DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental (PNA) — Basay town in southern Negros Oriental now enjoys digital cable entertainment and Internet services through the fiber optic technology provided by Fil Products Service Television Inc. (FPSTI), the pioneer cable company in the province, which has opened a branch here. Basay, which is the last town in the southern part of the province, is the first in Negros Oriental to have full digital cable entertainment technology and Internet services. FPSTI-Negros Oriental assistant general manager Cipriano Trajano, Jr., the company believes in the strong potential of Basay for growth and development.

FORTIFIED RICE

GUIMARAS (PNA) — The National Food Authority (NFA) Iloilo has delivered in full the iron fortified rice for the Supplemental Feeding Program (SFP) in Guimaras province.NFA Iloilo asst. manager Jose Pacificador said some 323 bags of rice have been delivered to different day care centers in the island province’s five towns as ordered by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). He also said they have started the delivery of fortified rice to the first district of Iloilo province.

SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD

ILOILO CITY, Iloilo (PNA) — The Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), one of government’s three core anti-poverty programs implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), will focus its attention in helping Set 1 beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program. Set 1 of the CCT covers five towns in Antique, and two each in Aklan and Iloilo City. SLP focal person, Mary Ann Masculino said the cash grant in this area will end by 2014 so there is a need to prepare the beneficiaries so that they would have their own sustainable source of income. She said the SLP comes in two modalities — the enterprise development also known as the Self Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K), and employment facilitation.

BOHOL CANDIDATES

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA) — Filing of certificates of candidacies (COC) for 497 elective posts in the 2013 elections in Bohol started Monday as the local Commission on Elections (Comelec) offices here began accepting their COCs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until today only. Comelec Chief Eliseo Labaria said candidates here were already alerted about the no-extension deadline. Open local positions for the midterm elections are three congressmen, one governor, one vice governor, three first district board members, three second district board members, and four third district board members. He estimated over a thousand candidates to file COCs this week.

LIVELIHOOD GRANT

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte (PIA) — The Department of Labor and Employment in Eastern Visayas recently distributed R1.63 million worth of livelihood grants and starter sets to unemployed and underemployed workers at the opening program for the National Statistics Month celebration. DOLE Region 8 Director Exequiel Sarcauga said the assistance is part of the department’s continuing livelihood interventions for the informal sector and rural workers in the region with potentials for becoming successful entrepreneurs.