Siocon youth vows support to DENR's 'Tayo Ang Kalikasan'

 By: Lenie S. Dadan-OJT

 

DIPOLOG CITY, Mar. 23 (PIA) - Three youth organizations of Siocon town signed a covenant to join "Tayo Ang Kalikasan" (TAK) during the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-9’s environmental forum, held at the Sangguniang Bayan Session Hall, Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte.

 

The Siocon Federation of Sangguniang Kabataan, Siocon National High School, and Julian Soriano Memorial Comprehensive High School Youth for Environment in Schools Organizations (YES-O) pledged their support to join the national movement. 

 

The youth groups vowed to implement various environmental activities in their schools and communities as contribution in helping conserve and protect the environment and natural resources within the locality.

 

TAK is a collaborative effort of the DENR and its various stakeholders towards responsible development of natural resources ensuring the restoration, rehabilitation, and enhancement of the environment. 

 

The activity is part of the celebration of the World Water Day and International Day of Forest headed by the Regional Strategic Communication and Initiatives Groups (RSCIG), Regional Youth Desk Officer, MGB-9, EMB-9, Siocon Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) headed by Rey Jalandoni and Siocon MENRO Felizardo Canama. 

 

Signatories of the TAK Covenant include Herwina N. Esmali, Siocon SK Federation President, Dominique F. Casano, YES-O Adviser of Julian Soriano Memorial Comprehensive High school, Althea Mae T. Jamandron, YES-O President of Siocon National High School and witnessed by CENRO Rey Jalandoni and RYDO Roservirico Tan. 

Prior to the activity, the youth also joined the Bamboo Culm Planting Activity at the river banks of Siocon town as part of the observance. (RVC/EDT/Lenie S. Dadan-OJT/with reports from DENR Zamboanga Peninsula)

Farmers in Dipolog receives machines, equipment from LGU

 By: Berlyn E. Calarian- OJT

DIPOLOG CITY, Mar. 22 (PIA) – San Jose farmers in Dipolog received machines and equipment from the local government during the “Ugnayan at Serbisyong Bayan-Barangay Caravan” held recently, here.

The president of San Jose Farmers Association in Barangay San Jose, Dipolog City, Danilo de la Cruz Halike expressed his gratitude upon receiving machines and equipment. 

The association received two whole shredder machines, 200 meters duct hose, 200 meters garden hose, two whole knapsack sprayers, two whole garden drums, 20 bags of corn seeds and various seeds of vegetables.

According to Halike, their members are very thankful because the local government through the local agricultural office has always served the farmers in Barangay San Jose. 

He said it's not the first time they received this kind of assistance as they had already benefitted from the mechanical rice thresher which helped generate more income for them and the animals they had received such as cows, buffalos and chickens which they raised for additional livelihood. 

Halike also expressed his gratitude to the City Agriculture Office through Engr. Kerr Porlas for its diligence and efforts in reaching out to their organization.

The San Jose Farmers Association has 131 active members who are now focusing on making organic fertilizer to be used in their crops. (RVC/EDT/Berlyn E. Calarian-OJT/with reports from Dipolog City Government Facebook page)

LGUs to implement health promotions for healthier PH

By: Jayson R. Aucensillo

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Mar 23 (PIA) -- In spite of the global health crisis, local government units here are encouraged to strengthen and support the advocacy on health promotion for a “Healthy Pilipinas, Healthy communities.”

This is an initiative of the Department of Health (DOH), Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) and multiple health partners, to encourage Filipinos to consistently practice the priority areas towards attaining healthier lifestyle and better literacy.

Through the intensified implementation of health promotion among the LGUs, the DOH is hopeful that these health information could reach on ground for the public’s awareness and interest to practice.

“Basically, these seven areas are your pockets of health behaviors that we want every Filipino from a young, child, adult and elderly to practice,” DOH-Health Promotions Bureau Director IV, Dr. Beverly Ho said during the Health Connect Media Forum.

The seven priority health areas to consider are as follows: Diet and Exercise; Environmental Health; Vaccines and Immunization; Substance Use; Mental Health; Sexual and Reproductive Health; Violence and Injury Prevention.

“With this, we enable Filipinos to protect themselves and their families as stated under the Universal Health Care Act 2019,” Dr. Ho said.

Moreover, she explained as information plays very crucial, the PHAP has joined the campaign against misinformation as this brings huge adverse impacts on the health and lives of the people.

“Misinformation and delivery attempts to spread false information really diminish the gains on public health interventions,” said PHAP Executive Director Mr. Teodoro Padilla.

The health connect media forum is one of the platforms seen to provide verified health information for Filipinos at the height of COVID-19 pandemic.

The award winning communities such as the cities of Cebu, Tacloban, Baguio and the Province of Zamboanga Sibugay, have given time to share their experiences in promoting health interventions at the local level.

“We give recognitions to LGUs because this is a strong message that health should be prioritized since health threats are not over,” Mr. Padilla affirmed.

The PHAP committed that partnership between DOH and LGUs all over the country will continue as they aspire to live no one behind on the way to universal healthcare. (RVC/EDT/JRA/PIA9-Zamboanga City)

DOH grants Imelda town Healthy Pilipinas Awards

 By: Jocelyn Pineda-Alvarez

IPIL, Zamboanga Sibugay, Mar. 23 (PIA) - Imelda town’s health efforts did not go unnoticed as the town received the Healthy Pilipinas Awards for Healthy Communities 2022 from by the Department of Health (DOH).

Earlier, DOH and partners gave recognition to local government units around the country for their work in promoting the seven (7) priority areas defined in the DOH health promotion framework strategy.  The award also recognized COVID19 response of the LGUs. The 7 priority areas include: Diet and Exercise; Environmental Health; Vaccines and immunization; Substance Use; Mental Health; Sexual and Reproductive Health; Violence and Injury Prevention.

In the Health Connect media forum held Mar. 23, Heathy Pilipinas awardees share their best health practices and discussed their health promotion strategies.  Dr. Myrna Cabral-Salomes, Municipal Health Officer, Imelda, Zamboanga Sibugay Province shared how the province struggled to implement the vaccines and immunization priority area program but came out victorious in the end.

 

Dr. Salomes said, for the Age-appropriate Immunization (from birth to senior immunizations) - there was a massive decreased in coverage due to the COVID19 pandemic.

 

“We started with 106% coverage in 2019, eventually decreased to 73% in 2020 and 67.78% in 2021,” she reported. 

 

In response to the threat on low coverage of age -appropriate immunization, the LGU effortlessly reached-out to parents, guardians, families of the under five-year-old children and the school-aged children including the senior citizens.

 

The LGU conducted massive education campaign, barangay to barangay visits or barangay hopping so the community will feel the presence of the program and ease their mistrusts.

 

“Because of pandemic, we experienced gap in the supply of vaccines and we also found it hard to penetrate to communities due to strict quarantine/ health protocol,” Dr Salomes narrated.

 

She said all these challenges did not stop them from doing their job and delivering health services to the people, she is thankful to the municipal local government for providing the needed transportation support and the barangay local government for also helping by providing food to constituents and health workers during vaccination and immunization activities.

 

“Our Innovation is that we have annual awarding to barangays and health workers, this is to boost their efforts to do better in implementing the program, and for the barangay to have ownership of the program,” she said.

 

Salomes also shared that they give freebies to children during immunization activity. 

 

Healthy communities award is one platform which encourages good practice sharing so that others can elevate and scale up where possible.

 

Meanwhile, with the upcoming national and local elections, Dr. Salomes called on public to choose next leader that puts public health on the top of agenda,  “health is wealth, health is people, health is investment.”  (EDT/JPA/Zamboanga Sibugay)

No 'Deltacron' detected in PH, ZamPen still at low risk

 By: Jayson R. Aucensillo

ZAMBOANGA CITY, (PIA) Mar 21 -- Shifting into a lower alert level status in provinces and cities in Zamboanga Peninsula region does not assume that individuals should not anymore observe the minimum health standards.

This was what the Department of Health (DOH)-9 insisted in advicing the public to religiously adhere to the safety health protocols especially at public places in order to really avoid the newer recombinant COVID-19 variant 'Deltacron'.

“There is no ‘Deltacron’ detected in the Philippines,” DOH-9 Dr. Maryrose Rendon said during the 1st Quarter Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) meeting, recently.

The doctor has also affirmed that because of the vaccination, they don’t still see a new wave even with the circulation of newer variant.

“There is still no evidence that this will negatively impact our health systems. The ‘Deltacron’ infections are still yet to know if this will be very transmissible or will cause severe disease,” Dr. Rendon added.

Studies showed, this hybrid version of coronavirus, ‘Deltacron’ has already identified to some 17 patients in the United States and Europe.

Meanwhile, all areas in the region are now considered low risk and have eased COVID-19 restrictions.

“Our shift to lower alert level status has thus far been successful in maintaining the health protocols and safety of the general population,” Dr. Rendon said.

The DOH-9 is urging everyone to avail of their booster shots and be responsible in order to continue the trend.

Dr. Rendon has also clarified to the public that mandatory vaccination is not implemented in the country, the government is just only providing the best advice to the population as COVID-19 vaccines show effectiveness especially those who accepted the third dose (booster shot).

“Correct dissemination of information to the grassroots could really enhance uptake of booster dose. We have to always debunk spread of fake news,” Dr. Rendon exclaimed (RVC/JRA/PIA9-Zamboanga City)

300 kids in Dipolog learn fire safety tips

 By: Lenie S. Dadan-OJT

 

DIPOLOG CITY, Mar 17 (PIA) - Around 300 children aged 4 to 16 year's old learn fire safety tips while participating at ‘Berong’s Fire Camp’ that the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) conducted here at a local mall.

 

FO3 Mark Jefferson S. Canggas said that the camp is an activity purposely for children and the youth to learn fire safety including connecting fire hose, conduct cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), knot-tying, use of fire extinguisher, fire escape and rappelling.

 

In his message, City Mayor Darel Dexter Uy lauded the initiatives of BFP with F/SINP Edselle E. Manogura, acting city fire marshall, for conducting the activity that capacitates children to respond to fire incidents.

 

He expressed his gratitude to the parents and children for showing their support to the activity, including all stakeholders for the successful conduct of the program. 

 

Berong’s Fire Camp is anchored on the tagline, “Sa pag-iwas sa sunog, hindi ka nag-iisa,” which is also simultaneously conducted all over the country.

 

The word “Berong” was taken from the BFP icon called “Berong Bombero”. (RVC/EDT/PIA-Zamboanga del Norte/Lenie S. Dadan-OJT)

Dipolog City finalist for One Planet City Challenge

 By: Berlyn E. Calarian-OJT

 

DIPOLOG CITY, Mar 17 (PIA) – Dipolog City made it as one of the national finalists for the World Wide Fund for Nature's (WWF) One Planet City Challenge (OPCC) 2021-2022 together with the cities of Davao and Quezon. 

The finalists were chosen from among the Philippines' 16 qualifying cities.

 

The WWF's One Planet City Challenge is a friendly global competition that recognizes cities for their climate actions and objectives and assesses if they are in line with the Paris Agreement's aim of limiting climate temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

 

Climate change has a direct impact on cities and urban life, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. 

 

Rising sea levels and more extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and storms are all consequences of rising global temperatures, which have a particularly negative impact on coastal areas. 

 

According to the recently released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, cities are locations of concentrated risk to climate change with losses due to infrastructure damage, disruption in services, and impacted supply chains already occurring. Cities also said to provide a plethora of chances for accomplishing urgent climate action.

 

Cities are invited to submit their best practices and comprehensive plans to the OPCC in order to significantly mitigate the consequences of climate change and accelerate climate transformation.

 

According to the WWF-Philippines website, a total of 280 cities from 50 nations have signed up for the OPCC's 2021-2022 round. Nearly 600 cities from 53 nations across five continents have taken part in the challenge since its inception ten years ago.

 

Imee Bellen, project manager of WWF-Philippines' One Planet Cities believes more Philippine cities would join OPCC soon, saying that "inspiring revolutionary urban solutions to alleviate the negative effects of climate change are always invited to be displayed.”

 

Atty. Angela Ibay, head of WWF-Philippines' Climate and Energy Program, also urged citizens to assist cities in strengthening their capacity to respond to the climate issue.

 

"If it weren't for the inhabitants' collaborative action, the cities' goals would not come to reality," she stressed.

 

She further explained that without the collaborative action of the city's citizens, the city's plans would not come to reality. 

 

"Individuals, on the other hand, can still make a difference. Even seemingly insignificant habits, such as lowering energy use, can have a long-term impact on the community and the environment."

 

The three Philippine finalists have also qualified to participate in the OPCC's We Love Cities initiative, which aims to improve communication between municipal authorities and the population they represent on climate and sustainability concerns.

 

An international judging panel comprised of renowned professionals in the field of urban sustainability from around the world will assess all OPCC finalists. The winners will be announced within May to June 2022. (RVC/EDT/PIA-Zamboanga del Norte/Berlyn E. Calarian-OJT with reports from PIC Zamboanga del Norte)