by admin | Sep 5, 2015 | Local News / Bohol Balita
Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino met with the Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) board of trustees on September 4, 2015 at 9:00AM at the Coralandia Resort for a open agenda meeting. The trustees were led by BCCI President Engr. Al Uy. Bohol Governor Edgar M. Chatto was also present during the meeting.
The senator gave an overview of the Go Negosyo Act (Republic Act No. 10644) which mandates the creation of Pinoy Negosyo Centers, under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in each city and municipality around the country. These Pinoy Negosyo centers are meant to make it easier for entrepreneurs to register and start up their businesses, as well as gain access to sources of financing.
The senator also asked for feedback on some of the programs where his office was involved or have supported.
Among the topics discussed were the proposed tax reforms, tax breaks for startups, and how to enable local manufacturers to compete with established suppliers from outside the province in suppling the tourism industry with various products such as premium soap for hotels. The senator mentioned that our tax law is too complex and the tax brackets are outdated.
The senator also wants to encourage startups which would generate jobs for the country by giving them a tax break for the first two years. Earlier this year, President Benigno
(L-R) BCCI President Engr. Al Uy, Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino and Bohol Gov. Edgar Chatto during the open agenda meeting with the BCCI.
Aquino signed into law the Youth Entrepreneurship Act or RA10679. The measure creates financial literacy modules in all levels of Philippine education, to inculcate a culture of enterprise development among the Filipino youth.
Also discussed in detail was the matter of the “slow” Internet service in the province and the country in general. Trustee and chairperson of the ICT committee of BCCI Jerome Auza pointed to Senator Aquino that the telcos in the country are committing only to 80% reliability of their services. Auza pointed out that 80% reliability is equivalent to the Internet service being down one day every five days or six days a month. For better service, the reliability commitment must be raised much higher.
BCCI has supported a USAID funded capacity development program to help enable SMEs gain the capability to make funding proposals that will have a good possibility of being approved by funding institutions.
The senator expressed his admiration to Bohol because the province has cultivated a dynamic and productive relationship among the LGUs, government agencies, the private sector, NGOs and religious organizations.
by admin | Aug 18, 2015 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, August 18 (PIA) –Like the phoenix which rises from the ashes, Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) at the Ubay Stock Farm in Lomangog is now up mooing to serve people and tourists as well with its Bohol carabao dairy outlet.
Now ready with their complete line of dairy of products ranging from carabao milk, cheese, processed dairy products including known Bohol cheesy sweets: torta, pastillas, cheese puto, chocobao, freshmilk, carabao ice cream and many more dairy products, the PCC also recently opened its Milka Krèm Plant and its first Bohol Dairy outlet in Lumangog.
This, according to the PCC is the first step in the plan to put up carabao milk and processed dairy products outlet in the plan to saturate Bohol with carabao milk and its products.
The ultimate dream is to put up Bohol Dairy Outlets in all tourism destinations in Bohol, shares Lenie Fe Libres, PCC information officer.
Libres, a developmental communications graduate at the Leyte State University, told tourism product development team assembled by Japan International Cooperation (JICA) for its eco-tourism Bohol project that very few people see the potential of carabao milk.
Fifteen years ago, Bohol was a non-dairy area until 1982 when the Philippine Carabao Research and Development Center was established and did extensive research on the farm animal.
A decade later, the center, located at the Ubay Stock Farm in Bohol started milking carabaos, a largely rare thing in a province whose idea of a carabao is only as extensive as a beast of burden and a meat source.
Five years after the 1992 successful milking carabaos, PCC started processing chocomilk and freshmilk manually until three years later when the processing plant stood, Libres recalled.
By 2010, PCC research went out of their laboratories when the milk processing reached their farmer adoptors who loaned bulls to improve the native breds.
Now in the towns of Dagohoy, San Miguel Trinidad and some few more towns with the potential for carabao daily development, the PCC also loans bulls to upgrade the local breeds.
The ultimate goal, is to increase the income of farmer adoptors, PCC sources said, who added that the target is to produce bulk dairy to make it commercially viable.
At the PCC, the eco-tourism stop includes a briefing on the PCC and the Bohol Dairy Development, a carabao milk and dairy products refreshments, a chance to watch mechanized milking, manually milk the carabaos, watch calves feed, learn the basics of animal care and a brief glimpse of the paddocks where milking cows freely graze. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)
by admin | Mar 25, 2015 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
HINGOTANAN ISLAND, Bien Unido, Bohol, March 24, (PIA) – Few days into the school breaks for vacation, pupils of Hingotanan in Bien Unido, get their “dreams in a box,” one that could help them spell a colorful summer.
The box are shoe boxes filled with pad paper, notebooks, crayons, pencils, pencil cases, ballpens, erasers, rulers and glue, 200 all of them for indigent kids of Hingotanan Elementary School.
Apart from that, a feeding program gathered the 200 kids in two classrooms for a packed lunch feeding program managed by the teachers, said Hingotanan principal Breeza Padillo.
“It comes to very good use especially when summer approaches and the island offers very limited options for play,” said a school teacher who asked not be named.
“Salamat sa gipanghatag,” 11 years old Marjorie Gudez said, a wide smile pasted on her face. She meekly hid her face however when asked if a photograph could be taken.
Meanwhile, another 11 year old Remie Robin, who did not get any box said he was happy for those who got their shoeboxes. He said more kids need the boxed school items more direly than he does.
A group called Information technology Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), Congressman Aristotle Aumentado , Bohol Information Communication Technology Council (BICTC) and Philippine Call Center Institute (PCCI) crossed the seas from Ubay to deliver the kids dream boxes.
The concept started in Manila, when kids decided to gather school supplies and share them to kids needing assistance, explained IBPAP’s Raymond Lacdao, who also brought the boxes from Manila for Hingotanan’s kids from financially challenged families.
The event, billed as My dream in a box is solely intended for the 200 kids of Hingotanan, Lacdao said amidst rousing applause.
He shared that when they asked during the coordination, Congressman Aumentado picked Hingotanan, it being severly affected by the storms which ruined the island’s seaweed industry.
The volunteering group composed of Manila, Cebu and Tagbilaran City based information technology advocates handed to the kids the shoeboxes in holiday wrappers shortly after lunch.
Congressman Aris Aumentado, who could not attend the event for a speaking engagement in the city was represented by his chief of staff Dongly Camacho.
Barangay chairmen Junie Sereno and Alex Mabalata also organized barangay tanods to haul the shoeboxes from the port to the school where the events happened. (rac/PIABohol)
by admin | Nov 22, 2014 | Local News / Bohol Balita, Tech Talk
TechTalks.PH Tagbilaran, in celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week, held a meetup with local entrepreneurs at Bohol Fab Lab at the Bohol Island State University on November 22, 2014. Jerome Auza of Auza.Net presented a learning session on “Getting Your Website Ready for Viral Fame” and Ms. Lai Biliran of Alturas Group of Companies discussed on an “Introduction to Entrepreneurship”.
Auza discussed on the requirements to make websites ready to receive high traffic when a product or content on the website becomes popular. He showed reports generated from backend analytics of some of Auza.Net’s high traffic websites. He also showed an example of the monitoring data and reports for a high traffic website during times when the content of a website becomes popular and goes viral. “Viral” is a tech lingo which means the content becomes exponentially popular on the Internet.
Biliran talked about the history of the Alturas Group of Companies which grew from a small sari-sari store to the largest employer in the province. From its humble beginnings, the group now is now into various industries such as aquaculture, feed mill, poultry, swine and other production and processing businesses. This is aside from the retail industry where the group has expanded to strategic points of presence in Bohol and Cebu.
Techtalks.PH Tagbilaran members, resource speakers and participants at the Fab Lab
During the round table discussion, the resource persons and the participants exchanged ideas on how the TechTalks.PH Tagbilaran group could help local entrepreneurs who are not necessarily in the technology sector. Future sessions could also include case studies featuring a local entrepreneur’s product and discussion on how information technology could make the product into a commercial success.
by admin | Nov 8, 2014 | Local News / Bohol Balita, Tech Talk
The College of Computer Studies of Holy Name University held a dialogue with industry players on November 8, 2014 at the Chico Cafe in Dao Diamond Hotel in Tagbilaran City. The dialogue was held in order for the college to gather opinions from the potential employers of its graduates in order to help improve the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science curriculum.
The BSCS Academic Program Review and Development Committee invited Henry Baliar, Head of Corporate IT of Alturas Group of Companies, Ruel Rule, founder of Geeko IT Solutions and Jerome Auza, Technology Consultant of Auza.Net. The committee members were Isabel Abucejo, Mariejo Narca and Jay Paig, all professors of the college.
L-R: Jerome Auza of Auza.Net, Ruel Rule of Geeko IT Solutions, Henry Bailar of Alturas Group of Companies, and the BSCS Academic Program Review and Development Committee members: Isabel Abucejo, Mariejoe Narca and Jay Paig
During the small group discussion, the committee gathered opinions from the industry players on the strengths and weaknesses of the graduates, the qualities and skills required of graduates, the trends in the industry that must be incorporated in the curriculum and possible linkages opportunities.
The industry players suggested updates on the curriculum on so that there would be elective subjects focusing on certain specializations of computing specializations like accounting, cloud computing and open source development. They also gave feedback on their experience with the graduates of HNU BSCS who have worked at their organizations.
