by magnolia_eic | Sep 18, 2010 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
IS tourism really that miracle engine behind Bohol’s economic boost? Many want to know.
But absent the necessary data that would confirm or deny the claim, Capitol is now eyeing a study
commissioned to do exactly that.
At the recent Kapihan sa PIA aired live over DyTR, researchers at the Holy Name University shared
that Capitol is now formalizing negotiations with the local research firm to make tourism profiles
of towns as a baseline data laying the substrata of the newest economic wonder engine claim.
Holy Name University’s Bohol Poll, which has established a track record of credibility after conducting
almost accurate predictions in its regular annual surveys since 1998 could be Capitol’s choice of
partners in the survey.
“The profile would give us an accurate picture of the tourism in the towns, its services, facilities and
supports structures,” Josephine Cemine of the Holy Name University Center for Local Governance
said.
Cemine also revealed that they are now studying Capitol’s request for assistance to help them put up
a data base that would rightfully support Bohol’s claims.
The negotiations however are not yet final, she hinted during the weekly forum held at the PIA.
The research data gathered could actually pinpoint if Bohol’s crafted vision to pre-position the
province as a prime eco-cultural tourism destination in the country has borne fruit in the last decade.
The data could also tell if eco-tourism benefits have created the “noted” economic up-liftment of
communities as recorded by the United Nation’s Human Development Index.
Romeo Teruel of the Bohol Center for Development Studies said that the present Capitol
Administration has put in regular employees at the Capitol research Unit because all locally funded
programs and decisions from then on would be research-based.
The Kapihan sa PIA segment for the week was on the celebration of the Development Policy
Research Month celebrated in September via Presidential Proclamation 247.
Taking turns in explaining the crucial role of research in policy decisions and local development,
Cimene, Teruel and Holy Name University’s Research center Coordinator Ma. Paz Espiritu emphasized
the crucial role of research-based development policies to help government allocate its scarce
resources. (racPIABohol)
by magnolia_eic | Jul 28, 2010 | Headlines
DISASTER and risk reduction managers here call for rationalized calamity fund spending amidst an expose by President Benigno Simeon Aquino on the depletion of the country’s disaster funds.
Local risk managers want to assure that local governments are better equipped against natural and human disasters, they said.
Disaster council vice chairman, PSSupt Rodolfo A. Llorca seeks asks the provincial board to put a legislative stop on the using the un-used calamity funds as a bonus pot for local government workers.
Speaking at the weekly Kapihan sa PIA Thursday to commemorate the Disaster Consciousness Month, disaster managers PSSupt Llorca and Bureau of Fire Supt Pepe Rebusa hinted that several local government units (LGU) have fair knowledge about how to use the mandated 5% calamity fund placed at their disposal.
The local government code mandates that LGUs shall annually appropriate 5% of its development funds for disaster management.
This shall be used for aid, relief and rehabilitation services to communities and areas affected by man-made and natural calamities, repair and reconstruction of permanent structures, including other capital expenditures for disaster operation, and rehabilitation activities.
But as to the guidelines on how to use them, the law is mum, opening up a gray area, said a barangay official in an interview.
Llorca said that disaster mitigation and risk management spending can be planned in as much as LGUs can look up to three major phases of disaster response.
He said the initial phase is prevention, which can be responded by putting up disaster emergency and rescue equipment, disaster response where relief operations are done and post disaster response where funds could be allocated for evacuations.
However, with hazy guidelines, local government units conveniently realign the calamity funds by the end of the calendar year so the funds can be declared savings and so are available for personnel incentives.
That could be okay of the LGU has already prepared sufficient equipment and resources on disaster response, but most LGUs are not equipped against disaster, Llorca said.
The weekly forum at Kapihan sa PIA also discussed the theme: Pag-alerto: Malayo sa Peligro. (rac/PIABohol)
by magnolia_eic | Jul 5, 2010 | Local News / Bohol Balita
POLITICS barely affect the community life tours, says Abatan River Development and Management Council (ARDMC).
New leaderships or any wayward development plans along the Abatan river is decided by not just one but a council, and that consultative forum does not threaten the operation of the tours, agree both erstwhile and present council chairs and former Maribojoc Mayor Gavino Redulla and current re-elected Catigbian Mayor Roberto Salinas.
Mayor Salinas said even with new leaders elected for Antequera and Balilihan, the new-comers are not new to the program as they have been a part of the widespread participatory planning process, which laid the ground-works for the new eco-tourism product.
Former Mayor Gavino Redulla, who used to head the council also said that they were careful that the product development, that is, that the community life tours undergo participatory planning sessions from communities in five towns to make sure everybody knows what they are into.
Speaking at the recent Kapihan sa PIA which tackled the newly launched community life tours of Abatan River towns as ecotourism development strategy to sustainably manage the river resource, both council leaders believe newly leaders are generally familiar with the activities and the Abatan River development master plan.
Balilihan’s new mayor, Dominisio Chatto was then vice mayor, while Antequera’s Mario Pahang also sat as the town vice mayor during the product development stage.
Cortes Mayor Apolinaria Balistoy, Maribojoc Mayor Leoncio Evasco Jr and Catigbian’s Mayor Salinas have retained their seats and would continue so in the next three years, at least.
Often regarded by many as a competition for the already famous Loboc River Cruises, the Abatan Community Life Tours is an entirely different experience, stresses Governor-elect Edgar Chatto, whose congressional funds then helped finance the endeavor.
The community life tour as managed by the beneficiary towns showcases aside from the often misunderstood mangrove ecosystems, the communities living about in their usual daily rituals, Redulla said.
Starting from the main community village center in Cortes, the tour takes one to some five major stops, all in riverside communities of Abatan-Lincod, Santo Rosario, Kawasan Falls and Catigbian’s Dagook Falls.
The tour also includes artistic and cultural presentations showcasing rituals of Wadji, nipa mangrove livelihood activities, basket-weaving and home industries, rural community immersions in Balilihan and Catigbian as well as a package of innovations in governance.
Interested tourists can drop by at the Abatan Main village center at national Highway in Junction Cortes and book a trip. (PIA-Bohol)
by anyajulia | Nov 10, 2008 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
LEARNING from the 1997 Asian economic crisis has helped the Philippines “float over the waves of the global financial storm,” Bohol Bankers jointly agree.
Bankers here agree that the country has in place strong economic fundamentals and strong credit policies and this would insulate the country for the sweeping fiscal crisis.
Speaking at the Kapihan sa PIA last week, Bohol Bankers Association (BBA) headed by banker Rodney Lumuthang along with the group’s Board of Directors assured Boholano depositors that the phenomenon of the global economic crisis is not a thing to worry about.
The global financial strain has recently stirred depositors who think that the meltdown in major US financial establishments could cause unthinkable repercussions in the world, which depends fairly on the US economy.
Here however, bankers noted not much ripples caused and BBA Chairman Lumuthang along with UnionBank’s Marius Borja assured “we have in place a stable financial fundamentals, and the public should know that the banks are committed to protect the interest of our depositors.”
Click for the full article at the official PIA website
