Capiz, Philippines

by Jemin B. Guillermo

Roxas City (29 May) — More than 400,000 hectares from the three state colleges and universities (SUCs) in Western Visayas will be utilized for research and development (R&D) to further increase palay production.

Under the FIELDS program of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, an aggregate of 465,956 hectares of palay lands in Region VI will be used to improve palay yields through the three SUCs here.

The Capiz State University in Capiz, Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College in Iloilo and Negros State College of Agriculture in Negros Occidental are among the 22 SUCs that were included as initial focus of the program of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Aside from palay, the DA is also teaming up with the SUCs and local government units to improve root crop production.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap that under the DA’s Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA)-High Value Commercial Crops Program, said project will get P90 million in funds over a three-year period.

He added that the DA will provide funds to SUCs to maintain areas for farmers as sources of planting materials for root crops.

The project will focus on the planting of cassava, yam and taro in selected commercial areas and sweet potato in commercial areas of Central Luzon, Bataan, and selected areas in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Root crops are rich in beta carotene, inolin, and minerals and micronutrients that have antihypertensive and anti-diabetic properties.

Yap recently directed the DA’s regional directors to closely coordinate with the SUCs and LGUs to operationalize collaborative extension services in pursuit of the government’s food security programs. (PIA)

by Jemin B. Guillermo

Roxas City (29 May) — Five new principals will add to the Capiz schools division’s force this opening of classes.

The five new principals for Capiz are among the 1,800 appointees of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo this week.

Dr. Eveleth Gamboa, Assistant Schools Division Superintendent for Capiz, confirmed that the appointment of five new principal applicants from the Division was already signed.

Gamboa revealed that the Division here has several vacant positions for school principal items.

Malacañang disclosed that President Arroyo’s recent signing of new principal items will bring to 2,100 new principal items that are given allotment in the 2008 budget.

The President has encouraged the upgrading of skills of teachers and to have all schools in the country to be headed by a principal in a move to deliver quality education to all especially the poor.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said that the upgrading of the head teachers and master teachers who passed the qualifying exams would fill the gap in the number of schools without principals and only headed by a master teacher.

“The biggest number of new principals happened this year. Four thousand schools will now have new principal because at the DepEd there are 24 thousand schools nationwide headed only by a master teacher,” Lapus said.

He said this is a mass upgrade in a move to have all the schools nationwide to be headed by a principal.

Meanwhile, Gamboa disclosed that they are already in the process of consolidating the list of about 600 teacher applicants in the Division here who are included in the Registry of Qualified Applicants (RQA) for teaching position. (PIA)

by Jemin b. Guillermo

Roxas City (29 May) — The government is stepping up its effort to maintain the bird flu-free status of the country.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has ordered anew the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) to step up its implementation of border patrols, quarantine measures and other preventive steps to keep the Philippines AI-free amid the resurgence of the bird flu virus in Asia.

This came after the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 241 persons who are infected by the avian influenza (AI) virus died.

The WHO disclosed that as of mid-May this year, some 241 out of 382 people found in laboratory-confirmed cases to have been infected with the AI virus have died since the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus resurfaced in Southeast Asia in 2003 and then spread across the rest of the continent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In the nearby Asian country of Indonesia, out of the 133 cases confirmed to date, 108 have been fatal, according to WHO data.

Accordingly, Yap directed BAI Director Daimio Catalan to intensify the implementation of said preventive measures in airports and seaports in the cities of Davao and General Santos owing to their proximity to Indonesia, one of Asia’s bird-flu infected countries.

In Capiz, the Provincial Avian Influenza Task Force continues to conduct advocacy activities and other preventive measures to help maintain the country’s status as bird flu-free.

Meanwhile, Yap has lifted the temporary ban on all imports of domestic and wild birds along with poultry and its products from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, following official confirmation showing the absence of AI virus in the prairie area in the last three months.

Earlier, the DA also lifted the ban on the entry of birds, poultry and its products from the European countries of Germany and Italy after the OIE had declared them free of the AI virus. (PIA)

by A. Lumaque

Roxas City (29 May) — This year’s World No Tobacco Day on May 31 with theme “Tobacco-Free Youth” focuses on the younger population bracket to counter the tobacco industry efforts to hook new, young and potentially life-long tobacco users.

Globally, most people start smoking before the age of 18, and almost a quarter of these individuals begin using tobacco before the age of 10. The younger children are when they first try smoking, the more likely they are to become regular tobacco users and the less likely they are to quit, said a World Health Organization (WHO) website.

“It is clearly proven that exposure to direct and indirect pro-tobacco advertising, together with other marketing strategies used by the tobacco industry, leads to an increase in experimentation by young people and, in turn, to the very real risk of their becoming regular users of tobacco products. The tobacco industry spends tens of billions of dollars worldwide every year to effectively market its products in as many ways as possible,” the website added.

In response to this threat to young people, this year’s World No Tobacco Day campaign focuses on the following main message:

One of the most effective ways countries can protect young people from experimenting and becoming regular tobacco users is to ban all forms of direct and indirect tobacco advertising, including promotion of tobacco products and sponsorship, by the tobacco industry, of any events or activities.

Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the world. It is the only legal consumer product that kills one third to one half of those who use it as intended by its manufacturers, with its victims dying on average 15 years prematurely.

Nicotine is a highly addictive substance and child and adolescent experimentation can easily lead to a lifetime of tobacco dependence. (PIA)