by aimee | Jul 27, 2012 | Local News / Bohol Balita
Rey Anthony Chiu
MABINI, Bohol, July 21, 2012 (PIA) –Then, most farmers could only look helplessly as the floodwaters from the overflowing Tabunok River creep up and drown their rice crops.
Now, armed with the participatory assessment skills, plus an engineering inspiration, they have high hopes that their efforts give them a good fighting chance against the notorious floods that has claimed several lives here.
For most farmers, “tabunok” spells good harvest. Here, Tabunok is also fatal and destructive.
Tabunok, a local term for rich loam deposits left after a flood, is what most farmers here capitalize to produce the harvest in the more that 150 hectares of rice and prime farmlands.
The rich loam deposit, which the river brings, also causes the river to be called Tabunok.
Tabunok River partly assures people of good harvest when it brings in the rich soil during its flow. And when the water is just a bit too much, the flow also portends death and destruction, when the collected rainwater from the grazing grounds upriver converge to wash down Cogtong Bay, said Barangay Chairman Rodrigo Vallespin.
When that happens, he admits he could not sleep as he has to direct the barangay disaster council to effect the evacuations, knowing that the flooding may not only destroy crops.
When the floods come, it would be in a flash, he said adding that a school girl crossing the ankle deep stream down river was suddenly washed out to sea when the raging water tumbled down.
When the rains come at night, I could not sleep tight, knowing that down the village center, the water built up in the mountains could easily flood the ricefields and endanger the people.
To protect the barangay from the breaching of the river, the people in one participatory situational analysis identified a river control dike to guide the water’s flow and spare the barangay from the gush.
An 80 meter river dike funded by the barangay calamity fund proved to be one huge help then in 2008.
But during bigger rains, the water overflows before the wall, still filling the vast plains, shares Margarita Vallespin.
With several other concerns the barangay has to face, completely putting up the river dike as floodwater control was only a dream for the people. Until Makamasang Tugon (MT) came.
A fund granted by the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) to continue the government package of assistance for identified communities previously named Kalahi, the MT stirred the hope of the people of flood-prone San Isidro.
Having already identified the dike as a priority, the barangay tapped the sub-project fund for another 285 meters of flood control dike.
The fund grant is only a sub project, explains DSWD Regional Social Marketing Officer Simeon Remata III, as the primary project is training and mentoring communities to function on their own, driven by the development they earlier identified.
To make sure they get the most out of the funds, the Barangay Sub-Project Management Council decided to implement the project on their own, in a system DSWD called the community force account.
In fact, we made sure that the project is completed within a month, to let us be assured that the dike is in place before the rains come in July, chairman Vallespin, who also sits in the BSPMC admitted.
Implemented in February this year, the 285 meters flood control project even accomplished 15 meter more, Vallespin boasts.
Now snaking along the river path, the dike rises a good two feet above the plains, the approximately a feet above the usual flooding height, the community members attest.
Now with a dike that is designed to protect them and their fields, it is now up to the coming rainy season to prove if the taming of the river works.
It, however is not a problem for the barangay chairman who knows exactly what to do if that happens. (30)
ready to harvest rice during off season rains, confesses Barangay Chairman or feeds solves loess n inundation brings Rain water falling to the vast catch-ment of rolling cattle grazing grounds, collect to small creeks and tributaries until they converge into a river that gushes out to Cogtong Bay.
on an To the sea, Tabunok River flows through Barangay San Isidro as a major blessing to the river delta formed at its mouth Like any
by magnolia_eic | Jul 21, 2011 | Headlines, National News
MALACANANG released a book containing President Benigno S. Aquino III’s top legislative measures that will serve as a template of his administration for the country’s march towards progress and development.
The publication entitled “Priority Legislative Measures of the President” volume 1 (July 2010 to June 2011), was adopted by the House of Representatives and the Senate as their common legislative agenda for the Fifteenth Congress during the 111th Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting.
The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) and the Bureau of Communications Services (BCS) collaborated with Congress and the different agencies to come up with the publication. The book aimed at informing the private sector, academe, local government units and various stakeholders about what the administration has been doing with regards to policy measures as well as its vision in the next five years in office.
“The goal is to inform, empower and involve the people in crafting landmark legislative measures that will be vital to support the country’s development and progress,” PCOO Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma said. It provides a short analysis of how the bills ar e related to the 16-point agenda in the social contract and the Philippine Development Plan of 2011 to 2016, he added.
A year after President Aquino assumed office, he has not forgotten his promises to the people—that he will institute a feedback mechanism that will allow Filipinos from the grassroots level to raise their concerns about the government. (PCOO)
by magnolia_eic | Jun 24, 2011 | Headlines, National News
PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III launches the Department of Public Works and Highways’ “call center hotline” that aims to promote transparency and improve the DPWH’s complaints and feedback mechanism, during the Chief Executive’s visit to the agency’s
headquarters in Manila Thursday.
The launching of the DPWH 24/7call center hotline 165-02, which is being undertaken in cooperation with Solutions People Innovation (SPi)-Global Inc., a subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), coincides with the commemoration of the
department’s 113th anniversary.
SPi-Global Inc.’s relationship with PLDT ensures that DPWH can provide clients with a highly reliable operating platform, 24/7 connectivity and best-of-breed technology. Aside from the launch, the President, who will be joined by DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson, will also lead awarding ceremonies honoring 25 DPWH retirees and 20 loyalty awardees who have spent 40 years and above in public service with the Department. (PCOO)
by magnolia_eic | Nov 27, 2010 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
USA ka media tour ang himoon sa Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) aron pagpasuheto
sa mga sakop sa media sa mga proyekto sa Bohol nga gipundohan niini.
Ang JICA ahensyang tigpundo nga iya sa nasud nga Hapon ug kanunay nang nagtanyag sa hinabang
sa Bohol ilabi na sa mga programang agrikultura ug teknolohiya.
Sa media Tour, makig-uban ang taga JICA sa mga tinugyanan sa Bohol media didto sa isla nga
lungsod sa Carlos P. Garcia o Pitogo aron makig-sulti sa mga benepisaryo sa proyektong gipundohan
sa JICA didto.
Bisitahon sa bahan sa mga sakop sa prensa ang feeder port sa CPG ug makig-sulti ang mga sakop
sa media sa mga tawong nakabanepisyo sa imprastraktura nga gitukod pinaagi sa tabang sa Japan.
(PIABohol)
by magnolia_eic | Nov 27, 2010 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
POTABLE water and cold storage facility tops the priorities of Carlos P. Garcia town mayor Tesalonica
Boyboy and she deems it important to get these service utilities soonest.
At the press tour for national and local media organized by Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA) to inspect the P19M feeder port that it has partly funded in Pitogo, CPG, Mayor Boyboy said
that getting cheaper potable water services for the town would be a big social service boost in her
town.
Since the opening of the Pitogo ship facility, water, which some islanders source out from the
mainland has gone cheaper but that is not much, residents said.
While the port facility has become a major economic feeder for the town supplemented by the ports
of Popoo and Aguining, potable water has still tide the economic lift-off off the town, Mayor Boyboy
said.
President Carlos P Garcia town is separated from mainland Bohol through the deep Basiao Channel,
has been a key fishing town and livelihood is supplemented by farming and cottage industries.
On this, Mayor Boyboy said that putting up of a municipal waterworks system that complements the
existing three pumping units already in place in barangay San Jose can ease living conditions here.
In the town, potable water is still expensive, in Aguining for example, a 5-gallon container can cost
between P10 to P20, the mayor said.
While it may be cheap for others, in a town listed as one of Bohol’s most deprived, an ease in the
potable water problem could be a sigh of relief to the town’s poor, she stressed.
Aside from the water produced by the three pumps and being sold commercially as purified, other
main source is rain-water which islanders collect in rain water collectors and huge tanks.
Not everybody could build one however, she said.
Asked if the sea intrusion into the local aquifer is a problem, the lady mayor in her second term said
by far, they water dug from the island has been potable without any hint of saltwater intrusion.
To ease the problem, the mayor said they have asked for a P500K funding from Senator Miguel Zubiri
for the installation of a new 1.5 hp water pump. They are still awaiting for positive response form the
senator, she added.
On this, Eloisa Romero of the JICA said she would also explore possibilities on how the Japanese
Government could continue its service to the people of the island. (racPIABohol)
