CEBU CITY, Cebu — The Department of Health (DOH) in Region 7 has a new director — Dr. Asuncion Anden — replacing Dr. Susanna Madarieta, who has been assigned to Region 6. Madarieta was designated in 1989 as Region 7 licensing officer, then DOH7 regional director in 2007. Anden, a Cebuana, had served as DOH7 assistant director.

The change of assignments is part of the DOH central office’s reshuffling of top personnel affecting all regional offices in the country except Regions 4 and 5. Madarieta who has been with DOH for nearly three decades, replaces Dr. Ariel Valencia in DOH6. She will start working in her new post on March 12. (Phoebe Jen Indino)

Consolidate Reports

DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental (PNA) — The House Panel of the Congressional Oversight Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management has directed the Office of the Civil Defense and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) to submit a consolidated damage assessment report on the results of tropical storm “Sendong” and the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that shook Negros Oriental in past months.

Committee chairman Rodolfo Biazon said the consolidated assessment should also include Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, also badly-hit by "Sendong."

Rabies Awareness

NAVAL, Biliran (PIA) — Members of the Provincial Rabies Prevention and Control Committee (PRPCC) from eight municipalities here joined a motorcade from Naval town to Culaba for the launch of Annual Rabies Awareness Month recently.

Dr. Suzette Apura, provincial veterinarian of Biliran and the PRPCC chairman said each year, the celebration is held in different towns so that Biliran’s rabies awareness program can reach out to the population. Biliran province, Dr. Apura, said is on its way of completing requirements of its application to be declared a rabies-free province this year.

Globe Milestone

CEBU — Globe Telecom offers the first trilingual customer service providing a Visayas dialect option to subscribers. The new customer service has a Cebu-based contact center dedicated to Visayan-speaking customers, allowing subscribers to converse with Globe in the vernacular.

With the launch of this dialect option, Visayan-speaking customers will have access to Globe/TM sales and after-sales services through a dedicated Visayan Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) by dialing 730-1000 (landline) or 211 (mobile).

Following the self-service IVRS voice prompts in Visayan, callers are directed to a Cebu-based Visayan-speaking customer service representative who can provide Visayan-speaking customers information on Globe mobile, landline or broadband services for sales, customers or technical concerns.

I.S.O. Certificate

CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar (PIA) — The Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA)-Samar received the International Standardization Organization (ISO) certificate last week at TESDA’s central office.

This means that TESDA Samar passed the international standard set forth by “TUV SUD PSB,” the country’s leading multi-national certification and inspection body providing inspection, certification, valuation, validation, training, and testing services.

“This is the product of a long and arduous process,” said Cleta Omega, TESDA provincial director. “This certification does not only earn us quality standards but challenges us to maintain it.”