Dumaguete City sets to mark International AIDS Candlelight Memorial
DUMAGUETE CITY, May 18 (PIA) -- Dumaguete City is set to commemorate the 29th International AIDS Candlelight Memorial (IACM) activity this Sunday, May 27 with candle lighting at 5:00 p.m. at the Quezon Park.
City Health Officer Dr. Maria Sarah Talla said the candle lighting is an annual activity spearheaded by the City Health Office to commemorate the lost lives of those people who died of AIDS.
It is also a support of those individuals who suffer from HIV, and an awakening for the communities to move against HIV and AIDS, she added.
This year’s celebration theme is “Promoting Health and Dignity Together.”
According to Talla, the theme is a people-centered and a human-based approach which is why it seeks to promote awareness on HIV and to promote respect for the human rights of people living with HIV.
Expected to participate in the candle lighting are members of the stakeholders committee on HIV, Department of Social Welfare and Development in the city, SEAK and Kalipi, City Population Office, MARPA, youth in different barangays in the city; Department of Education, Holy Child Hospital; Silliman University Medical Centr, Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital, and Dumaguete City HIV/AIDS Council.
During a short program, Site Implementation Coordinator, STI/HIV/AIDS Program, Boel Espinas of the Department of Health (DOH7) is invited to give an update to Dumagueteños on HIV/AIDS situation especially in Central Visayas.
Peace Corps Response Volunteer (PCRV) Jessica Mc Ghie will also be present to give the rationale regarding the activity.
Talla said the CHO in Dumaguete City does not have any recorded AIDS case, but she urged the public to report to her office those who have any symptoms of HIV/AIDS.
The health official also encouraged stakeholders, government officials, barangay officials, health workers to participate in the activity.
Meanwhile, Talla shared the method of prevention and control against HIV/AIDS through abstinence, be faithful, condom use, don’t use drugs, and Education or ABCDE.
Anyone can acquire the HIV through receiving infected blood and blood products in a transfusion, sharing injecting equipment, woman with HIV can pass the virus to her child during pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding and unprotected penetrative sexual intercourse, Talla said.
“To prevent HIV use only screened blood for transfusion, not sharing injecting equipment, not having sex or having one partner and your partner having only you as partner, engaging in non-penetrative safer sex practices like hugging, kissing, massaging and using condom correctly and consistently,” Dr. Talla further said, (mbcn/JCT/PIA-Negros Oriental)
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Dumaguete City collects 2,670 kilos of garbage in coastal clean-up
DUMAGUETE CITY, May 18 (PIA) -- Dumaguete City, through its Environment and Natural Resources Office (ENRO), has collected 2,670 kilos of garbage during the coastal clean-up last Saturday along the coastal barangays in the city.
ENRO Fishery Coordinator Roy Lumjod said the coastal clean-up drive is one of the initiatives of the city government to address a heavy influx of solid waste that could possibly affect our coastal resources.
Lumjod said the activity was also one way of making the environment life-supportive and ecologically friendly for Dumagueteños and tourists as well.
"With, this, aquatic and marine life will be transformed and preserved," he said.
The clean-up drive was participated in by the city hall employees and local officials in line with the Ocean Month celebration for the whole month of May.
“The coastal area of Dumaguete has very rich fishery and marine resources which will be soon depleted if everybody refused and neglected their responsibility in helping save and protect the dwindling resources,” said Lumjod.
The city government has been implementing Ordinance No. 88, the Comprehensive Coastal Resources Management program, to address coastal problems on dumping of solid waste along the coastlines and waterways by residents, Lumjod added. (rmn/JCT/PIA-Negros Oriental)
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US gov’t road project completed, eases travel for communities in Maguindanao
By Jennifer C. Tilos
DUMAGUETE CITY, May 18 (PIA) -- The United States Embassy reported the completion of the provincial road infrastructure project from Makilala in North Cotabato to Tacurong City, Maguindanao under the US-Philippines partnership.
US Embassy spokesperson Betina Malone said the residents in the four remote municipalities in Maguindanao province can now travel safely and efficiently to the main highway running from North Cotabato to Tacurong City.
The 15.3-kilometer provincial road section, which traverses the municipalities of Buluan, Pandag, Paglat, and SK Pendatun, connects with the national highway in Buluan Poblacion.
Malone said these communities, which have lagged in economic development, lie along the fringes of the Liguasan Marsh.
The completed infrastructure project was turned over yesterday to the Maguindanao provincial government by the US government (USG), represented by US Deputy Chief of Mission Leslie Bassett and Acting Mission Director Reed Aeschliman of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
During the formal ceremony, Bassett praised the government leaders for their commitment to the project, and for helping to foster peace and development in this conflict-affected area of Mindanao.
Philippine government officials present included Secretary Luwalhati Antonino, Chair of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), Regional Governor Mujib Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Representative Simeon Datumanong (Maguindanao 2nd District) and Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu.
The USG-funded project was implemented by USAID’s Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program in partnership with the provincial government, which provided a counterpart contribution of about 26 percent of the total project cost, with support from the Maguindanao 2nd Congressional District Office, said Malone.
“The upgraded road, consisting of all-weather gravel sections and concrete sections, is expected to significantly improve residents’ access to markets, business centers, schools, hospitals and government services. Travel time from SK Pendatun, the most remote of the four municipalities, has been reduced from one hour to approximately 20 minutes,” said the US Embassy official.
The ceremonial turn-over took place alongside the Maguindanao Infrastructure Development Forum being held in Buluan, which focused on intensive efforts by the provincial government to implement vital infrastructure projects in the province.
According to Malone, the visiting officials later traveled to Tumbao, in the municipality of Mangudadatu, where the U.S. government turned over a boat landing on Lake Buluan completed in partnership with the municipality. The landing facility will help to ensure regular water transport services for residents.
To date, the USG in partnership with the local governments has built more than 1,450 infrastructure projects in Mindanao’s conflict-affected areas through USAID’s GEM Program which is implemented under the oversight of MinDA. These include larger-scale Regional Impact Projects, like the Buluan provincial road, designed to benefit people in multiple barangays or municipalities, it is said.
Bassett also met with a select group of young leaders who are alumni of U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs.
Participants included those who studied abroad in the United States under State Department scholarships, and alumni of USAID’s Congressional Internship Program for Young Mindanao Leaders, which gave youth from Mindanao the opportunity to intern in the National Congress of the Philippines.
The group had a lively discussion about youth issues and youth programs in Maguindanao and the ARMM, and the alumni participants shared with Bassett their suggestions on how the U.S. can better support programs for young Mindanaoans, said Malone. (mbcn/JCT/PIA-Negros Oriental)