MHO blames the spread of typhoid in Alegria to improper food handling
By Eli C. Dalumpines

CEBU CITY, July 22 (PIA) – The Municipal Health Officer of Alegria in southern Cebu aired his observation that the spread of typhoid in his town may be due to improper food handling rather than on  the contamination of their water sources.

Dr. Samson dela Pena, in a recent interview, raised doubts to earlier observations of health officials in the region who blamed the spread of the typhoid-causing bacteria to contaminated water and claimed the incident was rather sporadic.

According to dela Pena, if its cause was the contaminated water sources of Barangays Madridejosand Valencia, those who have fallen ill should have been confined in the same place. But he noted that there are residents who are using the same water sources who did not get sick at all.

However, he said that he still advised the people in these two affected barangays to boil the water before drinking to make sure that it is indeed safe.

Dela Pena informed that the situation in their town is getting better since yesterday where the reported number of those who were treated for high fever reached about 140 based on the data from Department of Health (DOH).

As of yesterday, five patients have been discharged from Badian District Hospital out of the 11 who have been admitted for fever, he said. 

He also informed that there are no new cases that have been reported to his office from the field as of yesterday morning.

He assured though that the local health office has enough medicines for those who suffer the illness.

The official said they are now intensifying the chlorination of water sources in the town following the outbreak. (FCR/ECD/PIA 7-Cebu)

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IPHO to inspect water sources in Alegria
By Eli C. Dalumpines

CEBU CITY, July 21 (PIA) – The Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) here will inspect all the water sources in the Municipality of Alegria to stop the further spread of the suspected typhoid outbreak which downed over a hundred town residents.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Cristina Giango, in an interview yesterday, said the 103 victims in two barangays --- Madridejos and Valencia --- who are showing typhoid-like symptoms may have gotten the bacteria from the different water sources in the area.

Giango informed though that they have already taken samples from the water sources of the affected barangays to determine the presence of salmonella bacteria which caused typhoid fever.

But it takes three days before tests results of water sampling are available, according to Giango.

Pending said results, she said, they cannot confirm whether what is happening in the two barangays in Alegria is really a typhoid outbreak.

For the meantime, they are advising the people in the affected barangays to boil the water first taken from the suspected contaminated sources before drinking to avoid contacting illness, she further said.

The official likewise informed that they have already distributed antibiotics to the victims to contain their fever.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Tabasa, officer-in-charge of the Department of Health (DOH) Regional Office 7, informed that seven out of the 16 victims who were subjected to random blood sampling yielded positive for typhoid-causing bacteria.

According to Tabasa, there are 142 residents who have fallen ill as of yesterday’s count but only 102 of them sought outpatient treatment from local hospitals.

Tabasa said her staff distributed aquatab to residents of the affected barangays to make sure that they will have access to safe water while their water facility is undergoing repair.

Local residents told the media earlier that the drum which used to function as a chlorinator device for one of their water systems has been destroyed by a landslide. (FCR/ECD/PIA 7-Cebu)

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Gov’t programs in place to assist OFWs

affected by Saudization Policy, DOLE-7 assures

by Fayette C. Riñen

CEBU CITY, July 20 (PIA) -- Existing government programs to assist possible displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) that will be affected by the ‘Saudization’ policy are in place although the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) here assured that the impact “will not be that alarming.”

DOLE-7 Acting Regional Director Exequiel Sarcauga in this morning’s Kapihan sa PIA that tackled the issue said the ‘Saudization’ Policy actually has a mechanism that enables a foreign worker to transfer to another company in case his previous company has been sanctioned for violations of the policy.

Under the Saudization Policy, private companies in Saudi Arabia depending on its classification are only allowed a certain percentage to hire foreign workers giving the rest of its job allocation to its own nationals.

Sarcauga said firms that have only nine employees are exempted from the policy while small establishments that hire 10 to 49 workers can give 24 percent of its job positions to foreign workers. Medium-sized companies with 50 to 499 employees are allowed 27 percent of its work force to be non-locals and 30 percent for large-scale companies with 500 or more employees, the DOLE-7 chief added.

Companies are then classified into four zones --- green, blue, yellow and red. The green category is labeled excellent and the blue is considered compliant while poor compliance means yellow and red is none compliant, according to Sarcauga.

“In case a Pinoy worker is affected because a company has been given the red tag, the policy allows our OFW to transfer to another company that is compliant as long as that company still has an allocation to hire foreign workers,” explained Sarcauga.

But in case there are OFWs that will be affected, the DOLE has existing programs that can provide assistance to displaced OFWs such as referring them to local placements or in case they want to further their skills for another overseas deployment, then a referral to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) will be given, Sarcauga bared.

“We can also refer them to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration for job vacancies abroad ,” added Sarcauga.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) -7 Regional Director Wilfreda Misterio on the other hand, said their OFW Reintegration Program provides livelihood loans not only for displaced OFWs but also for those who want to come back and start their own business here.

“We have two loan facilities where OFWs can avail of. The first is through the Visayas Cooperative Fund for the case of Cebu where OFWs can avail of a loan amount of P50,000 at the least and a maximum loan amount of P200,000. The other is loan facility which we just recently launched called the OFW Reintegration Program allows an OFW to loan P300,000 up to P2M in amount which is in partnership with the Land Bank of the Philippines,” Misterio disclosed.

Misterio further said that they just launched the ‘Balik Pinay! Balik Hanap Buhay!’ Program which provides various skills training to OFWs which they can use to look for other job opportunities abroad or apply their learning to earn an income locally.

“Just recently, we collaborated with Nua Thai Massage to provide skills training to OFWs here and we gave them starter kits for free which they can use if they want to use the new skills to earn money,” Misterio declared.

 Sarcauga expressed confidence the Saudization Policy will have little impact to our OFWs in Saudi Arabia but that government is ready and prepared to provide assistance in case the situation calls for it. (PIA 7-Cebu)

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Over 25T Cebuanos benefit from DOLE 7’s jobs fairs

By Fayette C. Riñen

CEBU CITY, July 21 (PIA) -- Over 25,000 Cebuanos have found new jobs due to the regular conduct of jobs fair undertaken by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) -7 in partnership with the private sector and the local government units.

DOLE-7 Acting Regional Director Exequiel Sarcauga during a recent PIA forum bared that since January, this year, their office has facilitated 47 jobs fairs in partnership with the various private companies in Cebu and the local government units here.

“Out of the 47 jobs fairs that have been undertaken, 25, 900 workers were able to land employment,” according to Sarcauga.

Sarcauga said the conduct of regular jobs fairs is a priority thrust of their office to ensure that access to employment can be made easier to the jobseekers.

“Apart from ensuring that activities are undertaken to ensure job generation, a priority thrust of President Aquino, this kind of activity also witnesses the important partnership between the public and private sector to address or fill the gap which is unemployment,” Sarcauga added.

The DOLE-7 chief also said the region’s unemployment rate has decreased to 6.2 percent and that more and more job opportunities are found today.

Sarcauga also said their office has provided financial assistance for students to earn extra income during semestral breaks.  “We have provided a counterpart fund of P8M to local government units who temporarily hire poor deserving students who want to earn money to pay their tuition during school breaks,” Sarcauga said.

Under the program, the DOLE-7 provides a 40 percent counterpart fund while the local government unit shoulders the rest of the 60 percent, this is learned.

  “For the second semester, our office has allotted P9M for the counterpart fund which will benefit around 2,000 students,” the DOLE-7 head disclosed.

Sarcauga further revealed that DOLE-7 was able to release P12M for livelihood loans to various beneficiaries since the beginning of the year. (PIA 7 - Cebu)