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SUNDAY, JUNE 25, 2017
Jimbo Gulle, Editor
Roger Garcia, Issue Editor
LGUs
Local Gov’t Units
mslocalgov@gmail.com
SUBIC AREA TRADERS GET BIZ TRAINING
By Butch Gunio
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Mayor Jaime Fresnedi presents a symbolic check for P2 million in financial assistance to Marawi City Engineer Sirad Daligdig. Attending the turnover ceremony were Bangsamoro Federal Business Council Inc. president Nasraili Conding, BFBCI executive director Dr. Abdul Hanan Tago, BFBCI vice president for Finance Sibanah Menor, and other Marawi government officials.
MUNTI DONATES P2M TO MARAWI; 1ST IN MM
UNTINLUPA City is giving P2 million to the government of Marawi City—the biggest donation so far to the battle-torn Lanao del Sur capital—to aid its displaced residents and spur its rehabilitation.
Marawi City Engineer Sirad Daligdig, representing Marawi Mayor Majul Usman Gandamra, received the P2-million check from Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi last Thursday at the Muntinlupa City Hall in Barangay Putatan. Daligdig expressed his gratitude to the city
government for the donation and said the relief will go to the thousands of victims of the conflict in their city. Bangsamoro Federal Business Council Inc. director Nazruddin Dianalan also attended the turnover ceremony, and noted that Muntinlupa made the biggest financial assistance following Davao City’s P1-million aid earlier this month. Muntinlupa is also the first LGU in Metro Manila to provide financial assistance to Marawi. Fresnedi said the aid is Muntinlupa’s humanitarian response to help plug the critical gaps and needs of food, water, medicine, and other assistance for the displaced Marawi residents currently in various evacuation centers. The mayor hopes other local governments will follow Muntinlupa’s initiative in extending relief.
On May 23, clashes between the military troops and local Maute terrorist group transpired in Barangay Basak Malutlut, Marawi City. The terrorists sacked a local hospital, threw open the city jail, and burned schools and a Catholic chapel. Following the attack, President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said Marawi was declared under the state of calamity on May 25 as per Sangguniang Panlungsod Resolution No. 60, series of 2017. The Armed Forces of the Philippines confirmed there has been 300 casualties in Marawi so far, with 300,000 of its residents evacuating to neighboring cities such as Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.
VIZCAYA SHRINERS GIVE AWAY WHEELCHAIRS By Abe Almirol BAMBANG, Nueva Vizcaya— Learners with special educational needs from the central elementary school here were chosen by the Mabuhay Shriners International club to receive free wheelchairs. The Shriners is a club of masons. Its “new nobles” from the Lumabang Shiners Batch 36 volunteered to undertake the charity work. The club’s advocacy is to help burned and crippled children. The club was responsible in sending two-year-old Chloe Dumapi to the United States for reconstructive surgery last year. The young girl from Antipolo City was burned and crippled after a lighted candle fell on her bed in January 2015. The novices of the Sierra Madre chapter of the Shriners from the Salinas Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons here coordinated the humanitarian work with teachers of Bambang Central School and other schools in Nueva Vizcaya. The recipients of free wheelchairs given on Wednesday were identified as Norilene Obal, 6 years old; Cassandra Manayan, 6; Queenie Rose Bimbo, 18; and
New members or ‘novices’ of the Mabuhay Shriners International, a club of Masons, gave away four wheelchairs to the SPED Class of Bambang Central School to fulfill their pledge for burned and crippled children. At left is Violeta Pumaras, a special education teacher at Bambang Central School for 10 years. Nicole Angela Nebrida, 12. “We have 81 learners in the special education [SPED] program of Bambang Central School, plus five learners in the distance education program, and nine special learners currently integrated in the mainstream classes after showing good
signs of behavioral modification and learning ability,” said Violeta Pumaras, a SPED teacher for 10 years. Pumaras has two colleagues taking care of the learners, Yvette Quirante and Ric Vadil. Asked how he deals with the seemingly
impossible task of teaching special learners, Vadil said: “These young angels need care and love. We teach by appealing to their affective domain to compensate what they lack in cognitive and psychomotor domains.” “We also have five cases of verified autism, and there are three more suspected cases here, but we don’t have the means to pay an expert to undertake the diagnosis,” said Pumaras. She revealed that the Department of Education had allocated P400,000 for such a diagnosis two years ago, but no new allocation has been given. “The SPED building was funded by the one-percent Special Education Fund coming from the local government’s real property tax collection,” added Pumaras. Asked what happens if parents fail to provide for special needs such as diapers, the teachers confessed they have to take it from their own pockets. “It’s a passion to teach in a SPED Class,” Vadil said. The Shriners were joined by ladies of the Order of the Amaranth from the Salinas Court here.
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—“Don’t prove me wrong, prove me right! Can you deliver?” This was the challenge sounded by Department of Trade and Industry Assistant Secretary Blesila Lantayona at the opening here on Wednesday of the agency’s “Kapatid, Mentor Me Program” session some 200 local entrepreneurs. The program, held at the Subic Bay Travelers Hotel, tapped speakers from among some of the highly successful entrepreneurs in the country today and aimed to help micro and medium enterprises grow and attain sustainability. According to Lantayona, from 70 to 80 percent of small to medium businesses have a short life span due to insufficient knowledge among owners on how to manage the business. The mentoring project, she added, seeks to help small and medium enterprises in Zambales and Olongapo City penetrate markets more stably and consistently. During the forum, Paul Anthony de Guzman from the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurs and CEO of Go Negosyo, reminded participants that all entrepreneurs, big and small, should live by the vision of “Kapatid, angat lahat!” He stressed that all entrepreneurs must lift and encourage one another, allowing small companies to benefit from and with their bigger counterparts. Tokyo Tempura CEO Jorge Noel Y. Wieneke III, meanwhile, shared the origins of his entrepreneurial mindset and impressed upon the audience the need for an attitude of gratitude, all the while introducing his listeners to the “power” within them. Wieneke said his businesscentric mentality that originated from his infatuation with a childhood toy, which caused him to inadvertently find ways to make money through odd jobs. The same determination, risk-taking, passion and outgoingness carried into his adulthood and birthed his business, Potato Corner, which he had built with close friends and family. The businessman would later on receive an award for sharing his insights on how to attain success. Meanwhile, Business Mentors Inc. president Wilfredo Victor Arcilla contended that while overseas Filipino workers are recognized for their contribution to the Philippine economy through remittances, entrepreneurs play a bigger role in nation-building. “The money OFWs collectively generated, if these were divided among the individuals OFWS, would still be a paltry amount. The OFWs weren’t going to change the Philippines; only enterprises will,” he concluded. Lantayona also urged the entrepreneurs of small and medium businesses and enterprises not to underestimate themselves, pointing out that their businesses “provide a whopping 62 percent of the jobs in the Philippines.” She also cited the success of their mentees from Tacloban who had collectively generated P14 million after only five months of using a business model formulated under the DTI’s Mentor Me Program.
BANK WORKERS AID MARAWI PUPILS
IN KEEPING with BDO Foundation’s disaster response advocacy, employees of BDO branches in Butuan City volunteered to aid underprivileged students in the city and those displaced by the crisis in Marawi City. Volunteers from the BDO Butuan-J.C. Aquino Avenue branch and BDO ButuanMontilla branch distributed packs containing school supplies to around 600 pupils of the Banza Elementary School in Butuan, and as many as 180 students displaced by the armed conflict in Marawi. “This is something we have been doing every year,” revealed BDO Butuan-J.C. Aquino Avenue branch head Janice Arapan, who led the volunteers with BDO Butuan-Montilla branch head Marty Llorente. “BDO employees, friends and clients do-
nated funds, which we used to purchase school supplies such as notebooks, pads, pencils and crayons,” Arapan said. “We distributed these items to hundreds of disadvantaged pupils in Butuan in time for the start of the school year. We also gave school uniforms to students from Marawi,” she added. At the distribution of the school supplies in calamity-stricken Banza Elementary School, the BDO volunteers also provided food and drinks for the children. The BDO volunteer program is supported by BDO Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of the country’s largest lender. Backed by local government officials and non-BDO volunteers, these efforts form part of BDO Unibank’s contributions to the De-
partment of Education’s Brigada Eskwela and Oplan Balik Eskwela programs. In support of these programs, BDO Foundation also donated personal computers to 45 schools all over the country through One Network Bank, the rural bank subsidiary of BDO. ONB distributed computer sets to schools in Albay, Batangas, Cavite, Guimaras, Ilocos Sur, Iloilo, Isabela, Laguna, Metro Manila, Nueva Vizcaya, Quezon, Quirino and Tarlac. ONB also turned over PCs to schools in Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Bukidnon, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Lanao del Norte, Maguindanao, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Sarangani, South Cotabato, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay.
Officers and staff of BDO branches in Butuan, along with the bank’s clients and sponsors, pooled funds to buy school supplies and uniforms they donated to underprivileged pupils in the city and students affected by the armed conflict in Marawi (pictured).