DSWD-7 to distribute the regional profile of the poor booklet
By Hazel F. Gloria
CEBU CITY, Jan 15 (PIA) -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 7 is set to distribute the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) Regional Profile of the Poor Booklet.
This booklet highlights the relevance and importance of understanding the poor household’s status and subsequently recommends social interventions that will respond to poverty covering the four island provinces of Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor.
The booklet contains two major themes: “who and where the poor are.”
It briefly describes various poverty thresholds such as the composition of poor households, highest educational attainment, occupation, features of the housing structure, access to basic services like water, electricity, toilet, households ownership of assets, tenure status of housing, and difference in cost living of every household assessed.
These booklets will soon be distributed to all local government units (LGUs), partner national government agencies (NGAs), non-government organization (NGOs), and civil society groups in Central Visayas (CV).
DSWD-7 encourages its stakeholders to ink a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to get the detailed breakdown of all poor households.
There are currently 106 towns and cities in the region which entered into a MOA with the DSWD for data sharing and utilization.
So far, Bohol had signed a MOA with the office as well as the first Congressional District of Negros Oriental and Bohol.
Other than government agencies, NGOs like the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI), Outreach Program on Trainings, Integral Organizing and Networking for Solidarity Inc. (Options), and Alay Lakad Foundation have also signed an agreement with the office.
NHTS-PR is a nationwide project of DSWD. It is an information management system that identifies who and where the poor are in the country.(rmn/HFG-PIA 7/DSWD 7)
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LGUs, businesses urged to provide waste receptacles
By Hazel F. Gloria
CEBU CITY, Jan 15 (PIA) -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 has urged the local government units (LGUs) and business establishments to provide waste receptacles in their offices' vicinity.
DENR issued the call in view of thousands of people expected to join the grand procession of the Sinulog Festival on Jan. 20 in the city.
Dr. Isabelo Montejo said, DENR-7 regional executive director, said the feast of the Santo Niño is a well-cherished and treasured tradition among the Cebuanos as it has also become an occasion for reunion of families and friends, "but we should do away some practices that would harm the environment and our health."
By making properly labeled garbage bins such as biodegradable, non-biodegradable and recyclables to be put up in strategic sites, waste materials could be easily collected.
Cebu City has an estimated waste discharge of 511 tons per day or 0.7 kilogram per person per day in an ordinary day.
“You could just imagine the magnitude or volume of the garbage that will be generated for this occasion that we love to celebrate annually,” he said.
“Scores of the uncollected and unsegregated waste are left spread on the streets or in open lots, or find their way into and choke our rivers and esteros, posing risks to the health and safety of surrounding communities during heavy rains,” he explained.
Similarly, Montejo encouraged the public to take the initiatives in caring for the environment while enjoying the celebration, namely: bringing separate trash bags for biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste; minimizing trash by using re-usable utensils; bringing only sufficient amount of food and drinks placed in reusable or recyclable containers; and bringing home any leftovers for reheating, pet food, or compost material.
While pushing for the segregation at source or at the household level, Montejo articulated its importance at it lowers or reduces the amount of wastes to be brought in to the final disposal area which is a sanitary landfill.
“In this manner, the shelf life of a sanitary landfill could extend and lengthen,” Montejo added.
It can be recalled that more than 100 tons of garbage were collected from last year’s Sinulog celebration.(rmn/PIA-7/HFG/DENR-7)