Lanao del Sur embarks on agro-forestry production.written by:Julminir I.Jannaral,Manila Times

COTABATO CITY: The provincial government of Lanao del Sur is embarking on massive raising of fruit-bearing, rubber and other high value trees and may likely include coconut palms which President Benigno Aquino 3rd is promoting for mass "buko juice" production as potential export. This, following the recent creation of Task Force Ranao aimed to maintain peace and orde Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal "Bombit"Adiong Jr. said he was set to fly to Manila Wednesday to meet the administrator of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) for the possible crafting of a plan to include coconut production in his administration's farming drive. "I would meet with the PCA hierarchy for its possible assistance in our desire to include massive coconut production in line with the President's expressed impetus for production of buko juice, oil and other coco by-products," Adiong said. Governor Adiong upon his re-election in 2010 said he had developed a provincial nursery in his hometown of Ditsaan-Ramain capable of accommodating 300,000 seedlings at a time, but the distribution and planting works have been stalled because of unstable peace and order affected by pervasive local feudal politics and other lawless activities. "With the creation of he Task Force Ranao, which the President has supported, to contain all sorts of criminal activities in our province, we now unleash our full efforts in planting, rubber and fruit-bearing trees. Very soon, we will include coconut farming," Adiong said. Presently, he said, the provincial nursery contains more than 50,000 assorted seedlings that will be distributed free to all towns with known vast idle lands. Few days after the creation of the task force by the country top defense, military and police brasses on Sept. 24, many residents have started preparing their long-abandoned lands for use in agro-forestry development to boost the economy of the province. "One basic element of high criminality incidence is poverty. When one is hungry, he is likely to be angry and tending to commit any actions to feed his family. Chances are, the actions come in ille

P3.9B ARMM fund missing, Jaime Pilapil,reporter,Manila Times

WHERE is the money? It looks like the P3.9-billion fund for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has gone missing after Malacañang said on Thursday that it had no idea if the fund exists. The Palace also denied that President Benigno Aquino 3rd stopped the release of the money so he could give it as a "welcome gift" to the officer-in-charge of the Muslim autonomous region once that person is installed. "As far as Malacañang is concerned, there is no such order given by the President," Malacañang spokesman Edwin Lacierda said. According to him, even Budget Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad has no knowledge of the money. "I talked to Secretary Abad about that. In fact, he was surprised. What is that P3.9 billion? He is not aware of that," the spokesman said. "There's no information that we received (the money). I think the article has highly reliable sources, but I confirmed with Secretary Abad and there's no truth to that," he added. A source from the ARMM earlier claimed that the fund should have been used for education and health assistance for the region. The insider added that the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) approved the release of the money for several education and environment projects. The package will be implemented under the Australian Assistance for International Development (AusAID) Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM). The foreign donor would shell out P3.57 billion, while the Philippine government would put up the P357-million balance. Ali Macabalang of the ARMM Bureau of Public Information has confirmed the existence of the AusAID fund. He said that it was ARMM Acting Gov. Ansaruddin Adiong who lobbied for the fund before AusAID officials. A press release issued by the Philippine Information Agency on Sept. 7, 2011 said that the Department of Education (DepEd) would soon implement the P3.927-billion education and environment projects in the ARMM. The Bureau of Public Information (BPI) of the ARMM said that the Cabinet Committee of NEDA had approved projects on education and environment. According to the press release, NEDA approved the Basic Education Assistance for Muslim Mindanao, which aims to improve basic education performance in the autonomous region by addressing fundamental issues like low levels of intake, participation, completion rates and learning achievement for both elementary and high school education.

Lanao Sur school children benefit from Health Program

Lanao Sur school children benefit from Health Program                                       By:MARIZ REVALES Daily tooth brushing with fluoride ,and bi annual deworming of school children of  Bacolod Kalawi Central Pilot   School during the launching of  Essential Health Care Program. Looking on are DepEd officials and  Provincial Government First Lady Raifa Adiong. (RIC CLET)       Kalawi,Lanao del Sur -  The Local Government Unit  (LGU) of Bacolod, Kalawi  through Mayor Diarangan "Jaffar" Dipatuan was the beneficiary of the Health Program. He expressed his gratitude and thanks that the school children of his town had been chosen beneficiaries of the Essential Heath Care Program for Children of Lanao del Sur sponsored by the Australian and German governments with the support of the local government units in the province and the autonomous region.  He said the municipal government of Bacolod Kalawi will do whatever it can to fully support the program for the benefit of the children in the municipality, particularly the school children of Bacolod Kalawi Central Pilot School. Meantime, Vice Mayor Abdullah C. Ampuan disclosed that Mayor Dipatuan has implemented various development project in his town for the benefit of the people including water system and multi-purpose building.   Bacolod Kalawi Mayor Diarangan "Jaffar" Dipatuan expressed his thanks and gratitude to the concerned agencies for launching the Essential Health Care Program in his municipality as pilot project in Lanao del Sur during the interview with media personalities. (From left -right)  Phil Pa- alan of Kalikasan Magazine, Mar Sabate of  Birada News Daily, Linda Genovia of Gold Star Daily and Mariz Revales of GMANews.Tv.  (RIC CLET)   Meanwhile, Education District Supervisor Sohria Tomawis,  Al Hadja  also expressed her thanks and gratitude to the sponsoring entities, particularly the Australian and German governments for  benefiting the children of the municipality  in the Essential Health Care Program for  Children of Lanao del Sur launched Thursday at Bacolod Kalawi  Central Pilot School in Bacolod Kalawi, Lanao del Sur.  She said the school district will provide proper guidance for the children of Bacolod Kalawi Central Pilot School consisting of 17 teachers and 600 pupils. She said the sustainability of the program will largely depend on the support of the local government units in the area. Thursday October 16, 2011, the Australian Agency for International Development (UusAid) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Departemnt of Education-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DepEd-ARMM), the local government of Lanao del Sur,and the Philippine NGO fit for school (FIT) convened for the event that includes a Memorandum of Agreement signing, the official launching of the Essential Health Care Program  (EHCP) here,and the celebration of Global Handwashing Day.  DepEd officials of Bacolod kalawi pose with Mayor Diarangan "Jaffar" Dipatuan, and  First Lady Raifa Adiong on the occasion of the launching of the EHCP for children of Lanao del Sur at the Bacolod Kalawi Central Pilot School. .(RIC CLET)  Kalwi The memorandum of Agreement represents the combined efforts of DepEd, the LGU, and FIT to tackle the poor health and sanitation status of the children in the province. The agreement formalizes the commitment to implement and sustain the  in public elementary schools. The provincial government was represented by Governor Mamintal Adiong,Jr, The DepEd-ARMM by Normallah R. Pangandaman –Lanao del Sur I-A Division, Sangcad Benito for Lanao del Sur I-B, Zenaida P. Ampatuan, Al Hadja, PHD for Lanao del Sur II-A, Lawanbai B. Macacua, Al Hadja, PHD for Lanao del Sur II-B, and Pharida L.M. Sansarona for Marawi City Division, and FIT for School by its Director of Operations Cromwell Bacareza. Bacolod Kalawi Mayor Diarangan "Jaffar" Dipatuan  with media groups on the launching of  Essential Health Care Program. (RIC CLET) The launching is in accordance with the MOA that was signed by Acting ARMM Gov. Ansaruddin Adiong last August 18, 2011 for the implementation of the program in the ARMM. The launching took place in Bacolod Pilot School, Lanao del Sur and also included the ceremonial turnover of the EHCP packages-toothpaste, toothbrush, and soap-to the school as well as a hand washing and tooth brushing demonstration. The signing and official launching of the program is also in connectin with Global Handwashing Day- aGlobal Publilc-Private Partnership for Handwashing campaign that actively promotes and fosters the culture of handwashing with soap. The annual event is celebrated by over 200 million people across 100 countries and endorsed by a wide array of governments, international institutions, civil society organizations, NGOs, private companies, and individuals. Fit for School Inc. is a Philippine not for profit organization that works closely with the health and education sectors, various development agencies , and private partners to effectively promote, implement, and sustain the Essential Health Care Program in public elementary schools. The EHCP consists of three interventions: daily hand washing with soap, daily tooth brushing, with fluoride toothpaste, and bi-annual deworming. The simple yet cost-effective program has been proven to be effective in reducing the spread of infectious diseases and rate of tooth decay among children, ultimately creating positive impacts on the child's school attendance. It has been successfully implemented in 23 provinces nationwide, and has been scaled up to a national program.            Go to Previous message | Go to Next message | Back to Messages | Full Headers Reply Reply All Forward Forward

Haribon Brigade donates chairs to Marawi Madrasah

Haribon Brigade donates chairs

to Marawi Madrasah

by: Mariz Revales

 

KAMPO RANAO, MARAWI CITY. The 103^rd Infantry (HARIBON) Brigade of the Philippine Army based in Kampo Ranao, Marawi City through one of its operationally controlled units, 64^th Infantry (Knights) Battalion, donated forty (40) school chairs to Madrasah, the Lanao Islamic Paramedical College Foundation Inc (LIPCFI) on October 06, 2011. These chairs have been constructed by the soldiers of 64IB utilizing the confiscated fletches of lumber yielded from illegal logging. LTC DARIO C BUCAWIT presented the donation before the students, faculty and school administrators of LIPCFI in behalf of 103^rd Inf (HARIBON) Bde.

 

A simple turn-over ceremony of the said chairs was held at the school lobby. One of the students, Ms Eden Camsa of the college of midwifery, extended her gratitude to the military particularly to the Battalion and the Brigade. “I am very happy that the Philippine Army chose our school among other schools in Marawi City to be the recipient of these chairs”, she remarked in delight. LTC BUCAWIT, on the other hand, assured the school of the AFP’s assistance in any way possible. He emphasized that the military presence in the area is not solely to pursue those individuals who have violated the people’s rights but most importantly to tender the government’s services to the people.

Donation of the school chairs was made to strengthen the relationship between the school and the military. Accordingly, it is one way of how soldiers give back to the taxpayers the services they deserve. Said activity is in line with the AFP’s current Internal Peace and Security Plan “Bayanihan” designed to win the peace in every corner of the country.