BASEY SAMAR – Basey town in Samar has opened its bagsakan center for agricultural products produced by farmers and fishermen of the town.

Basey Mayor Atty. Igmedio “Junji” Ponferrada told reporters the bagsakan center, serving as the farmers' and fishermen’s center for the marketing of  agriculture and marine products, will be a big help catering to the rural work force in the town’s 44 barangays.

He said the building of the bagsakan center with storage facilities worth P1 million was realized with the counteracting scheme of  his local government unit (LGU) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) Regional Office 8 based in Tacloban City, with P800,000 provided for by DA and P200,000 provided for by his LGU.

 Ponferrada said his LGU will promote the bagsakan in neighboring municipalities; he also invited interested buyers to his town to buy the agricultural and marine products directly from local farmers and fishermen at substantially much lower costs compared to those bought through middlemen.
(Restituto A. Cayubit)

DOH to Upgrade Health Units

TACLOBAN CITY (PIA) — The rural health facilities of 12 island municipalities in Eastern Visayas will be upgraded, courtesy of a recent funds grant from the national Government.

DoH 8 Regional Director Edgardo Gonzaga said the DoH is giving priority to island and isolated towns in the region for obvious reasons. He said the island-municipalities include Maripipi, Biliran; Limasawa, Southern Leyte; Capul, San Antonio, San Vicente and Bobon, Northern Samar; and Almagro, Sto. Nino, Daram, Zumarraga and Tagapul-an, Samar.

 Gonzaga said some P671 million was granted to Eastern Visayas by DoH’s central office as part of its efforts to finance the infrastructure and equipment outlay of provincial and district hospitals and municipal and barangay health centers.
The DoH is bent on helping the local government units (LGUs) in the upgrading of their health facilities especially those that cater to child and maternal care, knowing the funding limitations of the LGUs, Gonzaga said.

Hotel Managers Converge in Cebu

CEBU CITY – Twenty top executives from the Marco Polo chain of properties in China, Hong Kong and the Philippines are in Cebu Tuesday for the international hotel chain’s annual general manager’s conference.

“We are excited to showcase to our sister-companies the best of what Cebu has to offer - the great food, our colorful dances, the warm Filipino hospitality, and a taste of local culture,” said Marco Polo Plaza Cebu General Manager Hans Hauri said.

An event highlight is the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel Awards for 2009, which will be presented by Marco Polo Hotels President Steve Kleinschmidt and Vice-President for Marketing and Business Development Simon Pearson in a gala dinner Tuesday at the Marco Polo Plaza grand ballroom.

Each year, Marco Polo Hotels identifies properties within its portfolio “demonstrating exceptional performance in key aspects of the hospitality business.”

In 2007, after only a year in operations, Marco Polo Plaza Cebu was named hotel of the year by the group. In 2008, it was named most creative hotel for food and beverage concepts during the hotel group’s marketing conference in Hong Kong that year. In 2009, the hotel was recognized as the “Marco Polo Image of the Year.” (Malou M. Mozo)