DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, Philippines (PNA) — The Negros Oriental provincial government will conduct the second Mobile Surgical Mission August 17-19 at the Bindoy District Hospital in Bindoy town.

The Mobile Surgical Team from the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH) will be joined by the Philippine Academy of Medical Specialists (PAMS)–Negros Oriental chapter and the Association of Cebu Eye Specialists (ACES).
Doctors from PAMS will conduct major and minor operations for indigent patients from Bindoy, Tayasan and Ayungon towns while eye specialists will conduct eye examinations and operations.

Bacolod couples from PopHealth Foundation

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occ. (PNA) — After a successful three years of attending classes in the Responsible Parenting Program of the Population Commission (PopCom), student-couples in Bacolod City will organize themselves into a federation advocating for population health and development this month.

The couples, aged 16 to 45 years old, have been religiously attending classes on responsible parenting and family planning and were trained to be advocates themselves. Population Commission program officer Ann Alisbo said the federation will advocate for pre-marriage counseling and family planning to be supervised by PopCom.

Film, TV workshop in Calbayog

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte (PIA) — The Northwest Samar State University (NwSSU) will hold the Chito S. Roño Scriptwriting Workshop on September 2-4, 2011 in Calbayog City.

The workshop will provide working knowledge on the basics of scriptwriting and expose participants to film-making and directing fundamentals.

Twenty slots are available to Waray writers in Samar and Leyte. Palanca award-winning poet and screenwriter Jerry B. Gracio, a native of Mondragon, Northern Samar, will be workshop facilitator.

BIAD-P proposed

CEBU CITY, Cebu (PIA) — After years of living in wooden houses on bamboo stilts, Badjaos in Puntod, Alaska Mambaling, Cebu City will soon live in concrete, socialized dwellings through the Bajau Integrated Area Development Project (BIAD-P). Project proponents broke ground on a 140-hectare site in Sitio Puntod, Alaska Mambaling last Aug. 1.

Some 153 Badjao households or about 918 individuals in Alaska Mambaling will be benefited. This is a project of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI), the Cebu city government, the University of San Carlos-College of Architecture and Fine Arts, Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and partners from Kortrijk, Belgium and Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands.

Fishermen in Samar given hope

CATBALOGAN City, Samar (PIA) — Samar’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has plans to address the plight of small fishermen here affected by dwindling harvests through a proposed ordinance proposing for the rehabilitation of Maqueda Bay, assignment of parts of the sea fisherfolks, banning fishing during fish breeding season and provision of alternative livelihood for fishermen during slow periods.

The SCCI will also work on the building of a center for small fishermen to display fish products.