Valencia City holds trade fair for holidays

The city government will hold a trade fair to mark the celebration of Christmas and the city's charter day to help boost local entrepreneurs.

Dr. Pol Murillo, presiding officer of the city tourism core group, told radio station DXDB on November 20 the initiative offers a big shift from past celebrations.

"There are big changes (from the past's Bonggahan sa Valencia). We will have direction. We will give chance for small entrepreneurs through our trade fair," Dr. Murillo said.

The core group works with the office of Councilor Baby Mabao, who chairs the city council's committee on tourism.

The trade fair, to be held at the City Oval, will attempt to showcase Valencia City's products from local small medium entrepreneurs, he added.

"Sayang ang ilang mga product (It's sorry their products) were not showcased. We need to support the small scale business community," he said.

Dr. Murillo said since they would spend for the celebration they would rather also provide opportunities for livelihood.

He cited the products of local entrepreneurs that did not figure in trade fairs and promotions.

He mentioned products such as a flour product of students from the St. Augustine Institute of Technology (SAIT) derived from sweet potato and lutia and a garland product from corn cover.

He also cited locally-made slippers, delicacies, and other crafts.

He said the trade fair focuses on Valencia-made products of local entrepreneurs, craftsmen, processors, and those coming from barangays.

"This will not only benefit the processors but also the producers of raw materials," he said.

But Dr. Murillo called on interested parties to enlist as there was no list of the city's products.

The trade fair also features a learning hub, a venue where daily business and enterprise seminars and trainings will be conducted.

Dr. Murillo said anyone interested to learn putting up a business could attend.

The trade fair will run a total of 45 days from December 1 to January 15 with a big opening on December 8.

The "Bonggahan sa Valencia" during the time of former mayor Jose Galario Jr. showcased booths lavished with Christmas lights and decors. He said the city government foots the bills of the booths built by different agencies.

Dr. Murillo said this time they would build smaller booths to be raffled to interested exhibitors, who will be the one to improve the booths.

The city celebrates its charter day anniversary on January 12. Dr. Murillo said they will allow a three-day "closing sale" before wrapping up.

Dr. Murillo cited other activities for the celebration including a beauty pageant dubbed Ms. Tourism search from the city's 31 barangays.

The city government has earmarked a budget of P2 million for the celebration.

He said they moved the fair's venue from the Plaza Rizal to the City Oval to anticipate the preparation for the construction of the Valencia City – Davao del Norte highway.

Higaonons train youth on mat weaving

Some 20 Higaonons, mostly out of school youth, are attending 36-day training on mat weaving here as part of their "school for living traditions.”

Sol Dinlayan, Bukidnon State University Ethno-cultural Museum in-charge, said the participants are joining the training to learn a livelihood skill and also as a way to preserve and revitalize the craft as part of the tribe's culture. She said they are trying to teach the craft to the younger generations as the tribe's weavers are growing old.

Most of the participants are from Poblacion barangays 10, 11, and Casisang. The training was initiated by barangay leaders.

Dinlayan said cultural master Rosita Into, a 79-year old Higaonon weaver is the mentor in the three-phase training, which started last week.

She said there is value added when the tribal women weave - they have more time to share about their culture and life to younger generations.

"During mat weaving we have ample time to socialize. Mostly it is a time for elders to share to the youth about maayong pamatasan (good manners)," she said.

Dinlayan, however, said that while there is no problem with the market for the mats the industry is threatened by the problem of scarce materials.

She cited the depleting plant source called sudsod, a type of water grass used as straw for the mats, and the lack of a showroom for their products.

Read a full report on this post here.

Bukidnon board approves P1.06-B budget for 2009

The Bukidnon Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board) approved on November 5 the P1.06 billion budget proposed by Gov. Jose Ma. R. Zubiri Jr.

The proposed budget passed the board's scrutiny without cuts.

But Zubiri requested an amendment in a letter to the board on November 17 asking that P19.51million of the budget for the Provincial Indigency Health Project be used as partial for the construction of the Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (provincial jail).

Zubiri endorsed to the provincial board the proposed executive budget of the general fund for 2009 on October 3. The proposal has been referred to the appropriations committee.

The budget covers statutory and mandatory obligations (P319.02 million), general public services (P283.50 million), economic services (P113.50), social services (P218.99 million), and subsidy to economic enterprise (P125 million).

By expenditure type, more than a fourth of the budget, P287.2 million or 27 percent goes to personal services; another fourth to mandatory obligations such as calamity and development funds, P256 million or 24.15 percent; almost a fifth goes to non-office expenses or for projects, P191.77 million or 18.09 percent; about 13 percent goes to maintenance and operating expenses (MOOE) at P136.89 million; andabout 12 percent for subsidy to the province's economic enterprise,P125 million, or 11.79 percent.

The province also plans to spend about 6 percent of the 2009 budget to pay for loans, estimated at P63 million or 5.94 percent.

The breakdown for statutory and mandatory obligations include economic services (P256, 018,000) and general public services to be spent on loan amortization (P63 million).

Under economic services are barangay development fund (P928, 000), 5 percent reserve for calamity fund (P53 million), and development fund(P202.09 million).

For the statutory obligations under general public services the provincial government is earmarking P56 million for loans with the Land Bank of the Philippines and P7 million for the Asian DevelopmentBank for a total of P63 million.

For full report read here.

Malaybalay holds choral festival

Fourteen choral groups belted out in the 4th Malaybalay Choral Festival on November 17, 2008 at the Bukidnon State University Gymnasium.

Dubbed "Voices in Colors", the festival gathered chorals from different organizations in Bukidnon's capital city, including a big contingent from Valencia City's Mountain View College.

BSU, the City Government of Malaybalay, and Bethel Baptish Church were identified as the sponsors of the festival organized annually by the Malaybalay Choral Directors'Guild (MCDG).

The participating groups are the following (in order of performance)

Malaybalay City Engineers'Men's Choir
BSU Children's Choir
BBCA Children's Choir
Malaybalay Senior Citizens' Choir
BNHS' Lagong Ta Bukidnon Choir" "
BBC Youth Choir
Berian Baptist Church Choir
Mountain View College Singing Ambassadors
BBC Quartet
Malayba;ay City Budget Choir
MVC Son and Daughters Chorale Arts
BSU Chorale
MVC Hilltop Chorale
MVC Advent Philomels

Among the highest points in the three-hour show include the Senior Citizen's rendition of Ed Parungao's Matud Nila. The announcer said: Ïndeed age doesn't matter in music".

Another high point was the BBC Choir's performance of Ryan Cayabyab's "Paraiso".

Then came also Mountain View College Singing Ambassadors'You'd better Run' performance, which was engaging and met with loud applause.

MVC's Sons and Daughters Choral Arts also came up with a lively and choreographed performance of Anna Abelada's Galawgaw.

The crowd's favorite, however, was Bukidnon State University Chorale's "Äti" composed by Peter Macrohon jointly with BSU. It received the most number of cheers and loudest claps for its ethnic, unique and jubilant music.

Mercibelle B. Abejuela, BSU's conductor, said that was the first time the piece was performed in Bukidnon.

The night ended with a grand tutti featuring Abba's Thank you for the music. All group's sang in the finale.

Abejuela said earlier the idea of a festival emanated from the directors' quest to improve music together rather than prepare for the stiff competitions that tired most of them in the past years.

CMU no. 1 in RP for Mechanical Engineering - official

Central Mindanao University in Musuan, Maramag, Bukidnon, has topped this year's Mechanical Engineering board examinations, according to its new head Dr. Rodrigo Malunhao in a recent interview with Bukidnon-based broadcasters.

Dr. Malunhao cited a 100 percent passing of the examinees for this year
making CMU No. 1 in the Philippines, at least for this year, based on passing
rate.

Dr. Malunhao cited more developments in CMU with this report.

He said the CMU administration would offer livelihood projects and approach the impending land disputes contesting portions of its at least 3,000-hectare territory by dialogue.

He has vowed to push for change in the controversial university after replacing the late president Mardonio S. Lao, who died of illness in the heels of a court battle of land issues and his hold to the presidency.

Bukidnon: Arrow capital of the Philippines?

It could have been a faux pax (pas) or a blunder when one of the officials of the Provincial Board Members League of the Philippines national board described the province of Bukidnon as "Arrow Capital of the Philippines".

Governor Jose Ma. R. Zubiri Jr., not smiling, was in the audience during the 8th Mindanao Island Conference of the league on November 12.

The speaker was referring to the big number of arrows on the road from Cagayan de Oro to Malaybalay City.

Then he followed it through with a statement about not having accidents in the province.

The speaker should have done more research before talking about that subject. Exactly the reason why there area lot of arrows is because of the large volume of vehicular accidents.

While traffic management authorities in the province are mum about the exact number of accidents, they said the province is next only to Metro Manila in the country for traffic accident volume.

The number of arrows must tell a message: the province should be on the way to better road safety measures.

Of course blame can not just be brushed to the safety situation and status of enforcement in this crossroad province referred to as "in the Heart of Mindanao."

Discipline for drivers and land transportation enforcement as a whole in Mindanao and in other parts of the country should be improved.

It might have been a blunder but the speaker's reaction is a glaring commentary on road safety in Bukidnon.

Valencia City eyes P300-M loan for new market

Alas, the Valencia City Government is planning to obtain a P300 million loan to rebuild its central public market after the fire in July this year, Aira Potestas, Valencia City administrator said.

An official of the Development Bank of the Philippines in Malaybalay City confirmed the city government's application for a P300 million loan.

Potestas said City Hall plans to construct a three-storey replacement building.

He said the future central public market will house the wet market on the ground
floor, the dry market on the second floor, and a food court and sports and
recreation amenities on the third floor. He said the structure will also include
an indoor park for the public's relaxation.He said they also want to develop the
old terminal and the rehabilitation of the Farmers' Market, which serves as the
city's public market for now.

Potestas also cited initiatives of the city government to avail of special projects from the national government and the Priority Development Assistance Projects of senators and other officials.He said they sent out letters to the offices of senators Manuel Villar and Miriam Santiago and also from the Department of Interior and Local Government.He said the Office of the President could possibly hand in at least P50 million to augment the loan for the public market.

He said they are also working on the documentary requirements to claim the P20 million building insurance of the ill-fated public market.

As an add-on to rebuild the public market, they also plan to build skywalks to connect the public market with department store Gaisano Valencia and other key points in market site.

The add-ons are not included in the loan budget.

Bukidnon eyes sand, gravel, mineral code

Bukidnon Governor Jose Ma. R. Zubiri Jr. has pushed for the passing of the provincial sand and gravel mineral code as a means to protect the environment and increase revenue."It is an initiative to regulate use of minerals, protect the environment, and expand local revenue base with the imposition of regulatory fees and charges," Zubiri said in his budget speech on October 30.

Zubiri is likely to get the nod of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board).

Glenn Peduche, chair, provincial board committee on environmental protection, told this reporter on November 5 they are already preparing the proposed legislation and would likely tackle it after the board's recess in time for its hosting of the 8th Mindanao Island Conference of the Provincial Board Members League of the Philippines on November 12 to 14.

Zubiri has called on the board to "fast-track the adoption" of the code.
Peduche said Zubiri stressed that the provincial government's opposition to large-scale mining must be emphasized in the proposed legislation.

Zubiri also cited in his speech that the Joint Executive-Legislative Council must prioritize a revisit of the Provincial Tax Ordinance of 1992.

"All revenue sources within our authority and jurisdiction must be thoroughly
explored," he said.

Peduche said a review of the tax ordinance is also timely since it was good for the situation 16 years ago.
The Zubiri administration has vowed to increase the provincial government's revenue next year with five strategies to achieve revenue targets while eyeing lesser dependence on the internal revenue allotment (IRA).

The provincial government also vowed to keep budget controls and to prioritize expenditures.
Zubiri vowed to pursue "intensified tax collection" for real property tax issuing a strong warning against delinquent taxpayers.

He also plans to implement "strict monitoring of revenues" derived from sand and gravel, mineral resources, veterinary and other regulatory fees to "optimize the income base and increase collection".

In 2007, the province earned more from tax on delivery vans and trucks at P1.87 million than from tax on sand, gravel, and other quarry products computed only at P1.20 million.
The province's income from veterinary fees and charges at P1.9 million is higher than its income from small scale mining fees and charges (P447, 078) and from sand and gravel fees and charges (P200,595).

A according to the Certified Statement of Receipts endorsed by the Local Finance Committee to the provincial board, the province earned at least P60.19 million outside of its IRA.
More than half of that income came from tax revenues at P30.7 million, P24.9 million of that real property tax and P2.5 million property transfer tax.

The province earned only P121,100 from professional tax, P28,382 from franchise tax, and only P16,150 from amusement tax.

Zubiri said he would pursue collaboration efforts with municipal treasurers and assessors adding "optimum collective goals will be set and appropriate incentives shall be provided to top performers".

Bukidnon on alert vs. hog cholera

Bukidnon's provincial veterinary officials are on "red alert" against the spread of hog cholera, a swine disease haunting backyard raisers in neighboring Cagayan De Oro and Misamis Oriental this week killing at least two thousand pig heads.

The Provincial Veterinarian's Office has ordered "close" inspection and supervision along entry points to the province, especially in Alae, Manolo Fortich, according to Dr. Nancy V. Diez, provincial veterinarian.

"We are closely monitoring and the municipal officials are doing surveillance
work," Diez told this reporter via telephone on November 5. She said they have
already advised all the municipal agriculture officers (MAOs) to monitor
incidence of swine infection of the disease in their areas."

We have warned especially the towns along the province's boundary with Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental, to report immediately if there are such cases," she said. There will be strict inspection at the checkpoints, she said, with inspectors asked to check the National Meet Inspection System certificate and the Veterinary Health Certificate from the points of origin of all mean and swine entering or passing the province.

The hog cholera outbreak in Cagayan de Oro has turned from "worse to "epidemic proportions" killing at least 2,300 pigs in the past five days, Dr. Perla Asis, chief veterinarian of the Cagayan de Oro City Veterinary Office (CVO), as quoted by Sunstar.com.ph. The report also quoted Asis to have said on November 4 that if the casualty figures will go up in the next 10 days, they will declare the hog virus as "pandemic".

Dr. Rossell Vasaya, Bukidnon PVO in-charge for hog cholera told this reporter earlier Bukidnon is still out of danger. She said the disease will largely infect swine by backyard raisers since commercial raisers vaccinate their animals.

But she cited Bukidnon has more hog heads in backyard industry than those raised by commercial scale. As of December 2007, the province has 152,000 in backyard piggeries while only 18,000 heads in commercial piggeries.

Both veterinarians, however, admitted that the province is still not capable of controlling the spread of the disease if in case it will break here since there are still no funds to buy anti-hog cholera vaccines. As of September 15, 2008, only 2,015 heads of swine were vaccinated out of the 152,000 heads estimated as of December 2007.

Diez said they were advised to buy the vaccines to help protect backyard raisers.Backyard raisers are those who tend to less than 10 hog heads.

Talaandig village hosts Mindanao youth peace camp

The Talaandig village of Songco (or Sungku), in the upland town of Lantapan near the foot of Bukidnon's Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park is the venue of the 4th Mindanao Tripartite youth peace camp from November 5 to 9.

Read a report about the peace camp here.

The scenic village, home of the Talaandigs, boasts itself as an alternative venue for conferences and gatherings among Mindanao's peoples and support groups.

Datu Vic Migketay Saway, tribal chieftain said the village has become a venue to many gatherings in the past such as the Mindanao People's Caucus /Peaceweavers and other gatherings.

The tribe has revived its culture and traditions with a campaign by elders who pushed for the putting up of the Talaandig's School for Living Traditions.

Through the years, the tribe has revived traditional musical instruments, stories, music, and images of folk heroes and ancestors. Musician and performer Waway Saway is the ambassador for the movement with his students and followers.

Songco offers a quiet, clean and "community-based" venue for assemblies and other gatherings.

(Photo grabbed from the Talaandig Cultural Site.)

Six BSU graduates pass 2008 CPA board exams

The Bukidnon State University has announced that six of its graduates passed the Certified Public Accountant board examinations in October.

Based on a tarp hanged at the university's front walkway the new CPAs (from BSU) are:

Baroma,Wilson Jr.
Gamao, Aljuver
Dagatan, Jenelyn
Jamodiong, Ellen
Rara, Gabriel Jun
Rojas, Rodmer

Tne university announced its passing percentage is 55. The national rate is 33 percent. (Image grabbed from the internet)

Bukidnon hosts Mindanao provincial legislators meet

The Provincial Board Members League of the Philippines will hold its 8th Mindanao Island Conference here on November 12 to 14.

The annual conference is held annually to facilitate sharing of experiences and strategies among provincial legislators around the country, specifically those in Mindanao, according to board member Ben Pancrudo who will act as convener.

Hundreds of provincial legislators are expected to troop to Bukidnon for the affair to be held at the Kaamulan Open Theater here.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri is scheduled to give the keynote speech as the conference focuses on the theme "One Island, One Mindanao, Give Peace a Chance".

Malaybalay clears way for P225-M public market complex

Malaybalay's city council approved last month a resolution on the extension of the term of contract for the P225-million three-phase public market.

The city council passed the resolution on October 21, almost three months after H.R. Lopez Co. Inc., the contractor, asked for a nine-month extension after work was suspended for months, the Central Mindanao Newswatch reported this week.

City officials, however, said the contractor resumed construction work on August 15 even without the city council’s official go-signal "at its own risk".

It was not known if the decision was unanimous but city councilors indicated in earlier interviews they would likely decide by consensus, triggering a series of "question hours" with representatives from the city engineer’s office, city legal office, the firm, and other groups.

City legal consultant and retired judge Jesus Barroso earlier said the city could opt to either approve the proposed extension or go into the tedious process of rebidding and possibly litigation.

Councilor Manuel Dinlayan, chair of the committee on infrastructure, zoning and land use, had also hinted they might approve the extension but that the payment scheme would be itemized not lump sum and that there should be no escalation of prices.

The resolution was not specific on these conditions but provided that "the terms and conditions of the contract shall remain the same". Read a news story about this here.