A night of heritage tour in Cebu on May 27
By: Minerva BC Newman
CEBU CITY, May 20 (PIA) --- Eleven museums and seven heritage sites within Cebu City will open their doors to the public from 6 p.m. until midnight on May 27 for another once-a-year unique ‘one-night only’ heritage tour dubbed as “Gabii sa Kabilin” (Night of Heritage).
On its 5th consecutive year and an Anvil award recipient, the ‘Gabii sa Kabilin’ is also organized in celebration of the National Heritage Month and International Museum day in May.
According to the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI), an NGO in Cebu that partners with the Visayas association of museums and the local government, the “Gabii sa Kabilin” is the only one of its kind in the Philippines and in Asia .
It aims to bring understanding and local art/museum appreciation to the public, specifically Cebuano history and culture.
“But beyond that it also discounts the stereotype of museums as mere repositories of “dead objects”; rather, as venues for live cultural activities,” said Dr. Jocelyn Guerra, culture and heritage unit of RAFI.
This year, the heritage tour covers the museums at Casa Gorordo Museum, Cathedral Museum of Cebu, Fort San Pedro, Yap-Sandiego Ancestral House, Museo Sugbo, University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) - Rizal Museum, Museo Parian sa Sugbo (1730 Jesuit House), Sacred Heart Alternative Gallery, Cebu Normal University (CNU) Museum, Cebu City Museum, and Mandaue City Central Plaza.
The heritage sites that will be visited include Plaza Independencia, Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, Basilica del Sto. Niño, Sacred Heart Church , Heritage of Cebu Monument (Plaza Parian), Plaza Hamabar, and Plaza Sugbo.
These museums and sites will feature various cultural attractions during the Gabii sa Kabilin, such as performances by Izarzuri Vidal and Children’s Orchestra Marigondon Public School at Casa Gorordo Museum ; storytelling at Cathedral Museum of Cebu; tribal band at Fort San Pedro.
There will also be a Santacruzan sa Parian procession at Yap-Sandiego Ancestral House; Cebuano dances at Museo Sugbo and night market of Colon Street vendors outside USPF Rizal Museum .
Cebuano songs and harpist performances at the Museo Parian sa Sugbo; art fair at Sacred Heart Alternative Gallery; World War II memorabilia collections at CNU Museum; paintings at Cebu City Museum; and cooking demonstration of native delicacies of Mandaue at the Mandaue City Central Plaza.
This year’s Gabii sa Kabilin will also feature a walking tour of the participating plazas in Cebu City to be conducted by Ka Bino Guerrero.
For a Php 150 ticket, a visitor can already enter all the participating museums and heritage sites and avail of bus and tartanilla (horse-drawn carriage) rides.
The PNP and Tanods from nine (9) barangays (Santo Niño, Tinago, San Roque, Tejero, T. Padilla, Cogon Ramos, Pari-an, Zapatera, and Day-as) will help secure the routes.
The barangays will also provide volunteers to man information desks and drive designated buses back and forth the selected venues. (PIA-7)
==========
PAF to conduct candidate soldier exams nationwide
By: Hazel F. Gloria
CEBU CITY, May 19 (PIA) --- The Philippine Air Force (PAF) is set to conduct a nationwide simultaneous candidate soldier examinations in the different PAF Bases, in the country scheduled within May 2011.
In region 7, the examination will be on May 27, 2011 at the 560th ABW, BGBEAB, Lapulapu City .
In region 6, it will be on May 31, 2011 at the Tactical Operations Group (TOG) 6, Iloilo City and in region 8 the exams will be on May 23, 2011 at the TOG 8, Tacloban City .
Last year in region 7, almost 400 applicants submitted their requirements and 65 of them were able to join the trainings in Lipa City , Batangas.
Those interested to take the exams, applicants must be male or female, natural born citizen of the Republic of the Philippines .
They must have accumulated at least 72 units from any government-recognized institution or school; must have a height of at least 152.5cm for both male and female; 18 years old but not more than 23 years old by June 1, 2011.
They must be single and no legal obligation to support a child or children; physically, mentally and psychologically fit for military training and with good moral character.
All interested applicants are required to bring two (2) pcs 2x2 ID pictures with white background; authenticated copy of transcript of records and Birth Certificate (NSO copy) and valid identification card.
Applicants may apply at the office of the Director for Personnel, 560th Air Base Wing, Brigadier General Benito Ebuen Air Base, Lapulapu City .
For more details, you may contact the office of the Director for Personnel and look for Captain Sally Cabig PAF at telephone numbers 3403128 to 29 local 2101. (PIA-7 & PAF)
===========
Pantawid Pamilya beneficiary in Cebu City calls on
other recipients to comply with co-responsibilities
CEBU CITY, May 19 (PIA) - A beneficiary of the “Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino’ Program in Cebu City called on other recipients of the program to comply with their co-responsibilities to give value to the cash subsidy given by the government.
The call by Bethel Abellana during the recent PIA Forum that featured the flagship program of the Aquino Administration was made as some poor families in Cebu were delisted from the list of beneficiaries by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) -7 due to non-compliance of their responsibilities.
“Dako unta tag pasalamat sa gobyerno nga gitagaan ta ug binuwan nga ayuda sa atong panginahanglan sa panglawas og edukasyon sa atong mga bata. Di ni nato sayangon ang oportunidad,” (We should be grateful to the government for the monthly financial assistance for our health and education needs of our children. We should not waste this opportunity) Abellana declared.
Abellana said the P1,400 monthly financial subsidy for health maintenance and education needs of her children is a great help to an unemployed mother who has four children ages nine, seven, six and three years old whose husband is a mere silver in-layer worker earning P6,000 a month.
Under the Pantawid Pamilya Program, identified poorest of the poor families nationwide are given monthly financial assistance of P500 for health maintenance and P300 for every child-beneficiary under 14 years of age with a maximum of three children per family.
The program started in 2009 and will run for five years while Pres. Aquino expanded the number of household recipients from 1M to 2.3M this year allotting P27M budget for the conditional cash transfer.
In Cebu Province, 58,689 impoverished families have gained from the monthly cash subsidy but in order to be retained under the program, families have to comply with certain responsibilities, according to the program’s provincial cluster head Brigieda Tampus-Goron of DSWD-7.
Goron said the beneficiaries have the responsibilities to make sure that their school-children recipients must have an 85 percent attendance in school while parents have to attend the monthly family and community development orientation seminars.
Mothers under the program are also required to have their children immunized at the barangay health center and should undergo pre and post natal check up, this is learned.
A verification tool to monitor whether beneficiaries have complied with their co-responsibilities is continuously being done by the DSWD while non-compliance is subject to warning and suspension for the first offense and second offense and lastly, expulsion from the list during the third and last offense.
Goron bared that 10 family-beneficiaries in Cebu City have been deleted from the list and another less than 10 household-recipients in the province as well totaling to less than 20 families that have been removed from the conditional cash transfer inCebu alone.
“The major factor why they were ultimately taken from the list is due to their
non-compliance in making sure their children are in school,” Goron said.
non-compliance in making sure their children are in school,” Goron said.
Goron said these families, usually residing in mountain barangays, place more importance in requiring their children to work in the fields rather than let them attend classes despite the fact that they are receiving P300 monthly allowance for the educational needs of their children.
These families were given the chance during the first offense and were made to understand the consequence of their action but they remained hard-headed which gives us no reason why they should remain as beneficiaries of the program, Goron further said.
Goron said the monthly cash subsidy is not a total dole-out because beneficiaries need to comply with certain conditions and they should value the financial assistance given by the government to them. (PIA 7-Cebu)