NGP tree planting online
By: hazel F. Gloria
CEBU CITY, June 26 (PIA) --- The National Greening Program website (www.ngp.denr.gov.ph) provides information needed by people who will be participating in the planting of 1.5 billion trees under the program in an atmosphere of transparency.
On the NGP website, the participants will be able to learn, plant, donate, download, read news and contact the NGP secretariat at DENR.
Moreover, when the users click and zoom in on the map on the main web page, they will see the areas for planting, colored brown. Once successfully planted, these areas will turn into green.
The objective is to “green” all unplanted areas, totaling 1.5 million hectares within six years.
Users will see more details upon registration on the website. Sites may be monitored nationwide through the use of satellite images.
Tree planters can register in the website as volunteers, and get details on the tree planting activities.
Upon registration, a confirmation by the DENR field officer will be sent. After successful conduct of the tree planting activity and verification on the ground by the DENR officer, the tree planter will also receive a bar-coded certificate of participation.(PIA-7/hfg & DENR-7)
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GREENIN Philippines raises public awareness for the environment
By: Hazel F. Gloria
CEBU CITY, June 26 (PIA) --- The Run 2 Plant 4 GREENIN Philippines was recently held and successfully initiated and organized by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc., with the aim of raising public awareness in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation among the public.
Thousands of runners and tree planters joined the event in Talisay City where they ran and plant for their health and for the environment.
The event, which celebrated Philippine Arbor Day and Philippine Environment Month in June, gathered around 20,000 participants from the 48 municipalities and cities who planted some 100,000 native tree seedlings in their localities.
Tuburan being the largest contributor, required all of its 54 barangays to plant 1,716 seedlings in a one-hectare forestland.
The central event took place in Talisay City. The running route started from Talisay City Hall passed through the Vista Grande Subdivision and finished in Sitio Iba, Jaclupan, Talisay City.
Runners composed of government workers, students, running enthusiasts and environment advocates sweat out in the early morning of June 25 as they ran the road to the planting area.
A total of 300 security and traffic personnel were deployed to secure the running route and the planting site. Medical attendants and communicators also dotted the entire area.
The GREENIN Philippines (Generation Redemption and Expansion of Natural resources Initiatives in the Philippines) program had the province of Cebu for its pilot area.
The program shall be gradually implemented in the different regions of the country to ensure that this will be properly managed and implemented while building up relevant lessons and best practices from those who have implemented the program ahead.
RAFI executive director Rowena Bandola-Alensonorin said, “GREENIN Philippines Program’s strategies and approaches are holistic. We have already noted the relevant learnings from the previous tree planting activities.”
"In fact, we don’t call ours as tree planting anymore. We call it tree growing. We encourage our partners to set up their own natives trees nurseries and we put more weight on the post-planting activities to really ensure the survival of the trees planted," Alensonorin continued.
The Run 2 Plant 4 GREENIN Philippines was made possible in collaboration with the Cebu Provincial Government, City Government of Talisay, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Aboitizland, Department of Interior Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and in coordination with Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD), Armed Forces of the Philippines Central Command, Dpartment of Agriculture (DA), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) Cebu Chapter and the GREENIN Philippines partners. (PIA-7/HFG & RAFI)
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DTI, partners to host “One Country, One Voice trade policy consultation in Cebu
By: Minerva BC Newman
CEBU, June 26 (PIA) --- The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Tariff Commission (TC) and other private sector partners will hold the ““ONE COUNTRY, ONE VOICE (OCOV) Trade Policy Consultation Program” and “Doing Business in Free Trade Areas (DBFTA) Part II – A Sectoral Approach” on June 29 at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel.
The “One Country, One Voice (OCOV) – Enhancing Trade Policy Consultation Towards Greater Public Engagement” is a program spearheaded by the DTI-International Trade Group and aims to establish an efficient and effective consultative mechanism for enhancing and sustaining public engagement in trade policy formulation and negotiations.
According to DTI-7 provincial director Nelia Navarro, the trade consultation is organized in response to numerous requests for sector-specific information on the country’s free trade agreements and detailed discussions on how our business sector can benefit from these trade agreements.
The DBFTA Part II will discuss market opportunities in free trade areas for the various industry sectors that include Food, Gifts Decors & Houseware (GDH), Garments, and Services.
There will also be sessions on tariffs, rules of origin and customs procedures.
Navarro said, this activity is particularly relevant to the business sector as the Philippines is one of the lowest in terms of availing of advantages and other concrete benefits from free trade agreements.
The Philippines is currently implementing six (6) free trade agreements – the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA); ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).
The country is also into agreements with a number of ASEAN Regional FTAs namely ASEAN-China; ASEAN-Japan; ASEAN-Korea and the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTAs. The ASEAN-India FTA is due for implementation this year.
DTI-Cebu enjoins business and stakeholders from the private and public sectors to equip themselves with this crucial information, and participate in more learning sessions on the FTAs.
In today’s highly competitive global market where information is a strategic asset, knowing how to take advantage of international trade agreements is a very valuable and, currently, underutilized tool, Navarro noted.
This Info Session is free and for further details/queries, please contact Ms. Tessie Emphasis at tel. No. 253-2631 loc. 18 or 412-1863. (PIA-7 & DTI-Cebu)
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DepEd officials push for child nutrition program in all public schools in CV
By: Minerva BC Newman
CENTRAL VISAYAS, June 26 (PIA) --- The Department of Education (DepEd-7) in region 7 enjoins all public schools to participate in meaningful undertaking and activities in the 2011 Nutrition Month celebration by July that highlights the importance of exclusive breastfeeding for infants and its benefits.
The local DepEd officials issued a memorandum to enjoin all public schools to participate in the observance of Nutrition Month purposely to disseminate messages of good nutrition to all Filipinos.
Parents, teachers and nutrition advocates are calling for the establishment of a child nutrition program in all public schools nationwide to address both food security and malnutrition among schoolchildren.
Even senator Loren Legarda also made this call following the Department of Health’s appeal to schoolchildren to avoid junk food and other food items that contain ingredients that may be dangerous to health.
Statistics from the Department of Health (DOH) show that an estimated 50 percent of pupils are anemic, two out of ten children are iodine deficient and about 44.9 percent of schoolchildren suffer from malnutrition.
The same report also revealed that four out of 100 pre-schoolers have night blindness, 84.3 percent of schoolchildren suffer from dental caries, and 75 percent from intestinal parasitism.
In the same DOH data, it revealed that in order to improve the health status of schoolchildren, the government must have a system-wide plan to implement a nutrition and health program in schools and barangay day care centers.
This must consist of a complementary feeding program and may also include other nutrition-related activities such as micronutrient supplementation, weighing and growth monitoring, de-worming of children, and promotion of improved hygiene practices, the report read.
According to senator Legarda, to address food security, needs of children is number one. That is why she proposed senate bill 2561 that calls for the establishment of child nutrition program in all public schools nationwide.
Part of the proposed bill is to also urged parents to have their children bring nutritious snack to schools and that government should also establish a complementary feeding program that would ensure access to food supplements which will improve nutritional status of schoolchildren
“This intervention is urgent, as undernourishment is largely preventable and the World Bank has reported of exceptionally high development returns to a number of direct nutrition interventions, Legarda commented.
Also, the success in addressing malnutrition is essential in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, which the country aims to achieve by 2015. (PIA-7/mbcn & Office of Senator Legarda)
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Over 250 guests join ‘Suroy-Suroy Sugbo: Explore the Midwest ’
By: Ceres Melodina Lozano
BALAMBAN, Cebu June 26 (PIA) --- Over 250 guests and participants joined the ‘Suroy-Suroy Sugbo: Explore the Midwest ’ with Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia leading the group as they arrived in Balamban on June 11 to explore the town’s hospitality, food and cultural menu.
It is the third time that Suroy-Suroy Sugbo comes to the Midwest. The previous years, their itinerary started in Aloguinsan, then Pinamungajan and Toledo. When they arrived Balamban, it was already late and guests were exhausted they did not usually enjoyed the preparations.
This year, Balamban is the first stop over hence the guests were greeted with dancers from the Balamban National High School with the “Mabuhi Ka Sugbuanon Dance” and an array of folk dances. Each guest was given a lei and souvenirs.
The Balamban local officials with town mayor Ace Stefan Binghay, provincial board member Alex Binghay, Balamban vice-mayor Rosie Binghay, Dave John Karamihan and some barangay officials welcomed Governor Garcia and guests and they treated them with sumptuous snacks, native delicacies that included the much noted Balamban liempo with puto.
After a few words from mayor Ace Binghay, the group proceeded to Tsuneishi Heavy Industries for a shipyard tour.
Balamban’s attraction is its multi-million dollar shipping industry, the biggest in the country.
After the tour at the Tsuneishi, the group proceeded to the Municipality of Asturias , Tuburan and Tabuelan where they were also treated with their respective brands of cultural presentations.
They came back to Balamban for the night’s accommodation because the next day, June 12, the group was bound for Toledo City, Pinamungajan and Aloguinsan. (PIA-7 & Balamban LGU)
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IT, BPO continuously propel CV economy
By: Minerva BC Newman
CENTRAL VISAYAS, June 26 (PIA) --- The Information Technology, IT-enabled industry particularly the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) propelled the economic growth of Central Visayas in 2010 and is continuously doing so to date.
Other growth drivers of the regional economy in 2010 include the construction and real estate, tourism, retail trade and banking sectors.
This is according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-7) report during the recent full council meeting of the Central Visayas Regional Development Council at the Montebello Garden Hotel, Mabolo, cebu City.
NEDA-7 reports showed that the BPO industry in the region has steadily expanded over the years and it remains to be the ‘one biggest’ generator of investments and employment in the region.
The 2010 regional economic situationer (RES) futher reported that the expansion of the IT, IT-enabled industry and the BPO operations resulted in higher demand for office spaces.
This paved the way for more investments in real estate that the investors are taking advantage of the growing demand by constructing medium to high rise buildings to accommodate BPO companies.
This according to the report has posted as much as 60-400 percent increase in the industry employment.
However, NEDA-7 also reported that preliminary indicators of the regional economy for 2010 point to a faster growth except for the agriculture sector that continues to incur losses in production.
The CV 2010 regional economic situationer (RES) noted that the improvement of the regional economy however did not make significant impact on the labor market.
According to the report, the 2nd half of 2010, employment rate of Central Visayas was again on a downtrend while under-employment was on an uptrend.
This suggests that labor situation in the region remains volatile despite improved condition of the economy, the report read.
The good economic performance of Central Visayas in 2010 also affected positively the banking and financial services sector.
The low policy rates that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas set had sustained the general liquidity of the financial system that ensured adequate fund support to the region’s economic growth. It also spawned banking activities in the region throughout 2010, the NEDA report said.
With the tremendous liquidity, the banks provided for the funding requirements of the region’s expansion in construction, housing, retail trade, semi-conductor and electronics and the agri-business sectors.
The regional economic report also showed that 2010 was a banner year for investment houses. It generated approximately 27 percent return on investment. Investors particularly those coming from the middle class, were putting their money in managed funds.
Lastly, prospects of the regional economy for 2011 remain bright despite some of the external factors that threaten to disrupt the recovery of some of the region’s major industries.
Central Visayas looks at the regional economy with optimism and that new opportunities are available in 2011 with the renewed confidence of the markets on the Aquino administration, the report conclude. (PIA-7/mbcn & NEDA-7)
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DENR Chief leads NGP launching
By: Hazel F. Gloria
CEBU CITY, June 25 (PIA) --- Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje led the launching of the National Greening Program (NGP) today June 25 in Barangay Jaclupan, Talisay City, Cebu.
Talisay City Mayor Socrates L Fernandez, 1st District Representative Eduardo R. Gullas, Cebu City Mayor and Regional Development Council-7 Chair Michael L. Rama, and Governors Gwendolyn F. Garcia of Cebu, Edgar M. Chatto of Bohol, Roel R. Degamo of Negros Oriental, and Orlando A. Fua, Jr. of Siquijor joined with secretary Paje in the tree planting in Talisay City.
Targeted at greening some 1.5 million hectares of degraded forestlands, NGP will focus essentially at developing a sustainable forest resource base to accelerate the national greening campaign.
The NGP hopes to rejuvenate rural economies in parts of the nation’s most chronically poor areas in the uplands, ultimately providing livelihood opportunities for some six million families in the upland areas across the country within six years, from 2011 to 2016.
DENR-7 Regional Executive Director Maximo Dichoso said the NGP also seeks to improve water quality in rivers and irrigation for farm lands, reduce the potential for flooding, soak up carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and lay the foundation for an expanded wood-products economy.
President Aquino issued EO 26 on February 24, 2011 establishing the NGP not only to reforest 1.5 million hectares of land but also to promote a sustained environmental awareness campaign in the face of the deleterious effects of climate change.
Dichoso added the target for Central Visayas region involves the planting of 2.816 million seedlings of agroforestry, native and indigenous species to cover 5,632 hectares with Cebu province having the biggest target of 1,954 hectares or 34.69 percent.
Negros Oriental has 1,864 hectares or 33.10 percent; 1,563 hectares for Bohol or 27.75 percent; and 251 hectares for Siquijor or 4.46 percent.
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The launching ceremony started at around 8:00 a.m. in Barangay Jaclupan, Talisay City, Cebu, with the signing of a regional NGP memorandum of agreement among DENR-7, DA-7, and DAR-7; and 25 other government agencies and partners.
It was followed by messages from Cebu City Mayor and Regional Development Council-7 Chair Michael L. Rama, and Governors Gwendolyn F. Garcia of Cebu, Edgar M. Chatto of Bohol, Roel R. Degamo of Negros Oriental, and Orlando A. Fua, Jr. of Siquijor.
It can be recalled that President Aquino earlier issued Proclamation 125, declaring 2011 as the National Year of Forests in the Philippines, in support of the UN declaration.
The launching concluded with the planting of 12,500 native and indigenous seedlings to cover five hectares.(PIA-7/HFG/DENR-7)
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P-Noy to inaugurate power plant in Naga, Cebu tomorrow
By Fayette C. Riñen
CEBU CITY , June 26 (PIA) – President Benigno S. Aquino III will be in Cebu tomorrow to lead the inauguration of the 200-megawatt power plant of the Korean Electric Power Corporation – Salcon Power Corporation (KEPCP-SPC) in Barangay Colon in the City of Naga , Cebu .
Pres. Aquino is expected to fly via chopper immediately to the Naga plant site upon arrival at the Mactan Cebu International Airport where over 250 guests are invited to witness the inauguration ceremony.
Officials leading the reception party at the power plant site are Korean Ambassador to the Philippines H.E. Lee Hye Min, KEPCO President Ssang-Su Kim, KEPCO Philippines President Bok-Yull Lee, Gov. Gwen Garcia, Naga Mayor Valdemar Chiong and 1stDistrict Rep. Eduardo Gullas.
The President will then proceed to unveil the marker at the lobby of the administration building assisted by Energy Sec. Rene Almendras and the same officials of the reception party.
During the program proper inside the air conditioned-tent within the vicinity, a project briefing will be done of which the highlight will be the President’s speech.
With the operation of the new power plant also seeks to address the need of the Visaysas area for affordable and reliable power supply particularly a great help in powering Cebu ’s progressive and fast growing economy, according to a statement from KEPCO.
Construction of the power plant started in February 2008 while commercial operation of the first 100-MW unit began on February, this year and the second 100-MW, which the President will inaugurate, already commenced last May 31.
The plant uses the modern Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion (CFBC) Technology, which is more environment-friendly than those currently used elsewhere in the country and it is the cleanest technology available anywhere in the world for power plants. The injection of limestone into the combustor significantly reduces sulfur emission while the formation ofnitrogen oxide emissions is reduced, if not eliminated, due to the low combustion temperature of 850-900 C, according to the same KEPCP release.
“Our power plant could provide Cebu and other areas in the Visayas with reliable, stable, affordable and cleaner power until the local economy is strong enough to afford renewable energy sources on a wide scale,” KEPCO-SPC President and CEO Yull Lee pointed out.
The Department of Energy just recently launched the Philippine National Renewable Energy Program aimed at harnessing the potential of wind, solar, hydro, ocean, geothermal and biomass as alternative sources to tap energy in line with its ultimate goal of lessening dependence on fossil fuel and going for green technology.
This is Pres. Aquino’s third visit to Cebu for this year. (PIA 7-Cebu)
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DENR-7 hosts Mine Tour 2011
By: Hazel F. Gloria
CEBU CITY, June 25 (PIA) --- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources in region 7 (DENR-7) hosted the Mine Tour 2011 recently at Apo Cement Corporation in Brgy. Tina-an, Naga City, Cebu as part of the Environment Month celebration.
Nearly 20 local media joined the activity with the theme, “Responsible Mining through Environmental Protection and Social Responsibility.”
Engr. Jenevy Patalingjug, Environment Health and Safety Engineer of Apo Cement Corporation (ACC) said this is the country’s oldest cement plant and was established in 1921.
It has two plant production facilities that produces 8,000 metric tons of cement daily and equivalent to 125,000 bags of cement, Patalingjug continued.
The operation of this cement plant is based on the standard of a European cement plant recognized worldwide. With the use of modern cement technology for the most efficient processing and consistent product formulation, she explained.
On the other hand, Patalingjug presented to the media its environmental programs and initiatives to attain a healthy environment.
She said that the best thing they do in this kind of endeavor is to have an open communication with the community in order to know their concerns and so they can take actions immediately.
Patalingjug added that the firm has several programs to enhance environmental protection and anti-pollution measures such as tree planting, drainage system maintenance with silt ponds and dikes, dust and noise suppression.
Apo Cement operates in a 200 hectares of limestone and 100 hectares of pozzolan quarry, she concluded.(PIA-7/HFG)