Day: July 16, 2024

BACOLOD CITY – The Bacolod City Comprehensive Health Program (BacCHP) already has 104,000 registered members as of Tuesday. Of the total, almost 5,000 cardholders have already availed of hospitalization services since the flagship health program began in May 2023. Under the BacCHP ordinance, the city government guarantees PHP15,000 for the hospital bills of each cardholder and their dependents. In an interview, BacCHP focal person Mae Cuaycong said the city government spends PHP9 million to PHP10 million each month for patient admission payments in all partner-hospitals. ‘Our funds are getting low so the last instruction of the mayor (Alfredo Abelardo Benitez)

MALASIQUI, Pangasinan – Over 3.1 million hectares (ha) in the Ilocos Region have been planted with tree seedlings since the National Greening Program (NGP) started in 2011, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Tuesday. At the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas forum hosted by the Philippine Information Agency in San Fernando City, La Union on Tuesday, DENR-Ilocos Region Executive Director Crizaldy Barcelo said the seedlings planted, mostly in upland forests, have an 85 percent survival rate. These include mostly indigenous species and high-value crops like mango, bamboo, mangrove and coffee. Barcelo said tree-planting activities now include protected areas.

MANILA: Coach Richard Villaseran’s King’s Gambit Online Chess School players achieved podium finishes in recent tournaments. Villaseran’s students pocketed six medals in the elementary division of the Palarong Pambansa which ended in Cebu City Tuesday. National Master (NM) Pat Ferdolf Macabulos, representing Central Luzon, bagged the individual bronze and team bronze (with Elexis Jazz Aves Mendez) in the standard category as well as the individual silver and team silver, also with Mendez, in blitz. Ralz Jaweh Devibar of Davao Region bagged silver in standard team and bronze in blitz team, both with Aaron Aton. NMs Keith Ilar and John Cyrus

MATANOG, Maguindanao del Norte – Amid incessant moderate rains and gloomy weather, police personnel from the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR) on Tuesday continued clearing flood debris and rocks to restore normalcy here. This town was the hardest-hit area in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) following flash floods and mudflows on July 9 that left five children dead. Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, PRO-BAR regional director, said 120 personnel have already been deployed, and 400 personnel are on standby to serve as a Reactionary Standby Support Force (RSSF). As of July 15, a sufficient number of designated

LEGAZPI CITY – A total of 239 students from Albay province received on Tuesday a financial grant under the Student Monetary Assistance for Recovery and Transition (SMART) program of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). In an interview during the payout at Embarcedero de Legazpi, Jean Cardiño, CHED Bicol chief administrative officer, said each beneficiary received PHP25,000 in one-time assistance, totaling PHP5.97 million. “The SMART Grant Program is a project of the commission being given a one-time fixed financial grant to qualified students for as long as they are enrolled in an undergraduate program for the school year 2023-2024,” she

SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The Antique provincial government has approved a request to allocate PHP4 million for the construction of a retention wall at the National Housing Authority (NHA) relocation site in Barangay Lugta, Laua-an town to prevent flooding. ‘Antique Governor Rhodora J. Cadiao, during our chiefs of offices meeting yesterday (July 15, 2024), had already approved the requested PHP4 million for the retention wall in order to address the flooding problem,’ Antique Provincial Housing Affairs and Resettlement Office (PHARO) head Eby Butiong said in an interview on Tuesday. He said the governor has given her approval in