Sinakiki at the Kasanggayahan

The Municipality of Gubat participated in the cultural parade marking the official opening of Sorsogon's Kasanggayahan Festival. Elementary school teachers, Sangguniang Kabataan officials and other friends volunteered to showcase the Sinakiki, which I was told was Gubat's unique way of dancing the pantomina. Mr Albert Estrellado of Gubat North Central School trained the dancers; Ms Rebecca Ermino, Tourism officer-designate of the municipal government, coordinated the effort.


Governor Raul Lee officially opened the Kasanggayahan celebrations at the Balogo auditorium, with Senator Francis Escudero as special guest.

Schedule of 4P's payout

After a long wait, finally, the 4P's conditional cash transfer benificiaries in the Municipality are going to receive their first payout. Here is the schedule of the distribution, which will start as early as 6:30 AM:

Sept 29 (Andaya Gym)

Morning: Ariman, Balud del Sur, Pinontingan, Paradijon, Luna Candol, Manook, Cota na Daco, Villareal

Afternoon: Panganiban, Buenavista, Balud del Norte, Carriedo, Beriran, Benguet


Sept 30 (Andaya Gym)

Morning: Nato, Patag, Tigkiw, Togawe, Union, Nazareno, Sta. Ana, San Ignacio

Afternoon: Sangat, Dita, Lapinig, Tagaytay, Cogon, Paco, Cabiguhan, Jupi


October 3 (Encinas Pavilion)

Morning: Rizal, Bentuco, Tiris, Bagacay, Manapao, Naagtan

Afternoon: Tabi, Ogao, Cabigaan, Bulacao, Payawin, Casili

JOB VACANCY: PROGRAM OFFICER

The Women’s Legal and Human Rights Bureau (WLB) is a feminist legal nongovernment organization composed of women’s rights activists and advocates. They are professionals in the various disciplines of the law and social science, social work and community development addressing women’s issues and concerns. Specifically, its mission is primarily to actively engage in advocacy together with other women’s groups to transform the law and the legal system, and engage its institutions,towards the empowerment of women,especially in the grassroots. This is being pursued in furtherance of the right of women to self-determination and the advancement of their dignity, rights and leadership, in concert with national and global movements for alternative development.


The WLB is in need of a full-time program officer who possesses the following qualities:

Female
Has a keen interest and prior involvement in developmental work, social change and
women’s rights advocacies
Has good research skills
Has good communication (oral and in writing) skills in Filipino and English
Must have good interpersonal skills, is responsible, and takes intiative
Is self motivated and can work well individually as well as with a team


We hope that the candidate will be able to start work as soon as possible. Interested applicants must submit their resumé and sample written work to the:

WOMEN’S LEGAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS BUREAU, INC (WLB)
Rm. 305 CSWCD Building, Magsaysay Avenue, UP Diliman, Quezon City
Email: wlb@smartbro.net and womenslegalbureau@yahoo.com
If you have questions, feel free to call us at 921-4389.

Funding opportunity for human rights projects

Karapatan sa Malikhaing Paraan (KaSaMa) is inviting eligible Civil Society Organizations to submit innovative Philippine human rights project proposals for grants/funding by international partners.

KaSaMa is a funding initiative by international partners to support innovative human rights projects, which would respond to a wide range of human rights issues and themes such as civil, politicial, economic, social, and cultural rights. KaSaMa is being implemented by a consortium secretariat composed of the Ateneo Human Rights Center, Ateneo School of Government, and the Caucus of Development NGO Networks. And it is being organized in partnership with the following international partners: the Australian Embassy, British Embassy Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines, New Zealand Embassy, and the Spanish Embassy, through the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation. Also supporting KaSaMa is the Commission on Human Rights,

Proposals must be implementable within a year, beginning in 2012.

Proposals may be submitted through email, fax, or regular mail (courier), and should be received by the secretariat on or before the 28th of October 2011.

For more information on the complete guidelines and to download the applications forms, please visit the KaSaMa website by clicking on this link http://www.kasama.ph.

For submissions and inquiries please email info@kasama.ph or you may contact:

Phillip Don G. Recentes
Telephone/Fax Number: (02) 920-2920 or 426-6001 local 4644
Mail/Post to: Ateneo School of Government, Pacifico Ortiz Hall, Social Development Complex, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City

You may also contact the following numbers for specific concerns:
KaSaMa Proposal Guidelines at 920-2595 (Please look for Eric Javier)
KaSaMa Roadshow and Events at 899-7691 local 2123 (Please look for Anna Carillo)

Tatine G. Faylona
Senior Political and Cultural Affairs Officer
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
26th Flooor, Equitable Bank Tower
8751 Paseo de Roxas
Makati City, Philippines
Phone +63 2 786 6666
Fax +63 2 786 6600
Email MAN-PCZ@minbuza.nl

Banning or regulation of plastic bags

The Sangguniang Bayan is currently deliberating on a draft bill regarding the regulation or banning of plastic bags in the Municipality of Gubat. The objective of the bill is to minimize the waste we are currently generating especially  since we are beginning to see plastic waste floating in bodies of water in the municipality. Please sread the draft legislation here. We very much welcome feedback from you guys. If you have comments or concerns, message me through Facebook or email our environment officer Ms Lea Santos at leasantos510ATgmailDOTcom. You can also write your favorite Sangguniang Bayan member for your concerns. I’m sure they will welcome your letter.

Fare hike for tricycles

After extensive consultations with various sectors and the different barangays, the Sangguniang Bayan has promulgated a fare increase for tricycles plying routes in Gubat. On Thursday this week, we will be meeting with the various tricycle operators to determine the final mechanics of the implementation and iron out possible kinks in the implementation (like what to do with tricycle operators who do no want to avail of the fare increase). You can find the new tricycle fares here in Municipal Ordinance No. 2011-004.

Human Rights Training

Southeast Asian Human Rights Studies Network (SEAHRN)

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Training on Academic Research
In Human Rights and Peace and Conflict
Organized by the Southeast Asian Human Rights Studies Network (SEAHRN)
In collaboration with
Centre for Southeast Asian Social Studies, Gadjah Mada University
Centre for Human Rights Studies, Islamic University of Indonesia

Dates: 24-28 October 2011
Venue: Yogyakarta, Indonesia

The Southeast Asian Human Rights Studies Network (SEAHRN) announces the call for applications to the Training on Academic Research in Human Rights and Peace and Conflict. The training is organized to enhance knowledge and deepen understanding of researching human rights, peace and conflict issues in Southeast Asian countries through collaborative research.

The training intends to bring together thirty (30) emerging researchers (academic and NGO based) and/or graduate students who are currently conducting research on human rights in Southeast Asia. Participants must be attached to an institution working on human rights in a research capacity, or be a graduate student researching human rights. Full and partial scholarships are available for SEA nationals based in SEA. Applicants are invited to submit an application including a research proposal on issues concerning:

Challenges to human rights and peace in Southeast Asia

Rights of vulnerable and marginalized groups

Gender, sexuality and women’s rights

ASEAN and human rights

Development, environment and non-state actors

Human rights and democracy

Migrants, refugees and stateless persons

Other issues of high relevant to human rights in SEA

Workshop participants will gain an understanding of how to develop and design research projects specifically for human rights and peace and conflict issues. These include data collection on, researching on sensitive issues, research and advocacy, and human rights and peace and conflict theory in research. Through an intensive training with experts from the region the participants will develop their capacity to undertake accurate and effective research which contributes to the realization of rights in South East Asia.

Interested applicants are encouraged to fill in the application form available at www.seahrn.org. Applications should be sent to seahrn@gmail.com by 23 September 2011. Participants will be notified by 7 October 2011.

New ID Cards for barangay officials

Our barangay officials in the Municipality of Gubat now have ATM-type identification cards issued to them (shown right), a huge improvement from the past's laminated ID cards (shown left). The new cards also cost the barangays less than the old ones. Jalaw Figueras designed the new card.

Webprowl

Philhealth has has released the specific amounts or case rate packages available to members for certain surgical procedures and ailments such as dengue, hypertension and pneumonia. If you are a college student in Manila , you can join the 22nd National Statistics Month essay Writing Contest; guidelines can be found here. The Mayo Clinic gives these tips on how to prevent dengue. And no, fumigation does not effectively work against dengue, as pointed out by the Department of Health and as Prof Michael Tan relate in his Inquirer column a year ago. Also, don't miss reading this great New Yorker piece on the mission that killed Osama bin Laden, which reminded me of just how much I enjoyed reading Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down.

Various announcements

VSO is looking for volunteers, 18-25 years old, who can render service in Bohol for three months and Bardford City, United Kingdom also for three months. See their page here for more information. Application forms are available at the Mayor's Office. JICA is sponsoring a training programme for young leaders. To apply, see here. The activities for the celebration of the Kasanggayahan Festival 2011 in Sorsogon have been announced and can be found here. Burugkos, Inc's will hold a Career Orientation Program for high school students in Gubat on Saturday (20 Aug) at Gubat National High School. Registration starts at 8:00 AM. It's free and open to all third year and fourth year high school students.

Blogging by Android

I have recently got an Android smartphone (my first smartphone) and I am amazed at how it keeps you connected instantly all the timw. You can twit, check on facebook, text, skype call, you name it. And apparently, you can also post blog entries through an app called Blogger-droid, which I am testing now to see if it adequately works. If it does, I hope the convenience of blogging from my phone will lure me back to the blogosphere.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

BU Gubat Scholarship Qualifiers

A week ago, the municipality's scholarship committee conducted examinations among those accepted enrollees of the Gubat Campus of the Bicol University to determine who can qualify for the thirty scholarship grants to be made by the municipality. The selection of the scholarship grantees is based on their combined municipal exam and BU entrance exam scores. The top thirty in the combined scores automatically qualify for the scholarship grant of the municipality, subject to the condition that they are able to meet the other requirements as to family income, average grade of 85% in high school, etc.

Pending their submission of the requirements to the Office of the Mayor, the students in the list here are our first batch of scholarship grantees. If you see your name on the list, please coordinate with Mr. Agerico Barcebal or Ms. Grace Escurel for the submission of the requirements.

TO know the requirements, and to read the other details about this scholarship project of the municipality, please read the complete implementing guidelines.

Job opening: Planning Coordinator

Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator
Municipality of Gubat
Gubat, Sorsogon


Qualifications:

Holder of a college degree preferably in urban planning, development studies, economics, public administration, or any related course from a recognized college or university
First grade civil service eligible or its equivalent
Three (3) years experience in development planning or in any related field
Resident of the Municipality of Gubat


Responsibilities:

Formulate integrated economic, social, physical, and other development plans and policies for consideration of the local development council.
Conduct continuing studies, researchers, and training programs necessary to evolve plans and programs for implementation.
Integrate and coordinate all sectoral plans and studies undertaken by the different function groups or agencies.
Monitor and evaluate the implementation of different development programs, projects and activities in the municipality in accordance with the approved development plans.
Prepare comprehensive plans and other development planning documents for consideration of the local development council.
Analyze the income and expenditure patterns and formulate and recommend fiscal plans and policies for consideration of the finance committee.
Promote people participation in development planning within the local government unit.
Exercise supervision and control over the secretariat of the local development council.


For interested applicants:

Letters of application and resumes with the following attachments shall be accepted until February 18, 2011:

-photocopy of credentials
-photocopy of certificate of civil service eligibility
-photocopy of certification signed by the Head of the Personnel as to the experience required by the position

Please submit your application and the required documents personally to Ms. Aida Mendivil. You can also send your application by email to ronnel@gmail.com and/or Aidamendivil@yahoo.com.

2. Qualified applicants shall be informed prior to the examination. Written examination for the qualified applicants shall be on February 21, 2011, 1:30 PM.

3. Panel interview is on February 23, 2011, 1:30 PM. Successful applicant shall begin work in March.

Ulat sa Bayan

It has been seven months since we, your municipal officials, were elected to office, and six months since we assumed the responsibilities of our respective offices. For those who like to keep count, that leaves us two and a half years more to do the things we vowed to do.

Being asked to take stock after only six months in office is a duty that any reasonable official, aware of the temporal limits of a popular mandate, can only reasonably approach with alarm and not an insignificant amount of dread.

I must say that faced with the responsibility to give an accounting of the past, my first impulse is to tally the days, to deliver to you the number of seedlings planted, the patients seen, the goats dispersed, the disasters averted by our Assistance in Crisis Situations (AICS) fund. That accounting would probably be more accurate and yet, in a way, less true. Without data to plot them in a time series, few people would know what to make of them. Anyway, for those interested to see the absolute figures, our various heads of offices should make them available to anyone interested.

I guess people have not elected me to tally things up and deliver a scoreboard. So today I’ll speak of things that are foremost in my mind.

Finance
I was fortunate to assume office in July 2010 and find money in the treasury more than enough to tide the municipality for another half year. This, of course, speaks well of the fiscal prudence of our then outgoing mayor and made me resolve to maintain the same prudence with which former Mayor Deogracias Ramos Jr. handled the municipality’s account for many years.

As of December 31, 2010, our municipality has Php. 16,021,042.65 in net savings, partly because, here I plead guilty, I am a man naturally averse to parting with money. And also partly because, last year being an election year for barangay officials, I did not want the release of funds to be in lockstep with the barangay elections. I figure there would be plenty of time later to get barangay projects done once the election is over. I thought it prudent and wise for a first-term mayor to first observe the cash flow in the municipality during his first months before commiting huge amounts of money especially in an election year.

A review of the list of infrastucture projects I approved last year would show that they were mostly for small improvements in various schools, the biggest being the construction of covered canal at the Gubat North Central School, to drain the water perenially flooding the school’s playground and walkways.

I am happy to note that our collection from the public market has increased by a million pesos in 2010, now at Php. 3,444,665.50. Our effort at collecting the arrears of our market lessees is paying off. I hope that we will see the time when our public market will be self-liquidating, able to pay for its own operations and upkeep.

Health
We are taking significant strides in promoting the health of our mothers. Compared to last year 2009, more pregnant women received prenatal care in 2010, as confirmed by all the key indicators prepared by our rural health unit. Our lying-in clinic delivered 603 babies in 2010, a 22 % increase from 2009’s 494 deliveries, also a good sign that mothers are realizing the importance of delivering their babies in a a health care facility better able to safeguard the health of both the mother and the baby.

After they have given birth, more of our mothers are also receiving health care.

As some of you may have noticed, a significant number of our townsmen suffer from mental illnesses. Our Rural Health Unit, through the leadership of Dr. Anthony Lelis, has conducted trainings for our health care workers on how to best manage such patients. Next year, we will be extending the same training to the relatives of the patients themselves, to better equip them to take care of their kin.

However, our rural health unit is seeing more cases of tuberculosis, partly because of better efforts at diagnosis and, of course, owing to the highly infectious nature of the disease. It is essential therefore tha we redouble our efforts at combatting this pernicious disease that is sapping the energy of our people. We cannot afford to be complacent as a multi-drug resistant strain of TB is now in our municipality.

As I see it, our main task is to raise the health literacy of our people.Last year, we undertook a massive health awareness campaign in every barangay and selected schools. What is remarkable about this is that we carried out the campaign through the volunteer work of young nurses. This year, we hope to continue that effort.

The first semester of 2011, we are piloting a project that seeks to bring a health care worker in every barangay of the town. We are building a cadre of young nurses to promote community health. We are starting with a handful of barangays. If our pilot project works, we will be extending such program to all the barangays outside the poblacion.

All of this, we are doing to redirect our energies toward preventive health, which is more affordable for the muncipality. This should spare our townsmen from the sorrow of losing someone to diseases easily preventable had a health care worker been continually present to give advise and goad the sometimes recalcitrant patients.
Education
I have instructed all our principals and teachers to redirect the Special Education Fund (SEF) being extended by the municipality toward the maintenance and repair of our students’ classrooms, to see to it that the money is really directly spent for the welfare of the students.

We have also successfully concluded former Mayor Deogracias Ramos’s effort to donate the land currently being occupied by the Gubat National High School, ending the many years of the school’s being, for all intent and purposes, an informal settler.

This year we are launching a scholarship program for the incoming freshmen of the Gubat campus of the Bicol University. We will select deserving but poor students to be thoroughly vetted through competitive examination. We will also initiate a program, with the LGU serving as a conduit to private generosity, whereby private sponsors can adopt deserving pupils by providing a fixed stipend for the school year.

To give recognition to the hard work that our teachers are putting in the classroom every day of the school year, our Local School Board has also decided to search for an outstanding teacher in the municipality every year .
Agriculture
The abaca farmers of Barangays Bentuco, Tigkiw and Togawe now have a quick-drying machine for abaca, cutting down the hours invested in the production of abaca. This should significantly improve the work lives of our abaca farmers. The rice farmers of Bagacay also now have a dryer machine for palay, courtesy of the Department of Agriculture.
Our Municipal Agricultural and Fishery Council (MAFC) was also hailed as being the best in the Bicol region, a recognition of our farmers’ commitment and strength in organizing themselves and partnering with the local government to implement and supervise agricultural projects in the barangays .

We have also partnered with Bicol University in training farmers in agro-forestry, raising livestock, in this case goats, while cultivating trees on the side.

Infrastructure
This year, The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) will be rolling out a Php 14 M project to open roads in Barangays Beriran, Carriedo and Sta. Ana, and bring irrigation for Barangays Manapao and Carriedo. It is very rarely that we see such a huge amount of fund invested in the barangay and to be managed, not by the muncipality, but by the barangay and thecommunity themselves. Our municipality will do its best to support the work being done in those barangays to ensure such an opportunity offered by the national government is not squandered.

Recognition
Our efforts here at the municipality did no go unnoticed outside. We were recognized as the best municipality in the second class income category in the Bicol region by the Department of Interior and Local Government using productivity and performace measurement systems devised by the department.

Our Sangguniang Bayan has also shifted to electronic paperless legislation, only the second in the country to do so, next to Misamis Oriental’s Municipality of Lugait. With the savings on the paper and the ink, our appropriation for office supplies of the Sanggunian was greatly reduced.


Future directions
We have some heavy planning to do this year. My attention has been recently called by the DILG that our Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) has not been updated since 1991, which is contradicted by our planning office which says we updated the plan in 2000. No matter. Whether the last updating was done in 1991 or 2000, the fact remains we need to update our land use plan this 2011. The CLUP is an important tool with which we could geographically direct the development of our town.

We also have to finalize our Executive and Legislative Agenda (ELA) to show the consensual priorities of our officials.
With all this planning to be done, important documents will need to be prepared, and we would need hard data on which to base our future projections . We need to have solid appreciation of current reality before we go on targetting the future. Planning, without updated information, is nothing more than gazing at the stars.

I will therefore ask the Sangguniang Bayan to reconsider the installation of the Community-based Monitoring System (CBMS), which is an organized way of collecting information at the local level especially geared toward the monitoring and achievement of the Millenium Dvelopment Goals (MDGs). If we have good information on the conditions of each barangay, we can achieve greater transparency and accountability in the decisions made by the barangay and the municipality with regard to resource allocation.

The heavy rains of the recent days showed us one direction toward which we must direct our municipality’s allocation of scarce resources. We need to face up to the times. We live in a changed world, whose meteorology is different from that of the past. We therefore need to climate change-proof our lives, to hope for the best but prepare for the extreme weather we are seeing with greater frequency. This year we are going to deploy our calamity fund for that preparation.

I am resolved to collect the arrears of our lessees in the public market. We cannot afford improvement in the market if we are not collecting anything. Our lessees are also reticent to suggest improvements because they don’t pay anyway. This can not go on.

Without the rent being considered as a regular cost of doing business, our lessees’ business decisions are suspect. An enterprise in denial of operational costs can not exist for long, and the municipality should not be propping up such an enterprise, prolonging the agony of our lessees when they could be applying their energies to something more suitable to their talent elsewhere.

If a business is operating for five to four years at a loss, as some of our lessees claim to be, and could not afford the very, very minimal rent they are oligated to pay, then it is the municipality’s moral duty to offer the market space to other people waiting in the wings. To my mind, it is a simple moral obligation of giving chance to others.

The improvement of our market is the most essential. We must realize our utmost commercial potential as a town, not only to improve the municipality’s treasury but to unleash the energies of our own people. I will therefore be asking our Sangguniang Bayan to pass a new market code in addition to the updating of our revenue code to revitalize our public market and better encourage investments in the municipality.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing that happened this year, which we do not usually take notice of is the string of successful elections we held. In our democracy, transitions of power have become so regular as to be unremarkable. And yet every successful election, every peaceful transition of power where one set of officials leave to transfer the reins of power to another, is a triumph that must be remarked upon and congratulated.

In our representative and republican democracy, the leadership of the officials and a genuine concern for the public good are an important, perhasp the most important, key to progress. And elections give us the power to determine the direction of that progress.

As for myself, let me say a few things. I harbor no ill will against anybody, and wish no harm to anyone. I am not plotting against anybody nor working for the particular interests of one. I am a free man, and, like all the officials here today, I trust that, this year, all will be working for the greatest good of the greatest number in our municipality.

Thank you and may God bless us all.

Why I oppose the P25,000.00 cash gift given to our municipal employees

Many people have formed a bad opinion about me because of my opposition to the Php. 25,000.00 cash gift (3.6 Million pesos in total) requested by the municipal employees, which was hastily approved by our Sangguniang Bayan and released by our vice-mayor while I was away on official business. Some say I am a miser, some say I am just plain mean.

Let me set things straight: By opposing the cash gift, I am also depriving myself of Php25,000.00 because I too was due to receive it as per the resolution passed by the Sanggunian, together with all the other elective officials in the municipality.

The reason I oppose the granting of the cash gift is that it is simply contrary to law. It violates Section 325 of the Local Government Code of 1991 which says:


Section 325. General Limitations. - The use of the provincial, city, and municipal funds shall be subject to the following limitations:

(a) The total appropriations, whether annual or supplemental, for personal services of a local government unit for one (1) fiscal year shall not exceed forty-five percent (45%) in the case of first to third class provinces, cities and municipalities....


The Municipality of Gubat's Personal Services (PS), meaning the total expenses for the payment of salaries, wages and other compensation , already exceeds 45% of the total annual budget. The granting of the Php25,000.00 cash gift further bloated the excess in the PS expenditures of the municipality by close to four million pesos.

What about the Php10,000.00 cash gift due to all government employees announced by President Aquino? The President's Administrative Order No. 3 says:


SECTION 4. PEI for Employees in LGUs. The grant of the one-time PEI to employees in LGUs, including those in barangay governments, shall be determined by the sanggunian depending on the LGU financial capability, subject to the Personal Services limitation in the LGU budgets under R.A. No. 7160....


It is very clear from the text of the President's AO No. 3 that the granting of a Php10,000.00 cash gift to LGU employees is still subject to the PS limit set by the Local Government Code. If an LGU has already exceeded the limit, as Gubat has, it should not grant even the Php10,000.00 cash gift mentioned by President Aquino, much less Php25,000.00.

The grant of the Php25,000.00 cash gift to our municipal employees, approved by our Sangguniang Bayan and released by our vice-mayor, is, therefore, contrary to law (not to mention the spirit of general austerity being laudably introduced by our president), and that is why I stand firm against it.

Wishing the best for Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi is free again. After seven years of house arrest imposed by the Burmese military junta, she is free again to walk outside her lakeside home and resume her work building the democratic movement in Burma.

As the many Burma observers keep pointing out, we have been at this same juncture before. The military junta has in the past released Suu Kyi only to have her re-arrested again. News reports say her latest release is unconditional, but she is free only at the pleasure of the junta and could be re-arrested anytime.

I sincerely wish and hope that Suu Kyi will not be re-arrested, and the other 2,000 political prisoners be released from Insein prison. What is so sad about Burma is that because of this political struggle, many young people, perhaps the country's very brightest, lost their youth. Instead of plotting their future career paths, they are languishing in jail, driven to exile abroad, or killing time in a refugee camp in Chiang Mai. If you are interested to know some of their stories, you can read Christina Fink's Living Silence.

It is very, very sad. Personally, no other international issue affects me more than Burma's struggle for democracy. It is, for me, Southeast Asia's greatest issue of our time. The ASEAN can not move forward as one regional bloc that could discuss such issues as,say, a regional currency, without resolving once and for all the Burma impasse. Suu Kyi will have to face the question of what to do with international trade sanctions against Burma. The Wall Street Journal reports today that she has given signals she might be revising her thinking on that matter.

I heard Suu Kyi being interviewed and she said she's having a hard time deciding how to connect to younger generations and to the world: Facebook or Twitter. It is nice -and oddly comforting - that after many years of being cut off from the world by a brutal military, The Lady who is the world's most inspiring advocate for democracy and human rights is now dealing with questions as mundane as what social network to register to.

we are all keeping our fingers crossed as we hope for the best for Burma(and those status updates to come soon from Aung San Suu Kyi).

The difficult life of a teetotaler

Last night, I was at the oath-taking of the officials of the Barangay Defense System (BDS) and after the short program, an old lady approached and reproached me repeatedly for being so young. I kept answering: Thank you, it's a compliment. Gaining no traction with her harangue, she then asked me for money to buy a bottle of gin. She was incredulous I didn't have cash. All the while I was thinking, "Shouldn't she be home knitting and minding her liver?"

It is a real health concern: Some heavy drinkers are afflicted with Hepatitis B (see information on the disease from the Mayo Clinic here), and because they never got tested for the disease, are unknowingly inflicting further damage to their livers by drinking alcohol.

One of the hazards of being a mayor is that you invariably get asked for money to buy alcohol, sometimes by people who obviously have had so much to drink already. During the election campaign, I was initially torn about the subject of alcohol. Personally, I could live without it. The Taliban could take over the Philippines tomorrow and I won't be pining for beer.

One classmate who operated a sari-sari store before simply refused to sell alcoholic drinks and cigarettes. She was not Muslim or Iglesia, but as a matter of principle simply refused to sell those items.

Job Opening: Market Supervisor

Gubat Public Market
Gubat, Sorsogon

Salary Grade 18


Requirements

1.Bachelor’s Degree preferably in, but not limited to, business-related disciplines.2.Proficient or at least familiar with major office applications, especially Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel or similar equivalent programs.3. With initiative to undertake innovative projects with minimal supervision.4. Able to work with people from all walks of life.5. Excellent communication skills.6. Ability to develop alternative solutions to problems & reach decisions.7. Civil Service eligible.

Responsibilities

1. Supervise the operations and activities within the public market pertaining to sanitation and orderliness.
2. Implement market code and other ordinances/existing rules and regulations.
3. Supervise “Market Day” and assure that the related ordinance is properly implemented.
4. Formulate and, subject to the approval of the Local Chief Executive, implement programs, plans and activities to enhance the efficiency of the operation of the public market.
5. Perform such other duties and functions as may be delegated by higher authorities from time to time.


For applications, please fax to (056) 311 7962 or e-mail to aidamendivil@yahoo.com and/or ronnel@gmail.com. You can also send your applications directly to Ms. Aida Mendivil, Human Resources Manager, at the municipal hall. Applications will be accepted until October 25, 2010. Examination and panel interview to be scheduled after October 25. Successful applicant to to begin November.

Will blog again

I met Dr. Alvin Marcelo of UP-PGH and he asked me if I blog and he casually remarked I should blog my observations. He didn't know that I was once an assiduous blogger.

I promise to blog again once I get somebody to help me in the office so I could have some time to write. These days, when I arrive at home, I'm so beat I could do nothing else but lie down and sleep. I really think I should blog again and transform this blog into a local government-centered blog.

The president's power over the national budget

Much is made of the power of Congress to make appropriations, but really the power is with the president. After the sound and the fury of the congressional hearings, after the General Appropriations Act has been published, the president can simply impound what she doesn't want released, declare the unappropriated money as savings and then use that savings to meet expenditures she likes.

News reports say that Congress has finally curtailed this power of the president by including a provision in the recently passed budget expressly forbidding the president from impounding funds. The president is now in a Catch-22 situation. If she vetoes that provision, she confirms her malicious intent on the budget all those past years; if she does not veto it, she would in effect be curtailing the power of (possibly) President Noynoy Aquino in preparation for her being Speaker of the House.