Capiceños warned vs measles outbreak
by Jemin B. Guillermo
Roxas City (24 February) — Health officials in Capiz warn the public against measles outbreak in the province.
Punzalan said that the PHO, in partnership with the various rural health offices, has been conducting intensive surveillance because of the confirmed measles cases in the province since last year.
According to Expanded Program on Immunization coordinator Deborah Juanico, the province had 6 measles cases last year.
Juanico disclosed after said confirmed cases, measles vaccination was given to children 6 months old to 5 years old and below who are the most vulnerable age group in the affected areas, namely in the towns of Dumarao, Tapaz, Jamindan and Dumalag.
She added that last January, there is another confirmed measles case in Lucero, Jamindan town, where they are again in close surveillance for the possible spread of the virus that would affect other residents in the area.
Juanico also said that they have also intensified their measles vaccination activity in said area.
She also urged the parents to submit their children to free measles vaccination in their respective public health centers regardless of whether said children had been immunized with said vaccine before.
Juanico also said that also given measles immunization are those who are below 15 years old.
She added that in Jamindan town alone, where there were four confirmed measles cases, some 3,372 children have already availed of free immunization against measles. (PIA)
South Leyte farmers urged to produce more to offset production loss in other provinces affected by El Nino
By Bong Pedalino
Southern Leyte (February 24) — The challenge rice farmers are facing here is not so much on how to mitigate the ill-effects of El Nino or long drought on their farms.
According to Malou Gaviola, a technician at the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAg), the standing instruction for their office was to motivate the farmers to produce more.
Citing a recent meeting at the Department of Agriculture (DA) regional office last month, Gaviola said the provinces of Leyte and Southern Leyte were singled out as not affected by the El Nino phenomenon.
With such assessment, the task at hand was to ensure an abundant harvest to balance or compensate the expected reduction of output in other rice-producing areas, particularly in Luzon, Gaviola told PIA by phone today.
She said there were no ricefarms in the province yet that are cracking due to searing heat of the sun unlike in other provinces.
There was also no report on dried or drying farms thus far from the Municiapl Agriculturists, adding that as of now there is still sufficient water to irrigate the ricefields in the province. (PIA-Southern Leyte)
PGMA is proud of Bacolod’s ICT-BPO growth
Bacolod City (4 February) — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her tour of the Cyber Corridor cities all over the country said she is proud of the thriving Information Communication-Business Process Outsourcing industry in the city.
In the Next Wave Cities outside Metro Manila, Bacolod has ranked fifth and was cited number one in business environment criterion because the city has an Information Technology federation, support of the local government unit and the availability of IT parks and centers.
Call center giants like Teleperformance, Teletech and Covergy’s have established themselves in the city due to its conducive climate for ICTs.
“Bacolod’s best assets are its people and their progressive mindset that spills over to the BPO employees who come from different parts of the region to live and work in Bacolod,” President Arroyo said before an audience of around 200 ICT-BPO stakeholders and employees from Teleperformance-Bacolod.
Telepeformance-Bacolod, the official venue of the President’s Cyber Corridor tour in this city, is just one of the six Teleperformance contact centers in the country today. It currently employs over 1,300 workers for its more than 850 workstations.
“Teleperformance has achieved tremendous success in the Philippines. In the Philippines, we get access to such high caliber customer service talent. For that reason, the Philippines is a very strategic location for us, as we continue delivering a superior customer experience for our clients,” Dominic Dato, Executive Chairman of Teleperformance USA said in a press statement released by the company.
Today, the Philippine BPO industry is considered as a global powerhouse in terms of job generation and investments in the country. (PIA/EAD)
2 barangay chiefs gunned down in Masbate
by EA Delgado
Masbate City (4 February) — Far from being deterred by the arrival of police commandos, Masbate’s political assassins struck again, gunning down two village leaders in the towns of Esperanza and San Jacinto.
The victim in the second incident, Ali D. Aranzado, president of the Association of Barangay Captains in Esperanza, was attacked on the eve of Verzosa’s visit in Camp Bonny Serrano here where he ordered the setting up of mobile checkpoints across the province to disband private armies and disarm unauthorized gun holders.
Aranzado, 35, was on his way home from a political meeting in Barangay Masbaranon when waylaid by a band of armed men around 2:30 p.m., police said.
Amor, the 52-year-old head of remote Barangay Bartolabac, was eating at about 8 p.m. when a man wearing a black jacket barged into his house and shot him in the chest in front of his wife, police said.
Aranzado and Amor were the latest victims in what appeared to be election-related incidents in Masbate. Both were not running for any elective position but they were identified with feuding politicians in their localities. (PIA Masbate)
