by admin | Jan 31, 2015 | Local News / Bohol Balita, Major Events
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Effective Development Communications Unit
NEW BOHOL AIRPORT, A MODEL AIRPORT – NEDA
Gov. Chatto Presides PIEC Meeting
The New Bohol Airport in Panglao will be seen as a model for infrastructure and environmental sustainability. National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) region 7 director Efren Carreon revealed on Tuesday during the 2nd Plenary Meeting of the Panglao Island Executive Committee (PIEC).
One of few Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) infrastructure projects that has incorporated environmental sustainability, Carreon said valuable lessons can be learned from the New Bohol Airport Project as NEDA works closely with the Provincial Government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Presided by Gov. Edgar Chatto, along with co-chairpersons Dauis Mayor Miriam Sumaylo and Panglao Mayor Nila Montero, the 2nd plenary meeting of the PIEC welcomed the presence of JICA Deputy Director Toru Yoshida.
The JICA official who flew from Japan for the meeting is convinced the environmental sustainability component of the project has been successful in its activities to put in place policies on tourism and conservation as well as waste management.
The more crucial part of the project is materializing the outcomes as the construction of the airport will start soon, he said, encouraging local government units to level up efforts to commit to the purpose of the project component, which is to craft a road map to ensure that the necessary measures and steps will be taken to safeguard Panglao Island’s natural resources from adverse effects once there is increased tourist traffic.
Both local lady chief executives of Dauis and Panglao reiterated commitment to strengthen local laws on environmental protection and management, backing legislative measures of their respective Sangguniang Bayans, and committing to enforce legislations.
In initial reports of the technical working group on tourism and conservation, standards for carrying capacities have been determined for specific and popular tourism activities such as diving, caving, and snorkeling, among others.
In waste management, the technical working group visited several wastewater treatment facilities in the Visayas to benchmark for the proposed wastewater treatment facility in Panglao Island.
Chatto, for his part, expressed full support to the PIEC as it strives to put in place the mechanisms to safeguard the environment as he revealed that the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is finalizing its documentation process and should be able to facilitate the signing of contracts this month for the much-awaited airport project. (Leah/EDCOM)
by admin | Jan 31, 2015 | Headlines
We salute our heroes, the PNP-SAF men who made the ultimate sacrifice defending our country from terrorism. May they rest in peace. May our country attain peace.
Our deepest condolences to the families and friends of our fallen heroes #SAF44. May their souls rest in peace. Source: Screen grab from Gang Badoy’s Facebook timeline.
by admin | Jan 31, 2015 | Opinion
by: Jerome Auza
January 29, 2015, the day when the 44 PNP-SAF casualties arrived at Villamor Air Base, President Benigno “PNoy” Aquino chose to attend the inauguration of an automotive factory instead of leading the arrival honors for the fallen police officers. This became the subject of criticisms against the president in social media.
Perhaps in an effort to save face, the Office of the President released a press statement saying that “Majority did not criticize Aquino’s absence at Villamor”. Unfortunately, at the same time the press release was done, the hashtag “#NasaanAngPangulo” was trending on Twitter both in the Philippines and worldwide. When a hashtag is trending, it means that it is what users of the social media site Twitter are talking about.
I don’t blame the President for the unfortunate event. But he is the Commander-in-Chief and the person who “green lighted” the covert operation to capture a dangerous terrorist. He should have exerted all efforts to be seen as being in solidarity with the men who made the ultimate sacrifice defending our country, and perhaps the world, from terrorism. He should have been at the arrival honors and sent somebody else to the automotive factory.
The press statement that was a lie. Screen grab from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/668911/majority-did-not-criticize-aquinos-absence-at-villamor-says-palace
#NasaanAngPangulo shown trending in the country and worldwide. Screen grab from http://www.rappler.com/technology/social-media/82359-nasaan-ang-pangulo-trends
Now, having made the blunder of being absent at the arrival honors ceremony, the President’s press writers should have not made any more excuses and blunders by publishing an obvious lie about the majority that did not criticize. Perhaps they had too little time to check Twitter of what was the sentiment of the public on social media. By doing so, the president instead appeared to be insensitive, callous or indifferent.
“Sa amin pong monitoring hindi naman yan majority view (Based on our monitoring, that is not the majority view),” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said. Of course, he did not mention what majority he was talking about. Maybe it was just majority of the friends of the president that did not criticize him. But the public was hash tagging with might #NasaanAngPangulo. Isn’t that criticism? In my opinion, that statement was a blatant lie. How could they possibly get the opinion of the “majority” in a few hours but miss the trending topics on Twitter?
In this age of social media and the Internet, public officials can be caught lying by the public so they should perhaps avoid lying at all. Or even better, make better decisions and prioritize national interest like honoring fallen heroes over other functions. I’m sure the automotive factory executives would fully understand if the president had cancelled his appointment with them.
That way, the president’s men do not have to tell a lie to try to save face.
by admin | Jan 24, 2015 | Opinion
By: Jerome Auza
On January 24, 2015, the date of release of the Nurse Licensure Examination results for the November 2014 examination, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) website crashed and inaccessible to the public. It remained down for almost 24 hours.
In cases like this, websites like www.prcpassers.com, Rappler and other websites that post PRC results, become alternate source of information of the list of passers.
It is really disappointing that PRC could not even provide enough computing resource to support the website traffic whenever it releases licensure examination results. With all the cloud computing technology available, the PRC could perhaps utilize extra servers to handle the load during the time they release examination results to the public.
There are a few things PRC could do to improve the website service to the public without spending much. One is to change the way their website operates in publishing news. Since news items do not really change much at all, these should be published as static files which would load faster and with smaller computer resource consumption.
Another thing they could do is compress the downloadable list of users to reduce the amount of website traffic since the users need to download the list in order to check if they passed.
With all the fees paid to PRC by examinees and professionals all over the Philippines, it is an embarrassment to this government agency to have a service that becomes unusable when people would like to look up for information if they pass an exam or not.
by admin | Jan 24, 2015 | National News
The very popular online game called DOTA for Defense of the Ancients, is now banned in baranggay Salawag, Dasmarinas, Cavite. The ban was implemented via Resolution 008-S-2015 dated January 5, 2015, issued by the Barangay Council of Salawag. DOTA is banned because of gambling among players and it has become the reason for trouble in Internet cafes.
On the article on Inquirer.Net, Salawag chief Enrico Paredes explained that they decided to ban Dota “after two teenagers were stabbed to death in their barangay over differences that supposedly stemmed from playing the game.”
The latest stabbing incident happened last November, he said.
Source: http://technology.inquirer.net/40438/dota-banned-by-dasmarinas-cavite-village
