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DENR to assign deputies for Environmental enforcement
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Region 7 shares the ultimate plan to deputize people in the communities to help enforce environmental laws especially on the Clean Water and the Ecological Solid Waste Management along the premise of better water quality and sustainable rivers in Bohol. In the ongoing struggle to effect the necessary upgrade in the water quality of the Abatan River as the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office entry into the Rivers for Life 2019 award, DENR Regional Executive Director Gilbert Gonzales leaked the plan that would advance community and stakeholder empowerment in the environment advocacy. Rivers for Life or Recognizing Individuals and Institutions towards Vibrant and Enhanced Rivers (RIVERS) for Life (RFL) Awards, is a regional and national competition among ten rivers in Central Visayas which the regional committee has picked owing to their being under the same category. Ten Central Visayas rivers: Batuanon River in Mandaue, Bulacao River in Bulacao and Luyang River in Luyang Carmen, in Cebu, Abatan River in Cortes, Wahig River in Inabanga and Manaba River in Garcia Hernandez in Bohol, Banica River in Valencia, Panam-angan River in Bais and Sicopong River in Santa Catalina in Negros Oriental as well as Señora River in Siqiijor have shown their waters contain coliform contamination but these are below 100 most probable number. The goal is for the stakeholders in the region to help work to upgrade the water quality of these rivers in six months to make them safe for swimming, explains Bohol PENRO Charlie Fabre. And as Bohol prepares for the second round of river clean ups this Friday, March... read moreCDRRMO explains CLEAR disaster-warning capacity
In these times where information plays a critical role in disaster resilience, Tagbilaran City innovates with its unique integrated disaster and anti-crime reporting and monitoring system: enter the Communications Line for Emergency Alarms and Response System (CLEAR). An information hub that banners a highly visible light emitting diode (LED) board that has the capacity to broadcast announcements and disaster mitigation tips, the CLEAR announcement board which is remotely controlled from the Tagbilaran City Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Office Command Center, can even remotely broadcast localized specific information, like localized disaster mitigation drills, explains City DRRMO chief Gerard Lavadia. For high priority information, like possibly some evacuation or those needing community mobilization, the CLEAR board installation comes with a siren which can also broadcast loud audio warnings via a public address system and a highly visible flasher for maximum reach. Things like barangay meetings, events, fire drills, earthquake drills and mass casualty incident simulations to better acquaint the communities of the simulations, these can be pre announced to douse out the panic that could result. And each CLEAR hub also packs a host of high definition tilt-able closed circuit television cameras than remotely transmits real-time images to the command center. The cameras can be zoomed and panned to follow through an action, a person in a crime situation and when it is stored in a huge databank or live feeds from nearly a hundred more remote cameras, there is a playback capacity for a better reckoning and crime reenactment to help police investigators determine culpability, Lavadia hinted during this month’s Association of United Development Information Officers (AUDIO) in Bohol... read more
Del Valle upgrade goes to bicam
By JUNE S. BLANCO ONE more step to go, and the Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado’s bill upgrading the bed capacity of the Don Emilio del Valle Memorial Hospital (DEDVMH) will be transmitted for approval by the President. The Senate has approved on third and final reading the counterpart bill sponsored by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian upping the hospital’s bed capacity from 50 to 300 – with the attendant improvement of its buildings, equipment, staff. Aumentado thanks Gatchalian and Committee on Health Chair JV Ejercito for the supporting his move at the Lower House. The bill is now en route to the bicameral conference committee for consolidation and polishing prior to transmittal to the Office of the President. Aumentado said slowly but surely, “We are getting there (upgrading)!” He said in its current state, the hospital is getting congested because patients coming not only from the 2nd District, but the 3rd District also, as well as from the island municipality of President Carlos P. Garcia and even Southern Leyte choose to be treated or confined there. Aumentado attributes this to the improved facilities and better services the hospital now offers on account of its ongoing modernization program. He said the Del Valle hospital has come a long way from its moniker “del valle-bad” (balibad is to decline) because its previously poor facilities cannot handle emergency needs like Caesarian sections or stab and gunshot wounds. Through the years, however, started by the solon’s namesake father and immediate congressional predecessor, former governor Erico Boyles Aumentado, the hospital has established dialysis units, expanded its obstetrics and gynecology department, improved its administration building and services,...Bohol MSMEs Join Boost Your Business Marketing Campaign
TAGBILARAN CITY – More than 100 Boholano MSMEs have participated in a digital marketing campaign last June 29, 2018 at Bohol Tropics Resort. Boost Your Business is a project by Bayan Academy and DTI in partnership with Facebook Philippines that aims to promote the use of social media platforms as a tool for creating an advantage in business. The event focused on marketing theories that are applicable on creating good quality content, creative visuals, and effective messages on social media. Mr Carlo Sagun , the event trainor, also introduced the different marketing strategies for Facebook and Instagram-two of the leading platforms in the world. A hands-on application of the theories was conducted afterwards using the apps of Facebook Philippines. Also gracing the one day workshop is the Congressman of the First District of Bohol Hon. Rene Lopez Relampagos as well as DTI Bohol’s very own Jerome John J. Gabin, STIDS who have encouraged the participants to ride on the opportunity of doing business online. According to Mr Sagun, among the chosen venues,Bohol Province has the largest number of participants so...Local News/ Bohol Balita
Rep. Aris wants “ro-ro” ramps for 3 Bohol ports
By JUNE S. BLANCO IMPROVED ports may serve best the population today but these may be insufficient in the coming years. Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado (Bohol, 2nd District) made this observation after noting that development is dynamic. Seafaring vessels are becoming bigger, bringing in and out of ports bigger batches of passengers and cargoes each time, he noted. Aumentado said while expansion and extension of the ports of Clarin, Buenavista and Getafe towns are in place with the P60 million savings in the 2015 budget of the then Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC), improvement must not stop there. The three ports had gotten P20 million each. This early, he said, studies must already be made for the further development of these ports, specifically the establishment of roll on-roll off ramps and sturdy mooring facilities. These facilities will enable bigger vessels to seek harbor or shelter should they be near these ports during storms or typhoons. And while they are at it, the solon said the studies must include mooring facilities to accommodate power barges as well. Aumentado is pushing for the development of local power sources. But, he pointed out, it will still be to Bohol’s advantage to be ready for power barges. The gestation period for the more serious development of locally-generated power will be long, he admitted, hence the mooring facilities will be an advantage. The Clarin, Getafe and Buenavista ports are also gateways to and from Bohol. The improvement expands the previously limited berthing areas that used to accommodate just one passenger banca at a time – leaving no more space for pump boats to...More challenges under Duterte’s 2nd year; farmers ready for SONA protests
Peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said they are preparing for the worst under the second year of Duterte’s presidency. “We have seen a preview of the worst things to come. We know what to do – we fight and defend our rights, now and always.” “Things are taking a turn for the worst under Duterte. His first year is marked with unfulfilled promises, promotion of neoliberal policies and militarism. His declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao is enough reason for people to mobilize and protest his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 24,” said Danilo Ramos, the newly-elected chairperson of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP). “We will make President Duterte accountable for his unfulfilled promises. We will continue to assert genuine land reform, free land distribution and the lifting of Martial Law. We will continue to defend our democratic rights in the face of Duterte’s all-out war,” the KMP leader said. “Instead of seriously addressing the People’s Agenda that was presented to his administration last year, Duterte allowed his economic managers to come up with ‘Dutertenomics’ that essentially perpetuates pro-foreign and pro-business neoliberal policies. The people’s clamor for genuine land reform and national industrialization fell on deaf ears. The peace negotiations that are supposed to come up with a Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) were stalled and not gaining any headway due to the GRP’s dogged determination to force a ceasefire and lack of sincerity in the peace process,” Ramos said. Ramos added, “President Duterte can either choose to genuinely side with the people or face wider mass protests and resistance against...Pool small resources to generate own power-Aris
By JUNE S. BLANCO POOLED outputs of small power plants in Bohol can add up to more locally generated electricity. Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado (Bohol, 2nd District) said the province’s size and sources of energy that can be developed into power plants limit production to only around 10 megawatts each – just little more than the production of existing mini hydroelectric plants in Ewon in Sevilla, Hanopol in Balilihan and Tontonan, Loboc. But he still welcomes developers planning to invest in power plants in Bohol using renewable sources as these do not adversely affect the prime economic drivers of the province – agriculture and tourism. Aumentado if Bohol’s leaders can convince and bring in interested parties to establish power plants here, be they another hydroelectric, biomass, waste-to-power, solar or nuclear, adding all their outputs can up the locally generated power to boost the power reserve. “Only in power production is redundancy allowed – even required,” the solon stressed. To allay people’s fears of a repeat of the Chernobyl, Russia and Fukushima, Japan nuclear plant accidents and disasters, however, Aumentado, together with Zamboanga del Norte 1st District Rep. Seth Frederick Jalosjos, filed House Bill 3651 seeking to create a nuclear energy regulatory body. The solon is currently in Vienna, Austria, on a scientific visit to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the Vienna International Center. The attendees will attend briefings and participate in discussions on key aspects of comprehensive nuclear laws. These include the establishment of an independent regulatory body, nuclear safety and security requirements, safety of nuclear installations, radioactive waste and spent fuel management, safe guard and civil...PH cites benefits of WTO Information Technology Agreement
The Philippines, through Department of Trade and Industry’s Board of Investments (BOI) Governor Lucita Reyes, Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines (SEIPI) President Danilo Lachica and Ionics Vice-President for Operations Mr. Jay Chavez, recently participated at the celebration of World Trade Organization’s 20th Information Technology Agreement (ITA) Symposium held on 27-28 June in Geneva, Switzerland. According to Magnolia Uy, DTI Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Geneva (PTIC-Geneva), the event allowed for the member countries to highlight ITA’s role of providing households and domestic businesses access to more affordable and higher-quality Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) through tariffs elimination on hundreds of ICT products. The Philippines, as one of the 82 signatories of ITA, has benefited from the initial ITA signed in 1996 and its expansion of list in 2015. According to the Philippines’ chief ITA negotiator and Board of Investment Governor Lucita Reyes, the country’s ITA membership helped lower prices for key ICT hardware inputs that the BPO industry depends upon. At present, the country’s ICT services exports account for roughly 70% of total services exports while the ICT goods exports account for more than 35% of total exported goods. In terms of ICT goods exports, Lachica added that the Philippine semiconductor and electronics industry continues to grow at a steady rate, ranking as the 17th largest exporter of ICT products in the world valued at approximately USD 24 billion (out of USD 29 billion total electronics exports). However, according to Ionics Vice-President for Operations Jay Chavez, to sustain the demand of ICT services enterprises for ICT products, it is imperative for the Philippines to move...Tagbilaran celebrates cityhood courtesy of Erico Aumentado
By JUNE S. BLANCO TAGBILARAN celebrated its 51st foundation anniversary as a city yesterday, Saturday, July 1. The small budding town attained cityhood on July 1, 1966, chartered by virtue of Republic Act No. 4660. Since then, the city steadily grew as can be gleaned from, among others, its budget. It started with a mere P600,000 in 1966, to P262,092,983 in 1994. This prompted Rep. Erico Boyles Aumentado of Bohol’s 2nd District to push for its cityhood during the first regular session of the tenth Congress. In his explanatory note in House Bill 2435, Aumentado said from the date of its conversion, the city “began to chart its own destiny and undertook measures to carve its own identity.” The date has long been remembered by the people as a day of heroism, valor and dignity because its founding was achieved with the sacrifices and aspirations of its people to attain cityhood, he continued. “The date marks also the awareness of the people of their rich historical and cultural heritage, customs and traditions which they have developed all through these years from dawn of history, to the present, Aumentado observed. He added that the day has been enshrined in their hearts and celebrated with honor and dignity, the recollection of the historic blood compact between Datu Sikatuna and Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, the first international treaty of friendship entered into by a local chieftain with a foreign power. All this considered, the solon said, it is fitting and proper that the people of Tagbilaran City be allowed to commemorate its founding, charter and attainment of...National News
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