by anyajulia | Oct 9, 2008 | Headlines, National News
Convergys Corporation hailed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her continued support to the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.
Andrea Ayers, Convergys Corp. president, thanked the President saying that her support resulted in the continued success of BPO locators in the Philippines.
Ayers made the statement after the President cut the ceremonial ribbon to unveil the company marker at its new contact center in Bacolod City.
The President officially opened the 6,000-square-meter Convergys’ latest facility here as part of the national government’s show of support for BPO’s, and to further boost the country’s position as the most favored BPO/call center destination in Asia, next only to India.
Ayers also informed the President that Convergys Bacolod hopes to employ an additional 1,000 employees by the end of this year. (PIA/Bohol)
by anyajulia | Oct 9, 2008 | Headlines, National News
The internally displace persons (IDP) can now go back to the places where they came from.
P/SSupt. Rogelio Nuñeza, Deputy Director for Operations of the Philippine National Police (PNP), region 10 assured as Lanao residents have nothing to fear.
According to Nuñeza, PNP-10 has already sent an additional of 168 new policemen and 190 elements from the Regional Police Mobile Group (RPMG) to complement the municipal police forces in Lanao del Norte.
The additional forces will augment the Municipal Police Force, will be deployed in coastal areas and help in the conduct of checkpoints in strategic areas.
The establishment of the checkpoint was in response to the request of the residents after the lawless MILF group attacked the village, burned houses and killed a number of innocent civilians in the area, Nuñez stressed.
by anyajulia | Oct 9, 2008 | Headlines, National News
The Provincial Cooperative Development Council (PCDC) will conduct an assessment and evaluation of all Municipal Cooperative Development Councils (MCDC) in the province.
According to Hon. Josephine Socorro Jumamoy, PCDC Chair, the assessment is in line with the program of PCDC to strengthen, monitor and assist cooperatives in the province, as well as encourage the creation of local coop councils in their respective municipalities.
Based on the data from the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) there are 30 MCDCs considered active while 18 are inactive or LGU’s have yet to create their MCDCs.
During the visit, the PCDC team will meet with the local coop leaders, assess and evaluate their cooperatives as to their profile, financial report, among others.
The PCDC chair will also meet with the Local Chief Executives to discuss the advantage and benefits of having strong coops and active MCDC’s. in their municipalities.
They will also identify probable tourism sites handled by cooperatives for development and marketing assistance.
The PCDC chair will be joined by CDA, the officers of PCDC, and chairperson of other active MCDC’s.
The visitation and assessment is also in line with the celebration of Coop Month with the theme: “Bohol Tourism Enterprise Development through Cooperatives”.
Scheduled to be visited are Jagna – Oct 3; Balilihan – Oct 6; Calape – Oct 8; Pilar – Oct 10; Inabanga – Oct 13; Trinidad – Oct 15; Batuan – Oct 16; and Bilar on Oct 20.
Other municipalities are also being scheduled pending the approval of the PCDC budget for 2009.
PCDC hopes to get their budget approved in order to sustained their projects and efforts to strengthen cooperatives and to improve the quality of life of its members.
Trainings and workshops, monitoring, website development, coop congress are among the lined-up activities for PCDC next year. (PIA/Bohol)
by anyajulia | Oct 9, 2008 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita, National News
BOHOLANO tuberculosis (TB) patients whose ailments have developed multiple-drug resistance (MDR), need not go to Manila for treatment, a newly established treatment center is now in the Visayas.
A “MDR-TB Treatment Center of the South” is now at the Eversley Compound in Cebu.
The center can now handle patients whose TB can not be treated by two of the most potent anti-TB drugs in health centers, says Dr. Ma Emilda D. Quelapio, Program Manager of the country’s Programmatic Management fop Drug-resistant Tuberculosis (PMDT).
The center now offers specialized services and complementing to that is Cebu Reference Laboratory, which is now undergoing renovation. When done, it can provide quality diagnostic services to patients in the region, the Boholana physician revealed.
MDR-TB happens when a patient prematurely stops his medications upon losing the symptoms, she explained.
“TB, when treated right is curable, but unlike other infections where a 7-day antibiotic regimen is enough, TB takes at least 6 months and four kinds of drugs,” she added.
“Because of the complicated treatment for TB, the best strategy is through supervised treatment ensuring that patients take all their medicines for the required duration, she said.
A World Health Organization-recommended strategy, the Directly Observed Therapy (DOTS) is a short-course “Tutok Gamutan”, is considered by the World Bank as one of the most cost-effective health interventions, as it ensures that a trained health worker literally watches a patient take his medicines during the course of treatment.
Sometime ago, patients who develop MDR-TB can only be treated following strict 18 months of monitoring in Manila or Quezon City, where the 5 MDR TB centers are set up, she continued.
According to medical practitioners, “not only is the treatment expensive because a patient needs to relocate, it also is not free from complications.”
But with these facilities in the Visayas, patients need not relocate to avail of the treatment regimen.
Then a gap in the country’s National TB Control Program (NTP), the initiative to treat MDR-TB started in 1999 with the private sector through Tropical Disease Foundation, under the leadership of Dr. Thelma Tupasi, the foundation’s Director, she explained.
Run from donations of private individuals, the Foundation’s Programmatic Management of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis team finally gets relief with the help of Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM).
The fund, put up by highly industrialized countries also allows the country’s health authorities to slowly integrate MDR-TB services into the NTP starting with the National Capital Region (NCR) in Manila to the regions.
TB, which nips a morbidity rate of 75 deaths annually still makes it the country’s 6th largest causes of death, health authorities said recently, underscoring the disease as a major health concern still. (rachiu/PIA)
by anyajulia | Oct 9, 2008 | Headlines, National News
GIAGHAT ang mga ahensya sa kagamhanan karon nga magpaskil sa ilang tagsa-tagsa ka mandatos ug sa mga serbisyo nga ilang gitanyag sa lakang nga kubsan hangtud sa wagtangon na ang red-tape.
Matud sa ni Civil Service Commission chairperson Ricardo Saludo, kini subay sa balaod sa Anti-Red Tape ug gipatuman na sa kapin sa 50 na ka nasudnong ahensya ug buhatan sugod sa miaging buwan.
Tumong niini mao ang pagpadali sa mga fronline operations sa mga buhatan, ni Saludo pa.
Kini usab nalakip sa tulo ka aaging gisyugyot sa CSC aron ipa-adang ang programa sa anti-red tape.
Matud ni Saludo, masundan na sa publiko ang mga lakang ug mag serbisyong gitanyag sa ahensya aron ikita asang dapita ang transaksyon mosabud.
Laing paagi nga gisugyot sa CSC mao ang performance target based evaluation, aron ang trabahante magbuhat gayud subay sa iyang mga tumong.
Dugang niini, gipatuman usab sa CSC ang call center operation agi ug reklamohanan sa katawhan. (PIA/rachiu)
