Aklan's best performing IOs get award

KALIBO, Aklan, December 5 (PIA6) -- Two government information officers from Aklan – PO3 Nida L. Gregas of the Aklan Police Provincial Office (APPO) and Peter S. Mangilog of National Statistics Office (NSO) were awarded recently at the Iloilo Grand Hotel as the region’s Best Performing Information Officers along with eight (8) others from the provinces of Capiz, Iloilo and Negros Occidental. The awarding of Best Performing IOs was conceptualized by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) as the government’s way of appreciating and recognizing the efforts of information officers in national agencies and local government units. The awarding was held as the highlight of this year’s Information Officers’ Year-end Conference-Western Visayas, an annual gathering of the region’s information officers from national, provincial and municipal offices. Before the awarding, the information officers listened first to a lecture of Ryan Vilmor Dumpit of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) entitledUnderstanding Weather Changes, Terminologies. The venue for the gathering and awarding was originally slated at the El Circulo Pavilion, Lawaan, Roxas City but was transferred to Iloilo City as the intended venue in Roxas City suffered damages due to Typhoon Yolanda. Both PO3 Gregas and Mabilog were accompanied by their respective office heads in receiving the award from PIA 6 Regional Director Atty. Ma. Janet C. Mesa. PO3 Gregas was accompanied by APPO OIC Provincial Director John Jomel Trio while Mangilog was accompanied by NSO-Aklan Statistician II Rodelyn Panadero who represented Blas M. Solidum, Provincial Statistics Officer, who was in Manila on official business at the time of the awarding. The award for this year is Gregas’ second and for Mangilog, his first one. Other awardees for the category included Joeffrey Espiritu of the Provincial Health – Capiz, Office, SPO1 Donna Asmod of Capiz Provincial Police Office, FO3 Marlon B. Garbo of Roxas City Fire Station, Juvy S. Gaton of Department of Agriculture 6, Ma. Xenia Serio of POPCOM 6, Fire Inspector Stephen Jardeleza of BFP-Iloilo, Florentina L. Magbanua of NIA, Negros Occidental and Cynthia Luz F. Chua of NFA Negros Occidental. Meanwhile, besides the Best Performing IO award, NSO-Aklan was also awarded the Best Performing Information Office for 2013. The award was conceptualized and introduced by the PIA only this year which makes the awardees from Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Negros and Iloilo officially the first recipients of such awards. Other awardees in the Best Performing Information Office category were Antique Police Office, Capiz Provincial Press Bureau, Public Information Division, Governor’s Office, Negros Occidental, Iloilo Public Information and Community Affairs Office, Governor’s Office, Public Information Office, Passi City and Public Information division, Philhealth 6. The awardees each receive a citation and trophy from the PIA. (JCM/VGV PIA6 Aklan)

Coastal are now no build zones

KALIBO, Aklan, December 4 (PIA6) -- From now on, coastal dwellers will no longer be allowed to build houses within 40 meters from the high tide mark of beaches. This is in order to save the people’s lives in times of strong typhoons that could bring strong storm surges, according to Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas, who arrived in Aklan December 3 together with Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Dinky Soliman and Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. Secretary Roxas’ group first met with provincial and municipal officials of the province of Antique led by Governor Exequiel Javier, and then with Aklan provincial and municipal officials led by Governor Florencio T. Miraflores. The two sets of meetings with the Cabinet Secretaries were held at the Conference Room of the Provincial Guest House, Provincial Capitol Compound. At the start of both the sets of meetings, Secretary Roxas assured the provincial officials that even as most of the media dateline reports involved Tacloban and Samar, the government did not forget the plight of the people of Western Visayas in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda, and they were sent by President Aquino to assess the damage in the areas to know the priorities of the officials in the rehabilitation and recovery phase. During his talk, Roxas emphasized the need for local government officials to prevent their constituents from coming back to build their houses along the coastal areas, saying that such areas, especially within 40 meters, are now considered “no-build-zones. Roxas said local government officials will be held accountable should this regulation be violated. For her part, DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman assured municipal mayors that the DSWD will be providing assistance to typhoon victims through Cash For Work and Cash for Training Programs. She also said that as a form of assistance, the Pantawid Pamilya cash payout this December will be given in full and doing away with conditions as some school children cannot go to school anyway due to destroyed school houses. She also urged local officials to submit their list of validated houses totally or partially destroyed by Typhoon Yolanda to the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) or at the Social Welfare and Development (SWAD) Team by Thursday, December 5, so that these data will be e-mailed to the DSWD Regional Office by Friday, December 6 and during the weekend, would be validated by the DSWD Central Office. The list will then be forwarded to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) which is the lead agency for shelter assistance, according to Soliman. Within the week, Soliman said the local government units would know if there will be delivery of housing materials, as she disclosed that the government is more into providing materials than cash to those who lost their houses. She said the government will be providing P30,000.00 to those whose houses were totally destroyed, and P10,000.00 for partially destroyed. In the two meetings however, the province of Antique pegged the amount for totally destroyed houses at P15,000.00 each, while Aklan placed the amount to construct a house at P10,000.00. To both these proposals, Secretary Mar Roxas said the national policy in providing aid for shelter will be applied to all. “We are all Filipinos, it would be unfair if a province gets a bigger amount, while the other one gets less. What is important here is for victims to be included first in the validated list,” Roxas said. (VGV PIA6 Aklan)