by magnolia_eic | Jan 4, 2011 | Headlines, National News
Padayon gihapon ang pagsaka sa mga natala nga nasamdang biktima sa pabuto pila ka
adlaw human ang pagsaulog sa Bag-ong Tuig.
Nigawas sa datos sa Kampanya Kontra Paputok Surveillance Team sa Department of Health
(DOH) nga niabot na sa 890 ang gidaghanon sa mga natala nga firecrackers related injuries.
Matud pa sa mga opisyal sa DOH, mas taas pa kini og 17 porsiyento kon itandi sa milabay
nga lima ka tuig sugod niadtong tuig 2005 hangtud 2010.
Nasayran nga sa 844 nga kaso tungod sa mga pabuto, 36 tungod sa stray bullet, 11 tungod
sa fireworks ingestion ug usa usab ang natala nga namatay.
Sa 17 ka rehiyon sa nasud, ang National Capital Region (NCR) pa gihapon ang nitala sa
pinadaghan og biktima nga anaa sa 55%.
Samtang ang pabuto nga piccolo pa gihapon ang daghang nabiktima nga niabot sa 240, 125
tungod sa kwitis, 52 tungod sa 5-star, 47 tungod sa pla-pla ug 38 usab ang tungod sa lusis.
(PIA-Bohol/ecb)
by magnolia_eic | Jan 4, 2011 | Headlines, National News
The Department of Education (DepEd) is planning to hire more than 10,000 teachers this year to serve
almost 2.5 million preschool children in the country.
“This new year, we are renewing our commitment to reach all children of school age as part of our
intensified efforts towards achieving the Education For All (EFA) commitment,” Education Secretary
Armin Luistro said.
Luistro said that with the increase in DepEd’s budget this year, the department will implement the
universal public kindergarten program for five-year-olds.
In line with this, the department is set to undertake a ground mapping of all school-aged children by
way of pre-registration all over the country starting January 15.
“The pre-registration will not only allow us to determine the interventions needed to ensure that the
EFA commitment is within the department’s reach, but it will also enable us to have a wider reach of
children who are deprived of basic education,” Luistro said.
From the 1,914,137 who were reached in 2010 in both public and private schools, DepEd targets to
raise the number of preschool children it will serve to almost 2.5 million or a 21 percent increase in
2011.
Currently, there are 29,615 preschool teachers. Of these, only 2,299 hold permanent items and the rest
are on contract of service status.
This year, DepEd targets to open more than 700 permanent teaching positions and accommodate more
than 10,000 contractual teachers.
by magnolia_eic | Jan 4, 2011 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
CATIGBIAN Bohol. SPORTS and youth development has gone professional in this town, which has earlier
vowed a no-nonsense program after a humiliating sports performance few years back.
How can we produce the best athletes if we only give them a week of rigid athletic training, Mayor Roberto
Salinas blurted out upon seeing the futility of a haphazard training regimen for their athletes competing in
sports competitions.
On this, the retired navy captain mayor egged his council to back up a sports training program that would
generate the best athletes who shall bring the town’s name in sports competitions.
Recently, aside from bringing home the bacon in sports competitions they participated in, local athletes also
received cash incentives from the local government
Winning athletes who represented the town in this year’s different levels of sports competitions earned cash
awards during the monthly convocation held December 20.
According to Maria Nila Tapales, town information officer, the awarding came after Mayor Roberto Salinas
convinced the local legislators to put up a sports incentive fund through an ordinance.
After that, Catigbian
with another supplemental ordinance of P14,000 to account for the better medal harvest for the year, Tapales
continued.
The P54,00 appropriations this year is different from the appropriations as honoraria for coaches, trainors and
training instructors, appropriation for sports equipment acquisition and financial support to the competing
delegation, she added.
Athletes who competed and reaped awards during the Congressional meet for public schools, BACS meet for
catholic secondary schools, the provincial meet and the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVRAA
in Dumaguete) each received at least a hundred to a thousand pesos.
After the incentive program was institutionalized, we noticed a flurry of excitement among local athletes who
appear to be more determined to bring out their best and excel in their fields.
Tapales cited that the sports training regimen has also made it possible for Catigbian to send about 21 athletes
to the regional athletic competition.
While the delegation could probably be the biggest among towns here, Catigbian officials were sure that the
harvest of about 7 medals could eloquently tell the success stories.
Catigbianons came home bringing various medals in arnis, sepak takraw, badminton doubles, single lawn
tennis for high schools, javelin throw and swimming. (racPIABohol)
by magnolia_eic | Jan 3, 2011 | Headlines, National News
Philippine officials are working to help secure the release of seven Filipino seafarers who
have being held captive by Somali pirates since Monday, the Department of Foreign Affairs
said Wednesday.
The DFA said the seven were aboard the German-owned cargo vessel MV EMS River that
pirates hijacked last Monday.
“The Philippine Foreign Liaison Officer to the Combined Maritime Command in Bahrain,
Commander Gaudencio Collado, is now coordinating with naval authorities to resolve the
case,” the DFA said in an article posted on its website.
It said the MV EMS River was seized approximately 175 nautical miles northeast of the port
of Salalah in Oman. The ship was en route to San Nicolas, Greece, from Jebel Ali in the
United Arab Emirates at the time of the attack.
The cargo ship has a crew of seven Filipinos and one Romanian, an Associated Press report
said.
According to the DFA, its Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (DFA-
OUMWA) had learned that the ship’s manning agency in Manila already informed the families
of the seafarers about the incident. (PIA/DFA)
by magnolia_eic | Jan 3, 2011 | Headlines, National News
President Benigno S. Aquino III expressed confidence that the country’s economy will
continue to grow next year as evidenced by the stringent efforts of the government to uplift
the standard of living of the Filipino people.
The Chief Executive, in an interview on Thursday following the commemoration of the 114th
martyrdom of the country’s national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal at the Rizal Park in Manila said that
businesses in the country will continue to grow gradually improving the unemployment and
underemployment rate for the better.
The President assured that the government has been exhausting necessary steps to
expedite processes in totally solving issues that hamper economic growth.
For instance, the President cited the expansion of an international relationship management
firm in Manila which has five-major expansions throughout the country, the newest in San
Lazaro near the University Belt.
Convergys has provided 20,000 job opportunities for the Filipinos.
“If you remember we went to a company called Convergys not too long ago. They opened a
new facility in San Lazaro. The first day they had to acquire a new office in addition to the one
that they had contracted. From then on, they continue to grow in a period of one month”, the
President said.
“So that I think is a total reference of what we should be expecting”, he added. (PIA/PCOO)
by magnolia_eic | Jan 3, 2011 | Headlines, National News
Hoping that the Malaysian government would act to address the facilitator dispute,
government negotiators on Tuesday expressed optimism that peace negotiations with the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will resume next month.
Atty. Marvic Leonen, chair of the government panel for the peace talks with the MILF, said
the third-party facilitator issue needs to be resolved first and they are confident that Malaysia
would address the concerns of both sides.
“We still remain optimistic that talks with the MILF will resume in January. We hope that the
MILF can share that optimism,” Leonen said in a statement.
The government had asked the Malaysian government to replace Datuk Othman bin Abd’
Razak as third-party facilitator because of his alleged pro-MILF bias.
“A politically negotiated settlement is needed at the soonest possible time so that the
energies of all can be channeled to addressing justice, lasting peace, sustainable
development and prosperity for all peoples in Mindanao,’ he continued.
He noted that administrative and security concerns are ongoing and they are prepared to
discuss these with MILF counterparts and vow to continue the series of consultations with
relevant sectors particularly the issues raised by the Moro rebels.
“We think that this is what negotiating in good faith means. It is also the better part of
prudence since issues taken out of context do contribute to environments which can only
foster more violence. We invite all concerned to help us address the problems in the spirit of
finding lasting solutions to a complex problem,” he added. (PIA/PCOO)
