Procurement Service Sub-Depot opens in Calbayog City

Mayor Mel Sarmiento leading the ribbon-cutting ceremomy. Also in photo are (l-r) Maj General Arthur Tabaquero, Councilor Regina Rabuya, DBM-8 RD Imelda Laceras and Procurement Service Director Estanislao Granados.

The Procurement Service Sub-Depot at the Calbayog City Sports Center

The opening of the Procurement Service Sub-Depot in Calbayog was among the last official functions of Mayor Mel Sarmiento. Let me give you a report by my friend Ninfa B Quirante of the PIA.

Procurement Service subdepot opens in Calbayog City

Catbalogan City (25 June) -- The Procurement Service Regional Office 8 under the supervision of the Department of Budget 8 opens its third sub-depot in Calbayog City on June 24, 2010.

Located in the new Calbayog City Sports Complex, the depot will sell 300 most common office supplies.

Fr July Gaddi blessed the government procurement service depot with scores of government workers and media in attendance.

"I am thankful to DBM for believing in Calbayog, " Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento said in his welcome remarks.

He stressed that he wanted to purchase quality office supplies without necessarily going to the tedious work of checking the quality, exact number and the prices.

With the sub-depot in their midst, the government agencies are then assured of quality and reasonably priced office supplies.

"The Calbayog sub-depot is strategically located and can serve, Catbalogan, Catarman and other LGUs, " stressed Sarmiento.

Mr Estanislao Granados, Procurement Service Director in the Region graced the launching along with Ms Imelda Laceras, DBM 8 Regional Director.

Director Granados surprised everyone when he addressed the crowd in fluent Waray, claiming later that he is from Leyte.

The director also revealed that since he is retiring, his attendance in the Calbayog event is his last public appearance.

Calbayog Sub-depot is the 10th provincial depot while there are 12 regional depots, accross the country, according to Director Laceras.

Both Laceras and Granados emphasized that Government offices are mandated by law to purchase office supplies in the depot which is now more accessible.

Atty. Isagani Togonon was assigned to lead the sub-depot along with some six Calbayog City employees deployed by the city government.

Laceras said that Procurement Service in the Region's biggest customer is the army as Samar island houses the 8th Infantry Division (8th ID)and three or four battalions.

The 8th ID commanding general, Maj General Arthur Tabaquero was present along with 20th Infantry Battalion Commander Jose Narciso. (PIA-Samar)

CLEEP benefits more than 7,000 E Visayans

Calbayog City - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s Comprehensive Livelihood Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP) has benefited some 7, 112 Eastern Visayans during its implementation.

In the recently held Regional Development Council (RDC) meeting, the region’s National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) reported that eight government agencies have implemented CLEEP.

Of the eight, the Departmet of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR hired some 3,054 Bantay Gubat and Upland Devlopment Program jobs.

Self Employment Asistance –Kaunlaran (SEA-K) from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) followed next with some 1,488 job takers.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) came to a close third by employing some 1,310 Bantay Dagat operators.

Other agencies which provided CLEEP are DOH, DPWH, DOT, DTI and DOLE.

PGMA offered the program to enable the people especially the vulnerable sectors to sope-up with th economic crisis. (Ninfa B. Quirante with report from NEDA)

Breasfeeding advocates find ally in Eastern Visayas RDC

(From the Philippine Information Agency website)

Calbayog City (19 February) -- Breastfeeding advocates have found a new and formidable partner in its advocacy-Eastern Visayas RDC.

Yesterday, the Eastern Visayas Regional Development Council (RDC) proposed for the Establishment of Breastfeeding Rooms/ Corners in Government offices.

In the latest RDC meeting held at the Calbayog Sports Center, sponsored by Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento, Regional Director Forter Puguon of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) presented the reasons why such move is pushed.

The move, said Puguon"s presentation is consistent with the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) number one which is eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. "Breastfeeding," added Puguon "will also try to reduce chid mortality."

The DOLE Director also said that doing the act of establishment of breastfeeding rooms/corners in government offices will create an atmosphere of harmonizing with the right of the child and the UN MDG.

"It is also anchored in the global strategy on Infant and yopung Child Feeding (IYF-DOH)," stressed the presenter.

Aside from the given reasons, breastfeeding is also consistent with the much publicized Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos and the Updated Medium Term Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (MTPPAN) for 2008-2010, he added.

Because mothers refuse to breastfeed, 30% of under five children are underweight, according to the data presented.

The data stressed that only 16.1% of Filipinos are exclusively breastfed.

Meanwhile, a Filipina mom blogger wrote:

"Marketing by milk formula companies has become increasingly aggressive. The number of women who breastfeed their infants has gone down dramatically in just a few years, while the sales and profits of the companies have risen. The irony, in the words of Sen. Edgardo Angara, author of the Rooming-In and Breastfeeding Act of 1992, is that each year we import $400 million in milk formula, but spend P536 million to bury 15,000 bottle-fed babies, and another P3.5 billion to treat infant malnutrition and diarrhea. We needlessly fritter away our foreign exchange reserves. We forget nature"s first form of immunization, enabling the infant to fight serious infection. We forgo the benefits of birth spacing as a form of natural birth control."

As the RDC meeting folded up, RDC members could not decide yet whether to support the move or not, one member asked whether this does not violate a Civil Service rule, they still have to ask.

Another said, "Then, if bringing babies in the office may transgress civil service rules, at least let the mother express her milk in the workplace and store it in a refrigerator that the office can supply-at the very least." (Nimfa Quirante/ PIA-Samar)