KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines (PIA) – The Department of Health (DoH) has allocated P65.5 million to North Cotabato for the improvement of hospitals and rural health units in the province, under its Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP).

Jessie Enid, focal person of the health service protocol under the office of North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Talino-Mendoza, said P41.5 million out of the P65.5 million funding is appropriated for three hospitals, 17 rural health units, and five barangay health stations of the province for expansion, repair, and renovation.

Sound investment

COTABATO CITY – Despite perceived unstable peace in its peripheries, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has posted more than P1.5-billion trade investments in 2011, the ARMM Regional Board of Investments (RBoI) disclosed in its yearend report.

Lawyer Ishak Mastura, RBoI chairman, said the unprecedented volume of investments in the region was recorded from January to October last year, during which the administration of former ARMM acting Governor Ansaruddin Alonto Adiong gained record high acceptability in the local and international financial communities. (Ali Macabalang)

Family campaign

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (PIA) – The local government of Sarangani supports the Department of Health campaign on family planning that promotes proper birth spacing of three to five years. With its theme “3-5 Taong Agwat, Dapat!” the campaign aims to educate parents about the importance of waiting for three to five years before having their next child.

“We need to tell mothers and fathers why a longer birth interval is best for them,” said Provincial Health Officer Antonio Yasaña. The provincial health office promoted healthy birth spacing to communities in the towns of Alabel and Kiamba recently.

Davao ordinance

DAVAO CITY – The city government here is expected to earn a profit of at least P9 million this year from issuing solid waste management certificates that come as a mandate for those applying for business application permits, a City Hall officer said. Joseph Felizarta, officer-in-charge of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office, said this development comes with a stiffer implementation of the local ordinance.

The ordinance also requires anyone in the city to properly dispose their garbage or face penalty once apprehended. Aside from issuing certificates, the city government also earns P3,600 from special garbage collection fees charged for establishments emitting “large and unusual quantities of garbage,” said Felizarta. (Mick Basa)

Data upgrading

PAGADIAN CITY (PIA) – The Field Office-9 of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-9) is gearing up for the validation activities of households that were previously identified as Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and employed in the Informal Labor Sector during the previous assessments conducted from calendar year 2009 up to early this year that will form part of the National Household Targeting System (NHTS) database.

DSWD planning officer and NHTS regional focal person Hasan Alfad said the need to validate the IPs and informal sectors data of the NHTS was seen necessary to better address the targeting needs of data users.