by anyajulia | Mar 24, 2009 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
WANT to learn the right coughing manners?
Come to “U-booth”, an interactive booth to be set up at the activity center of the Island City mall this March 31, when the Bohol Provincial Council Against Tuberculosis (PROCAT) spearheads the Tuberculosis Month capping activity.
Learning and doing the right coughing manners is one of the most effective ways of arresting the spread of the tubercle bacilii virus, one which causes the spread of TB, stresses Dr. Pilar Mabasa during the recent council meeting at the Jjs Dimsum.
At the booth, learning can come in many ways, it will feature have games, question and answers slots and activities aimed at teaching people the right manners in coughing, she added.
The Ubooth is also one of the identified teaching tools which the council puts up at the ICM Activity Center as it becomes becomes a virtual one day venue for the province-wide TB prevention program.
During that day, PROCAT also unveils the winning council logo after assessing the entries in the contest held last August.
On the capping day, aside from the performances pledged by council members, the Loboc Ambassador band is invited to provide live music.
“A good blow-wind instrument player needs healthy lungs, council members reasoned out as many want the day to be fully a venue for mainstreaming TB prevention.
Moreover, the place also becomes the venue for the first public presentation of the Bohol TB Prevention slogan, TAMBLOT.
In Bohol, anti-TB advocates adopted TAMBLOT, which is essentially a simple community gin TB control.
Tamblot for anti-TB advocates mean “TB Atong Masumpo Basta Lihok Tanan” or roughly we can stop TB if we all work together”.
PROCAT Chair, Dr Cesar Tomas Lopez said it is high time that Bohol gets serious with TB Control and Prevention, not just because we could save a lot on the prevention side, but also because it can be a big hindrance to community progress. (rachiu/PIA)
by anyajulia | Mar 24, 2009 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
WITH the schools reportedly the recruitment hotbed of fresh bloodied insurgents coupled with the recent sightings of home-coming rebels, military and civilian authorities have doubled up on the efforts to insulate the academic institutions.
Last Thursday, March 18, elements of the 802nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army rounded two Loon secondary schools, to interact with students in an anti-insurgency awareness campaign to keep them from the dangers of communism.
The army activities are done in cooperation with the Department of Education’s Bohol Division, Boholano army civil military operations head, Major Eduardo Malig-on said.
The army team, along with civilian resource speaker Narciso Tabaniag Jr. breezed through Cantaongon’s Gov. Jacinto Borja National High School and Loon South High School to expose the threat of communism and insurgency.
The campaign is a result of the study saying that rebels have shifted their recruitment of new members from the rural areas to the “white areas.”
White areas are defined as the urban areas where the insurgents shift from the more active way of campaigns to the formation of legal fronts and start in the guise of people’s organizations slowly shifting to radical groups actively involved in street parliaments graduating to hardcore armed rebels.
Another source and recruitment is in the schools and most of those involve minors, admits Tabaniag, who used to be in the service and is now actively involved in the campaign.
Noting this and making sure that this does not happen in Bohol, the army is now putting up the drive in schools to chase away the recruiters.
As this happens, the army is also involved in another program putting up livelihood assistance to residents in areas formerly held or influenced by rebels.
In cooperation with the Department of Trade and Industry, Loon Municipal Government and 33.3 exports, the army trained residents on basket-weaving in a program called Sub contracting Partners of Innovation (SPIN).
SPIN is a priority project of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to hold the residents back of a cleared barangay from the grasp of the insurgents, said DTI 7 director Asteria Caberte. (rachiu/PIA)
by anyajulia | Mar 23, 2009 | Headlines, National News
The Metrobank Foundation, Inc. and the Rotary Club of Makati Metro announce the winners of 2009 Search for The Outstanding Philippine Soldiers (TOPS). The Search for TOPS is an annual project of the Metrobank Foundation, Inc. and the Rotary Club of Makati Metro. It aims to honor excellence among the men and women in the military as an expression of the civilian sector’s appreciation and gratitude for the soldiers’ selfless acts of gallantry in preserving the nation’s sovereignty.
The awardees are commissioned officers and enlisted personnel from the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as from the Technical Services.
The outstanding soldiers from the Philippine Army are Lieutenant Colonel Lope C. Dagoy, Staff Sergeant Fidel C. Delara, and Master Sergeant Romeo H. Jandugan; while those from the Philippine Navy are Colonel Romeo T. Tanalgo, Data Processor 2nd Class (Staff Sergeant) Reynor S. Calzado and Technical Sergeant Ramon B. Cabeguin. The winners from the Philippine Air Force are Colonel Restituto F. Padilla, Jr., Staff Sergeant Blas C. Austria and Technical Sergeant Salvador S. Buenaobra, Jr.; while Colonel Pedro G. Herrera-Davila of the Judge Advocate General Service is the awardee for the Technical Services category. (PIA)
Click here for full article.
by anyajulia | Mar 23, 2009 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita, TBTK
Anytime is always a good time to come to Bohol. But for sheer excitement and unending doses of fun, pleasure and remembrance, nothing beats going there during TBTK. That triennial event in July when Bohol spreads the red carpet for homecoming overseas Boholanos for 2 glorious weeks of sun, sea, sights and other pleasures of one’s design and inclination.
Of the past three TBTKs, the most memorable for me – and doubtless to many attendees – was the one in 2006. We – my entire family, plus a few friends – had barely landed in Manila after a long and boring flight when the merriment started, setting the pace and tone of the pleasures that awaited us in Tagbilaran.
Hon. Lito Atienza,then Mayor of Manila, gave us a warm welcome at the City Hall and presented us the symbolic key to his City. Mr.Atienza, a true friend of Bohol, lauded the visiting Boholanos for their solidarity thru the TBTK and went out of his way entertaining us. He and his lady, Beng, treated us to a unique cultural show and even brought us to the best bargain centers in Manila.
Even Malacanang Palace opened its doors to us although we didn’t get to meet the President who was away on a State Visit at the time.
Day 1 in Tagbilaran, we of the TBTK Youth met up with our local counterpart – the SK’s- led by John Torralba who organized the whole week activities. A bunch of the coolest kids in that side of the Chocolate Hills, who was to host us in the delicate process of re-acquainting us to our roots and culture. So also to familiarize us with the scenic wonders of our parents’ birthplace. Our hosts had a theme for the program: Extreme Bohol, and boy, did they mean it!
The first order of the day was, wouldn’t you know? Lunch. At the Governor’s Mansion no less. But the lunch was anything but… For it turned out to be a full blown feast partaken to the pulsating beat of a live band!
After the feast, we were herded off to Maribojoc town for kayaking and repelling at the Abatan River. But first, this being Bohol, the heartland of Filipino hospitality, we had to have another meal, local officials insisted. So off we cruised along idyllic Abatan River on a floating restaurant with tables groaning with every Boholano delicacy imaginable – from the fattest crabs in God’s creation to the gooey, gravity defying kalamay.
Amazingly, we survived the pig out and we finally got around to making our first adventure of the day.
I am telling you, there is nothing more exhilarating and adrenalin inducing than kayaking and repelling under an unspoiled setting and natural conditions. It’s a more intense high than one gets doing them at some commercialized theme park under a controlled environment. The experience sharpens your natural survival instincts. As well as instills focus and concentration on an otherwise stagnant mind and body.
Repelling off Abatan Bridge to the cheers by peers and newfound friends did wonders for me. Whose intense fear of heights was once thought to be incurable. Under orders to bring flashlights (largely unheeded, to our great regret later), we set out early the next day for Bilar. For cave exploration, or spelunking, as the sport is properly called. Regardless, we TBTK youths caved in to its more popular local name: “caving” -an extreme sport that’s not for the faint hearted or for the claustrophobic.
Split into groups, we were tasked to map out an assigned cave and come out all in one piece. To enter the cave’s narrow mouth, one has to be either a contortionist or made out of elastic material. It was an almost impossible feat that me and my team miraculously pulled off only largely through our wits and prayer. Also because of our teams adventurous nature, I guess.
As we wiggled deeper into the recesses of the caves, each chamber got more intricate and tangled. We realized a very real fear of losing our way out and be forever consigned to spend the rest of our lives as a cave dweller! It was eerie and dark inside but what really spooked us was the sudden presence of a swarm of bats hovering just inches above our heads!! Only after screaming ourselves silly did the bats scamper away.
So extreme was our cave adventure that some of the teams balked at it. We found them huddled at the mouth of a mother cave when we emerged triumphant later.
The day ended with another adventure that was literally a walk in the woods. We went on a treasure hunt through a protected forest. With instructions to bring back a “treasure” in the form of any living inhabitant of the woods. It was unbelievable what most of us brought back. It was childish fun as we indulged in all kinds of competitions involving our “treasures.”
We continued discovering interesting places in the following days. One of them was the Bohol Bee Farm, a healthy haven of all things organic – from brick oven baked camote bread to hilot, a traditional form of body massage common in the Visayas region. An organic massage? Yes, only in Bohol kids!
If we weren’t exploring the countryside, we frolicked in the sparkling white sand beaches or else treated ourselves to massages by itinerant masseuses plying their trade right on the shore. If that wasn’t living, I don’t know what is.
We also dutifully attended clan reunions and reconnected with long unseen relatives and met new ones. For some of us fortunate enough to have spent a brief part of our childhood in Tagbilaran before migrating in other lands (like my brother Bryan and me) we revisited familiar places and re-tasted the many local delicacies of our childhood. For some reason, they tasted better than I can remember.
Contrary to one of our worst fears before coming over, Tagbilaran does have an interesting nightlife. The clubs overflow with a hip crowd gyrating nightly to the sounds of one of the baaaadddest rock bands I’ve ever heard. Tagbilaran rocks in the real sense of the word.
Reading this far, you’d think all the TBTK youths did was indulge the senses. To some extent that’s true. But our sojourn also brought us a new level of awareness of life around us. We realized the fragility of our ecosystem and how we must do our bit in helping preserve the environment and conserve our threatened natural resources. Bohol is unbelievably blessed in natural beauty. It is attendant upon all Boholanos to help keep it whole and un-violated.
Our TBTK experience also enabled us in so many ways. It awoke us to our inner Bolanon-ness and gave us a fresh perspective and a deeper understanding of the Filipino culture, however alienated we may have become to it. It also taught us, from the many clan reunions we attended, the importance of family ties and how we must try to nurture and preserve them.
No less important, the TBTK youth also realized our responsibility towards our less fortunate brothers and how we must give back in any way we can to the community that helped nurture our dreams of migrating to other lands.
On one of our last days at the TBTK, we thought we would treat some100 kids to a Jolibee lunch and gave away much needed school supplies. It was all we could do in our own small way to express our thanks for an unforgettable two weeks of our young lives.
Now , lots of us are coming home this July. SK’s with Pres. Jane Cajes and our coordinator John Torralba and the rest of the vibrant members have a lot in store for us again. Me and my brother Brian never missed this event since 1999. I’m telling you, it’s worth coming home . Come join us ! July 16-26, 2009. (Maribeth V. Garcia)
Maribeth Veloso-Garcia, a young Boholana Nurse in New York, shown left to then Manila Mayor and now DENR Secretary Lito Atienza, with the Youth Balikbayans during the TBTK 2006 Global Homecoming. When the TBTK delegation paid a courtesy call to the Office of the Manila Mayor.
