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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2017
Jimbo Gulle, Editor
Roger Garcia, Issue Editor
LGUs
Local Gov’t Units
mslocalgov@gmail.com
LANG-AY FEATURES BIGGEST ‘PATUPAT’
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HARVEST TIME. Senator Cynthia Villar (standing back row, third from right) poses with drug surrenderers after the successful community-based drug rehabilitation training program conducted by the VIllar SIPAG Foundation. It coincided with the SIPAG Harvest Festival, where the drug surrenderers harvested vegetables they planted as part of the program. Also in photo are Dr. Ferdinand C. Eusebio, Las Piñas City health officer; Mary Ann Planas, DILG Las Piñas; Dory Fadriquela, Allied Botanical area sales manager; Narcing Eguia of Couples for Christ Foundation; and Las Piñas Police Chief Marion Balonglong.
BAGUIO FLOWER FESTIVAL BLOSSOMS WITH EVENTS By Dexter A. See
B
AGUIO CITY—“Inspired by Beauty, Nurtured by Nature.” With this as the main theme the yearly festival of flowers, the country’s undisputed summer capital will play hosts to hordes of local and foreign visitors who will trek this city to catch the last phase of the cold weather and be inspired anew in the wondrous beauty of nature.
The Panagbenga, popularly known as the Baguio flower festival, has lined up for this year’s celebration several activities for visitors to “chill” in the nightly celebrations and “get chilled” with the cold weather, still being experienced here. Residents and visitors will be in for a great with the upcoming conduct of the grand streetdancing and the celebrated float parades, two major highlights of the 22nd edition of the festival. Some 21 streetdancing contingents will showcase their anticipated sterling performances along the five-kilometer parade route. The magnificent parade will start from the Panagbenga Park along South Drive up to the Baguio Athletic Bowl passing through Upper Session road, Magsaysay Avenue, Harrison road,
and Burnham Lake Drive Saturday morning. The participating contingents composed of 9 delegations in the elementary level, 4 in the secondary level and 8 in the open category will also be showcasing their performances to the public at the Baguio Athletic Bowl aside from their performances along the parade route wherein the winners will be judged accordingly. On the other hand, some 22 floats will be paraded along the 3-kilometer parade route from Upper Session Road up to the Melvin Jones grandstand passing through Session road and Harrison road. The floats, which will be composed of 9 small floats, 10 big floats and 3 non-competing floats, will be displayed at the Melvin Jones grandstand on Sunday for the appreciation of the residents and visitors wanting to take their pictures with the said flower-decorated floats. Anthony de Leon, co-chairman of the Panagbenga Executive Committee, said that starting Feb. 27 up to March 5, Session road, the city’s main road, will be closed to vehicular traffic to pave the way for its conversion into a virtual promenade area with the put up of sidewalk cafes by the establishments in the area and food and souvenir stalls with flower-inspired products. Nightly performances by local and national stage performers will be conducted in the stage erected at upper Session road during the week-long closure of the road to provide the public with added attractions aside from being able to freely roam around the road line. De Leon added security and traffic preparations are also in their final stages to mitigate the effects of the weeklong closure of the city’s main roads to vehicular traffic.
BONTOC, Mountain Province—Local makers of “Patupat,” a famous rice delicacy, have collaborated to produce the biggest serving during Lang-ay Festival this coming April. The ‘patupat’ that will be prepared and served will be around four feet in height and six feet long. Likewise some 5,000 pieces of the regular delicacy (patupat) will be prepared for visitors of the province during its 50th Anniversary Celebration. Paulino Tumapang, chairman of the Lang-ay Festival Organization, said that Lang-ay organizers will also be serving the traditional ‘sinab-ang,’ sticky rice with camote, side by side with the biggest ‘patupat’ to the public to make the festivities an enjoyable and fulfilling gastronomic experience for locals including foreign and domestic visitors alike. “We are tapping the support of our local patupat makers to help make the Lang-ay festivities not only memorable but also to help boost the growth of the province’s tourism industry,” Tumapang stressed. Tumapang added local organizers were also able to convince some businessmen to serve to the public their special products and delicacies during the Lang-ay on the Street so that there will be more than enough food that will cater to the needs of the residents and visitors that are expected to flock to the province to be part of the festivities that will be lined up. Dexter A. See
NO LET-UP IN SURIGAO RELIEF EFFORTS RELIEF assistance remained steady for the victims of the magnitude-6.7 earthquake that hit Surigao City on Feb. 10, the Philippine Red Cross and the Department of Social Welfare and Development disclosed recently. Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, however, aired her department’s appeal for help, particularly with the affected residents’ water needs. “We need to continue the provision of relief assistance to the citizens of Surigao, and this includes water. There is no way that people can function well and survive without a steady supply of water for drinking and for other household needs,” she said. The PRC started distributing safe water on Feb. 15 and has since then distributed thousands of liters of water to the residents of the devastated areas. To date, the PRC has distributed 76,500 liters of water to survivors. The strong-intensity earthquake severely damaged the water system of Surigao City and its neighboring municipalities. “Water is essential to survival and survivors can go on without food for a few days, as long as they have water. We have been water tankering since Feb. 14,” PRC said in a statement.
DA MOVES TO FAST-TRACK APAYAO AGRI PROGRAMS
‘TYPE NG BAYAN.’ Following the recent national launching of Type ng Bayan free blood typing program held in Mandaluyong City, Pasig City followed suit with its launching at the Pasig City Sports Center. Over 2,000 Pasigueños benefitted from the launch. Turning over the testing kits to Mayor Bobby Eusebio is Edwin Ubial, husband of Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial, with members of the Cabinet Spouses Association and CBA executive director Ricky Reyes.
LUNA, Apayao—The Department of Agriculture’s Special Area for Agricultural Development has started to implement various livelihood as well as agri-based programs to benefit farming communities and their families in this province. Different interventions, such as the distribution of seedlings, will be done after the organization, registration, and training of the target beneficiaries, to address the needs of beneficiaries. Prior to the meeting of the council, the team conducted a four-day orientation and planning workshop on the SAAD program implementation at DA-RFO-CAR. They were able to prepare four (4) training designs: Slope Agricultural Land Technology (SALT); Livelihood Training on Livestock Production and Marketing;
Swine Production for fattening, and Vegetable Production. Also, two project proposals were prepared, the Establishment of Chicken Layer Production Facility and, Livelihood Vegetable Production. A SAAD forum per municipality down to cluster barangays was also planned. The survey of qualified familybeneficiaries is ongoing in the different municipalities of Apayao and is expected to be completed this month. Warlito Madamba, project coordinator of Apayao, said the purpose of the survey is to properly determine the livelihood interests of the target beneficiaries including their economic status. A Planning Workshop and Consultation with stakeholders attended by the seven
municipalities with one representative from the 4Ps beneficiaries and the different national line agencies was held recently in Luna, Apayao. Results of the SWOT analysis for SAAD conducted last year and the presentation of the 2017 WFP will be presented for further discussions. The SAAD is implemented in the Cordillera through its Regional Project Management Team headed by Dr. Lorenzo M. Caranguian, regional executive directorDA as project management director and Engineer Danilo P. Daguio, regional technical director for pperations-DA as deputy project management director and the organization of the Provincial Project Team with Prudencio Bosing, provincial agriculturist-Apayao as chairman. Dexter A. See