DAVAO CITY (PIA) – At least 500 bamboo and Malibago seedlings were planted at the riverbank of Barangay Matina Pangi over the weekend, which was severely hit by flash floods last June.

The newly planted trees were added to the 9,559 seedlings earlier planted in the village for the rehabilitation and stabilization of the Matina River easement.

The Region-11 office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, through its Community Environment and Natural Resources Office, spearheaded 15 tree planting activities in the village, which planted a total of 10,059 seedlings for this year.

Public Services

MOLAVE, Zamboanga del Sur— The new welcome arch and streetlights in this town are more than civic infrastructure projects. It’s the fruit of two years of collaboration between the municipal government and the townspeople in meeting the challenge of increasing local revenue streams.

"It used to be so dark, and there would be petty theft and motor accidents, but no longer,” said Reylen Balus, a village health worker.

Molave, with a population of some 45,000 is one of a dozen Mindanao municipalities that are using local revenue streams as permitted under the Local Government Code of 1991, to generate more public funds with which to provide better services to their constituents. (Mick Basa)

Coop Promotion

MARAWI CITY (PIA) – Close to 200 cooperative members in the province of Lanao del Sur converged here recently to advance the cooperative movement in this part of the country.

Organized by the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), in collaboration with the Provincial Cooperative Office, the 2nd Lanao del Sur Cooperative Congress aimed to raise public consciousness on the contributions of cooperatives on the socio-economic development of the country.

Anchored on the theme “Transformative Cooperative: Advancing People, Planet, Prosperity, and Peace,” the congress also aimed to promote the spirit of cooperativism as a vehicle for social transformation.

School Program

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (PIA) – The local government here has recently completed the computerization of all the 85 public elementary and secondary schools in the city in a move to sharpen its competitive advantage in the domestic and global arenas.

City Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio led the Web site-launching of the 69 public elementary schools over the weekend in addition to the Web sites of the 26 village high schools that were launched several weeks earlier. It was learned that the idea of linking the 85 public schools in the city through the Internet is underscored in computer literacy program.

Health Event

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA) – The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has organized the “Philhealth Run: The Mindanao Run for Hope” to take place on February 5. As the country’s health insurance arm, PhilHealth is mandated to provide affordable, accessible, and quality health care to all Filipinos, to continue to enhance its role in the health care sector, and support the preventive aspect of health, rather than just the usual curative agenda.

Thus, taking off from the success of running events in providing an avenue for public and private partnership (PPP) to work together towards a good cause, PhilHealth Run will, simultaneously be held in six key cities.