MANILA- Ambassador Sung Kim recently administered a swearing-in of three new -in three Peace Corps Response Volunteers (PCRVs) at the Peace Corps Office in Manila.
These PCRVs are experts on information communication technology and are now beginning a five-month assignment with local partner institutions including the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
This group is part of an innovative public-private partnership between the U.S. Peace Corps and IBM in which participants from the IBM Corporate Service Corps (IBM-CSC) and PCRVs collaborate with Philippine partners on high-impact projects in the areas of disaster risk reduction and management.
The PCRVs and IBM-CSC participants will provide technical support to improve the fast and accurate dissemination of information concerning disaster preparation and response.
Along with the efforts to enhance information systems, they will also conduct staff capacity development activities with Pagasa and Phivolcs.
This is the second Peace Corps and IBM partnership in the Philippines. The first was successfully completed in cooperation with the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, Laguna, an international research organization dedicated to reducing poverty and hunger, improving the health and welfare of rice farmers and consumers and protecting the rice-growing environment for future generations through rice science.(PR)
Peace Corps and IBM Join Forces to Promote Disaster Preparedness
Samar 1st engineering district joined international clean-up day
CALBAYOG CITY- The Samar First District Engineering Office of the Department of Public Works and Highways joined the 31st International Coastal Cleanup on September 16, 2017 at Naga Beach, Brgy. Carayman, this city.
With the theme “Together for Our Ocean”, the activity aims to promote better ocean health and environmental consciousness.
The activity was in pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No.470, series of 2003, declaring every third of Saturday of September of every year as the International Coastal Cleanup Day.
Volunteers from every section of the office picked and segregated trash or debris for item classification.
They were able to collect 53 kilos of trash in 31 bags on a stretch of 1.2 kilometers of coastline in the location. The top three trashes collected were coconut husks, twigs/tree trunks/bamboos, and plastic bags.(PR)
EVRMC new outpatient building formally turned over by JICA
TACLOBAN CITY- The outpatient department building at the new Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) was formally turned over to its management by donor Japanese International Cooperative Agency (JICA) on Thursday (September 21).
Present during the turnover were JICA officials and health officials led by Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial who said that the three-story building is an additional health facility that could tremendously benefit the people of the region who are in need of health services.
The outpatient building, built at a cost of P411 million, is part of the assistance of the Japanese government after the region was battered by super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ on November 8, 2013.
The facility offers services such as anesthesiology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, pathology, psychiatry, radiology, rehabilitation medicine, hemodialysis, and endoscopy, among others.
The building was designed for more comfortable waiting spaces for patients, improved privacy through individualized clinics.
It is also as a green environment building because it has more open spaces with only selected areas using air-conditioning units.
The outpatient building is located adjacent to the main EVRMC building located to its new location in Barangay Cabalawan.
Sec. Ubial recognizes her predecessors Enrique Ona and Janette Garin why the building was realized.
Ubial also said that aside from the current structures that are on-going construction, the DOH will fund construction of additional structures in the complex like a cancer center, and blood center.
The regional offices of the DOH and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) will also be built inside the more than 15 –hectare complex.
Currently operational within the new EVRMC complex are the Mother and Child Hospital, a donation from Bloomberry Foundation worth almost P400 million, the 6-story EVRMC main hospital and administration building that is worth more than P1 billion funded by the national government.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
Cruz orders massive arrests of wanted persons in EV
CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, PALO, Leyte- Expect arrests of wanted persons all over the region in the next few days.
Chief Supt. Gilberto Cruz, police regional director, directed all provincial directors, city, and municipal chiefs to go after those who have outstanding warrants.
Cruz, who issued the directive on Monday (Sept.18), said that he was surprised that despite the warrants issued against the suspects, they still remain at large.
The police regional director said that Eastern Visayas has one of the highest records in terms of persons with warrants that remain at large, particularly those facing rape charges.
“This week, we will be starting our simultaneous service of warrant of arrests to start tomorrow,” Cruz said.
In Samar, warranted persons are being used as private armed group (PAG) members, responsible of killings there.
Cruz himself said that PAGs and those who are financing their existence are up for a “surprise” as he vowed to purge them.
Local politicians are said to be financiers of PAGs in Samar, considered among the hot spot areas in the region, especially during election period.
The regional police director, barely one month since he assumed his post last August 30, said that by arresting these suspects, the problem on peace and order in the region could also be addressed.
He, however, said that the arrests would be done in such a way that the rights of the suspects would not be violated.
For one, he would make sure that those who will be arrested are only with outstanding warrants issued by the courts.
Cruz said that during their operations, body cameras he personally distributed to provincial headquarters and city police stations will be used to ensure that no violations would be committed by the authorities in the course of their operations.
Cruz had earlier vowed that the rights of the suspects would be respected though he said that if the lives of the police officers would be in danger, they have all the right to defend themselves.
BY JOEY A. GABIETA
Tacloban to hold an anti-drug summit on Sept. 21
President Duterte invited to grace the event
The city government through the New Beginnings Program has made headway in its anti-drug initiatives.
TACLOBAN CITY-As part of its commitment to the national anti-drug campaign, a gathering of all anti-drug stakeholders will take place in this city on September 21 spearheaded by the city government under Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez.
President Rodrigo Duterte and Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial have been invited to attend the morning gathering to be held at the Tacloban Convention Center.
Dr. Gloria Fabrigas, head of the New Beginnings Program, said that the event dubbed “New Beginnings for Change Summit,” will gather all sectors in the city to include the business sector, civil society organizations, barangays and various schools.
The New Beginnings Program is an initiative of Mayor Romualdez which has now become a flagship program under the Caring, Giving and Reaching out (CGR) Program which serves as the substance abuse prevention, control, rehabilitation, and recovery program of the city government.
Among the activities planned for the half-day event with theme, “Pagkaurusa para han Pagbag-o Kontra Iligal na Droga, Kriminalidad, Korapsyon, ngan Terorismo,” is a poster and jingle making competition for elementary and high school students.
A film-making competition will also be held for college students; pre-screening of entries will be done by the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education.
The event will also feature booths that will be put up by the participating stakeholders.
A recognition activity for the drug-cleared barangays is also set to be held on that day while those who completed the city drug rehabilitation program will be given recognition.
The city government through the New Beginnings Program has made headway in its anti-drug initiatives.
Recently, Advocates of the New Beginning program were made beneficiaries of free training on organic farming by the SM Foundation as part of their After Care Program.
The City Social Welfare and Development Office, meanwhile, handed out financial assistance to the drug surrenderees.
Fabregas said that the assessment and screening of drug surrenderees are continuously being done in the barangays.
The event is in cooperation with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Philippine National Police, Department of Education (DepEd) and Commission on Higher Education (CHED), among other stakeholders.
(HENRY JAMES G. ROCA/CIO)
Cops in EV to use body cameras during anti-drug operations
Cruz says this will erase allegations of police abuses
CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, PALO, Leyte-Starting this week, operations on illegal drugs and other criminalities in the region will be on video recordings.
This after 20 body cameras were distributed to the six provinces and seven cities police headquarters and stations in the region by Chief Supt. Gilberto Cruz, regional police director, after their flag ceremony on Monday(Sept.18) at their regional headquarters, this town.
The provincial police headquarters are to receive two body cameras while the seven city police stations will receive one unit each.
The remaining one body camera will be used at the Philippine National Police (PNP) regional headquarters.
Chief Supt. Cruz said that the body cameras were donated by his friends from Metro Manila and not a single centavo was used by their headquarters or from their national headquarters.
“These body cameras will be used during our anti-drug operations and other criminalities. This will dispel allegations that the police are committing abuses, planting of evidences and even EJK (extrajudicial killing),” Cruz said during an interview.
He also said that aside from the body cameras, he would also encourage the members of the media to join their operations and see for themselves “the risks and sacrifices being made by the policemen” as they carry out their duty.
He said that next week, another 30 body cameras are to be distributed to other police stations in the region until all police stations will have at least one unit.
There are 121 police stations in the region.
Cruz said that the body camera will be an advantage for both police operatives and the subjects of the operations as everything will be recorded.
“We want to be transparent in our operations. We want to provide protection both to our policemen and the suspects,” he said.
Meantime, while other police stations have yet to have their own body cameras, he asked them to record their operations using the camera of their mobile phones.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)