Reforming drug users or persons who used drugs (PWUDs) in Surallah, South Cotabato who want to return to the fold of society can now avail of the benefits offered by the Yakap Bayan Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 12 (Soccsksargen). In a statement Friday, DSWD-12 representative Vincent John Balmaceda urged stakeholders to actively do their roles in the care program so drug surrenderers could succeed in their rehabilitation and rejoin mainstream society. The program was launched by the DSWD-12 in the municipality on Thursday after a series of meetings and orientations for its implementation. “We
At least 1,267 hectares of land under the collective certificates of land ownership awards (CCLOAs) in this province are ready for individual parcelization and distribution to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) following the validation of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) last year. In a phone interview on Friday, DAR Pangasinan legal assistance division chief, Lawyer Jedidiah Martin Lauraya, said the parcels of land were seen to be workable upon the validation of the team under the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project. A total of 817 ARBs whose names are in the CCLOAs will soon receive
More than 8,500 centenarians have received the PHP100,000 cash incentive since its implementation in 2016. Republic Act 10868, or the Centenarians Act of 2016, celebrates the longevity of centenarians with the cash gift, even if they are residing abroad. Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) data shared on Friday showed 8,568 centenarians have benefited from the law. A total of 2,739 centenarians received the gift in 2016, while 940 got it in 2017. Benefiting from the cash incentive in 2018 were 1,509 centenarians, along with 1,090 in 2019, and 985 in 2020. Last year, 1,305 centenarians enjoyed it. “Centenarians,
UniTeam senatorial candidate Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro has expressed support to the establishment of a national oil reserve to mitigate the country’s vulnerability from disruptions in the global oil market. In a statement Friday, the former defense secretary said the government should fast-track the development of a program to establish an oil stockpiling program in order to be prepared to stock up petroleum once fuel prices go down. “The problem of high oil prices is not new to us, but we have been passive in providing solutions when an energy crisis arises. It is time to be proactive and present feasible
Bulacan was ranked 10th among the country’s most competitive provinces by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI). Governor Daniel Fernando, in a statement on Friday, said this is the third consecutive year for the province to receive such recognition. Bulacan placed eighth in 2020 and ninth in 2019, showing a huge improvement for the province that ranked 49th in 2018, 48th in 2016, and 44th in 2015. Fernando, however, expressed the belief that more than the recognition, the improvement of the provincial government’s competitiveness could be measured by the satisfaction the
The acceleration of United States’ consumer price index (CPI) to 7.5 percent in January 2022 – the highest since 1982 – hurt both the Philippine Stock Exchange index and the peso on Friday. The main equities index shed 2.18 percent, or 162.26 points, to 7,270.36 points. All Shares declined by 1.34 percent, or 52.61 points, to 3,872.13 points. Only the Property index gained during the day after it rose by 0.21 percent. Services led the sectoral counters in terms of contraction after it dropped by 3.53 percent. Trailing were Holding Firms, 2.77 percent; Financials, 2.21 percent; Industrial, 1.83 percent; and
