ILOILO CITY (PNA) – The Iloilo Boarding House Commission is continuing its inspection of boarding houses in the city. Marieta Geremias of said boarding house commission said the agency’s inspection team is continuing its rounds especially on boarding houses near schools. The team is composed of members of the Bureau of Fire, City Engineers’ Office, City Health Office and the police. Geremias said there are around 700 boarding houses and buildings in the city. Of these, around 300 houses have permits and are declared safe for boarders. The rest are still being inspected by the commission. She said they are checking boarding house permits and if these boarding houses have fire extinguishers and security alarms. The commission is also checking buildings offering space for boarders to see if these are installed with sprinklers and emergency exits in case of fire. The commission is also reminding boarders that triple-decks for beds and cooking inside the room is not allowed.

Anti-rabies drive intensified

Palo, Leyte – The Department of Health in Eastern Visayas is set to intensify its anti-rabies campaign this year after receiving foreign funds for the said activity, a senior DoH-8 health official told reporters in an interview at the DoH-8 regional office based here. Boyd Cerro, DoH-8 Regional Sentinel Nurse told reporters that his office has received recently an initial tranche of P2.1 million donated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the World Health Organization intended for the anti-rabies campaign. He said the total amount they expect to get from the Foundation is more than P10 million spread over 5 years which is also the time frame of the campaign for anti-rabies in the region. Cerro said that with such program funding, his office is now ready for the intensified campaign primarily to increase awareness amongst the populace regarding the deadly effect of rabies and to possibly eliminate rabies in the region. He said the initial fund released to DoH-8 will be used for the advocacy campaign in the region in coordination with the local government units (LGUs) in six provinces and four cities in Eastern Visayas. (Restituto A. Cayubit)

Growing demand seen in homemade baked delicacies

CEBU CITY – Despite the presence of commercial pastries, an industry player believes the market for home made baked products continues to show significant demand from the local market. “There’s a growing market for homemade pastries and cakes in the last five years. I believe people prefer it than those which are commercially done. That’s why homemade businesses survive long term,” said Jill Christie Uy, who established her homemade business, Sweet Stuff, two years ago selling cakes, cookies, pastries, and other sweet delicacies. The 28-year-old lady entrepreneur sees good prospects in this business, no matter if the market is already flooded with different varieties of sweet products. “When you say homemade, automatically people view it as your passion rather than as a business, so they tend to patronize it more,” Uy said. Uy, who used to work with an international banking institution in Cebu, resigned from her job to pursue her Sweet Stuff business, which now attracts a huge following of customers in Cebu, Manila, and Davao among others. (Malou M. Mozo)