Smart extends free text bundles to ‘Yolanda’ victims

Smart Communications Inc. (Smart) on Friday said it has extended the free Short Message Service (SMS) bundle to its subscribers in areas affected by typhoon “Yolanda” until November 24.

In an advisory, Smart said the free text bundle offered was extended to give its subscribers more time to reconnect with family and friends in the country and elsewhere around the world. The free bundle consists of 25 local and three international text messages.

Subscribers in the affected areas will automatically receive a daily notification on the free SMS bundle offer without having to register for the service.

The offer, which was made available last week, will continue to be given to subscribers in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Leyte, Northern Cebu, Palawan and Samar. Smart subscribers in Biliran and Iloilo will also receive notifications regarding the free text bundle.

Restoration of network facilities in affected areas are in full swing with Smart and Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc. (DMPI) able to restore most of the network coverage in many areas immediately after the typhoon in order to serve vital communications for relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Both companies are now fast tracking restoration in the remaining areas. As of November 18, Smart said 85 percent of the cities and municipalities in the Visayas have network coverage. (PNA)

Paseo del Mar opens to public

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Paseo del Mar, the city’s premier promenade by night, has been open to the public since last week after it was closed down following the 23-day gunbattle between the government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MNLF) last September.

Although limited to the curfew hours from 12 midnight to 4 a.m., people from all walks of life started to flock at Paseo as early as 5 p.m., especially during weekends to enjoy the cool sea breeze and fine dining at various restobars and food stalls. Joggers and bikers also troop to Paseo as early as 5 am.

The reopening of Paseo del Mar signals the city’s return to normal situation after the siege even as recovery and rehabilitation efforts of the city government are gaining momentum with the support of the different government and non-government agencies.

With the coming of the Yuletide season, Paseo del Mar and Plaza del Pilar will once again come to life as both entertainment complexes are adorned with colorful Christmas lights and decors, to the delight of the promenaders.

Meanwhile, the City Council has passed a resolution requesting the supervising tourism operations officer of the City Mayor’s Office to intensify the information campaign on the reopening of Paseo del Mar in a bid to boost the business operations thereat. (Vic Larato)

DHCF, SADCFI distribute 8,000 bags of relief goods to “Yolanda”victims

By Gideon C. Corgue

PAGADIAN CITY – In addition to the 5,000 bags of relief goods earlier delivered to Bantayan Island in Cebu, another 3,000 bags will be distributed today for the typhoon survivors in Tacloban City.

This was announced by Saleh Zaher, director of Mohammed Bin Al Rashid Moktuon Humanitarian Charity Est. in Dubai and Ustadz Nasser Maulana, president of Southeast Asia Development Committee Foundation, Inc. (SADCFI) in a press conference held on Wednesday at the SADCFI’s office here.  

Zaher said Vice President Mohammed Bin Al Rashid Moktuon of Dubai, who is also the president of Dubai Humanitarian Charity Foundation (DHCF) has ordered them to immediately fly to Philippines to extend relief goods for super typhoon “Yolanda” victims in the hardest hit areas in Central Visayas.

Zaher, along with Faisal Alshehi, DHCF operations manager who arrived in Manila on Nov, 15, met with the officers of SADCFI to discuss their plans of distributing relief goods to typhoon survivors in Central Visayas.

Zaher said it was their first time to visit the Philippines.  “Our mission in your country is to help survivors who begged for food, water, and medicines in the severely affected areas,” Zaher said.

Zaher added that last Nov. 16, DHCF officers and SADCFI personally delivered the first batch of 5,000 bags of relief goods consisting of 25 kilos of rice, one dozen canned goods, one dozen noodles, and two kilos of sugar, soap, and candles  to the victims of “Yolanda” in Bantayan Island, Cebu.

“The relief goods will be equally distributed to the victims regardless of race, nationality, color, ethnicity and religion. Whether the victim is Christian or Muslim, he will receive the relief goods,” Maulana assured.  

Maulana said group left Pagadian City at 7a.m. today to deliver second batch of truck load of relief goods to the hardest hit areas in Tacloban City to help ease the sufferings of the victims.

Zaher thanked the Philippine government for allowing them to enter the country and the SADCFI for facilitating the distribution of relief goods, as they do not exactly know the areas affected by the typhoon. (PIA9)

Bombo Radyo, PRC conduct bloodletting in Dipolog

By Mary May A. Abellon

DIPOLOG CITY – The Bombo Radyo Philippines (BRP) in partnership with the Philippine Red Cross-Zamboanga del Norte Chapter successfully collected 143 bags of blood in a bloodletting activity on Saturday at Lee Plaza City Central this city.

Dubbed “Dugong Bombo,” the bloodletting is an annual simultaneous activity of the BRP as part of its corporate social responsibility, guided by its theme: “Little pain, a life to gain.”

The donated bags of blood were given to the local PRC office for its humanitarian services.

PRC-ZN chapter representative Nidoh Gen Regencia said the blood donors were the policemen from Zamboanga del Norte Provincial Police Office (ZNPPO), ROTC units from different schools in the city, members of Blood Galloners Club of Zamboanga del Norte and other walk-in donors.

Regencia also expressed his gratitude to the Bombo Radyo, the city government of Dipolog, the management of Lee Plaza Central for the support given to PRC. (PIA9)

Dipolog hosts 12th ZANDIDAP council jamboree

By Mary May A. Abellon

DIPOLOG CITY – A total of 1,610 junior and senior boy scouts joined the 12^th Zamboanga del Norte, Dipolog, Dapitan (ZANDIDAP) Council Urban Scout Jamboree held at the Zamboanga del Norte Sports Complex in this city last Nov. 13-17.

The participants who were divided into four sub-camps with their teacher-coaches came from 68 schools in the province including the two cities of Dipolog and Dapitan.

The four sub-camps were “Makakalikasan” for participants from the first and second congressional districts, “Makadiyos” for third district, “Makatao” for Dipolog City, and “Makabansa” for Dapitan City.

Coinciding with the 60^th anniversary of the Boy Scout of the Philippines (BSP), the activity was anchored on the theme, “Scouting: Education for Life,” which implies that the scouting activities are designed to develop every scout to become independent and to survive any challenges that may come his way.

In her message during the opening program, Schools Superintendent Natividad P. Bayubay of the Zamboanga del Norte schools division reminded the participants of the environmental issues confronting the country like the earthquake in Bohol and the strong typhoon that hit Leyte.

“Let us dedicate this urban jamboree to the global movement to save what has been left on earth. Let us link arms to break the barriers of race, ideology and political belief to make this province, region, nation and this world a better place to live in,” said Bayubay who also served as division scouting commissioner.

She, however, urged the scouts to make new friends, share experience and make most of the once-in-a life time experience of the jamboree.

Among the activities conducted during the whole duration of the jamboree were leadership training, lectures, community immersion, tree planting, teambuilding, etc. with emphases on climate change adaptation and mitigation, disaster preparedness, environmental protection and responding to any emergencies. (PIA9)

Nov. 25, non-working holiday in Zambo, Bohol

Malacañang has declared Monday, November 25, as a special non-working holiday in Zamboanga City to make way for the conduct of the special barangay elections here.

Presidential Proclamation 684 signed by President Aquino on November 13, also includes the province of Bohol where a similar special barangay polls will be held.

The barangay elections in the two areas were deferred earlier due to the three-week armed conflict in Zamboanga City and the magnitude 7.2 earthquake which struck Bohol.

The declaration of the special, non-working holiday was promulgated in order to give residents the fullest opportunity to participate in the elections and exercise their right to vote.

Meanwhile, City Mayor Beng Climaco urged all election candidates to strictly comply with all rules and regulations enshrined in the Omnibus election code. Campaign period is expected to run from November 15 – 23. Despite this, the citywide curfew will remain in place from 12 midnight to 4 am. (Jasmine Mohammadsali)

Strictly no backpacks on election day- COMELEC

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC)- Zamboanga City office has advised voters not to bring backpacks inside polling centers on  election day as part of the security measures that will be put in place.

Election Registrars Jesus Alvin Lim of District I and Joseph Tria of District II said the prohibition on the bringing of backpacks inside polling centers on Monday, November 25, is expected to speed up security checks and consequently the voting process.

Lim and Tria asserted that security measures have to be imposed to ensure peaceful and orderly barangay elections in the city, which will be held almost a month late compared to other areas in the country in view of the recennt armed conflict between government troops and lawless elements affiliated with Nur MIsuari last September.  

Police and military authorities have mapped out a comprehensive security plan for the November 25 special barangay polls.
Meanwhile, voting for barangays affected by the armed conflict to include Rio Hondo, Mariki, Arena Blanco and Sta. Barbara will be held at the Zamboanga State College of Marine Sciences and Technology (ZSCMST) where polling centers will be set up.

Distribution of election paraphernalia to the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) will be done on Saturday, November 23 for those assigned in far flung barangays and Sunday, November 24 for those assigned within the 7-kilometer radius. The distribution area will be the City Coliseum in Tetuan.

The COMELEC-Zamboanga City office will temporarily remain at the City Government building in Villalobos Street.
On the other hand, the campaign period which started November 15 will wind up on November 23. Candidates are advised to strictly comply with election rules and regulations or face sanctions that include among others, disqualification.

Nov. 25, Monday is a special non-working holiday in Zamboanga in lieu of the special polls. (Sheila Covarrubias)

3,000 families undergo ‘work for food’ training

At least 3,000 mostly fisher-farmer families affected by the 23-day siege last September are currently undergoing a “work for food” training under the auspices of the United Nations World Food Programme.

City Agriculturist Diosdado Palacat, focal person of the Emergency Livelihood Cluster of the Zamboanga City Early Recovery/Recovery Coordination Structure, said the “work for food” beneficiaries are mostly agar-agar farmers and fisher folks who lost their livelihood to the armed conflict.

“Some of these families were evacuees housed in the different evacuation centers while others were off the evacuation centers but were affected by the siege,” Palacat said.

Under the program, Palacat explained, the affected families are given trainings/jobs in exchange for food like rice. Each family is entitled to 7 kilos of rice a day and that will be given after a week’s work, which translates to 49 kilos of rice every week for each family. The program is good for three months.

Palacat further said the program already started Tuesday wherein the beneficiaries’ first job was cleaning up the debris in the coastal areas of the siege barangays of Rio Hondo, Mariki, Mampang and Arena Blanco.

“For the first day, we were able to collect hundreds of sacks full of debris that appeared like relief goods. With the program, we are hitting two birds with one stone; cleaning our environment at the same time helping the evacuees earn a living,” he said.

After the coastal cleanup, Palacat said, the identified families will be tasked to plant trees or mangrove propagules in the mangroves of Talon-Talon, Mampang, Mariki and Arena Blanco, which used to be the hideouts of the MNLF fighters at the height of the siege.

“Then, we will move to cleanup of the riverbanks in the affected barangays,” the city agriculturist said.

According to Palacat, the “work for food” program started with a proposal of his cluster to come up with an income-generating project for the evacuees at the evacuation centers and those off-evacuation centers.

“However, we need funding for this. So we submitted our proposal to the UN and other funding agencies, while waiting for the necessary funding of our proposal we tapped the UN World Food Programme for the ‘work for food’ program, but limited only to agri-fisher families,” Palacat explained. (Vic Larato)

Midsalip to receive 88-M infra projects under ARCP-II

By Claro A. Lanipa

MIDSALIP, Zamboanga del Sur –  Some P88 million worth of various infrastructure projects under the Agrarian Reform Community Phase II (ARCP-II) will soon be implemented in this municipality.

Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer Ferdinand L. Mendoza reported during the recently concluded information caravan held here at the Bagsakan covered court in Barangay Poblacion B the following ongoing projects in the municipality, namely: construction of farm-to-market road (FMR) from barangays Buloron to Dumalinao with a total length of 1.8961 kilometers amounting to Php12,009,528.31, construction of FMR from Buloron to Lumpanid with a total length of 3.16 km with a project cost of P19,233,543.66, construction of  one  unit tribal center at the Poblacion with a total amount of P 931,457.70.

These ongoing projects are being funded in a counter-parting scheme with 40 percent of the total cost of the project to come from ARCP II, 35 percent from the local government unit (LGU), and 25 percent from the National Government Agency support to LGUs.

Another project, which was already approved and is now ready for implementation, is the rehabilitation of Buloron Communal Irrigation System worth P12,299,408  wherein 50 percent would be shouldered by ARCP II, 15 percent by LGU, 25 percent by NGALGU, and 10 percent by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Mendoza reported.

He further disclosed that the cacao production in Midsalip covering 210 hectares with 112 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) and non-ARBs will also expand soon with a funding of P14 million from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) through the Agrarian Production Credit Program (APCP).

Four more FMR projects worth P5 million each are being proposed and another two units of Tulay ng Pangulo Pang-Agraryo in barangay Palili are under validation, MARO Mendoza added. (PIA9)

Children-evacuees see life positively despite “war” experience

By Jocelyn P. Alvarez

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Children –evacuees from a recent armed conflict here who are still housed in various evacuation centers still see life positively as they expressed their thoughts and ideas through art.

These children shared joy and laughter as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-9 recently celebrated the Children’s month.

To ease life a bit, DSWD conducted fun filled activities by showcasing creativity of the children. Anchored on the theme, “Kahirapan ay Wakasan, Karapatan ng Bata ay Ipaglaban”, each evacuation center sent in their respective representatives /contestants for categories 3-5, 6-12 and 13-17 years old for the Draw and Tell contest wherein each participant was given 30 minutes to draw and explain their interpretation of the theme.

The children showed their creativity and fluency in the contest. Each piece depicted their experiences during the “Zamboanga conflict” and their views to overcome such a crisis.

The draw and tell output from children-evacuees was impressive because they still foresee their lives positively in the years to come.

For category 3-5 years old , Yolly Alejo from the grandstand evacuation ranked 3^rd place, Richard Repolon ranked 2^nd from Tetuan Central School Evacuation Center while Arwina Wahid from Baliwan Central School Evacuation Center bagged the 1^st place.

For category 6-12 years old, Jeralyn Castro from Sta. Maria Elementary School Evacuation finished as 3^rd placer while Kezrie Hayudini a student representative from East Central School ranked 2^nd and Ferdinand Abdurahman from West High School evacuation center emerged as 1^st placer.

For the 7-17 years old category, Shiela Mae Flores from Tetuan Central School evacuation center landed on the 3^rd place, Joshua Nationales from Sta. Maria Evacuation ranked 2^nd and Bash Idlasan from West High School evacuation got 1^st place. (FPG/JLE/DSWD/ JPA-PIA9)

DepEd-Zambo. Sur donates cash, relief goods for typhoon “Yolanda” victims

By Gideon C. Corgue

PAGADIAN CITY – As the people of the Visayas region struggle for survival in the aftermath of super typhoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan), the Department of Education (DepEd)-Zamboanga del Sur schools division has extended financial assistance and relief goods for the victims.

Dr. Arturo Bayocot, schools division superintendent, said DepEd officials, employees and teachers in the province have contributed cash and relief goods to help out the typhoon victims.  

“From our schools, districts and division office, we immediately gave voluntary contributions to the survivors of typhoon “Yolanda,” Bayocot said in a text message sent to the Philippine Information Agency (PIA)-9.

“I’ve deposited P130 thousand through DepEd Office of Secretary’s trust fund account,” Bayocot disclosed.

Bayocot added “the division has collected in-kind donations and divided them among disaster stricken-areas of Zamboanga, Bohol and Tacloban.

As an expression of our deepest concern and sympathy, Bayocot said, the DepEd officials and employees are keen in helping the victims of calamities.

Bayocot cited the relief assistance given to the victims in Zamboanga siege in September where two vans of relief goods were shipped to Zamboanga for war and flood victims. (PIA9)

Pagadian Sto. Niño parish accepts donations for typhoon Yolanda survivors

By Gideon C. Corgue

PAGADIAN CITY – To help save and alleviate the sufferings of survivors of super typhoon “Yolanda” (international name, Haiyan), the Diocese of Pagadian City is now encouraging the public to give relief assistance.

In his homily on Sunday, Rev. Fr. Rico P. Sayson, Sto. Niño Cathedral parish administrator, said the great loss of life and massive destruction of homes, infrastructures and agriculture wrought by super typhoon Yolanda in Central Visayas region had encouraged the diocese to launch relief efforts for the typhoon victims.

Fr. Sayson said he already consulted Bishop Emmanuel T. Cabajar on the matter and the latter immediately ordered him to open a relief operations center at the parish.

“The bishop has ordered me to open our parish as relief operations center for the survivors of typhoon “Yolanda,” he said.

“We encourage the Catholic faithfuls to share and donate relief goods such as rice, canned goods, bottled water, medicines, etc. to the victims of typhoon “Yolanda” in the Visayas,” urged the priest.

The parish will also accept cash donations, Fr. Sayson said adding “any amount donated will be properly issued a corresponding donation receipts and shall be turned over to Bishop Cabajar.”

“The good Bishop will then turn-over the money to the Diocesan Bishop of Central Visayas to ensure that cash donations will reach the typhoon survivors,” Fr. Sayson assured. 

“In this great time of need, we need to show our support and steadfast love to the survivors,” the parish administrator stressed. (PIA9)