by dalareich | Jul 26, 2008 | Local News / Bohol Balita
“TALKING war must come before a shooting war,” 802nd Brigade Commander Raoul Reyes told a spellbound audience of military defense ministers from neighboring nations who visited Bohol Thursday.
Col. Reyes expounded to top defense commanders of countries belonging to the strong Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) the paradigm shift his men has to face when assigned in Bohol.
Fresh from a fighting war experience, men of the 802nd Brigade and its affiliated units shifted to information patrols to schools and communities instead of meeting the enemies head-on in classic military clashes.
Reyes and his men came at a time when Bohol faces only an insignificant number of armed communist terrorists. The fighting war has then shifted to talking war against the legal fronts allied with the left who attempt to regain their areas and establish bases on the urban areas.
According to Reyes, “when you lose the talking war, even if you win the fight, you still lose.”
The Reyes’ revelations earned the nod of top civil military operations chiefs belonging to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) who came to gain insights and possibly replicate the Bohol anti-insurgency formula to fight the regional threat of terrorists.
Defense leaders from Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei joined their Filipino counterparts in a conference in Manila, which tackled the growing trend of civilian-military cooperation in the widening effort to arrest the problem of terrorism and communism.
From Manila, the entire conference delegation flew all the way to Bohol where they met the army top leader at the Camp Rajah Sikatuna in Carmen to gather details on the Bohol experience.
Reyes, who now heads the implementation of a unique local internal security system as an anti insurgency drive, features coordination among community stakeholders and the convergence of resources has caught the attention of defense strategists in the Asian region.
Sharing his counter-insurgency experience in Bohol, Col. Reyes agreed that his predecessors have facilitated an environment ripe for his team to work on.
“Bohol is a province that knows what they want and we in the military only need to tell them what we would do to attain the goal,” he shared.
Information, Reyes pressed, is the crucial thing that allowed this to work.
And since many perceive communism as a political problem, to counter it, a political solution was used, he confessed.
It is also effective because the civil society and the political leaders cooperate, he stressed.
Here, political leaders pooled resources with the military to inject development in areas where people could not feel the presence of government. This way, the convergence allows the government forces to work on a wider latitude of options to bring peace to communities, he said. (rachiu/PIA)
by dalareich | Jul 25, 2008 | Local News / Bohol Balita
“YUTA kong minahal” couldn’t be truer for 860 graduating students and pupils of Catigbian who planted some 4,355 fruit bearing trees during the inaugural launching of the Project “Plant and Care” timed with the 154th Bohol Day.
Planted in students’ respective lots during simultaneous barangay activities following the launching program last Tuesday, the “plant a fruit tree project” is another of Salinas’ Administration’s pet projects.
The launching was covered by the Municipal Ordinance Number 2, series of 2008 which mandated that all graduating students should present at least five surviving fruit bearing trees before graduation, said Mayor Roberto Salinas.
“Plant and Care” jibes with the town vision of creating a green haven for development and progress, Sangguniang Bayan (SB) member Rey Lacea said. It is also in stride with keeping premium on environment and conservation.
As stipulated in the ordinance, prior to graduation, students from the town’s 3 high schools and elementary would seek a certification from the 22 barangay chairmen on agriculture that the fruit trees planted were well cared of and really surviving.
Without that, a graduating student may find it hard to take the graduation march.
Earlier, Salinas said, planting fruit trees now would stand to be the greatest gift to the next generations.
Catigbian, he said wants to be hailed as Bohol’s fruit basket in the next 7-10 years.
Planted that day were 1829 mango, 768 lanzones, 833 jack fruits, 245 star apples,301 chicos, 152 rambutan, 82 avocado, 8 santol, 17 marangs, 93 guyabano and 27 pomelo seedlings, the mayor said based upon the reports coming to his office later that day.
Aside from the environmental premium of planting fruit trees, it can also be a huge investment for the people who have since aspired for better life by producing fruits of commercially quantity and quality, the mayor said in an earlier interview. (rachiu/PIA)
by dalareich | Jul 22, 2008 | Features
ONE of the country’s longest running annual provincial trade fairs unroll this week at the Island City Mall, and fair organizers pegged a lofty goal: top the P26M in sales generated last year.
With the present regional economic crunch, surpassing the figure may be ambitious, but exhibitors of the annual Sandugo Product Showcase have high hopes it is attainable, with the fair’s track record.
After all, the annual products fair which has humble roots at the Capitol Plaza now displays in a mall, then a small town fair, now a regional marketing event featuring products from region 6, 7, 8 and Mindanao, has become a regular calendar event for buyers and exporters, admits Visayas trade and industry director Asteria Caberte.
Sales means jobs and that should equate to food in the table, asserts Bohol DTI manager Ma. Elena Arbon, during the press conference before the fair opened.
Evidently proud of the long running product showcase that she helped put up as a provincial director in Bohol then, Caberte said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has been fairly successful in harnessing the creativity of traditional craftsmen to showcase world-class products in the last 20 years that the showcase opens.
Then a true volume market event for baskets and local crafts, the DTI assisted design development has woven into new niche, exhibitors agree.
The shift towards enhancing products design opened for local crafts manufacturers after realizing that competing with China puts the local industry in a compromising situation in the international market.
For Caberte, while competing with China would be futile, diverting into design opens a bright prospect for local manufacturers. So while the DTI forefronts in training craftsmen in products development and maximize their ingenuity, local producers also diversify into a fusion of local designs using a plethora of available raw materials, a trade and investment officer added.
The Sandugo trade fair is a culmination of a series of product development initiatives geared towards improving the quality and design of the export-oriented crafts and ethnic food in the region, states a prepared press material by fair organizers.
Other than the local products, this year’s showcase also focuses on the One-Town-One-Product (OTOP) as development and branding strategy.
Leading Bohol’s 33 exhibitors is the OTOP Inabanga, with its raw material raffia and its by-products while local booths exhibit processed food, fashion accessories and souvenir items, Antequera baskets, mats, decors, toys and household items.
Cebu 23 exhibitors put up products ranging from fashion accessories, handicrafts, guitars and souvenir items.
by dalareich | Jul 22, 2008 | Local News / Bohol Balita
“TO whom much has been given, much is also required.”
Bohol arts patron and Rajah Sikatuna Awardee Beatriz Susanna Zobel de Ayala sums up her message in stressing the call to unite some more to protect and sustain the tourism Bohol has started.
Zobel de Ayala received the award together with Philippine Airlines President Lucio Tan, Cebu Pacific Chief Executive Officer Lance Gokongwei and Philippine Ports Authority’s Atty. Oscar Sevilla during the 154th Bohol Day.
The annual award is bestowed upon individuals and institutions who have shown remarkable contribution to the betterment of Bohol and its constituents.
Zobel, who had experienced the caves and forests, the communities, the heritage sites and structures, splendid beaches, islands and the angelic children’s choir admitted it is difficult to find all these together in a province.
But reminding Boholanos not to pollute the rivers and tear down the heritage structures, she suggested to stakeholders instead using local architecture and the local styles to benefit the people of the community.
Having seen the remarkable changes in tourism arrivals since 2003, she intoned that Boholanos should be reminded that it is not the number but the quality of tourists we should invite.
Moreover, she said “it is not the quantity of resorts but the quality of service we give.”
Zobel, along with Ayala Museum and Ayala Foundation has been helping communities in Baclayon, Pamilacan and Dauis to come up with integrated tourism activities to raise the conditions of the people and their communities.
In Poblacion Baclayon, the Ayalas help a local heritage conservation group in adaptive re-use of the old houses and transform them into home-stay program venues.
In Pamilacan, along with Joel Uichico, the Ayalas help the islanders come up with better diving and dolphin and whale-watching package tours to lessen the impact of over-fishing.
In Dauis, the Ayalas help the community rediscover the value and resources of the Assumpta Heritage Complex so the community could regain the glory of the town and transform the town’s economic landscape. (rachiu/PIA)
by dalareich | Jul 20, 2008 | National News
DOG owners who refuse to register and vaccinate their pets against rabies would be slapped P2,000, a national law’s implementing rules states.
And if by any chance, the unvaccinated dog figures in a biting incident, the owner is obligated to pay for the victim’s medical expenses as well as his dog’s mandatory vaccination.
The policy is part of the national step to rid the country of the threat of highly contagious rabies, which has killed a lot of people.
The Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9482 commonly known as the Anti Rabies Act of 2007 prescribes the procedures and guidelines for the implementation of the Anti-Rabies Act to facilitate nationwide compliance, states the joint department order of 4 participating concerned government agencies.
Jointly issuing the Administrative Order are the Departments of Agriculture, Health, Education and Interior and Local Government.
According to the Section 11 of the joint department order, an owner is legally bound to put his biting dog under observation after it has bitten an individual, or he shall be slapped a penalty of P10,000.
If he refuses to shoulder the victim’s medical expenses and have their biting-dog surrendered for observation, owner is also liable for P25,000 in fines.
As the new IRR for the Anti Rabies Act of 2007 asserts the role of the state to put up a system for the control, prevention of the spread and eventual eradication of human and animal rabies, it also impresses on the need for responsible pet ownership, says Bohol Provincial Veterinarian Stella Marie Lapiz.
Lapiz, also leads the multi-million Rabies Prevention and Eradication (RPE) Program implemented all throughout Bohol in a bid to declare the tourist island rabies free by 2010.
But with the legal and fiscal saddle the Bohol RPE Council, Lapiz recently appealed anew for cooperation among mayors gathered at the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) meeting last week just as the local rabies watch noted a slight decrease in bite cases compared to the data from last year.
In Bohol towns, only San Isidro has successfully attained a 100% vaccination rate for dogs while elimination programs in Maribojoc, Duero and Panglao have met legal opposition from animal rights groups and residents who seem not aware of the threat of rabies spread in their places, Lapiz reported.
Over this, Lapiz added the presence of a provincial ordinance that metes similar penalties prescribed by the national law.
The ordinance also includes mandatory leashing of vaccinated dogs when they are brought outside the homes, or owners are liable for a P500 fine for each incident.
This way, Bohol minimizes the incidence of stray dogs contaminating the vaccinated population, just as the Bohol RPE Council push for massive impounding of stray dog prior to elimination across the province. (rachiu/PIA)
