Statistics agency commends LGU Valencia with high good governance index
by: Jennifer Catan-Tilos
DUMAGUETE CITY, May 17 (PIA) Secretary General Romulo Virola of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) commended the Municipality of Valencia for its achievement in the recent Good Governance Index (GGI) rating result.
Sec. Virola said the town of Valencia has improved its performance in good governance which now ranked 88th from 95th in 2005 out of 1,484 municipalities nationwide.
The GGI is a special study undertaken by NSCB to come up with objective, comprehensive and comparable measures of good governance based on outcome indicators in order to guide policy makers and stakeholders in the country in assessing local and national performance.
Sec. Virola hoped that the Good Governance Index result will motivate the town leaders and the people of Valencia in bringing the municipality to greater heights in the coming years.
The session on measuring good governance included an invited paper entitled “Was Good Governance the Real Loser in the 2010 elections?” which contained the provincial and municipal Good Governance Index and was featured during the 11th National Convention of Statistics in October last year.
The GGI also seeks to promote more evidence-based policy making and decision making towards good governance.
Specifically, the GGI aims to draw attention to the achievements of the best performing local government units in order to encourage, sustain and promote best practices in governance in the country. (PIA NegOr/JCT)
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NSO waives birth registration fees for Pantawid Pamilya families
by: Rachelle M. Nessia
DUMAGUETE CITY, May 17 (PIA) --- Beneficiaries of the government's Pantawid Pamilya program in Negros Oriental are urged to avail of the ongoing month-long free birth registration at the National Statistics Office located in Dumaguete City.
This after NSO, in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), waived the birth registration fee of P240 for beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya for the month of May.
This was announced by Bella Tse, provincial coordinator of Pantawid Pamilya during a recent Kapihan forum held by the Philippine Information Agency here at Bethel Guesthouse, this city.
Tse said NSO's waived fees is part of DSWD's campaign to address one of the problems plaguing the effective implementation of the government anti-poverty program in the province. "We have so many beneficiaries here whose children until now have not been registered," she lamented.
One reason why some beneficiaries were disqualifed were due to insufficient supporting documents such as birth certificate.
Tse is hopeful they will reach their 100% target birth registration this month. (RMN/PIA Negros Oriental)
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Sen. Zubiri pledge additional funds for Dumaguete boardwalk
by: Rachelle M. Nessia
DUMAGUETE CITY, May 16 (PIA) -- Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri has pledged to extend additional monetary aid for the construction of a boardwalk along Rizal Boulevard in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.
Zubiri, in a press conference on May 14 during his visit here, said he will give an additional "one or two million pesos" to complete the boardwalk. The senator has already earlier poured in P1-M for said project.
In the same press conference, Dumaguete City Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria thanked the senator for augmenting the budget of the boardwalk completion which is part of an ongoing development project along the scenic stretch of Rizal Boulevard, considered the show window of Dumaguete. "The place that has captured the interest and love of foreign and local tourists to make them visit and stay in the city," said the mayor in a statement.
The boardwalk will start in front of CAP Building going to the port area, said City Engineer Edwin Quirit.
A statement from the Dumaguete City Information Office said that Senators Kiko Pangilinan, Ralf Recto and TG Guingona have also shared a part of their Priority Development Assistance fund (PDAF) through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the development of the Rizal boulevard. (RMN/PIA Negros Oriental with reports from Syril Repe)
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160 students benefit summer job program in Dumaguete City
by: Jennifer Catan-Tilos
DUMAGUETE CITY, May 17 (PIA) This year’s 160 students for special program for employment (SPES) in Dumaguete have graduated recently, as they completed the 20-day summer job through the Public Employment Service office in cooperation with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
PESO Coordinator Maria Socorro Mira said this program offers to help poor but deserving students continue their education by employing them during summer vacation through the SPES Program known as R.A. 7323.
The program is 60-40 scheme with 60 percent of the salaries of the students shouldered by the city government and the 40 percent is being subsidized by DOLE.
The employment started on April 11 and ended on May 10 for a total of 20 days which provided learning opportunities to the educationally disadvantaged and underprivileged children in the city.
The students assigned on their field of training which include beauty care, basket weaving, massage, t-shirt making, manicure and pedicure, while others were deployed to the city streets to work on the city’s clean and green program, Mira said.
The PESO Coordinator said students were blissful and excited as they not only able to learn new skills but given opportunities to earn extra income before classes start.
This activity has also helped a lot of students as they were trained on work values before they started their formal training and work activities, Mira added.
She further said the 20 days internship, students able to learn a lot of their training which they can use as an additional livelihood when they go back to their respective schools.
During the closing ceremonies, City Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria said the training program was also designed for the students to equip them more with skills that they may use as their source of livelihood during their free time to help them with their allowances and extra expenses to use in enrollment.
Mayor said the training of the students taught them the values of discipline, self- sufficient and hard work. (PIA NegOr/JCT)