BFAR-7 to turn over 7 patrol boats to Cebu LGUs
By Fayette C. Riñen
CEBU CITY, 01 June (PIA) - The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)-7 is set to turn over this afternoon fiber glass patrol boats to seven identified local government units (LGUs) of Cebu Province aimed at improving their enforcement capability in fishery and coastal resource management.
LGU-recipients of the Public Law 480 Project are the cities of Lapulapu and Bogo and the municipalities of Liloan and Carmen in the north and Badian and Alegria in the south as well as the Cebu Provincial Government.
The seven units of the 24-footer fiber glass patrol boats is completely equipped with accessories, radio communication and global positioning system.
BFAR-7 Assistant Regional Director Allan L. Poquita previously disclosed that illegal fishing in Cebu still exists although not as rampant as before due to strengthened vigilance against illegal fishing.
Poquita said most illegal fishing activities are committed by small-time fishermen who used cyanide to avoid detection. “Cyanide use is the worst kind of illegal fishing” because it is difficult to detect unlike blast fishing which can be quite revealing due to the loud explosion.
Most, if not all LGUs in Cebu especially coastal municipalities have coastal resource management programs to ensure the protection and preservation of the marine environment.
“But the question lies in the direct implementation of their respective CRMPs as other local governments are not that very active in its actions,” according to Poquita.
Poquita called on LGUs to make initiatives that promote and preserve their marine environment as we largely depend on the sea for our food needs.
The BFAR however, is now encouraging inland fish culture production and aquaculture production at the same time addressing the threats of marine resources as Poquita admitted that marine life resources are dwindling due to illegal fishing and sea pollution.
With the turn-over of the new and sophisticated patrol boats to identified LGUs, enforcement against illegal fishing is strengthened and apprehension of illegal fishing operators can be swifter. (PIA 7-Cebu)
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MGB-7 advises village residents to be vigilant against rockfall
By Eli C. Dalumpines
CEBU CITY, May 30 (PIA) – Officials of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) here cautioned the residents of Sitio Tagaytay in Barangay Naalad, a mountain village in Naga City, Cebu to seek temporary shelter following incidents of a rockfall on Saturday.
MGB-7 Senior Geologist Josephine T. Aleta, in a radio interview this morning, said the incident may have been triggered by the heavy rains which hit the province late last week.
According to Aleta, based on the investigations they conducted after the incident, they found out that the soil materials in the site is made up of limestone which will easily liquefy once rainwater penetrates the soil.
This, she said, might be the result of the incident last Saturday where a truck-sized boulder destroyed four houses in the said village.
No casualties were reported though but 26 families fled for safety after the incident.
The city government of Naga, however, provided temporary relocation across Pangdan River which is in a safe distance from SitioTagaytay, Aleta informed.
To avoid similar incidents in the future, she warned those who are living at the foot of the mountains to be vigilant against landslides and to always be ready to go to designated evacuation centers if successive rains occur.
She said MGB had already given a copy of the geohazard assessment report to officials of Barangay Naalad which identified the area as landslide prone.
Aleta, however, said they are now conducting a detailed survey to come up with a more complete geohazard map for the region.
As soon as they are done with the survey, they will provide the local government units (LGUs) with copies to serve them as a guide for their future identification of relocation sites. (FCR/ECD/PIA 7-Cebu)
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DSWD-7 to release today financial aid
to Pantawid Pamilya recipients of Cebu City
by Fayette C. Riñen
CEBU CITY, May 31 (PIA) - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) -7 is set to release this morning the financial aid for self employment to eligible household-beneficiaries of Sitio Sudlon I, Cebu City that are also recipients of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
Under the Self Employment Assistance Kaunlaran (SEA-K) Project, Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries who have been categorized as the poorest of the poor families are the priority recipients who can avail of the SEA-K Project of the DSWD-7.
To be released for self-employment financial assistance amounts to approximately P138.000.
SEA-K is a non-interest cash loan payable in one year while recipients of the project can avail a maximum amount of P10,000 each, this is said. The said loan is a self-employment assistancelivelihood program to help alleviate poverty, according to the DSWD statement.
Beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilya are the first priority to avail of the livelihood loan in line with the national government’s call of “convergence of programs’ as one of the concrete steps to alleviate poverty of these identified extremely poor.
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilpino Program is a poverty reduction strategy of the Aquino Administration that provides conditional cash transfer to the identified poorest of the poor households to allow members of the family to meet certain human development goals and break the cycle of poverty by addressing issues of low educational attainment, high maternal and infant mortality rate, high malnutrition rate and high rate of child labor among other crucial issues, this is said.
According to the DSWD-7, the program has a unique feature of directly providing cash to the beneficiaries on conditions to bring their children to school and to the health centers regularly for five years to the beneficiaries at P6,000/year or P500/month per household for health and nutritional expenses, and P3,000 for one school year (10 months) or P300/monthly per child for educational expenses where a maximum of three schoolchildren under 14 years of age per household can avail.
Also present during the ceremonial giving of the SEA-K cash assistance are regional partner agencies of the Pantawid Pamilya Program such as the Department of Health, Dep Ed, Department of Interior and Local Government, National Nutrition Council, Department of Agriculture and Population Commission. (PIA 7-Cebu)