ORGANIC FARMING

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – To promote organic agriculture in the country, Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Proceso Alcala said the DA is now focused on actual organic production to get more adoptive results. Alcala was at the National Organic Agriculture Congress attended by some 2,000 delegates at the JCenter Mall here. He said if the country is able to hit 10 percent of total organic farming competence this year, “that is already a positive output.” The DA has given organic farming a boost with a P950 million budget allocating substantial chunks of it for information and training. (Phoebe Jen Indino)

INTERNET LAW

NAVAL, Biliran (PIA) – Naval Sangguniang Bayan (SB) member Gabino S. Velasquez IV, the principal sponsor of the draft ordinance “The New Internet Ordinance of Naval 2012” says this local law will help solve the truancy problem particularly among elementary and high school students hooked on computer games. The ordinance prohibits elementary and high school students and out-of-school youths inside internet cafés from 7 a.m. to 12 noon and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. except on weekends and holidays unless they have a note of permission from their teacher and approval by the principal or officer-in-charge if the principal is unavailable authorizing their presence inside an internet café for specific study purposes such as research, data gathering or statistical treatment. The first public hearing on the draft ordinance was held at the SB Session Hall last Wednesday.

NEGROS ROAD

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental (PNA) - Governor Alfredo Marañon, Jr. led the groundbreaking ceremony and laying of time capsule for the concreting of three-kilometer Pulopangyan-Pasto-Salvacion, Brgy. Magticol Road, in Toboso, this province recently. The P11. 4 million project is funded by the provincial government but will be constructed in collaboration with the Philippine Army led by Lt. Col. Irineo Sebastian of the 542nd Engineering Construction Battalion. The project provides an accessible farm-to-market road benefiting barangay farmers.

P.A.G.S. MONITORED

ILOILO CITY, Iloilo (PNA) – A top Police Regional Office 6 (PRO 6) official confirmed the existence of five private armed groups (PAGs) in Western Visayas, but was quick to say they remain inactive. PRO-6 regional director Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz, Jr. said PRO-6 intelligence unit is monitoring the movement of the five groups known which, in the past, were used as private armies by politicians in previous elections. He did not mention the names of the PAGs but said that though they are currently inactive, they could not be deleted from the Philippine National Police watchlist as there is always a possibility of their resurrection, Cruz said. In previous elections, PAGs were utilized by some political candidates to harass their electoral rivals and the latter’s supporters.

C.H.U.-3 ASSISTANCE

MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte (PIA) – Since it was accredited as the first birthing center among city health units (CHUs) in Maasin City, the CHU in Brgy. Manhilo, has assisted first two birth deliveries occurring on the same day last November 5. With a P3-million financial aid from the Department of Health in Region 8 (D0H-8), said CHU recently completed its birthing facilities comprised of labor and delivery rooms and a placenta area, CHU 3 head Dr. Francilisa Tan said.