household-beneficiaries. (PIA 7-Cebu)

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DepEd implements Brigada Eskwela, May 23-28 on nationwide scale

By: Hazel F. Gloria

CEBU CITY, May 17 (PIA) --- The Department of Education (DepEd) will implement the nationwide “Brigada Eskwela” on May 23 – 28 to both public and private schools.

In an AGIO forum recently, Dr. Clara Rebecca Falconi, DepEd-7 Regional Information Officer said, this yearly activity is part of the school maintenance in preparation for opening of classes next month.  It is also based on a DepEd memorandum circular-84.  

“This program involves everyone in the community like parents, teachers, students and local government units (LGUs) and other stakeholders,” Falconi added.

Falconi explained the Brigada Eskwela will focus on minor repairs, repainting and beautification of schools so that they will be ready when classes start on June 6.

In region 7, this year’s launching ceremony will be held at the San Jose National High School in Talibon, Bohol.

The education department hopes to attract more volunteers and generate more resources in this year’s Brigada Eskwela, Falconi said.

Officers of the parents and teachers associations (PTA) will handle donations of any kind in order to provide whatever the school needs during the Brigada Eskwela activities, Facloni told reporters.

According to Falconi, the activity is held in time for the National Schools Repair and Maintenance Week that is celebrated during the last week of May every year.

The Brigada Eskwela brings together the community every third week of May to repair and prepare public elementary and secondary schools for the school opening. (PIA-7)