by anyajulia | Sep 5, 2009 | Headlines, National News
TODAY, some two million patients get treated, and by any luck, one individual walks his way to the millionaires’ row if he wins in the P75M richer tax-free lotto for this year’s diamond anniversary draw of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
The PCSO offers the P75-million lotto, in time for the agency’s 75th Anniversary today.
“For the 75 years of continued support, we are giving away more than P100M pesos in our diamond anniversary traditional Sweepstakes Draw as our way of thanking Filipinos, says PCSO Visayas director William Medici during a press conference here.
A huge part of the lotto proceeds get poured into the agency’s social services programs.
According to Dr. Larry Cedro, 30% of the PCSO lotto go to charity upon which some 163,940 individual patients across the country have benefited from the agency’s medical assistance program.
Health authorities revealed that an estimated 6,660 Boholano patients have benefited from the agency’s charity funds and other services.
From the proceeds, PCSO also maintains endowment accounts at the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital in Tagbilaran and some municipal health facilities.
Today, more than 100,000 doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, health workers, medical professionals and concerned citizens from government and private sector perform the record breaking biggest act of charity in the country.
All of Bohol’s 1109 barangays would be covered in the mission, says Capitol Health consultant Fancy Baluyot.
The “100 Percent in One Day” project of the PCSO’s entails nationwide medical, dental and information- gathering mission to cover all of the country’s 41,995 barangays.
The project is envisioned to be both the 75th Anniversary of PCSO and a window for marginalized Filipinos from all over the country to access medical care and organized charity assistance, says Rosario Uriarte, PCSO General Manager and Vice Chair.
Four doctors, two dentists, four nurses and one pharmacist assisted by health professionals, army doctors and Barangay health workers and tanods set-up the mission areas and its security.
Aside from general checkups, minor surgeries like the removal of cataracts and lumps, dental services, eye examinations, bone scan and ear check monitor will be available in selected medical mission sites located in government hospitals and rural clinics.
Feeding missions are also coordinated by church based groups to coincide with the missions, sources revealed.
The mission also distributes free medicines to patients at the sites, mission coordinators in Bohol say.
“PCSO has been doing monthly medical and dental missions for several years now,” says Uriarte. “But this is the first time we’ll hold it in large scale in one day, targeting more than two million patients.”
The feeding missions would be conducted in selected barangays, mostly in depressed areas, in coordination with church-based groups and civic organizations.
The “One Hundred Percent in One Day” project, according to Uriarte, is envisioned to be an annual activity that will serve as a vehicle for spreading the “charity virus,” and make organized and systematic sharing coupled with volunteerism as a way of life for Filipinos. (PIA)
by anyajulia | Sep 4, 2009 | Headlines, National News
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to inaugurate the first Ethanol Distillery and Cogeneration plant in the Southeast Asian region. The plant has the capacity to produce 30- million litres of ethanol per year and approximately 8 Megawatt of power.
Owned and operated by the San Carlos Bioenergy Incorporated (SCBI), the plant was developed by Bronzeoak Philippines which provided the technical expertise in biomass power plant engineering while the Zabaleta and Company provided the sugar-based agricultural experience.
The project is expected to revive the sugar industry by using sugarcane as the primary feedstock to produce ethanol rather than sugar.
President Arroyo’s activities during the visit at the site include ribbon-cutting, unveiling of marker and a short program for the inauguration. (PIA/EAD)
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by anyajulia | Aug 14, 2009 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
BOHOL earns her third accolade in a row by grabbing the Consistent Regional Outstanding Winner in Nutrition (CROWN) this year, reports Governor Erico Aumentado Friday.
Bohol took the CROWN since 2006 and this year was a near sweep for Bohol, Gov. Aumenatdo commented over his weekly radio program aired live.
If not for Lapulapu City and its P28M nutrition program funds winning in the city category, Bohol could have swept it all, the governor who is enjoying his last term said.
Also winning in this year’s regional nutri-competition is Tubigon town for the second year in a row for municipal categories.
Winning too is Boholana Barangay Nutrition Scholar Pergentina Anod of Cagawasan Inabanga and Provincial Nutrition Coordinator Juliet Manliguez of the Bohol Provincial Health Office by besting other Central Visayan coordinators.
Elated to reveal how Bohol scored in this year’s regional fete, Aumentado, who personally received the award from the National Nutrition Council in a Cebu ceremony, said the council considered local efforts to blot out hunger to part with the award.
He said the council took the Rice Accelerated Emergency Response (Racer), the backyard gardening program advanced by the Provincial Legislative Council through Vice Governor Julius Caesar Herrera, the supplemental feeding program and the monthly feeding activities for poor children at CIVAC venues as indicative of the efforts to blot out hunger and pump in nutrition for the entire province.
As this came, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also issued Executive Order No. 825 creating the Local Anti-Hunger Task Force.
Bohol local officials laos hope to create, by virtue of the Presidential directive, its own anti-hunger task force to advance its interests in immediate hunger mitigation.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the President created the order with her commitment to eradicate all forms of deprivation, including that relates to hunger, by pursuing the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The latest quarterly survey on hunger conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that hunger incidence in the country declined dramatically from 23.7 percent (4.3 million families) in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 15.5 percent (2.9 million families out of 86 million Filipino population).
He said the Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program (AHMP) implemented by the Arroyo government addresses hunger both on the aspect of supply, or the unavailability or insufficiency of food to eat, and on the aspect of demand, or the lack of money to buy food.
The AHMP is implemented by national government agencies based on the hunger-mitigation program framework, in cooperation with local government units. (PIA)
by anyajulia | Jul 20, 2009 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
THE first of the country’s biggest lode of jatropha oil to hit loop of clean energy markets may not be from Bohol yet, but local authorities are certain getting into the top seat is not impossible.
With the country’s biggest jatropha curcas nursery here, Capitol chief of staff and spokesperson Antonieto Pernia over the Governor Reports bared that anchoring Bohol’s dream of hitching in the local loop starts with at least a thousand hectares by the end of the month.
Now with about 500 hectares already planted, Pernia was positive the thousand hectares by the end of the year is achievable.
After that, Bohol aims to hit 6,000 hectares next year to complete the 10,000 hectare legacy.
This is before the Governor signs a memorandum of agreement with Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) this Wednesday, to formalize the financing agreement for the ambitious project set as a legacy of the Aumentado leadership.
Gov. Aumentado earlier wanted some 10,000 hectares of Bohol idle lands converted into jatropha plantations and more expansions after his term.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who comes to Bohol on that day would be a witness to the signing of the agreements to be entered into by Bohol through Governor Erico Aumentado and PNOC through Alternative Fuels Corporation (AFC) Romeo P. Tolentino, Capitol said.
The project, Pernia revealed would entail Bohol putting up 10,000 hectares of jatropha plantation while the PNOC apportioning at least P25 million for it.
Succeeding expansion plans would also be available as the contract with PNOC expires after 25 years.
Pernia named the villages of Bayong, Cantaub Sierra Bullones and Biabas Guindulman within the ancestral domains of the Eskaya tribe as the site for the nurseries
With the market for cleaner energy now becoming more attractive, jatropha as biodiesel alternative solves the issue of food versus fuel concerns, research would show.
Next year, the country’s biggest lode: about 30 million gallons of jatropha oil would be exported by the Philippine unit of Monterey, California-based Abundant Biofuels Corp. (ABC) as quoted from an email by the company’s chairman, Dr. Charles V. Fishel to the Philippine News Agency
ABC, which offers long-term contracts of up to ten years in multiples of 50,000 barrels sell bio-diesel feedstock to refineries in the US. The company also offers project financing.
Said to be the largest contract for non-food biodiesel, ABC has tied up with a subsidiary called JatrophaBioJet Corporation here.
Since 2007, ABC through JatrophaBioJet Corporation sealed a partnership with the Supreme Council of Datus Alimaong – the Holy Warriors (SCODA), which represents ancestral domain holders in Northern Mindanao.
“In this time of worldwide economic uncertainty, the export revenues will help (boost) the Philippines’ balance of payments,” Fisher was quoted as saying. (PIA)
by anyajulia | Jul 16, 2009 | Headlines, Major Events
The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has released its semi-finalists for the 2009 Search for 2009 Outstanding Public Officials and Employees or more commonly known as the Honor Awards Program (HAP).
“The entire bureaucracy and other concerned individuals are enjoined to send their feedback regarding the enumerated semi-finalists to the HAP Secretariat,” CSC discloses. Deadline for the submission of feedback is on July 29, 2009.
Based on the CSC announcement, there are 27 semi-finalists for the Presidential Lingkod Bayan awards while the Dangal ng Bayan and Pagasa awards next round qualifiers are 19 and 17 nominees, respectively. (PIA)
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