A lucky bettor in Alcantara City, Cebu, is February's fifth lottery millionaire, hitting on Tuesday Lotto 6/42's P9,956,989.80 jackpot. The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) produced the new "Instant Millionaire" after the punter guessed the jackpot winning combination of 17-30-13-39-05-19. PCSO General Manager Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II said that on February 2, a lone bettor won P13.8 million, and another three punters shared P3,419,289 on February 5, both given out by 6/42. Rojas, as quoted by one of his staff, said the winners of PCSO's lotto games and other products from P5,000 above should claim their winnings on working days.
HEALTH PACKAGE
ILOILO CITY (PIA) – Not even some of the country’s best private health companies offer to cover coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) to their clientele. In this government, the CABG is now included in the list of catastrophic cases covered by the “Z benefit” package of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or PhilHealth. PhilHealth in Region-6 reported that aside from the CABG, four catastrophic illnesses that push patients to prolonged hospitalization and expensive medical treatments were added to its benefits: surgery for Tetralogy of Fallot; surgery for Ventricular Septal Defect; Cervical Cancer Chemoradiation with Cobalt or Primary Surgery; and Cervical Cancer Chemo-radiation.
VILLAGE SUPPORT
BACOLOD CITY (PIA) – The provincial government of Negros Occidental turned over a total of P1.1 million financial assistance to three villages of the municipality of Cauayan for the purchase of multi-purpose garbage trucks, a statement from the Provincial Capitol said. Village chieftain ER Dejillo of Camindangan, and village chieftain Joven Etabag of Molobolo received P400,000 each, while village chieftain Jemuel Dulla Sr. of Camalandaan received P300,000. Governor Joseph Maranon Jr. led the turnover ceremony, and advised the village chieftains to take care of the vehicles given to them and requested them to promote a cleaner and greener community.
PRIORITY PLANS
DUMAGUETE CITY (PIA) – The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Negros Oriental gathered local government and civil society organizations (CSOs) in the province recently to draw priority projects dubbed “Bottom-up Planning and Budgeting (BuPB)." DILG-Negros Oriental officer-in-charge provincial director Farah Gentuya said the assemblies are an offshoot of the regional orientation of BuPB participated in by 25 field officers of the province in Iloilo City. Initially, during the assembly, some 50 CSOs have identified and agreed a set of priority poverty reduction projects and measures that reflect grassroots community issues and demands, said Gentuya.
EDUCATION DRIVE
ILOILO CITY (PNA) – Monsignor Meliton Oso of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said that they are now visiting the various colleges and universities in Iloilo in order to educate voters. Monsignor Oso also said that in their voters’ education, they emphasize to students to choose wisely since the May 13 elections is very important as political parties will be positioning candidates in preparation for the 2016 presidential election. “Right now, we have two teams that go with our evangelizers to do voters education in the colleges and universities,” Monsignor Oso said.