SUBIC BAY FREEPORT, Philippines — The American warship, USS Germantown (LSD 42), is expected to arrive at this port Saturday for the Philippines-US Balikatan Exercise 2012 (PHIBLEX-12).

Capt. Bradley Lee, commodore, Amphibious Squadron 11, said USS Germantown will offload the Marines and their equipment to begin the start of the exercise shortly after they arrive in the Subic freeport.

The PHIBLEX is a bilateral training exercise with Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), Essex Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) Sailors and units from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). (Franco G. Regala)

2,600 benefit from job fair

BAGUIO CITY — More than 2,600 local and overseas job seekers were able to benefit from the two-day jobs fair conducted by the city government of Baguio and the Cordillera office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) held recently at the Baguio Convention Center.

A total of 30 local companies and 22 overseas recruitment agencies with a total of 14,000 job vacancies actively participated in the jobs fair which saw hundreds of individuals that were hired on the spot for possessing the qualifications required by their domestic or overseas jobs. In a few day the DoLE will release the number of those directly hired under the project. (Dexter A. See)

Laguna residents laud RSOG drive

CAMP GEN. LIM, Laguna — The Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG) in Southern Tagalog was lauded by local folk for its drive to rid the streets of gaming machines that encourage minors to gamble their money away.
Supt. Randy Peralta, RSOG 4-A chief, said their operation last Thursday in the villages of Casile and Canlalay in Biñan City led to the seizure of 33 “video karera (horse-race)” and fruit game machines.

Peralta added that RSOG operatives also confiscated 10 more gaming machines in San Pablo City and Sta. Cruz town. (Ferdinand F. Castro)

Gov wants moms' health ensured

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — The Pangasinan Capitol Provincial, through the Provincial Health Office, is reviewing the performance of health workers in the past year with particular focus on addressing the health concerns of mothers.
Governor Amado Espino wants the review and assessment to lead to a more efficient approach in ensuring women’s health in the province.

During a recent symposium on the 2010 LGU Scorecard at the Pangasinan Training Center, Dr. Ana de Guzman, PHO officer, revealed that there were 35 cases of maternal deaths in the province last year. (Liezle Basa Iñigo)

Certified seeds given to farmers

LAGAWE, Ifugao — The Department of Agriculture-Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-CAR) recently delivered the initial 150 bags of certified rice seeds to the Provincial Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Office (PAENRO) here.

It was part of the assistance of the government to the farmers who were greatly affected by typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel” that devastated the province. PAENRO Chief Raymond Bahatano said that the 150 bags of certified seeds will allow farmers hit by the typhoons to recover from the serious negative effects of the weather disturbances on their sources of livelihood. They were purchased for farmers with destroyed farms. (Dexter A. See)