ILOILO CITY, Iloilo (PIA6) — Landslides due to continuous rains spawned by tropical storm “Gener” hit Sitio Pana-itan, Brgy. Cunsad, Alimodian, Iloilo on Tuesday, July 31. Alimodian Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Sherwin Bering said the landslides occurred between 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. isolating barangays comprising districts 7 and 8 of the municipality. Gradual caving in of an area of land some three to five meters deep and 25 meters long occurred along the road leading to the “Seven Cities” — a cluster of the town’s seven upland barangays namely Cabacanan Proper, Cabacanan Rizal, Tabug, Umingan, Manasa, Lico, and Dao, rendering the road impassable to vehicles.  A team has already been sent by the provincial government to effect action vis-a-vis the situation.

Projects Funding

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occ. (PIA6) — The P35-million Local Government Support Fund or LGSF awarded by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to this city for winning the Seal of Good Housekeeping Award will further boost local roads and market rehabilitation projects. Mayor Evelio Leonardia and DILG Officer Dino Punzaran broke ground for these projects in Brgys.  4, 17, 14, Singcang, Taculing as well as the Libertad Public Market.  Some P1.5-million will be spent to rehabilitate local roads connecting to national roads from Aguinaldo Street, 18th Street to the North Capitol Road while another P1.5-million will fund roads rehabilitation covering Hilado Street from B.S. Aquino Drive to Burgos Street. A P4-million rehabilitation fund was also allocated for the Libertad Public Market.

HRMP Congress

ROXAS CITY, Capiz (PIA) — The Council of Personnel Officers (CPO) in Capiz will host the 3rd Human Resource Management Practitioners (HRMP) Congress on August 23–24. The Congress aims to strengthen partnerships and linkages of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and other branches as well as instrumentalities of the government through empowered, enabled and revitalized HRMPs. CSC Chair Francisco T. Duque III is expected to arrive in the congress.

DOST Awards

DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental (PIA) — The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has awarded some P400,000 financial assistance to Orient Gifts Center for the technology upgrade of its sinamay-based home furnishings and fashion accessories production. Under its Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (Setup), the DOST provided the funds to the handicraft-selling firm for its production machinery, a single computer-aided embroidery machine with embedded software acquired to upgrade and enhance the company’s productivity that would also yield quality output of goods.

SME Caravan

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte (PIA) — The Department of Trade and Industry held a two-day SME Caravan at the Kanhuraw Convention Center in Leyte to help develop the managerial and technical skills of micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (MSMEs) in Leyte province so that they may be able to generate business innovations and create economic values.