Two long weekends in November 2018

Time to sched more bonding time with family and friends as Filipinos are set to enjoy two long weekends in November this year. 

All Saints (November 1) and All Souls Days (November 2) were declared Special Non Working Holidays.  So its four straight days for the first weekend of November. 

And for the last weekend, before the Christmas Month, November 30, Andres Bonifacio Day, also falls on a Friday!

All these holidays are included in the official declaration issued last year, the Presidential Proclamation 269. 

Book your tickets now and fulfill your bucket list destinations before 2018 ends. 

Enjoy! 

P8B gikan sa BCDA ngadto sa AFP, labing taas nga tampo sa 25 ka tuig

Mas dakong pundo alang sa modernisasyon sa Armed Forces of the Philippines

(AFP)  ang nagahin sa Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) ubos sa administrasyon ni Presidente Rodrigo Duterte.

Matod ni BCDA President ug Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vivencio Dizon sa usa ka pamulong sa

mga public information officers, nga mihatag og P8B ang maong ahensya alang sa AFP sa miaging duha ka tuig.

Kini mao ang labing dako nga kantidad nga gitugyan ngadto sa AFP gikan sa BCDA sukad kini nahimo nga ahensya sa 1992.

Ang BCDA mao ang nagdumala sa mga katigayonan sa mga military sama sa ilang mga daan nga kampo o mga base ug gihimo kini nga mga premier economic centers.  Usa sa labing sikat nga property niini mao ang Bonifacio Global City.

Ang maong kantidad naglangkob sa 20 porsyento sa kinatibuk-ang P;40 bilyones nga nadawat sa mga men and women in uniform gikan sa BCDA sa 25 ka tuig.

“That just shows everyone how important the AFP is to this administration. We want this to just keep on growing and growing. We want that trend to keep on going up,” matod ni Dizon.

Ang Bonifacio Global City sa Taguig, Manila ang usa sa mga properties nga gidumala sa BCDA 

 Matod ni AFP Deputy of Staff for Plans and Programs Brig Gen Restituto Padilla Jr. ang dugang suporta alang sa mga kasundalohan nakapataas sa ilang moral labina human sa kagubot didto sa Marawi sa Mindanao.

Mipasalig ang Presidente sa hingusgangg suporta sa mga kasundalohan ug kapolisan ubos sa iyang administrasyon. (fcc/PIA7-Cebu)

Learning to CommYOUnicate

You're on your social media feed and scrolling through an onslaught of cute animal videos, badly-angled selfies, a text-filled post full of grammatical errors and misused #hashtags, and this month’s trending meme. It was a usual day on the internet world.

You stopped your thumb over ashared news article link claiming that a famous celebrity just died from a terrible accident. 

You were shocked. Without a second thought, you shared the post and expressed your condolences with a lot of crying emojis.

Minutes later, your friend sent a private message, telling you that the celebrity didn’t die. You didn’t double-check or even read the whole article itself before sharing it.

Oops, you just contributed to the spread of misinformation. 

What you just read is my feeble attempt to apply what I learned about feature writing during Cemex Philippines’CommYOUnicate Workshop on News Writing and Photography in the Era of Fake News.

With fellow public information officers like the staff of PIA-7 and communication students, we had the pleasure to learn from independent journalist and 2014 Persephone Miel Fellow Ana Santos and award-winning photojournalist Raffy Lerma.

Eyes were glued on one of the resource speakers, Raffy Lerma, as he discussed about photography basics.

I've attended quite a number of seminars since college days but this was one of those that kept me awake and made me regret every bathroom break. 

Among the workshop freebies were these fantastic(ker) stickers! I love the puns.

THE MORNING SESSION: Feature Writing and Fake News

Early in the first session, the charming and eloquent Ana Santos let us close our eyes as she read excerpts from different feature articles.

Fromthe mountains of Kalinga with a century-old tattoo artist and to the war-torn Marawi alongside soldiers, it felt like I traveled through the stories. She said that’s how you can tell if it’s a good write-up: the writer should be able to take you there.

The exercise helped usunderstand her points that feature articles should be captivating, poignant, and moving. In writing a great feature article, it has to be deeply rooted and carries weight.

“It should move you. That’s the power your writing should have. You get a lot of these from closely-observed details,” she shared.

She differentiated news and feature articles, gave feature article examples and creative tips and techniques.

Ana Santos give us tip and techniques on creative writing.

There were other fun exercises throughout her session such as writing our individual stories in ten words or less and identifying fake news from real news.

It was also a pleasure to hear her many insights and colorful behind-the-scenes from her experience as a journalist.Her energy was infectious.

 There were good questions from the audience like on writing features on marginalized sectors or sensitive topics, or interviewing people.

“Be respectful in how you frame the narrative. Be a person first," she answered.

On the second part of her session, we identified fake news and its different faces. Since it’s already a challenge to point out what fake news is, giving them names is a start.

I particularly kept in mind her differentiating misinformation and disinformation. You can tell them apart in the intent. When you unintentionally share false information, it’s misinformation. There is still room for you to correct that. However, when you deliberately share fake information, knowing fully well that it is false, it falls under disinformation. The latter is what generators of fake news intent to do.

Why do fake news exists? Fake news happen because people make money from it, said Santos.

It also has grave affects or implications. Santos explained it with one of Mocha Uson’sposts. You can get the gist of ithere. (insert hyperlink https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/186105-pcoo-mocha-uson-misleading-marawi-photo)

If the Marawi refugees, who have been stuck in evacuation centers for the entirety of the siege since May 23, read that post and think it’s true, they will feel excited and want to go home. What if they try and find a way to sneak in past the military? She raised that this is very dangerous since there are still undetonated bombs and remaining rebels hiding in the city. Movements are still limited and some soldiers have accidentally set those bombs off.

I realized from her insight that fake news can deeply and negatively impact on real people and cause potential harm.

Santos imparted the5 Cs of Fact Checking: Context, Credibility, Construction, Corroboration and Compare. (insert link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf8mjbVRqao)You can take these five points in mind to analyze the information if is fake news or not. 

AFTERNOON SESSION: Basic Photography and the Power of Photojournalism

Raffy Lerma shared his adventures as a photojournalist.

Raffy Lerma began with his beginnings on the photojournalism journey and his experiences. He worked at the Philippine Daily Inquirer in Manila for 12 years and recently became an independent photojournalist focusing on documenting the Philippines’s war on drugs.

He showed us the basics of photography and even opened up his cameras to show the internal parts.

Seeing him expose his camera to us was quite a distressing sight for me knowing it could cause damage to it! He assured us that it’s fine (well, he’s a professional after all) but he still warned us that we shouldn’t expose the camera like that especially under direct light.

He showed his shots during the 2015 SEA games to show how we wonderfully worked out the shutter speeds. He also presented photos by other journalists so we can further understand how the aperture, depth of field and ISO worked.

Later on, he discussed on the power of photojournalism like how it build the opposition that lead to US withdrawal during the Vietnam War.

He also showed his photo entitled,  “Lamentation” showing Jennelyn Olaires holding her husband Michael Siaron. The viral photo that looked like Michelangelo's Pietà bannered on Philippine Daily Inquirer last  January 24, 2016.

He told us about the night behind this emotional photo. This lead to his sharing on his first six months coverage on the war on drugs and his perceptions of it. Many still bash this photo for allegedly being fake or staged to Lerma’s frustration.

The Code of Ethics by the Photojournalists Center of the Philippines was also brought up. One of the attendees raised the ethical question regarding showing faces of children or the dead. Lerma answered that photojournalism ethics can sometimes be restrictive and ‘we have to challenge that.’ He explained further that it sometimes not to shock people but to go for the reality and expose those things.

There is a thin line between ethics and good intentions. What I understand from Lerma’s insight is to show truth and human emotion that will spark action and dialogue through photojournalism.

We learned further on photo elements and photo captioning.

The rich and productive session ended with a little photography workshop in groups. We were asked to take

One of the photos our group showed was of me flipping my hair. We got insights on this from the speakers like how the background is very distracting and that we could have found a better angle. Shot by FORWARD Publications Editor-in-Chief Delta DyreckaLetegio 

photos that are overexposed, silhouette, graphic, action, and has a depth of field and put captions. Outside our venue was a pool with a great view so it was a good place to take great photos!

Each group presented it and Santos and Lerma gave constructive criticisms on how to make the photos or captions better.

I really appreciate the workshop and it’s one of the best ones I’ve joined. Cheers to Cemex Philippines for holding the workshop and for the eloquent speakers for the amazing experience!

by: Ayin Visitacion 

Is it a Holiday?

Do you know that this is the most common inquiry, question the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) receives for the entire year?

 

Usually we get this question, weeks and then days prior to the said Holiday. And as it nears, we get more and more calls asking the same question.

                                                                                                                                                                    Probably  because that Holiday is already declared under a Presidential Proclamation (issued the year

before) and detailing the list of Holidays for the entire year.

Say for example, for this year 2017, as early as July of last year, Malacanang, through the Official Gazette, then posted Proclamation number 50, declaring the Regular and Special (Non-Working) holidays the entire year.

It is what we simply call as an umbrella Presidential Proclamation..

It covers the Regular Holidays such as New Year's Day, Bonifacio Day, Labor Day; and then the

Special Non Working Holidays like Black Saturday, Ninoy Day, Chinese New Year..etc.

At the same time, Proclamation 50 made mention religious holidays which does not have specific dates.

So far only the two Muslim holidays are covered under the umbrella Proclamation and these are Eidul  Fittr which usually falls in the month of June and Eidul Adha, somewhere in between August and September.

The exact date is dependent upon the Muslim calendar.  Once identified, the Office of the Muslim Affairs (OMA) and the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) must inform Malacanang for the issuance of another Presidential Proclamation.

Yep, dear readers.  It needs another law which specifies the exact date of the celebration.

The celebration of Eidul Fittr of this year for example was officially declared   on June 26 under Presidential Proclamation 235.  

Therefore, even if there are already postings and calculations on the exact  date of Eidul Adha, what we can answer you is ...

"As of press time, there is no released Proclamation yet on the said celebration"  

By the way, here are next year's list of Holidays in the Philippines..just click this : HOLIDAYS 2018

Over P1M help from Lions benefit more than 2000 Ormoc earthquake victim-families

More than 2,000 families in Ormoc City were able to benefit from the more than a million pesos worth  of goods donated by Lions Clubs International.

Days after the 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck the province of Leyte last month, Lions Clubs from the District immediately pitched in goods as immediate help to the victims.

At the evacuation area 

Leyte belongs to District 301 B2 which also comprise clubs from Cebu, Negros Oriental, Bohol and Siquijor with 36 clubs.  

And barely a month after, an emergency grant amounting to US$10,000 was released by the international organization to the district as aid to the victims.

District Governor Stephen Yap said another half million was given by  Manila Valenzuela Businessmen Lions Club of District 3001-A3.

District 301B2 Governor Stephen Yap paid a courtesy call with Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez.  Also in photo is  Ormoc Host Lions President , former PBA Rey Evangelista  

“The goods were distributed directly to the beneficiaries since we are prohibited to turn this over to the local government unit,” Yap said.

However Yap said, Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez had put Lions Club at the forefront of accepting relief goods and its distribution.

Cash donations on the other hand were tasked to the Ormoc Chamber of Commerce and Industry who is also headed by a Lion.

Other than the P1 million goods were initial donations of the different clubs in the district.

The goods include mosquito nets, rice, pail, basin, water dipper, alcohol, bath soap, laundry bar soap, blankets, towel, cotton, feminine napkins, slippers, toothpaste, toothbrush, mosquito nets, bottled water, mosquito coil, bathroom tissue & slippers and tents.

The goods were delivered to Ormoc through Roble Shipping who extended 60 percent discount in shipping fees.

Lions Club is the oldest existing civic organization in the world. This year is its 100 years since it was

founded in 1917 by a Melvin Jones of Chicago.  It was composed of the members of the business community.

Lions Clubs International now has 1.35 million members in more than 46,000 clubs. Here in the Philippines there are over 36,000 members.

The organization goes by its motto, “We Serve”.

The earthquake last July left three dead, a hundred injured.  It had affected 13 barangays in Ormoc and nearby Kananga town. 

Toledo to construct 11 ha reclamation for international port site

The City of Toledo today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) for the establishment of the 11 hectare reclamation project.

Witnessed by Vice Mayor Antonio Yapha, City Councilors, department heads , local media and PRA, the MOU was officially signed by Toledo City Mayor John Henry Osmena and PRA General Manager lawyer Janilo Rubiato.

This will start the establishment of the 11 hectare reclamation project in 30 days which according to Osmena, will be the location of an international port at the western side of the province.

“This will decongest the ports of Cebu City and will be a great source of employment to residents not only in Toledo but in the south west of Cebu,” Osmena said.

The project has a budget of P644 million initial from a loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines and some local funds.

“And we welcome private investors interested along the way to complete the project and then the port construction,” Osmena said.

There will be oil depots in the planned port area which will solve further accidents of exploding oil tankers from happening.

Very recently, Osmena reported there were two fuel tankers which had an accident, in barangays Magdugo and  Media Once. It resulted to the death of six people.

With the port there will be no more need to transport fuel in long distances.

For his part, PRA Rubiato said they are assuring full assistance to  Toledo City as they go about constructing the project.

“There are environmentally sound ways in constructing a reclamation other than the usual dumping of materials,” Rubiato said.

The project is expected to be done in two years with most of the materials from the areas owned and operated by Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation (ACMDC) and Carmen Copper Corporation (CCC

DOH-7 holds free deworming in public schools and barangay health centers

CEBU CITY --- The Department of HealthRegion 7 (DOH-7) will hold deworming activities in public schools and barangay health centers for the entire month of July.

Dr. Al Patrick Alajas, Deworming coordinator for DOH7 in today's Kapihan sa PIA

Children ages 1-18 years old can avail of the free deworming tablets for free.

Dr. Al Patrick Alajas, Medical Officer III of DOH-VII explains that children are their targets because they are constantly exposed and are still developing thus are more vulnerable.

He also mentioned that 67 percent of children all over the country were infected with worms before they launched the deworming program.

"De worming is advisable every six months that is why we are doing it twice a year," Alajas said

As of DOH’s study in 2015, they managed to bring the numbers down to 26 percent.

DOH aims to reach to less than 20% prevalence by 2020 with Central Visayasalmost reaching the goal at 21%.

DOH-7 is targeting to deworm 3,193,575 children from 1-18 years old. They dewormed more than half of their target last January 2017 at 1,923,349 children.

The schedules of the deworming activities depend on each public school. If ever some children missed the opportunity, their parents can still approach barangay health centers to avail for the deworming tablet.

Among the health issues caused by worm infection is poor performance in class, nutrition deficiency, anemia, lowered immunity, and in the worst cases, death.

DOH’s deworming program is held every January and July since 2006.(by AYIN VISITACION, PIA7-Cebu)

PIA Information Kiosk gibuksan sa Pier 1

(L-R) PIA Cebu OIC ICM Juju Empuerto, Cebu Port Authority Port Operations Manager Oscar Lopez, PIA7 OIC RD Fayette Rinen, Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, Port Terminal 1 Manager Claro Cajegas

Nahibaw ka ba nga adunay mga libre nga mga information materials o mga basahon nga kakuhaan og daghang impormasyon, ang anaa karon diha sa Pier 1? (Port Terminal 1 ang tukmang tawag ani sa Cebu Port Authority)

Gibuksan bag-ohay lang ang Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Information Kiosk didto sa Terminal 1 diin gibana bana nga 8,000 ngadto sa 10,000 ka mga pasahero ang muagi matag adlaw.

"The importance of this kiosk cannot be over emphasized-- information available for those in the lowest of community, highlight government programs, getting the news from Cebu first as the gateway to other provinces in the country-- Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella

Ang maong PIA Info Kiosk adunay mga nagkalain laing information materials kabahin sa Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) meetings og ang history niini.

Nasayran nga karong tuiga, ika 50 ka tuig sukad kini namugna, ug labing swerte tungod kay ang atong nasod mao ang Chair-- o nangulo niini.

Mao ni rason nga dinhi gipahigayon ang mga panagtigom sa mga ministro, department heads ug mga pangulo sa mga nasod nga sakop sa ASEAN.

Naa pod makuha sa kiosk ang mga info materials nga gikan sa nagkalain laing mga local government units sama sa Cebu City, Carcar City, Province of Cebu ug uban pa.





Naa pod ang mga basahon sa mga kampanya nga nag una sa atong Philippine National Police (PNP),

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Department o Agriculture (DA), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)lakip na ang National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP)






Kini mao ang ika pito ka PIA Information Kiosk sa

OPISYAL NGA PAMAHAYAG gikan sa mga awtoridad bahin sa Inabanga encounter

Miluwat og opisyal nga pamahayag ang kasundaluhan ug kapulisan taliwa sa nahitabo nga engkwentro batok sa gidudahang mga miembro sa armadong Abu Sayyaff didto sa lungsod sa Inabanga.

Gipasalig sa mga kadagkoan nga dili kini makaapekto sa kinatibuk-ang siguridad sa Lalawigan ug andam sila sa bisan unsang sitwasyon.

Gitan-aw nga mudagsa ang mga dumuduong sa lalalwigan sa Bohol sa mga bulan sa bakasyon.  Nagkasaka ang ekonomiya sa turismo bisan pa man sa mga naagian nga mga problema sa insurhensiya ug linog.  

Ang Gobernador sa Sugbo, Hilario Davide III, nagkanayon nga kanunayng mabinantayon ang mga anaa sa Sugbo tungod kay kasikbit lang kini sa Bohol. 

Six bidders vie for Alegria water system

The town of Alegria held a pre-bid conference for the implementation of the town's water system.


According to Jesus Rey Cavalida, Municipal Public Information Officer,
Philippine Rural Development Project - Alegria Integrated Potable Water Supply Project has an estimated project cost of 95,613,000.00.

PIO Jesus Rey Cavalida

As of today there are six bidders interested.

He said the water project is a Level 2 Water system which

is expected to serve eight barangays of the Municipality.

These include barangays Poblacion, Montpeller, Guadalupe, Santa Filomena, Valencia, Madridejos, Compostela and Legaspi.

Barangay Lepanto is not included since it has a stand alone water project worth P8 million under the Bottom Up Budgeting of the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Catch my attention! - matod ni Digong

Aron masumpo ang korapsyun ug uban pang mga binuang nga binuhatan sa mga anaa sa gobyerno, gusto ni Presidente Rodrigi “Digong” Duterte nga magsaba saba.

“You complain, assert, assert, mag create kayo ng eksena, catch  my attention,” matod ni Digong.

Ang naka apan sa Pilipino, matod niya, kahibalo sa mga katungod apan wala kini buhaton kun kini matamakan.

“On the first hint, you know the thing about corruption is that,  ang Filipini hindi assertive he knows his rights he will complain about it but he will not do anything,” matod ni Digong.

Siya nagkanayon nga dili siya magduha duha og imbestigar o pataktak sa mga tawo sa gobyerno nga gabuhat og korapsyon.

Iyang gisultian ang mga negosyante, nga klarohon sa paglukat sa mga permits, kun unsa pa ang kulang sa mga dokumento aron kini dali daling ma korehian.

Gikinahanglan nga adunay “routine slip” diin nahibaw-an anus-a gisubmit, ug asa na kini nga lamesa ug unsay aksyon.

“Ang mga directors sa departments must husband the papers, siya mismo ang magtingin kung saan yung papel at a given time, and they are only given 15 days,” matod sa Presidente.

Iya usab gimando ang pagpamenos sa mga gikinahanglan nga mupirma aron mapadali ang mga transaksyon.

Mahimong mureklamo dayon sa Ombudsman ang mga agrabyado, gipangpangayuan og hingi ug uban pang mga maniobra.

Si Duterte mao ang nagpapanumpa sa mga bag-ong opisyales sa grupo sa mga magpatigayon sa Sugbo

ang Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Gihangop sa natudlo pagbalik nga Presidente, Melanie Ng ang mga pulong ni Duterte.

Makapagana kini sa mga magpatigayon. (fcc/PIA7-Cebu)

Communications Training alang sa mga Kto12 Plus movers gipahigayon

The participants of the one day Communications Enhancement and Planning

Aron mapahibalo sa kadaghanan ang benepisyo  sa Kto12Plus project,  gipahigayon ang Communications Workshop alang sa mga nagpadagan niini bag-0hay lang.

Ang Cebu Chamber of Commerce of Industry ug ang AFOS Foundation (usa ka German Foundation) ang nangulo sa pagpahigayon sa Communications Enhancement and Planning didto sa Montebello Vista Hotel.

Norbert Weiss -Project Manager of Kto12 Plus Project welcoming the participants 

Kini aron mahibaw sa kadaghanan ang mga benepisyo sa maong programa sa matang sa edukasyon.

Unang tigpamaba mao si Minerva Newman, ang kanhi regional director sa PhilippineInformation Agency (PIA) Central Visayas nga maoy nasinati kabahin sa pag identify sa mensahe sa usa ka adbokasiya ug unsaon kini pag paabot ug pagpasabot sa publiko.

Human sa extensibong diskusyon, misunod ang training kabahin sa “Storifying Advocacies and Building Relationships with Media” gikan sa PIA Cebu.

Former PIA7 RD Minerva Newman facilitating the workshop on advocacy 

Ang Kto12Plus usa ka proyekto diin gisunod ang dualized nga approach sa pag edukar sa mga estudyante sa matang sa technical vocational skills.

Gitinguha nga gawas sa nakat onan sa eskwelahan mupadayon ang mga tinun-an sa pagkat-on ngadto sa mga magpatigayon.

• “Adunay mga teknikal nga tawo ang mubansay bansay sa mga estudyante sa matang sa konstruksyon, culinary og HRM,” matod ni Teresa Pono, AFOS resident representative,

Ang maong sistema gisunod karon sa tulo ka mga eskwelahan.

Aduna nay mga mugraduwar sa maong project karong Abril.