Farmer's Association in Davao de Oro receives BDP livelihood project

Davao de Oro --- The Provincial Government of Davao de Oro officially turned-over the P1-million worth of livelihood project named "Five-hectare Banana Lakatan Farm" to the Sangab Energetic Farmer's Association (SEFA) in Maco on September 10, 2021.

The project is funded from the Local Government Support Fund-Barangay Development Program of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) with the end goal of bringing development programs to former conflict-affected communities.

 Governor Jayvee Tyron L. Uy represented by Board Member Raul C. Timogtimog lead the ribbon cutting together with PAGRO Assitant PG Head Ronald Sibayan, LTC Danny D Bustamante, Battalion Commander of 28th IB, Captain Delbert Canedo, barangay officials, and members of the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines.

 Aside from Lakatan Farm, other approved projects are expected to be implemented in the Barangay Sangab such as the farm-to-market road, construction of portable water system, Sitio electrification program, rehabilitation of barangay health center, and cash for work assistance.

 Eugene C. Cabalida, Chairman of SEFA thanked the government for the PHP20 million fund covering various projects under the BDP.

 "Dako ang amoang pasalamat ug kalipay nga nahimong isa ang amoang barangay sa mga benepisyaryo sa BDP diin ang kaniadtong gihandom nga mga proyekto, hinay-hinay nang nag-abot sa amoa tungod kini sa walay puas nga pagsuporta ug tabang sa gobyerno ngadto sa amoa", Cabalida said.

The program is part of the government's efforts to address the root causes of insurgencies in the province. (Rheafe Hortizano - Provincial Information Office of Davao de Oro)

What is the Philippine national anthem’s message and what is it trying to convey?

What is the Philippine national anthem’s message and what is it trying to convey?

It's related to the book of Revelation in the Bible.

Revelation 12…

Facing the new school year with a new phase of challenges

 

Editorial Manila Bulletin

Each new school year brings with it a different set of hopes, goals — and in these tumultuous times — challenges that were unheard of in past school years. This academic year, like last year, is starting in a peak of a pandemic, which has forced the Department of Education (DepEd) to once again implement a blended or distance learning setup.

This kind of learning is the best that the DepEd can come up with. Students learn their lessons via multiple learning delivery modalities — via print, online, television, or radio. A combination of any two or more modalities constitutes “blended learning.”

Even with the setup, the DepEd has said it was “encouraged” to see the rise in the number of enrollees. In fact, the agency revealed that the number of students who enrolled for school year 2021-2022 has breached the 24 million mark based on first day of classes in public schools.

A DepEd official reported that this upward trend is an “indication not only of our learners from last year continuing this year, but also that some of our learners who opted to skip last school year are coming back.” Of the 24.6 million enrollees, 23.2 million are enrolled in public schools, 1.4 million in private schools, while at least 41,000 in state and local universities and colleges offering basic education.

Amid this encouraging news, there are groups who have contradicted DepEd’s readiness, insisting that concerns and problems about distance or blended learning are still “unaddressed.” Two groups, the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), in separate statements, raised concerns and feared that the new school year might be just a “repeat” of the previous one. They noted that many students and their families still cannot keep up with the online requirement of distance learning, especially those that have lost their livelihood due to the pandemic.

On the first day of school opening, students vented online, allowing the hashtags #PagodNaKami and #AcademicBreakNow to trend on Twitter. Aside from calls for academic break, some netizens are also urging the government to provide concrete plans for the safe resumption of face-to-face classes at all levels.

The DepEd seems to be listening at this stage. On school day opening, it announced that enrollees would still be accepted until the end of September. The agency also said that there is a proposed face-to-face pilot run for Kinder to Grade 3 students, supervised by medical experts. This, as DepEd hoped, will be “done in areas with minimal risk and in coordination with the prescription of the Department of Health.”

Whatever the intended outcome of the new academic year that the DepEd plans it would be, one can only hope that the initial mistakes from last year were addressed and improvements were generally implemented. If not, the pandemic would not only mean lives lost from the virus, but would also lead to a”lost year” of learning, making students academically ill-equipped for the challenges of the future.