BORACAY Island, Aklan (PNA) — “Philippine media has long been fulfilling its role in poverty alleviation and without media, the country could be experiencing a far worse poverty situation,” said Senator Manny Villar who inducted new officers of the Aklan United Media Association, the first media group in Aklan to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Villar added, that Philippine media’s role “is to report to the public distressed provincial roads, destroyed bridges, government programs failing to reach beneficiaries, among others. When media report these, government agencies take cognizance and often act in solving the problem.”

MORE BENEFITS

CEBU CITY, Cebu (PNA) — The Department of Education (DepEd) Cebu City Division is asking City Hall to raise the salary of or provide additional benefits to 480 contractual and part-time teachers in the city’s night high schools. Cebu City School’s Division Superintendent Rhea Mar Angtud said the 350 contractual and 130 part-time teachers in the 26 night high schools receive a minimal amount for their services compared to their counterparts who are regular. They work six hours daily, receiving P12,000 monthly while a Teacher 1 gets P19,099 monthly for working the same number of hours daily.

SALARY LOANS

ILOILO CITY, Iloilo (PNA) — The Social Security System (SSS) has disbursed a total of P132.89 million in salary loans of some 10,200 members in Western Visayas in the first quarter of 2012, or five percent more the P127 million loan released for the same period in 2011. SSS president and chief executive officer Emilio de Quiros Jr. said a total of R122.36 million, or 92 percent of salary loan releases in the region were intended for 8,900 member-employees. “Salary loans are granted as a privilege of actively-paying SSS members. We thus encourage members to regularly pay their contributions so that they can be eligible for SSS salary loans for their emergency and financial needs,” he said.

DIABETES FORUM

DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental (PIA) — Dumaguete City will hold a “Diabetes Forum” from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Dumaguete City Session Hall on July 20 with city hall employees here to promote diabetes awareness campaign. The activity, coordinated with ABBOT Laboratories, is part of July’s Nutrition Month celebration and will include lectures on managing diabetes, meal management, physical activity, blood sugar testing, diabetes milk wet-sampling, among others. Health authorities say in the past 30 years, diabetes type 2 has skyrocketed to the point where it is now viewed as an epidemic in the Western world. In the Philippines, diabetes type 2 is now the leading cause of death.

PERFORMANCE FUND

HINUNANGAN, Southern Leyte (PIA) — This town recently received at the Government Center in Palo, Leyte a replica of the R1-million Performance Challenge Fund (PCF) it was granted for being Seal of Good Housekeeping-compliant from Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse M.Robredo. The town was recognized for good performance in internal housekeeping particularly in terms of sound fiscal management, transparency and accountability and valuing performance management.