CEBU, Philippines – The Provincial Government of Cebu has collected P1.4 billion in taxes for the third quarter of this year and the Provincial Treasurer is hopeful that they could reach their 2010 target of P2.086 billion.

Provincial Treasurer Roy Salubre said the total tax collection as of the third quarter of this year has already reached P1.436 billion, with the bulk of the amount coming from real property tax collection.

Salubre said the third quarter collection is P30 million more than collected during the same period last year.

The amount does not include the collections from January to September of business establishments owned by the province, including the South Bus Terminal.

Even with the increase in the tax collection for this year, Salubre reiterated his call to taxpayers to pay their duties on time to avoid having their properties forfeited in favor of the government. He also urged early payments to benefit from the 10 percent discount. (Mars Mosqueda)

Goat-Raising Lessons on Air

SAN JOSE, Antique, Philippines  – Fifty-eight farmers from San Jose de Buenavista this town graduated from School-on-Air (SOA) recently, a program focused on providing education and information on goat raising. SOA is a program of the Agriculture Training Institute (ATI) under the Department of Agriculture (DA) in partnership with the Local Government Units (LGUs).

In Antique, the lessons for students were aired over radio station DYKA every day from 4:30 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.

The program was hosted by Nicolasita Gallego and Porferio Gallego Jr. Every Friday, students of SOA were given assignments and the Office of the Municipal Agriculturist collects the assignments, tests and queries on a weekly basis and forwarded to the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist for further processing and recording.

In a graduation rite held at the EBJ Memorial Auditorium of the Delegate Angel Salazar Jr. Memorial School, the farmers were received their certificates of graduation from Director Larry Nacionales, regional director of the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit VI (DA-RFU VI), and Director Allan Alimodian, center director of Agricultural Training Institute (ATI).

Also present in the graduation ceremony were Mayor Rony Molina of San Jose de Buenavista and Sangguniang Bayan (SB) Member Erech Alocilja. (Mars Mosqueda)

Limestone Project Okayed

COMPOSTELA, Cebu, Philippines –. An exploration project with an estimated exploration cost of P3 million was recently approved by the Region 7 office of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

The two-year exploration project was sought by Rafaelito A. Barino for a limestone assessment which will cover an area of 133.0255 hectares in Barangays Poblacion, Estaca, and Tamiao in this town. MGB7 Regional Director Loreto B. Alburo said that the proponent seeks to explore limestone in the prospect for possible development and exploration.

Alburo said the exploration activities will be carried out in a manner that will, at all times, safeguard the environment and the proponent will strictly secure a written consent from any surface owners within the permit area prior to entry.

“Areas affected by excavation during test pitting, trenching, and drilling operations shall be progressively rehabilitated and/or restored through backfilling with topsoil, and backfilled areas will be replanted with suitable grass or tree species to prevent erosion to restore the vegetative cover of the area,” Alburo said.

The exploration permit does not include commercial extraction, and/or construction of infrastructures designed for mining development or mining production, he said. (Phoebe Jen Indino)