Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma congratulated on Friday the finalists and winner of the agency’s 2018 Employee of the Year (EOY award, saying it was her pride to lead a “corps of heroes” in the Subic agency.

“There’s no better way to celebrate heroism than by getting together and cheering them on, and making sure they are appreciated,” Eisma said during the awarding rites.

SBMA 2018 Employee of the Year Nida Linda C. Rojo accepts the torch passed onto her by the previous EOY

“They are here right now being feted because it is also a celebration of each and every one of us. We are the corps of heroes. You are the corps of heroes of the SBMA,” she added.

The SBMA chief also praised the agency’s employees for giving more than what they can give without expecting anything in return.

“That’s what makes me so proud to lead this organization. Because we have employees who exemplify what malasakit is, who exemplify integrity, character, passion, and love in every day that they come in for work,” Eisma also said.

The awarding, which took place at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center (SBECC) on Jan. 25, named Nida Linda C. Rojo as the agency’s 2018 EOY.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma (4th from left) congratulates SBMA 2018 Employee of the Year Nida Linda C. Rojo, along with (L-R) SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator (SDA) for Support Services Ramon Agregado, CSC-Zambales Dir. Jose Gea, SBMA tourism manager Jamelle Camba, SBMA Dir. Ma. Cecilia Bitare, SDA for Regulatory Amethya dela Llana, and SDA for Business and Investment Renato Lee.

Rojo was nominated for excellence in supervising the tourism linkages and VIP services unit of the SBMA Tourism Department, and for delivering results above expectations.

Tourism manager Mary Jamelle Camba added that Rojo adapts well in both office and field activities, a trait that was key to representing Subic Bay in travel fairs and expositions locally and internationally.

Aside from Rojo, who was also awarded EOY of the Chairman and Administrator’s Group, five other finalists were named EOYs of their respective strategic business units (SBUs).

They are: Karren Balajadia of the Land Asset Development Department (LADD), who was named EOY of the Business and Investment Group; Christine Joy Robrico of Trade Facilitation and Compliance Department, EOY of the Operations Group; Alexander Canlas of Law Enforcement Department, EOY of the Public Services Group; Helen Castillones of the Ecology Center, EOY of the Regulatory Group; Ronald Rondez of Labor Department, EOY of the Support Services Group.

The winners were cited for their excellent performance beyond the call of duty and for various innovations in the workplace.

The SBMA Employee of the Year Awards is a project of the SBMA Human Resources Management Department to recognize and reward exemplary services rendered by employees in line with the Program on Awards and Incentives for Service Excellence (PRAISE) of the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

The finalists were selected according to the following criteria: industriousness and productivity, 50 percent; quality customer service, 30 percent; and malasakit and honesty, 20 percent.

Chairman Eisma said that some of the winners of the SBMA EOY awards had gone on to win Pagasa awards, the Civil Service Commission’s honor awards program for outstanding government workers.

Source: subicnewslink.blogspot.com

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Focused on delivering the goods in the coming Southeast Asian Games, the Philippine skateboarding team, under the Go For Gold program, will embark on a series of regional tryouts to discover the finest skaters in the country.

Skateboarding and roller sports chief Monty Mendigoria announced Sunday that the search for the most talented Filipino skaters will kick off with the Luzon leg on March 16-17 in Iba, Zambales.

The best from the Visayas region will show up in Cebu City on April 6-7 where Asian Games gold medalist Margielyn Didal is expected to inspire the national team aspirants right in her hometown.

Photo Credit: Self-Rescuing Princess Society twitter page

“We feel that Margie and the skateboarding team will become our bright lights in the 2020 Olympics, and hopefully they can bring home our first Olympic gold medal,” said Go For Gold godfather Jeremy Go.

The National SEA Games qualifier is scheduled Aug. 24-25 in Sta. Rosa, Laguna after the most promising skaters from the south take centerstage in the Mindanao leg on May 25-26 in General Santos City.

Aside from targeting majority of the 16 gold medals at stake in skateboarding in the SEA Games that the Philippines is hosting on Nov. 30-Dec. 11 in Clark, the national skaters are also training their sights on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

“We will look for the best skaters in the regionals,” said Mendigoria, president of the Skateboarding and Roller Sports Association of the Philippines Inc.

“The top three participants from the regionals will get the chance to prove their worth in the national SEA Games qualifying championship,” added Mendigoria, whose team found a very supportive godfather in Go For Gold Philippines.

Mendigoria has also organized a skateboarding judges seminar and accreditation examination to be conducted by skateboarding icon Warren Stuart on Feb. 24 at Rufo’s Telus Building at Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City.

Skateboarding in the Philippines catapulted to instant fame when the 19-year-old Didal won the gold medal in the Asian Games last year in Indonesia. Didal is now busy preparing for a series of Olympic qualifying tournaments that will bring her to Tokyo.

Source: espn.com.au

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Photo Credit: WPLG

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — A Department of Health (DOH) epidemiologist said Friday measles cases in Central Luzon spiked significantly as 96 percent of the affected children in the region were unvaccinated.

“More children suffered the disease because their parents refused to bring them to health centers to avail of free vaccines,” Dr. Jesse Fantone, head of DOH’s Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU) told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in a telephone interview.

Data from the DOH-RESU showed a total of 437 cases and six deaths reported in Central Luzon from January 1 to February 7 this year, compared to only 32 cases with no death during the same period last year.

Of the seven provinces in Central Luzon, Bulacan has the highest number of measles cases with 144, followed by with 136; Tarlac with 89; Bataan with 27; Zambales with 23; and Nueva Ecija with 18. The province of Aurora had no measles case.

Of the six deaths, three were from Pampanga and one each in Bulacan, Bataan, and Zambales.

Regional health officials declared a measles outbreak in Central Luzon on Thursday.

Fantone said the Dengvaxia scare is a minor reason why parents have failed to participate in the immunization program.

“Some of the parents reasoned out that they were busy and (that they live) far from the health centers. Thus, we have been doing a house-to-house immunization campaign,” he said.

The health official said that the DOH has been conducting an outbreak response immunization in areas in the region where clustering of measles cases were reported since April last year.

He said this is aside from the measles routine immunization being conducted every Wednesday in all health centers of the region.

“Thus, I am appealing to parents to have their children vaccinated against this infectious disease,” Fantone said as he assured that the DOH regional office has a sufficient supply of vaccines that could be availed of for free.

Likewise, he asked the local government officials and other stakeholders to help them in this campaign.

“This measles outbreak can be controlled. Let us stand to protect our children. Please help us inform the public that measles can be prevented through vaccination,” he added.

Babies from six to eight months old are immunized with the measles and rubella vaccine, while children nine months to four years old are given the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

Measles is a highly infectious and communicable disease caused by a virus. Symptoms include high fever, cough, conjunctivitis and colds.

If not properly managed, it can lead to complications, such as blindness, encephalitis, pneumonia, diarrhea and even death.

Source: centralluzon.politics.com.ph

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AS PART of the agency’s commitment to promote the welfare of the indigenous community in Subic Bay Freeport, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) turned over Friday, community facilities amounting to P4.9 million to the Pastolan Ayta tribe.

Wilma Eisma, SBMA chairman and administrator, formally handed over the donations consisting of a schoolhouse and a healthcare clinic to officials of the Ambala Ayta Tribe of Pastolan, whose ancestral lands form part of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

The donated infrastructures are part of the agency’s commitment under a Joint Management Agreement signed by the SBMA, the Ayta tribe, and the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) that provides compensation for the use of part of the Ayta ancestral domain, she said.

The health clinic is expected to serve the 330 families living in the Ayta village, while the school building will be used by students in Grades 4 to 6.

“I will do everything I can to give what is rightfully yours under the agreement,” Eisma told the Ayta community led by Chieftain Conrado Frenilla during the turnover. “There may be times when I cannot grant other favors that you ask, but I assure you that if it’s within my power, I would,” Eisma said.

Former Hermosa, Bataan town mayor Gaudencio Ferrer, who was present in the turnover, lauded the efforts of the SBMA in providing facilities to Ayta residents, whose village falls under the political jurisdiction of Hermosa.

“Madam Chairman, thank you for giving us this wonderful school building,” Ferrer said. “It is not just a simple school that was given to you,” he told the residents, “but you received the most beautiful classroom in Bataan.”

Armie Llamas, manager of the SBMA Public Relations Department, said barangay health workers will man the clinic, but the SBMA will also provide a medical doctor to regularly see patients at the clinic.

Llamas said consultations with the doctor will be held during Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

Meanwhile, school principal Jake Bautista said the new school building will be converted into rooms for Mathematics and Science classes, aside from serving as additional classrooms for pupils in Grades 4 to 6 who shared just one room previously.

Teachers added that the new school building will be more conducive to learning, and hence would encourage more local children to go to school.

Source: sunstar.com.ph

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If passed into law, the House bill would bar a senior high school student from graduating if he or she fails to complete the ROTC program

CADETS IN FORMATION. Competing cadets in the Ultimate ROTC Challenge 2018 attend the opening ceremony prior to the start of their respective events. Photo from the Department of National Defense

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives approved on 2nd reading the bill that would make the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program mandatory for Grades 11 and 12.

Legislators approved House Bill (HB) 8961 on Wednesday, February 6, through viva voce voting or a vote of ayes and nays.

The bill needs only one more round of votes, the 3rd and final reading, before hurdling the House. With the 17th Congress expected to adjourn by Friday, February 8, HB 8961 would likely be passed in May, when session reopens.

The Senate’s version of the bill is still being deliberated at the committee level.

HB 8961 says the conduct of military training under ROTC “shall apply to all students in Grades 11 and 12 in all senior high schools in public and private educational institutions.”

This means the military training would be required for both male and female students.

The goal behind the proposed two-year mandatory ROTC is “producing well-trained and prepared reservists for military and civic service.”

“The ROTC training is aimed to instill patriotism, love of country, moral and spiritual virtues, and respect for human rights and adherence to the Constitution,” said HB 8961.

But “in no way should the ROTC be used for political gains, to teach and instill particular ideology, and as a mechanism for hazing and abuse.”

Under HB 8961, ROTC’s program of instruction would be composed of:

Before approving the bill on 2nd reading, legislators agreed to remove the provision requiring public and private universities and other higher education institutions to establish an advanced ROTC course for students who would volunteer to take them.

President Rodrigo Duterte restated in November 2018 that he wanted ROTC to become mandatory for students. But Duterte had also claimed in public speeches that he himself tried to skip ROTC as a student.

Who would be exempted? Only students whom the Armed Forces of the Philippines surgeon general or his or her medical officer deem as physically or psychologically unfit for the ROTC program would be exempted, “in pursuance to the recommendation of the educational institutions where the concerned student is enrolled.”

Also to be exempted are students who have undergone similar military training, varsity players in sports competitions, and those exempted by the Department of National Defense for other valid reasons.

What would be the punishment for non-completion of the training? Any student who would not complete the mandatory ROTC program would not be allowed to graduate. This would also be a ground for compulsory military training.

A school that would refuse to offer the required ROTC program would be subjected to “administrative sanctions” by the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, or the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Why is the mandatory ROTC program criticized? Lawmakers against HB 8961 have argued that making the ROTC program mandatory for senior high school students would expose them to corruption.

“Instead of addressing the woes on basic education caused and worsened by K to 12, Duterte and Congress are prioritizing subjecting students to mandatory military service instead, which is a hotbed of abuses, and has a long history and culture of abuse, corruption, and impunity,” said Kabataan Representative Sarah Elago.

ROTC was previously implemented at the college level, but it was scrapped in 2002 after an investigation showed that a University of Santo Tomas student was murdered after he exposed alleged corruption in the program.

The UP Vanguard – an alumni organization composed of graduates of University of the Philippines ROTC courses – has said it does not want ROTC to be required for Grades 11 and 12 either.

They said the proposal would violate the Philippines’ declaration in its ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

Instead, the UP Vanguard wants the ROTC program to be made mandatory for college students once again.

Source: rappler.com

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