TACLOBAN CITY – Southern Leyte Rep. Christopherson Yap (2nd district) recently met with officials of several government agencies to address ‘communication gaps’ that result in the non-delivery of programs and services.

Yap met with officials of the Departments of Agriculture, Tourism, Public Works and Highways, and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

Also present during the meeting were all the 12 mayors in the second congressional district of Southern Leyte.

During the consultative meeting in Liloan, Yap said that he noticed that there was really a gap between national government agencies and local government units.

“That’s because of the line of communication. Some problems are not easily solved because of the process. We really need to have this kind of meeting wherein top officials of national government agencies meet local officials for them to come up with solutions to the problems on the ground immediately,” the lawmaker said.

“If we are able to come up with a solution to the problem of the local government units, maybe in the next budget meeting, we can come up with funding for the programs that need to be implemented in the district,” Yap added.

Yap said that the consultative meeting will now be done regularly by his office to be held in the 12 towns within the second congressional district.

The first meeting was held in Liloan town.

During the meeting, top officials of national government agencies also presented their programs being implemented in the second district.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

Leading digital solutions platform Globe has partnered with the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) to establish a cooperation framework for intelligence and data-sharing as it ramped up cybersecurity initiatives to keep the public safe from malicious and fraudulent activities online.
Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu and BAP President Antonio Moncupa Jr. led the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) along with Globe Chief Information Security Officer Anton Bonifacio, Globe Chief Privacy Officer Irish Salandanan-Almeida, BAP Cybersecurity Committee Chairman Eugene Acevedo, and BAP Managing Director Benjamin Castillo last August 4, 2022.
Established in March 1949, BAP now has 45 member banks, including 21 local banks and 24 foreign branches.
Through the agreement, BAP will encourage its member banks to work with Globe in addressing the rising volume and complexity of financial crimes, identity theft, phishing, spam SMS, scams and fraud brought about by increasing digital adoption.
These activities severely impact consumers and key stakeholders in the financial, telecommunications, e-commerce and other industries.
“The MOU with BAP will pave the way for Globe and the BAP member-banks to share data and intelligence for enhanced fraud detection and prevention. This will reduce limitations and streamline the collaborative process while ensuring compliance with the Data Privacy Act of the Philippines,” said Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu.
“We are pleased to enter into this partnership with Globe — one that would enhance the banking industry’s collective efforts in preventing cybercrime,” Antonio C. Moncupa, President of BAP, said. “This MOU will add to the measures we have in taking down cybercriminals and holding them accountable for their actions.”
Before the MoU, Globe had been collaborating with major banks and online retailers separately, providing a direct and round-the-clock communication channel for quick and efficient reporting, investigation, and blocking of any malicious activity.
For the first half of 2022 alone, Globe’s anti-spam and security protocols successfully blocked more than 138 million spam messages, over 9 million bank-related spam messages, and 1,119 spam voice calls.
Globe started its cybersecurity transformation journey in 2014 by building its capabilities to prevent attacks and threats to its infrastructure and protect its customers. It has a 24/7 security operations center with 100 people to fend off and detect attacks or breaches quickly.
Globe has also been relentless in its fight against cyber threats. It has a #StopSPAM portal for incident reports and cyber safety educational materials. It has also been rolling out the #MakeITsafePH campaign and the Digital Thumbprint Program (DTP) to raise awareness and push for responsible digital citizenship.
“We are continuously improving our anti-spam efforts. The partnership with BAP will strengthen our countermeasures against bank-related scams and spam,” Cu said.
As part of the country’s digitalization journey, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) aims to convert 50 percent of total retail transaction volume to electronic channels by 2023 under its Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap.
The central bank has successfully increased the share of digital payments in total retail transactions to 30.3 percent last year from 20.1 percent in 2020 and a mere one percent in 2013. (PR)

ORMOC CITY-With the onset of ‘ber months’, comes along the rainy season in the Philippines.
As such, the Maintenance Section of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) – Leyte 4th District Engineering Office (DEO) thru its fieldworkers intensifies the clearing and cleaning of drainages along the National roads within its jurisdiction.
This includes de-clogging and clearing of silted waterways, especially in flood-prone areas.
In an interview with the local media, District Engineer Allan D. Eway urges the public to practice proper waste disposal, and to refrain from throwing of garbage into the canals and drainage system, which cause clogged drainages that result in flooding.
Furthermore, he ensures that the Maintenance Personnel are always on alert and prepared to respond during calamities. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY – More than 20 root crops farmers in Baybay City benefited from the “Kulinarya” training of the Department of Tourism(DOT) as part of its assistance to the city hit by typhoon ‘Odette’ December of last year.

Training, held last September 7-9, was supervised by Mark Reynan Sabayan, the first chef in Eastern Visayas accredited by the DOT.

Tourism Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes said that the city government of Baybay selected the root crops farmers as beneficiaries of the skills training because it produces more than enough supply of crops that can be made into sweet potato chips, ‘kabkab’, and ice cream.

Farmers who are into root crops planting were hard-hit when Baybay was pummeled by Odette and later by typhoon ‘Agaton’ that hit the city April of this year.

Tiopes said that the skills training is intended to ‘level up’ their value-added products and in the process, increase their income.

Part of the training of the beneficiaries was improving and innovating the quality of food that they will serve, food handling and preparation, food safety and sanitation, menu planning, and costing.

Tiopes added that training on culinary is also a way of preparing the city for MICE or Meeting, Incentives, Conventions, and Events which is one of the priority tourism products of Baybay.

Among those who attended the training were Emilita Laluna, Nancy Goliat, and Luzviminda Avelino, all sweet potato farmers.

The three said that they did not expect to be selected for the skills development because what they know before is culinary training is only for those who are already in the food business like restaurants.

“There was a doubt at first but after it was explained to us that this training is an opportunity for us to improve and develop new skills that can help us have more income, it excites us,” Laluna said.

“This training helped me enhance my knowledge in baking which is a hobby of mine, giving me more knowledge on making dishes especially on root crops like sweet potato,” Goliat, for her part, said.

For Avelino, the training had opened and changed her perception on what tourism is.
“Before I always think that when you say tourism, it is only for people who can afford to travel or those with money. But after they explained to us that farmers also belong to the tourism sector because our products are used by the industry it changes my perception and I am glad that I was part of this training,” she said.

After the skills training, the participants received a cooking set which they can use to come up with a pop-up store to sell dishes and delicacies they will create from root crops products they produce on their farm.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)