Sunday, April 14, 2024

Category: News

17K 4Ps beneficiaries in NorMin streamlined with PhilSys

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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The data of 17,740 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries in Northern Mindanao have been integrated into the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) to streamline social welfare services, reduce redundancy, and ensure that government assistance are distributed most efficiently

Ramel Jamen, Social Welfare and Development director for Region 10 (DSWD-10) said partnering with Philippine Statistics Authority Region 10 (PSA-10) for the Philsys integration signifies the two agencies’ commitment to uplifting the lives of Filipinos.

“By integrating 4Ps beneficiaries into the PhilSys, we are creating a foundation for more targeted, efficient, and accountable social welfare programs,” Jamen said in a statement on Tuesday.

The 4Ps program, which provides financial assistance to impoverished families, plays a crucial role in the country’s poverty alleviation efforts, he noted.

PhilSys is the government’s central identification platform designed to establish a single and reliable identification system for all citizens and resident aliens.

By enrolling 4Ps beneficiaries in the PhilSys, the DSWD, and PSA are taking steps towards improving service delivery and promoting transparency in social welfare programs, PSA-10 Officer-in-Charge Janith Aves said.

“Through PhilSys, we are building a more inclusive and digitally connected society,” Aves said.

Both agencies encouraged all eligible 4Ps beneficiaries to participate in the registration process, which will be carried out through designated registration areas by province.

The PSA also urged those who have not yet registered or received their e-PhilID to do so as soon as possible, as the agency aims to complete the target registration of 92 million individuals by December this year. (Nef Luczon/PNA)

DOH-10 urges public to buy generic medicines same quality but cheaper

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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)–The generic drugs have the same quality and effectiveness as the branded versions because they go through similar regulatory processes at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but they are cheaper, said an official from the Department of Health-Center for Health Development Northern Mindanao (DOH-CHDNM)

In Talakayan sa PIA: Konsultayo Series at SM CDO City Uptown, Dr. Steffi Grace Enon, medical officer of DOH-CHDNM, said generic medicine has the same active ingredient as the branded version, so it has the same effect.

Why is there generic medicine?

The Generics Act of 1988 ensures that Filipinos can access affordable and effective medicines.

Enon shared that there are two main types of medicines. The first is innovator medicine, which is made by pharmaceutical companies that are the ones to create the medicine first for a specific disease. They also apply for drug patents, meaning they have the sole right to make and sell the drug. But after a few years, with the patent expired, other manufacturers can then create the same drug.

According to Enon, all generic medications on the market underwent and passed the FDA process, while our generic medications met the same quality standards as branded medications.

DOH-CHDNM is requiring pharmaceutical companies to do mandatory generic labeling. “Tanan tambal dapat nakasulat didto ang generic nga ngalan [All medicine should have a generic name],” said Enon.

They also remind physicians and doctors to include the generic name of the drug in their prescriptions.

Lastly, DOH-CHDNM also reminds pharmacies to do generic dispensing or substitution. This means that when a patient goes to the pharmacy and asks for a generic prescription, he or she should be given the generic version of the drug.

There is also the Cheaper Medicines Act, which was issued in 2008 and is an amendment to the Generics Medicine Act.

The goal is to ensure there are generic versions available on the market. The Cheaper Medicines Act intends to lower the prices of medicine even more.

There are various ways to implement the law, Enon said. There is a maximum retail price and a price cap for medicines that belong to the top-burden diseases in the Philippines, like high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer, among others.

Second, there is a suggested retail price (SRP) for essential and emergency medicine.

“Mandated tanan nato drugstores and pharmacies, mag-submit sa Department of Health sa ilang presyo sa mga tambal [We have mandated drugstores and pharmacies to submit to the Department of Health the prices of their medicines],” said Enon.

Third is the drug price reference index. Basically, this is a list of the prices of medicines for bidding from the government.

“Kung mupalit ang isa ka government facility or agency, mu-abide gyud sila ani nga presyo [If a government facility or agency will buy, they need to abide by the set price],” added Enon. (JMOR/PIA-10)

Agri-10 conducts Young Farmers Challenge regional judging for start-ups

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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office 10 (DA-RFO 10) through the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD), spearheads the regional judging for the Young Farmers Challenge (YFC) for the start-up category at the agency compound here

According to DA-10 Regional Executive Director Carlene C. Collado, the YFC start-up is a competitive financial grant assistance program for youth who wish to engage in new or start-up agri-fishery enterprises, encouraging such sectors to pursue careers in agriculture.

Some 14 individuals have pitched their business model canvass; 10 have presented for the production category and four for processing.

Of whom were qualified at the regional level competition after being hailed as provincial winners representing Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Oriental, and Misamis Occidental.

Out of the presenters, only seven will be adjudged as winners: three from the processing category while four will be coming from the production category, with one slot added to the latter in the absence of an entry for digital agriculture.

Regional awardees will receive an additional financial grant of P150K on top of their previous grant, amounting to P80K for winning at the provincial level.

Another P300K also awaits those who will move to the national level of the YFC start-up competition.

The panel of judges is composed of DA-10 Regional Technical Director for Research and Regulations, Cora A. Dumayaca, Executive Assistant III, Joel S. Rudinas, and Regional Agricultural and Fishery Council – 10 Chair Nilda B. Salas. (DA RFO-10)

DSWD-10 organizes community volunteers congress in Normin

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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) recently held a Regional Community Volunteers’ Congress and Bayani Ka! Awards to gather Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) stakeholders and recognize exemplary volunteers, groups, and partners

The Volunteers’ Congress is the biggest gathering of KALAHI-CIDSS stakeholders in the implementation of Community-Driven Development (CDD) in Region 10.

Mary Nathalie D. Soldevilla, Social Marketing Officer III, KALAHI-CIDSS, shared that the program has utilized community-driven development, where the main actors of development are the community volunteers in the localities.

“Very important ang Community-Driven Development sa DSWD, kay giila nato nga atong mga katawhan adunay gahum sa kalambuan, naa sila’y tingog, ang ilang tahas sa kalambuan dako kaayo gyud. At the same time, partnerships sa atong local government units [The Community Driven Development of DSWD is very important because we acknowledge that the people to have the power to contribute to development, they have a voice, and their task for development is huge. At the same time, partnerships with local government units],” she said.

The Bayani Ka! Awards, the highest honor the program bestows on CDD champions, are a component of the activity that includes recognizing exceptional volunteers, groups, and partners.

Aljie M. Mercader, Kadingilan, Bukidnon, Outstanding Volunteer, shared she did not expect to receive such an award.

“Dako kaayo akong pasalamat sa KALAHI-CIDSS, nga tungod sa KALAHI-CIDSS na-educate ko, na-nurture akong knowledge. Na haw-as mi sa kalisod. Dili lang ako kun dili among komunidad [I am super grateful to KALAHI-CIDSS, that because of KALAHI-CIDSS I am educated and my knowledge is nurtured. We were lifted from poverty. Not only me but our community],” she said.

Meanwhile, the Bayani Ka! Awards also recognized Butadon Solar Dryer with Warehouse and Ricemill Association (BUSODWARA) in Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte, as Outstanding Community Organization and Community Services.

The group said that they started with nothing, and in fact, they loaned their capital for operations. It was only after three years that they gained higher income.

“Ang amo lang gibuhat is to serve the community [What we did is to serve the community],” he said. (JMOR/PIA-10)

Bukidnon cops heighten alert, warn bomb pranksters

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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Bukidnon Provincial Police Office (BPPO) is on high alert following online bomb threats

In a statement on November 6, BPPO’s Provincial Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Canine Unit (PECU) said a purported Philippine National Police memorandum circulating over social media about bomb threats on populous locations in Bukidnon remains unverified “but shouldn’t be ignored.”

“The alleged (bombing) threats were sent solely for the PNP personnel for verification, validation, and investigation,” BPPO-PECU said.

BPPO-PECU urged the public not to share the spurious document so as not to create panic and confusion.

The Malaybalay City Police Station (MCPS) said it managed to trace a “person of interest” who allegedly forwarded the document via Facebook, which caused public concern.

In a radio interview, Executive Master Sgt. Alexander Calma, the MCPS focal person, said the person’s parents claimed that he has mental problems and was asked to provide a medical certificate.

Failure to provide proof of the person’s mental condition may lead to the filing of appropriate charges, Calma said.

Presidential Decree No. 1727, otherwise known as the anti-bomb joke law, penalizes offenders for the malicious dissemination of false information about any threat concerning bombs, explosives, or any similar device. (Nef Luczon/PNA)

San Fernando town in Bukidnon to receive FMR

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The Concreting of Mahayag, Namnam – Iglugsad – Kibongkog Farm-to-Market Road in San Fernando, Bukidnon, was officially launched as part of the 20 pioneer subprojects under the PRDP Scale-Up on November 6, 2023, in Cubao, Quezon City

Being the first approved PRDP Scale-Up subproject in Northern Mindanao, the said FMR is 8.56 kilometers in length, with an estimated project cost of Php 260,000,000.00.

The FMR covers 2,185 hectares of influence area, which will be enjoyed by 1,503 farming households, especially abaca farmers and thousands of indigenous people.

Newly appointed DA Secretary Francisco T. Laurel, Jr. leads the awarding of the certificate with the World Bank Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines, Dr. Ndiamé Diop, together with DA Senior Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban, DA Assistant Secretary for Operations and DA-PRDP National Project Director Arnel V. De Mesa and DA-PRDP National Deputy Project Director Shandy M. Hubilla.

DA-RFO 10 Regional Executive Director Carlene C. Collado received the certificate of award with Bukidnon Governor Rogelio Neil P. Roque, San Fernando Mayor Rogelio C. Yeke, San Fernando Association of Barangay Captains President Flordeliza M. Yeke and San Fernando Municipal Agriculturist Coleen Alva C. Ambos.

The PRDP Scale-Up is a flagship program of the DA designed to address the gaps in the commodity value chains by improving the efficiency of the food supply chain towards greater connectivity, mobility, accessibility, availability, and affordability of food in the market through the scientific-based implementation of infrastructure and enterprise subprojects. (DA RFO-10)

Defeated candidate, brother confess to Bukidnon election-related killings

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COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The police have clamped down a defeated candidate and his brother who killed two elders of a reelected barangay chairwoman in Kibawe, Bukidnon, who had refused to endorse his candidacy for kagawad during the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections

Rosilo Tecson and his sibling, Cesar, who surrendered one after another on Friday to the Damulog Municipal Police Station in Damulog, Bukidnon, had both confessed to having shot dead the couple Mario and Carmelita Fabian, relatives of Jenelyn Fabian, who was reelected last Monday as chairwoman of Kiorao in Kibawe town in the same province, which is under Administrative Region 10.

Tecson had told local officials, in the presence of policemen, that the attack was precipitated by the barangay chairwoman’s having turned down his request for her to include him in her lineup of candidates for barangay kagawad in Kiorao, an upland area in Kibawe close to the border of Bukidnon and Cotabato province in Region 12.

Major Marvin Enciso, chief of the Kibawe Municipal Police Station, and local officials in the municipality had confirmed to reporters on Saturday that Tecson and his brother are now detained, awaiting prosecution.

Enciso said the duo barged into the residential yard of the reelected barangay chairwoman on Tuesday night and when they found out that she was in another village, shot her two elders dead.

Tecson had confirmed that it was Fabian whom they planned to kill.

Enciso told reporters the Tecson brothers first hid in a secluded area in Damulog for two days but eventually voluntarily turned themselves into the police station in the municipality through the intercession of relatives and barangay leaders in Kiorao. (John Unson/Philstar)

18th Mindanao Agricultural, Fishery Council Congress fosters food security, support for agri-fishery sector

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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Over 149 AFC members in Mindanao convene for the 18th Mindanao Agricultural and Fishery Council (AFC) Congress in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office 10 (DA-RF0 10) and the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries Council on October 25-26, in this city

Bearing this year’s theme, “AFCs Igniting the Engines of Growth: Achieving Food Security through the Integration of Dependable and Sustainable Food Value Chain System,” the confab aims to improve food security to ensure safe, quality and nutritious food and to promote sustainable farming practices that protect the environment.

According to DA-10 Regional Executive Director Carlene C. Collado, the Congress creates more policy resolutions that are seen to benefit the different sectors of society, which include farmers and fishers, women and the youth in the agri-fishery industry, rural development value chains, and other significant endeavors.

In attendance were the AFC members from regions 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and BARMM, who have drafted proposed resolutions, which will later be translated into policies based on the challenges and gaps identified during the staged workshops for further development of the agri-fishery sector in their respective localities.

PCAF OIC-Executive Director Julieta Opulencia said that the output of the said activity is to solicit insights on policy recommendations through resolutions to improve the implementation of the programs and projects of DA and to help address the issues confronting the agri-fishery sector.

Presented topics were the Mindanao Inclusive Agriculture Development Project (MIADP), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and Prospects and Impacts of Biofuel and Renewable Energy Policies on Agriculture.

Also, Blue Economy: Techniques to Ensure Sustainable Fishing and Long-Term Health of the Ocean Ecosystem and Results of Participatory Monitoring and Tracking in Mindanao were tackled.

AFC acts as DA’s advisory body to ensure the accomplishment of its initiatives and programs to create a private sector-led national network of agricultural, fishery, and sectoral councils. (DA RFO-10)

Region 10 inflation accelerates further to 6.7% in September

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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Inflation accelerated for the second time this year, driven by faster increases in food and non-alcoholic beverages, transport, and information and communication

Chief Statistical Specialist Sarah Balagbis of Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-10 said the regional headline inflation or the rate of change of the average prices of goods and services in the region accelerated at 6.7 percent in September 2023, faster than the 5.0 percent in August 2023.

Balagbis cited food and non-alcoholic beverages as the main drivers of the uptrend in overall inflation, as the commodity group registered a higher inflation rate of 13.2 percent in September from 9.1 percent the previous month. The said commodity group contributed 83.5 percent share in the overall inflation.

“The main source of the 4.1 percentage points increase of inflation in food and non-alcoholic beverages was cereals and cereal products with an inflation of 23.1 percent in September, from 9.5 percent in August, with rice as the primary source of acceleration.

The increase in food inflation was also attributed to vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses at 24.7 percent inflation, with onion as the major contributor, and fish and other seafood at 7.1 percent, with dried fish as the main contributor.

Transport also pushed the inflation rate up as the commodity group registered 0.0 percent in September from -1.5 percent in August.

Accordingly, the major sources of inflation of transport were gasoline, which posted a slower decrease of prices at -4.4 percent in September 2023 from -10.8 percent inflation in August, and diesel, which also posted a slower drop of prices at -14.6 percent in September from -16.9 percent in August.

Balagbis further said that all the provinces and highly urbanized cities in the region posted faster increases in prices in September, with Lanao del Norte registering the highest inflation rate at 9.1 percent, followed by Bukidnon at 8.7 percent and Misamis Oriental at 7.3 percent.

On the other hand, Cagayan de Oro City registered the lowest inflation at 4.7 percent.

Given the latest inflation result, the government vowed to continue implementing measures to respond to rising prices.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-10 Planning Officer Blessie Cimacio said they would continue their regular price monitoring for basic necessities and prime commodities (BNPCs) throughout the region. We will ensure that the prices of our goods are within the suggested retail prices,” she said.

Patrick Ian Pedarse, chief of the Department of Agriculture (DA) -10’s Administrative and Finance Division, said that aside from the interventions to boost the production of corn and rice, DA-10 is also conducting an allium derby to cushion the effect of inflation on our onions. (APB/PIA-10)

DA-AMAD 10 agribiz planning workshop refines services delivery in Bukidnon

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MALAYBALAY CITY, BUKIDNON — Pushing for synergistic delivery of services in the province, the Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office 10 (DA-10) through its Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) staged a planning and coordination workshop for agribusiness coordinators and municipal agriculturists in Bukidnon on October 26 to 27

Representatives from the agriculture offices of 17 towns and two cities in Bukidnon, as well as its provincial agriculture office, were apprised of the agency’s programs, projects, and activities (PPAs) for market information, market linkage and product promotion, agribusiness promotion, and agribusiness development services.

Said offices also presented their respective updates of activities and operational status of agri inputs and infrastructures (food terminals) provided by DA.

According to DA-10 Regional Executive Director Carlene C. Collado, the planning workshop aims to foster a more efficient coordination with these agriculture offices to better implement the agency’s PPAs at the local level, as well as to provide the necessary support.

In accordance with the said objective, the workshop’s output is a work plan for CY 2024 that guides the localized conduct of PPAs to effectively address the province’s needs and concerns in agribusiness and marketing.

AMAD Assistant Division chief Ferdinand F. Caraballe said that it also puts a premium on the Enhanced Kadiwa Financial Grant Assistance Program, to which he enjoined the participating offices to link with qualified farmers’ cooperatives, associations (FCAs) in their areas and apply for funding assistance.

Likewise, the division urged the agribiz coordinators to relay the knowledge and information shared during the two-day session to their respective local government units, citing its importance in streamlining project implementation, impact assessment and monitoring, and concerns resolution.

Supporting the activity were DA-10 Provincial Operations Center of Bukidnon chief Janet D. Lopez, DVM, Agribusiness and Industry Support Services section chief Jenny D. Alcobilla, and other AMAD staff. (DA RFO-10)