The year 2021 caught sight of the Philippine Army, through the three-year-old 11th Infantry Division (ID), strengthening the community defense against the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits in the province of Sulu. The community defense build-up started with the activation of the first-ever Sulu Ready Reserve Battalion (SRRB) in January this year. Initially, the members of the SRRB comprised 195 Tausugs, who have graduated on January 23 from a 45-day Basic Citizen Military Training (BCMT) conducted by the Philippine Army Reserve Command. The graduates, which comprised the BCMT Class 01-20, came from different areas of Patikul, Sulu. The BCMT is
Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez on Friday said at least PHP27 billion in disaster-related funding is available in the newly-signed PHP5.024 trillion national budget for 2022. Rodriguez said the disaster relief funds are sourced from the PHP7-billion contingency fund and the PHP20 billion national disaster risk reduction and management fund in the 2022 budget that the government can tap to aid the victims of Typhoon Odette. “Our people in Mindanao, the Visayas and in Southern Luzon suffering in the aftermath of the recent strong typhoon are still waiting for government assistance,” Rodriguez said. “We should help them rebuild their homes, livelihood,
The Philippine Statistics Authority in Caraga (PSA-13) on Friday urged the residents in the Caraga Region to support the scheduled 2021 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) Visit 2 from January 11 to 31, 2022. In a press statement Friday, Rosalina Apura, the PSA-13 director, said around 8,616 households will be involved in the conduct of the FIES Visit 2. “The FIES Visit 1 was already conducted last July 2021 with the first semester or January to June as the reference period. The second semester of 2021, or July to December will be the reference period for the FIES Visit
San Miguel Corporation (SMC), the Philippine Army, and local governments have collaborated to bring relief goods to areas hard hit by Typhoon “Odette” in Southern Leyte. This after a Philippine Navy vessel carrying thousands of boxes of corned beef, canned tuna, luncheon meat, and coffee arrived on Thursday at the port of Maasin City, the capital of Southern Leyte province. Troopers from the Army’s 802nd Infantry Brigade and local government workers unloaded these boxes of goods at Saint Joseph College for those allocated in Maasin City, and at the Southern Leyte provincial gymnasium for those intended to severely devastated towns.
After missing out on face-to-face classes and meeting new friends for more than a year due to the pandemic, learners once again get to cherish the joys of going to school. In November, students in areas identified low risk for the coronavirus started to return to limited face-to-face classes across the country after 20 months of blended learning. It is a school year unlike any other and the Department of Education, along with other government agencies and partners, made strides in reintroducing face-to-face classes amid the challenges of the pandemic. For Education Secretary Leonor Briones, the pilot run of limited
The city government has organized a community fireworks display to greet the New Year to discourage the use of firecrackers among the public. City Information Office chief Aileen Refuerzo, in a phone interview on Friday, said the fireworks display and picnic at Burnham Park are among the two city-initiated activities for the holiday season. The fireworks display will start at 9 p.m. until midnight. She added that for several years now, the city has been conducting a fireworks display as a way to discourage households from lighting their own and prevent possible accidents aside from minimizing smoke emission in all
