KALIBO, Aklan – To fully implement health reforms and programs, Aklan province is implementing its five-year P1.014-billion Province-wide Investment Plan for Health (PIPH) backed by international support agencies and partners of the Department of Health (DoH). Aklan Governor Carlito Marquez said the Joint Appraisal Committee (JAC) led by DoH and representatives from donor agencies approved the budget for the five-year implementation of the provincial health reforms last week. “The grants from donor agencies and international funding institutions will also be used to rehabilitate local public hospitals, to provide better quality services in the communities,” he said. Funding agencies will fund P672.7 million of the project cost and the national government through DoH will provide P80.6 million as counterpart funding. Marquez said the provincial government will contribute P182.5 million and local government units, P108.90 million to funding for the PIPH. Under the P1.014 billion, PIPH implementation for the current year is P241.9million; P403.2 million for 2010; P186.3 million for 2011; P124.20 million for 2012; and P89 million in 2013, the final year of implementation. The Aklan Governor said the PIPH program allocated P222.2 million for public health, P423.5 million or 64 percent of the project cost for the upgrading of existing hospitals, both rural, municipal and provincial, and P234.8-million for the acquisition of equipment and machines. “The Dr. Rafael S. Tumbokon Memorial Hospital, a 186-bed capacity referral hospital, is expanded into a 250 bed capacity to become a tertiary hospital and cater to the indigents in the province,” Marquez said. (Boy Ryan Zabal)

Observance of Ozone Day slated

TACLOBAN CITY – The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has calendared the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer as among the events to be celebrated this month. The International Day for the Preservation of Ozone Layer is celebrated worldwide on September 16 of every year with one common objective, to protect human health and the environment. It is also in line with the United Nations for Environmental Program (UNEP) declaration of September as International Month for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer in commemoration of the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Sept. 16, 1987.

The observance of the Ozone Day will highlight the country's commitment to a clean environment and its adherence to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The UNEP is encouraging the countries to devote the Day each year to promote, at the national level, activities in accordance with the objectives of the Montreal Protocol and its amendments. The Montreal Protocol focuses on the protection of the earth's ozone layer. This treaty, which is among the most ratified in the entire United Nations system, has enabled both developed and developing countries to achieve a near total phase-out in the production and use of ozone depleting substances. (Jack Gadaingan)

Cops texting in public allowed

KALIBO, Aklan (PNA) – Operatives of the Philippine National Police (PNP) can text even in public view. S/Supt. Ruperto Floro Jr., Regional Operations and Plans Division Chief of the Police Regional Office in Western Visayas clarified that local police operatives are allowed to use their cellular phones in public despite negative perception.

"The Police Community Relations (PCR) of the PRO-6 has conducted a public perception survey and found out that many residents didn’t approve of seeing policemen who are texting while on duty. We believe it is necessary for us to use our cellular phones in public as part of our monitoring of the peace and order situation," Floro said. But while texting in public is perceived as negative, residents in Western Visayas reportedly gave their highest approval for police officers participating in community work. "We need to undertake this public perception survey in order for us to determine what the residents think about their policemen and for us to know which directions to take," Floro said.