Siquijor holds tourism cultural forum
by Jennifer Catan-Tilos
DUMAGUETE CITY, Sept. 29 (PIA) The Siquijor State College (SSC) through its School of Tourism has spearheaded a cultural forum and tourism events in celebration of this year’s World Tourism Day slated on September 27with the theme “Tourism- Linking Cultures.
According to chairperson Cyd Sarmiento of SSC School of Tourism, the forum focuses the theme highlighting tourism's role in bringing the cultures and promoting world understanding through travel.
Sarmiento said aside from the usual street parade, cultural presentation and academic -related competitions, the tourism cultural forum, graced by Siquijor Governor Orlando Fua, Jr. delivered an inspirational message this week at the Campus Audio- Visual Center.
Tourism Educators Council of Negros Oriental (TECNO) and Director for External Affairs of St. Paul University Dumaguete, Rafael Duhaylungsod also attended the forum as the keynote speaker together with TECNO Public Relations Officer Pablito Tamonang of ACSAT.
In his message, Duhaylungsod said “Tourism is not all about festivals, pageants, destinations and accommodations but it is how the people would appreciate the culture of tourism.”
On the other hand, Governor Fua pointed out that Siquijor now is leading in the region’s tourist arrivals andd glad to know that SSC is linking Negros Oriental’s various Tourism and Hospital Management Educational Institutions in order to develop the knowledge and skills of the province’s future tourism players and stakeholders. (PIA NegOr/JCT)
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NegOr joins tourism week celebration
by Jennifer Catan-Tilos
DUMAGUETE CITY, Sept. 29 (PIA) The Provincial Tourism Office (PTO) in cooperation with the Tourism Educators Council of Negros Oriental (TECNO) has presented the winners in different fields of competitions on tourism activities.
This, as the province joins the observance of Tourism Week with the theme “Tourism-Linking Cultures” starting Wednesday, September 18 to 27, which is declared as World Tourism Day.
Some seven education institutions in Dumaguete City participated in the celebration which include Negros Oriental State University (NORSU), St. Paul University Dumaguete (SPUD), Foundation University (FU), Asian College of Science & Technology (ACSAT), Colegio de Sta. Catalina de Alexandria (COSCA), Metro Dumaguete College (MDC) and Systems Technology Institute (STI).
During the awarding night, The PTO awarded FUs the best display booth and champion of the flairtending competitions, ACSAT got the best activity booth, SPUD granted the most creative booth while COSCA won as the Tourism Quiz Bowl champion.
On the other hand, Mr. Audison Aranas of SPUD and Ms. Ivy Clemente of ACSAT have been crowned as this year’s Mr. & Mrs. Ambassadors respectively.
The board of adjudicators composed of Dumaguete City First Lady Ma. Isabel Sagarbarria, former Vice-Governor Mariant Escaňo-Villegas of Negros Oriental together with Tourism & Accreditation Officer Marlon Barrientos of the Department of Tourism Regional Office.
TECNO president Rafael Duhaylungsod said the celebration started with an opening salvo and presentation of Tourism Ambassadors with a press conference followed by the 2nd Tourism Educators Congress held at the Negros Oriental Convention Center with the induction of officers of TECNO.
Tourism Undersecretary, Atty. Ma. Victoria Jasmin graced the gathering as the keynote speaker with more than a thousand participants, while Negros Oriental Governor Roel Ragay Degamo welcomed the guests and visitors after which and Villegas and NOATTA president Macrina Fuentes shared their experiences in the tourism industry. (PIA NegOr/JCT)
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Grade 6 students in NegOr ace regionwide Math, Science Quiz Bowl
By Rachelle M. Nessia
DUMAGUETE CITY, Sept. 29 (PIA) --- Six students from West City Exceptional Child Learning Center (SPED) in Dumaguete City walked away with top prizes during the 5th Math and Science Quiz Bowl held Sept. 16 at the Philippine Science High-Central Visayas Campus in Cebu City.
Of the six students, all in grade six level, three landed first place in the Math quiz and the other three won third place in the Science quiz.
The Math quiz bowl champions were Sea Umbac, Dunne Rae Ojastro, Jomari Ganhinhin with coach Bennie Vic Conception.
Third place winners in the Science quiz were Hanna Diane Coritico, Ma Francis Nikole Elli and Dessie Lu Eltanal with coach Lelibeth Duran.
The winning students paid a courtesy call on Dumaguete City Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria on Sept. 23 with their school principal Wenerita Miraflor.
Mayor Sagarbarria during the courtesy visit lauded the students for their efforts in besting other private and public elementary schools all over the city.
The city government here has been strongly supporting local education programs through the Department of Education City Division’s “Project MTS” or Maximizing Totality of Skills launched in June this year.
The Project MTS aims to increase the academic performance of school children in the city through the integration of culture and the arts in the curriculum. (RMN/PIA Negros Oriental with reports from CPIO)
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NegOr Gov to conduct free feeding for Pamplona village pupils
By Rachelle M. Nessia
DUMAGUETE CITY, Sept. 29 (PIA) --- The provincial government will hold a feeding program today for some 500 elementary pupils in Brgy. Inawasan, Pamplona, Negros Oriental.
The feeding program in Pamplona will also offer free haircut for the feeding beneficiaries. “The governor is bringing along 20 barbers who will give the pupils and also their parents free haircuts,” said Bryan Cortez, community affairs officer and chief of the MagDegamo Information Center.
This is the third time that Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo has spearheaded a one-time feeding of elementary pupils, the first of which was in Brgy. Candau-ay in Dumaguete City and then the second in Mabinay town.
Cortez explained that parents of the school children beneficiaries prepare the meals consisting of various healthy viands.
Capitol Information Officer Adrian Sedillo said the feeding program is financed by the governor’s personal funds. “The Governor wants to show the parents and the teachers the right food that should be fed to our growing children since most schools are surrounded by sellers peddling junk and processed foods which are not really healthy for the children,” he said.
The feeding program is also in line with the provincial government’s Essential Health Care Package (EHCP), a program that receives an annual P5.3 million from the province’s coffers for the purchase of sanitary toothbrushes, toothpastes, soaps, hand towels, alcohol, among others.
Health is one of the three major components of the governor’s program of government under HELP or Health, Education, Livelihood Programs (HELP) for peace and development in the province. (RMN/PIA Negros Oriental)
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DSWD7 urges LGUs to put up youth rehab center
by Jennifer Catan-Tilos
DUMAGUETE CITY, Sept. 28 (PIA) The Department of Social Welfare and Development Office Region 7 has called on local government units in Central Visayas to establish a juvenile rehabilitation center to house children in conflict with the law (CICL).
Child Welfare and Specialist Emma Patalinghug of DSWD-7 said that non-government organizations (NGOs) like Bidlisiw Foundation and RAFI are a big help in rehabilitating juvenile delinquents, especially when Central Visayas lacks rehabilitation centers for juvenile delinquents.
In the region, only Cebu City, Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental, and Tagbilaran City in Bohol have centers for CICL which caters only for its area.
Lawyer Cheryl Cabutihan, Child's Rights Protection Unit project coordinator of Children's Legal Bureau, said that the government needs to address first the lack of juvenile centers in the Philippines before amending the Juvenile Justice Act of 2006.
Rehabilitation facility for the youth provides care and healing treatment services to CICL who are below 18 years old.
The Bidlisiw Foundation, together with the Dolores Aboitiz Children’s Fund of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI), has been active in organizing child and family healing programs designed to put juvenile delinquents on the right track.
According to RAFI Communications Officer Haidee Emmie Palapar one of their children-clients Gio (not his real name), 15, wants to pursue his dream of becoming a security guard in order to help his family.
For now, he is focusing his energy on the activities under the recovery program of Bidlisiw Foundation, a Cebu-based social development non-government organization (NGO), along with other children in conflict with the law (CICL) and children who experienced corporal punishments and substance abuse, said Palapar.
The presence of such facility will allow the youth to rebuild themselves and realize their dreams, she said.
Under the Juvenile Justice Act, a minor above 15 years but below 18 years may be held liable for criminal offenses if proven that the child acted with discernment.
Atty Cabutihan said, “We need to check if we have complied with international standards, including putting up the right juvenile centers. How could we say that the law (Juvenile Justice Act of 2006) did not work when we did not even give a chance for CICLs to be rehabilitated through juvenile centers.”
The call of amending the said law, lowering up to 9 years old of conviction among CICL became louder after the spate of juvenile crimes that proliferated in the news, including a 16-year-old boy who allegedly killed his mother and half sister in Naga City, Cebu, said Cabutihan (PIA NegOr/JCT)
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DOST offers scholarships for graduating high school Negrenses
By Rachelle M. Nessia
DUMAGUETE CITY, Sept. 28 (PIA) --- The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in Negros Oriental is inviting graduating high school students in the province to avail of their Science Technology (S&T) Scholarship Programs for SY 2012-2013.
The scholarship is available under two programs, namely Program A which is RA 7687 Scholarship Program and Program B, the Merit Scholarship Program.
Both education grants are open to graduating high school students who wish to pursue a bachelor’s degree in the fields of science, mathematics and engineering.
Program A is open for poor, talented and deserving students whose annual family income is P156,600 and below while those with higher annual family income may apply under Program B.
Eligible to apply are students who belong to the upper five percent of their graduating class or a member of the graduating class of a DOST Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) or a science high school recognized by the Department of Education (DepEd).
Applicants must have not taken any college or post-secondary course/units nor any DOST-SEI scholarship examination, must be Filipino citizens with no pending application for immigration abroad, physically and mentally healthy and morally upright and must be a bonafide resident of a local municipality for the past four (4) years.
Qualified applicants must submit the following: two (2) recent and identical 1x1 ID pictures, a photocopy of their parents’ income tax return for CY 2010 or original copy of tax exemption certification from BIR if parents are non-tax filers, latest three consecutive months of electric bill for the year 2011, a clear copy of applicant’s birth certificate and the fully accomplished application form.
Applications with the requirements must be received by the DOST – Negros Oriental Provincial Science and Technology Center in Daro, Dumaguete City (near the Old Daro Market) on or before October 21, 2011 (Friday).
A non-refundable testing fee of P200.00 will be collected from Program B applicants upon submission of applications. The qualifying examination will be administered nationwide on November 20, 2011 (Sunday).
For other details, please contact Krizel Joy Gaitan or Roslyn Tambago at (035) 422-23 / 223-5551. (RMN/PIA Negros Oriental with reports from Roslyn Tambago)