DICT Region 10 Launches Digital Marketing and Ecommerce Training for Valencia City

VALENCIA CITY, BUKIDNON. The Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) in Region 10 launches a 14-day digital marketing and eCommerce training for Valencia City residents and business owners at the UNO Business Hotel and Cafe.

Dubbed DigitalJobsPH, the training includes comprehensive courses on product branding, website development, content creation, eCommerce basics, search engine optimization, among others. It includes a 21-day hands-on digital marketing campaign where trainee-scholars will partner with local MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) in promoting the latter's businesses.

Formerly known as Rural Impact Sourcing Training (RIST), DigitalJobsPH aims to strengthen the ICT skills of Filipinos who live in rural areas and enable them to find gainful employment through online freelancing. The training also helps small business owners by providing them with a ready pool of tech savvy individuals who are capable of crafting effective marketing campaigns using the latest digital and eCommerce technologies.

The Valencia City-leg of DigtalJobsPH training will be led by Mr. Gabriel Billiones, CEO of Y-loop Digital Solutions. The training is also supported by the local government unit of Valencia City and the Department of Trade and Industry. (Report by Jay M. Pascual)

Thousands Marched in Valencia Bukidnon to Mark Labor Day

Thousands join Labor Day rally in Valencia Bukidnon. Photo by UMA-Pilipinas http://ow.ly/i/iYnTQ

Thousands of people marched through the streets of downtown Valencia Bukidnon on May 1 to mark the celebration of International Workers Day.

Waving red flags and colorful banners, the marchers demanded the enactment of P750 national minimum wage across the board.

Thousands join Labor Day rally in Valencia Bukidnon. Photo by UMA-Pilipinas http://ow.ly/i/iYnTQ

The protesters scored the incompetence and criminal neglect of the Aquino administration in addressing the effects of El Nino in the countryside.

They also demanded an immediate stop to labor contractualization and called for the release of calamity funds intended for devastated farm lands.

The protest march was led by Ogyon-UMA Bukidnon, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), BAYAN MUNA Party and Anak Pawis Party.

Screen grab from @Ogyon_Bukidnon Twitter page.

Youth groups led by Kabataan Party also supported the protesting farmers and workers.

According to the group Kontra Hulaw, the youth of Valencia Bukidnon joined the protest and barricades to show their solidarity with farmers and farm-workers.

Screen grab from Kontra Hulaw Facebook Page.

FULL STATEMENT OF THE CAGAYAN DE ORO PRESS CLUB on the 2016 Presidential Debate in Mindanao

Statement of Indignation
Cagayan de Oro Press Club, Inc.
14 February 2016

Respect the local press community

We, members of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club Inc., express our serious concerns over what appears to be an attempt to bar the provincial press from covering the first Presidential debate scheduled at the Capitol University on February 21, Sunday. We see this to be a clear case of discrimination towards the province-based media.

There have been many instances in the past when Manila-based media organizations have condescended on the provincial press. The Presidential debate in the city is no exemption.

Organizers (Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas, GMA7, and the Philippine Daily Inquirer) of the event have made it clear in a letter to the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) that they have allotted only five slots for local editors/publishers as debate audience and five
slots for newspaper reporters. In the same letter, it was also made clear that five newspaper reporters will only be allowed access to the event's media center--a separate venue where a video monitor will broadcast feeds of the debate.

It is our position that the Presidential debate is far too important, and should be beyond corporate media’s quest for higher ratings and wider readership.

Further, it is an affront to the local press community to limit the number of newspaper reporters to only five slots, and for the rest to be stifled into covering the event from a widescreen monitor. Why hold the debates here in the first place when the organizers can just as easily broadcast the debate from their studios in Manila?

The organizers further stated that they are allowing PPI to choose who to shortlist so as to ensure that "only legit local press" are allowed to cover the event. But who would know better than the press community of the host city?

Manila-based media entities should realize that they do not have the monopoly of serving public interest. The people's right to know must weigh far heavier than any media entity's “exclusive rights” to an event that is clearly of national interest. We are talking about the
next possible President of the Republic. We are all stakeholders.

We ask that Manila-based organizers lift this "exclusivity clause" in the coverage of the presidential debate to be held in our city. This early, there have been suggestions for a Cagayan de Oro media boycott of the debate but we still trust that, in the end, reason will prevail, and that the organizers would reconsider their position and right this wrong.

Stop this discriminatory and condescending attitude towards the local press community.
(sgd.)
MSGR. ELMER ABACAHIN
Club President

(sgd.)
HUGO 'KA JERRY' ORCULLO
Immediate Past President

VIDEO: Visit Bukidnon Philippines

Gov. Zubiri Sets Kaamulan Festival on March 2016

VALENCIA CITY. Bukidnon Governor Jose Ma. Zubiri Jr. issued Executive Order #1 which sets the annual celebration of the Kaamulan Festival on March 2016 with further information that the Street Dancing Competition will be held on April 2, 2016.

Said Executive Order is in line with Ordinance No. 2007-003R passed by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan mandating the "institutionalization of the Kaamulan Festival in the Province of Bukidnon."

Governor Zubiri also ordered the Provincial Tourism Office and the Public Affairs and Information Assistance Office to spearhead the dissemination and information campaign with regard to the significance of the said EO.

The Executive Order was signed by Zubiri on January 6, 2016 and will take effect immediately.

The Kaamulan Festival is an ethnic cultural festival held annually in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon in the Philippines. (Report by Jay M. Pascual)

Mindanao Power Grid on Yellow Alert - NGCP

MEDIA ADVISORY 

NGCP expects the supply situation to worsen come January 4 when classes and work resume.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) puts the Mindanao grid on Yellow alert with the Regulating Reserves at only 45 megawatts as of 6 PM, January 1, due to the isolation of NAPOCOR owned generating facilities Agus 1 and 2 hydropower plants.

The generation plants, with a combined maximum capacity of 150 MW, are disconnected from the grid due to the bombing of Tower#25 along Agus 2- Kibawe 138kV line in Ramain, Lanao del Sur last Christmas Eve.

Restoration was halted due to failed negotiation with landowner of the property where the facility is located. The owner refused NGCP entry to repair the toppled tower alleging that government failed to pay his claims long ago.

Despite lower power consumption brought about by the cold weather and year end holidays, NGCP still placed the Mindanao grid on Yellow alert, with the reserves falling below required levels.

NGCP expects the supply situation to worsen come January 4 when classes and work resume.

NGCP is appealing to the public, local and national goverment, PNP and AFP to help monitor the safety of the towers so that transmission services remain uninterrupted. The company also appeals to local community leaders to help identify the perpetrators of the bombings, and to negotiate with uncooperative landowners, to prevent longer power interruptions. (Beth Ladaga, NGCP)

3 Dead, 3 Injured in Bukidnon Accident

BUKIDNON, Philippines. Three men died while three others were wounded in a collision accident involving two motorcycles in Sitio Palo, Barangay Iba, Cabanglasan Bukidnon.
Police Inspector Jisselle Longgakit, spokesperson for Bukidnon Provincial Police Office, said that the bloody accident happened when two motorcycles collided head-on.
Longgakit identified the fatalities as Elmer Ginombay, Teodoro Tulib, and Simplicio Cardena.
The wounded were Reyman Manlahag, Jessie Ginombay, and one unidentified person. They were given first aid treatment and medical attention.
Initial investigation of the Cabanglasan Police indicated that the unidentified driver with Manlahag at Ginombay were traveling to Barangay Iba when they collided with another motorcycle being driven by Tulib.
Investigations are continuing as of press time. ###
Report by, Jay Pascual