Clothesline

September 27, 2009

Home Repair

Stigma-sullied government institutions, as tagged, continue to brave the stereotype by fixing the ground work.

The paint coating only makes the building appear brand new. The name only smells better. The façade can look good, but generations of termites have been taking turns in feeding on the walls.

Government organizations, in general, have been trying to rid of the age-old culture of political accommodation in the hiring process that eats the system like termites.

Rust-sullied face of nepotism beguiles at the steel parts of the house.

The “ideal” has become an exemption.

But that’s HISTORY.

Struggling for paradigm shift, the Human Resource Management and Development Office of the provincial government has taken bold steps to haul the system from the quicksand where the thinnest twig can be hope.

That’s until the Philippines-Australia Human Resource Development Facility (PAHRDF) offered the training for the reengineering design. In fact, HRMDO has started fine-tuning the organizational structure of all the departments and satellite offices.

HRMDO Head Romeo Teruel explained that “it is not done to get people out of job. It is done to improve service delivery by having the right structure for the mandates, functions and development agenda, by improving business processes and systems, by putting the right people in the right positions, by maximizing costs.”

Of the many details in the long process, Governor Erico Aumentado emphasized one point- -“no one will lose his or her job without his/her consent.”

In consonance with this, the Change Management Team proposes a guideline that allays “the fears of some officials and employees about being dislodged by favored employees or applicants”, as explained by Teruel.

This is the proposal: “Positions in each department will be filled up first by regular employees of that department. When no one qualifies, only then can HRMDO look at those regular employees interested to the position from other departments. If, still, nobody qualifies, only then can HRMDO look from among the contractual and job order casuals. The last to be considered are those outside of the organization. For those whose positions are affected- -either by abolition or merger of offices- -the employee has two options, either to avail of the incentive of one-month salary per year of service or to stay and be placed in the same or another department until he/she retires or resigns or is promoted, in which case his/her position becomes co-terminus with him/her.”

HRMDO has also put in place the province’s performance management system, training and development system, and also the recruitment, selection and placement system. These are just part of HRMDO’s effort to build the capacity of Capitol’s employees and ensure that the provincial government only hires the most qualified candidates.

In a partnership of almost five years, PAHRDF has been there to support the trainings of provincial government employees for capability-building.

Teruel said that for long-term trainings, HRMDO had sent 24 scholars on graduate studies in Australia, 19 of them have returned, five are still there, and another three will leave in January 2010. The three will take up graduate studies in engineering to complement our project under Provincial Road Management Facility (PRMF) funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).

In the short-term trainings which have now increased to 13 involving 267 participants, Teruel said some of them have been sent twice or thrice because of the building block approach and principle of completed knowledge. The long-term training graduates have organized themselves into an independent chapter of the Philippines-Australia Association, Inc. (PA3i). They shall serve as the provincial government’s “reservoir of subject matter specialists”.

Actually, HRMDO is just doing some home repair. The workforce, as the ground work, sustains the walls which are the departments and satellite offices- -under the name of Capitol as the roof. The workforce serves as the particles that the strength of the system bonds to form the semblance of an institution like chemistry explains atoms and matter.

This teaches us to realize that the very foundation of an organization is the human resource. And, capability-building is home improvement. HRMDO takes charge of the carpentry.

Past issues .....................................................................................................................................................................................

September 6, 2009

Bantay

Amazing to note that, according to Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Bing Lapiz, all the dog owners they have surveyed raise dogs to be the alternative guards of their houses. None of them said they raise dogs as pets. According to Sir Romy Garcia, it all goes back to elementary where books feature common Filipino families raising dogs they call "Bantay", to stand for their role. Dr. Lapiz said she then understood why it was hard to instill to the dog owners, the sense of responsibility on the welfare of their pets.

At the start, Dr. Lapiz explained in her PowerPoint presentation during the Bohol Rabies Prevention and Eradication Council meeting on Wednesday, that "rabies eradication is a mission impossible for the government to pursue alone". They started the campaign in the early 1980's where they selected small-island approach to conduct the vaccination on initial number of the dog population. Then in the 1990's, they launched the provincewide massive dog vaccination, accomplishing 86 percent. They offered free vaccines provided by the national government, and focused merely on rabies vaccination of dogs implemented by staff of the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian and Municipal Agriculture Office.

The paradigm shift brought the campaign to a community-based approach involving the Bantay Rabies sa Barangay (BRBs), and the MAOs to assist the OPV vaccinators. Municipal rabies councils and barangay rabies councils were created after the B-RPEC.

Indeed, from being No. 1 in rabies cases nationwide in 2005 and 3rd in 2006, Bohol has improved since the launching of the Bohol Rabies Prevention and Eradication Program (B-RPEP). So far, for 2009, none of the samples submitted to the laboratory had tested positive. OPV targets to sustain this for at least two years to be able to claim sustainability and success. Moreover, as pet owners' attitude improved with 34 percent of them even voluntarily submitting their dogs for castration, the dog population in the province has reduced by 22 percent, according to Dr. Lapiz.

This might mean Bohol is now ready to participate in the upcoming 2nd Rabies International Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam on September 8-11.
And, on September 28, the schools will be having candle-lighting and prayer-offering after their flag ceremony, for those who died from rabies virus.

Now, Dr. Lapiz can say, "With community involvement and people's participation, it is a possible mission for the government to eradicate rabies!"

And OPV wants us to remember The 10 Commandments of Responsible Pet Ownership:
1. Feed an adequate balanced diet.
2. Supply clean water at all times.
3. Provide a clean dry sleeping area.
4. Provide your dogs and cats with regular exercise and allow the pet regular family contact.
5. Protect the health of your dogs and cats through vaccinations especially against rabies, and regular internal and external parasite control (worms, fleas, and ticks).
6. Register your dogs and cats at the Bantay Rabies sa Barangay Council. This entitles your pets anti-rabies vaccination and registration certificate.
7. Confine/leash your dog to your property at all times preferably in the backyard, especially at night.
8. Train your dog to be a good canine citizen so that it won't become a nuisance to neighbors.
9. Spray/Castrate your dog and cat.
10. Ensure your cat or dog is cared for during holidays, family outing/vacation.

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August 30, 2009

Know

In a chat during a break in the trip with the governor to Getafe on Monday, our Provincial Planning and Development Coordinator, Attorney John Titus Vistal, told me that he believes that to train a writer, you need to send him back to elementary.

For his part, our HRMDO head of the provincial government, Sir Romy Teruel, said a college degree is rather specific on the field of profession chosen, and that HRDs need to sponsor seminars and trainings for personnel to develop skills and familiarize with the system at the workplace.

In his recent visit here, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus quoted a title of a book by Robert Fulghum, "All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten" to summarize his formula in molding schoolchildren into better citizens who can be of significance in the community. I researched on that and I came across this excerpt from Fulghum's book, and let me share it. It says: All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten. ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup:
The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup- -they all die.
So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned- -the biggest word of all- -LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.
Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Take any of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm.
Think what a better world it would be if all- -the whole world- -had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap.
Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put thing back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

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August 23, 2009

Soft Copy

Snap of a finger, just so it seemed, and our "walled" community popped to a borderless World Wide Web where anybody can publish anything without passing the copy through an editor, spreading unsanitized information.

It's where anyone can tell about anything anytime. You just need to be connected. "Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) led to the establishment of the World Wide Web", then information became fluid.

Err…a sector of netizens do edit, but not the language and the tone of information disseminated. But they do on images through graphics magic. They are the digital magicians. Well, they do edit as in 'render' in computer parlance, not to fine-tune a language in consonance to the Journalist's Code of Ethics, but to distort the truth in a photograph. I plead guilty on that sometimes.

But, not this editing that is rendering. I mean editing the news English in the articles which has become almost insignificant in the electronic media, except for serious news websites.

Gate-keeping, the work of an editor in a newspaper, has almost been made negligible in the net publication. Anybody can just create as many blogs as possible that spread his thoughts to the whole World Wide Web. All the materials uploaded become accessible to all netizens, be it worth spreading or not, be it with social responsibility or not.

Who edits these materials? Who assesses these are worth publishing through the www? Who is the Gate-keeper?

In fact, the availability of these information has been threatening the print medium and its street sales. That's why print outfits also came up with soft copies of their products uploaded to the www to catch up with the trend, and that became their netizenship. And, the necessity to buy a hard copy has almost become remote, because the soft copy is available at a lower cost and poses less litter.

In the freer www, anyone can post anything in the shoutbox and the blogs, including libelous and nasty materials.

The language in this medium of mass communication remains unedited and unsanitized in most cases- -in possible cases.

When the computer technology launched the www, information chaos actually claimed the turf, instead of letting education and responsible mass communication prevail.

A friend once said that his father, a German, was once part of a team who designed a computer and the one they produced was as big as something comparable to the FCB-Main building. When the technology became available in the market, he could not even operate a personal computer, a rather dwarf version of the one they made or constructed.

It actually never came in a snap of a finger at all. It went through a thorough process of converting the principles of logic into an invention that changed the universe into the virtual World Wide Web.

It was a long research that shortened the distance from one corner of the Earth to another that is in a broadening world that has now ironically reduced to a soft copy.
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August 16, 2009

Cushion of Peace

Peace and order counts and Bohol has the blessings it brings, courtesy of the peace for development program of the Aumentado-Herrera administration.

It has to be singular, because peace and order must be counted as one- -three words that spell one compact message.

In fact, when I saw some of the entrepreneurs from Iligan City now in Bohol, I was tempted to conclude they found here what was lost in Mindanao. And, maybe the business atmosphere here has been good enough that the once a single Gulshan in Iligan City has multiplied now, managed by the second and third generations of the family. They are among the entrepreneurs who have inspired me to be optimistic on the business world. They have always been consistent in business. I grew up seeing their business growing. Yet, they have to pack up like us, and leave Iligan City in the 80s.

Pacing's Grocery in Iligan was once home to us, right beside the Gulshan store there. Lawpe (Father) told us that when we transferred to Cebu at the height of the earlier sequel of the peace and order problem in Iligan, they must have transferred, too, but to Bohol. And, it must have been a good choice.

Their patriarch, my brother's ninong whom we refer as "Mister" (Gul), has chosen to be in the United States. But I saw his sons (who were already grown-up then when we were still kids) and grandsons managing their stores here.

Maybe the sustained peace and order of Bohol has served as soothing balm to the investors' bruises from the problem in Mindanao.

I could not understand why there had to be a big Christian-Muslim war then when establishments grew together like siblings. Business even never meant competition then, but peaceful neighborhood. Yet, conflict always ensued when Muslims tried to overcome their fear of the Christians' anting-anting from St. Michael, The Archangel and other magic by appearing to be brave and strong. And, they clashed. Entrepreneurs were never part of the problem, but they suffered.

It could also be that the expression, "Matira ang matibay" applies, because Cheding's Peanuts remained in Iligan City. Ama Cheding, wife of my grandmother's (Pacita Tan Lim-Yu's) first cousin--Sio Tan--has braved all the odds, and is even expanding. But I see Bohol is a favorite, because I once saw their product displayed in one of the big stores here.

My grandmother's sister, Ama Sana Ho, chose Dumaguete where her family opened the Ho's Art- -just a small textile and tailoring business. Upon learning that I was already based in Bohol, she once told me (when still alive) that they planned to expand to Bohol.

When my brother came home last year from New Zealand before proceeding to his next home in Melbourne, Australia, he shared this idea of opening a business in Bohol, even before I could talk about the international airport to rise in Panglao and the eyed Bohol-Cebu Friendship Bridge.

Some entrepreneurs aspire for business not to get rich, but simply to have something to pour their passion and tradition on- -some tacit economy creepers who can last longer than glamour of the name. Sans the metropolitan rush, Bohol's serene coating of business world also proves to be fertile ground for principled business.

Without mentioning the superbig-time circle who has the liberty to choose where they want to pour or transfer their investments and Economy follows, many more reasons and stories can be told from the many other entrepreneurs who really had to be in Bohol to follow the smell not only of economy, but better living.

These are no heavy industry players, but more of tradition passers.

A connoisseur of people's taste, huh! Why always Bohol? I thought they only heard of Bohol as a tourist destination, its beaches and underwater paradise. I never realized then that they knew, too, it's tourism that makes economic boom.

And, I bet that had Bohol been this peaceful and progressive in early 30s or 40s and had it been as accessible from China, my grandparents and their circle could have landed here from Amoy- -the home they fled from because of social problems.

Sometimes, it made me feel triumphant as to interpret that their interest on life here only confirms that I was correct to refuse to appreciate opportunities abroad. My constant reason is the fact that they even chose Philippines when odd times wrapped China. And, they have called this country their home, though they were Chinese by blood. And, I say this is my home, though I'm 50-percent Chinese by blood, and though my father's Filipino citizenship never got a direct approval.

You see, home is not where you make money. It's where you choose to be and pour what you have, because it defines one that it is- -a domicile in surrealism.
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August 9, 2009

Care

I grew up in an atmosphere where health and medication could never rock the boat, considering the many doctors in the family, the ever-ready one is Dr. Henry Yu, who is into EENT, who also married a nurse. He is my father’s younger brother. Aside from constant medical opinion, he shares with us samples of medicines courtesy of the medreps that visit him.

My father’s other brother- -Dr. Ernesto Yu (who also married a medical practioner, a pediatrician) is excused because, aside from the fact that he has long been based in New York, his services is not needed everyday because he is a surgeon.

But for the less-privileged, health and medication is already a big problem, because of its cost. And a surgeon is needed everyday.

Governor Erico Aumentado, always ready for the concerns of the poor, addressed that through the Bohol Medical Care Institute, in partnership with FCB Foundation, Inc., DyRD Inyong Alagad, and New York-based HomeReach Foundation.

The blessing on the BMCI’s facilities was done last Friday.

But prior to that members of the Bohol Tri-Media availed of free cardiac panel. I was one of them- -lucky sector.

It can also be free for others. But these others must be identified as indigents by the DSWD.

Others can approach FCB Foundation, Inc., or the Governor’s Office, or DYRD Inyong Alagad or HomeReach Foundation to get referrals, and the services of the diagnostic center can cost lesser than those in other facilities here.

And, the least of our brethren can even have them free.

Based on the video presentation of Dr. Dave Maulas, the administrator of BMCI, last Friday it was explained that the diagnostic center plays a significant role in strengthening the foundation of our community, our province, through healthy constituents- -the backbone of our economy.
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August 2, 2009

Story Board

For many, SONA 2009 was a lump in the throat. (No, no, no, don't cry, it didn't spell your fall)- -this could be the lyrics of the songs of those who fear the positive tones of SONA. Sentimental hurting for crab mentality.

For me, it's entertainment. Not entertainment that makes us laugh, but one that feeds between our ears. I enjoyed the language.

Understanding the power of peso and the frequency of its transfer from one hand to another in a day makes us understand an economist like President Arroyo.

Emotional quotient is different.

The strength in her fearless words and wit flashed to my mind an image of a bulldozer. Indeed, to be "ready for the first world in 20 years", it's now due for the sentence, "The state of our nation is a strong economy".

It's not parallel, but it reminded me of our winning piece in the speech choir contest way back in grade school, "Like the Molave".

Never mind the letters. Let's deduce the attitude and the logic in it.

We can also have our miniature version of the President's situation at our level- -lesson for the day. We see, it's so ironic, often, that those who cannot do their job are the ones who are too confident to criticize the better ones. In desperation, they try to pull down the better ones to their level, so they won't be left behind. And, of course, the flickering stance of their talent can easily fade out when the genuine star outshines it. Often, we tend to get disappointed when the better ones achieve something, because they outsmarted us. That hurts the ego.

Why can't we just be good because we are good, not because others are bad. Why can’t we excel without the smear campaign against the ones better than us?

You see, our politicians washing dirty linens in public are actually the enlarged copy of us here in the lower strata.

In our workplace, we can just look around or that table across ours- -that's the whole picture.

That's why the clothesline is always ready when the washing is done and it would be time to dry the angst. We can settle and murmur in a dark alley, because we should not "say bad words in public". If you can’t help it, don’t run for President.
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July 26, 2009

Pasalubong

Like a thoughtful father, who has just arrived from a trip away from home, Governor Erico Aumentado has brought with him a package of pasalubong from his travel abroad- -all for the people of Bohol.

When he came home from joining the Philippine delegation to the bilateral talk between President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak, the governor brought with him a good news- -an advancer to the historic July 16 event when the province of Bohol of the Repibluc of the Philippines and the Biolsystems Co., Ltd. of the Republic of Korea signed a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of a bio-ethanol processing plant that will serve as ready market for Boholano seaweed growers.

The US$100-million processing plant will employ hundreds of Boholanos, while the seaweeds aquaculture of Boholanos in coastal towns- -a component of the project- -means employment of one person per hectare of seasite, and the project involves at least 25,000 hectares of seasites as a starter or millions of it in the long run. A 10,000-hectare of seaweed aquaculture can already sustain a set of facility in the processing plant. For the initial 25,000 hectares, the project can already give livelihood to 25,000 Boholanos in the aquaculture- -a large package indeed.

Actually, we got used to it already--the governor (Father of Development, according to the Sangguniang Kabataan) returning home with pasalubong in tow, just the way he returned to the seat for three consecutive terms to the top provincial post--with mega infras in tow.

From his latest trip abroad, Governor Aumentado had “successfully rallied the Boholanos in the United States and Canada to continue supporting Bohol's Galing Pook award-winning program of poverty reduction for peace and development”.

He returned home with new convergence projects, and the continuation of the present partnership with the Confederation of Boholanos, USA and Canada, Inc. (Conbusac).

Aumentado joined US-based and Canada-based Boholanos as guest speaker in their 13th biennial convention dubbed as “Sleepless in Seattle 2009”- -a prelude to the Tigum Bol-anon Tibuok Kalibutan (TBTK) slated in time for the Bohol Day and Sandugo celebrations.

Conbusac reelected president Carlos Cagaanan committed to sustain the artificial insemination (AI) and livestock dispersal projects conceptualized and implemented in partnership with the provincial government by past presidents of their group.

The pioneering seven towns have now expanded to 19 towns benefiting from the AI project, and Provincial Veterinarian Stella Marie Lapiz announced that four more towns now enjoy livestock dispersal and AI through the partnership. In fact, OPV is scheduled to identify 14 families to receive their carabaos this month in addition to those in line to receive theirs as pass-on gifts from original recipients, according the governor’s right hand, June Blanco.

Moreover, Aumentado also updated Boholanos that he got a commitment from Dr. Neil Bonje, a leading practitioner in Chicago and past Conbusac president, to extend financial aid for the construction of a fountain and the children's playground at the President Garcia Park. Cagaanan will sign the memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the President Garcia Park spruce up during the triennial TBTK today.

As the governor already made it a habit to bring with him pasalubong whenever he returns home from a trip abroad and even just from Manila, Boholanos back home already got used to expecting him to return with a big a package--size in superlative that we can hardly ignore.

Well, that would be good to note for a 2010 picture, what he has in tow and this path he's returning to?
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July 19, 2009

Client

Finally, the government came up with an activity that reiterated its commitment to public service- -a redundant deal as to the essence of its existence. Anyway, it’s renaissance and paradigm shift is the byword- -actually a shift back to basics.

Civil Service Commission Chairman Ricardo Saludo came to Bohol last week to grace the launching of the provincial government’s citizen’s charter and he had this to share “in the face of endless criticism to government, which is likely to further intensify when election campaigning goes into full swing, we must go back to basics and rekindle the values and precepts of our calling to serve the republic.”

Chairman Saludo shared the idea of Republic Service, an acronym that means:

Responsiveness as the primary duty of public servants. He said “all of us must respond swiftly and adequately to the needs and challenges facing the nation and our constituents, from a child's plea for flu medicine, to the defense of the republic against terrorist attack”.

Next is “Ethical principles of the highest order.” He said “in these times of corruption scandals, integrity is the key to public trust and support”.

Then, “PUBLIC interest and welfare are, of course, what every civil servant should protect and advance. That means not just executing faceless plans and targets, but helping real people who look to the state for basic needs, law and order, and progress. And as the word order signifies, the public must come before its servants. Mamamayan muna”.

And, as “SERVants we are, first and foremost. Despite the state's formidable power, we in government are here only to serve....Often we forget that our bosses are the citizens lining up before our desks, who we must serve with courtesy, competence, honesty and speed.

VIsion must guide our everyday work. Impact on the lives and future of our people and our land.

Caring combines the Filipino traits of malasakit and kalinga. The ideal civil servant is not just a strict implementor of policies and programs, but a man or woman with heart who takes pains to listen to his or her constituents, feel compassion for their trials and tribulations, and labor tirelessly to better their lot. And his co workers too.”

Finally, “Excellence is the opposite of that unfortunate expression puwede na. To excel means not to be contented with something that can be made neater, finished quicker, done better”. Saludo calls on us to strive constantly to enhance our work, our knowledge and skills, our systems and institutions, to make Philippine public service the best we can give our people.
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July 12, 2009

Whew! Busy July

It's not just payday. July 15 will get agri people busy for the First Cassava Provincial Forum at the Bohol Agricultural Promotion Center, Dao District. The event will be about Balanghoy as the magic plant- -Ang Tubag sa Kagutom ug Enerhiya.

'Might be an extension to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap's Bohol engagement since the launching of Danao Adventure last Thursday, as he will be the guest speaker during the opening program of the cassava forum. Mr. Sinto Uy, president of Philippine Starch Industrial Corporation (PSIC) and Starch Millers Association of the Philippines will give an overview of the cassava starch industry during the occasion. Governor Erico Aumentado will give an inspirational message during the opening program.

In the first session of the forum, a representative of PSIC will present the profile of the industry that will include data on production per municipality, status of cassava, and the farmers and areas that the industry serves. PSIC will also present updates on the status of the organization and some issues and concerns. In the second session, Department of Agriculture's project leader in the cassava industry, Dr. Candido Damo, will present DA's five-year cassava development plan. Financing institutions will also be given 15 minutes each to present their support programs to cassava industry- -the Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, and the Provincial Agrarian Reform Office. Then PSIC Logistics Officer Jefferson Uy will give a 15-minute presentation on their marketing system. Two farmers will also be given 15 minutes each to give testimonies about their experience as cassava growers.
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

The provincial government, through the Bohol Employment and Placement Office (BEPO), with the technical support of POEA and DOLE will be conducting another overseas and local jobs fair dubbed as BEE- -which stands for Bohol Employment Expo- -on July 18 at the Island City Mall, 8 am-5 pm. BEPO has identified the following as their target sectors- -ICT, design or engineering and construction, medical or dental services, hospitals and allied health services, sports or physical fitness, hotels and restaurants, building maintenance, housekeeping, merchandising, seafaring and general administrative.

The organizers require job applicants to pre-register at BEPO, DOLE or any municipal PESO office to secure gate pass to the venue.

Job applicants are also advised to bring relevant employment documents and in business attire.
Banana chips conference

An agri-fair that will showcase banana chips marketing on July 23 at JJ's Seafood Village will again bring to us Secretary Yap. DA-7 Regional Director Ricardo Oblena will also be around.

In the conference proper, Provincial Agriculturist Liza Quirog will give a presentation on the Bohol Banana Situationer, while GMA-HVCC Program Coordinator Dr. Rene Rafael Espino will present the national banana industry road map in relation to the chips industry, and Wilberto Castillo of DA-7 will give an update on cardava banana cultural management, pest and disease control.

Ruben See, proprietor of SEES International Food Manufacturing Corporation, will also give a presentation on market situation in relation to the requirements of cardava banana and banana chips marketing arrangement. SEES will also sign a marketing agreement.

There will also be a presentation on social enterprise mechanism and trading system.
Symposium on Human Trafficking in Talibon

Students of Talibon Agricultural High School will be the audience of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas of the Office of the President in its next round of information campaign on migration and human trafficking through a symposium on July 24. CFO Executive Director Jose Maria Palabrica said the activity is part of "their yearly inter-agency community education and information campaign that "seeks to assist prospective migrants in making informed decisions on settling abroad and to generate community involvement in migration concerns".
Rodeo and Horse Show

The First Governor Aumentado Rodeo and Horse Show Cup will highlight the First Bohol Livestock Partners' Congress on July 29. The activity will kick off with a parade from Plaza Rizal to the CPG Sports Complex where the participants will gather for the program, recognition rites, and rodeo and horse show.

The provincial government, through the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian, has prepared the livestock partners' congress in time that Boholanos, who are now based abroad, will be home for the Sandugo celebration and the Tigum Bol-anon Tibook Kalibutan 2009.

Boholanos abroad, who formed the Conbusac and BOAWAS, have been the partner of OPV- -under the leadership of Provincial Veterinarian Stella Marie Lapiz- -in the continuation of the animal dispersal with artificial insemination program, after the partnership with Heifer had expired in 2006.
Month-long Sandugo Agri-Fair

The Sandugo Agri-Fair 2009 at the BAPC will run until July 31 with the theme, "Isangyaw ug Ipasigarbo ang produktong Bol-anon". Behind the event is the provincial government, through the office of Ma'am Liza Quirog , in coordination with the Bohol Sandugo Foundation Incorporated, DA and other collaborating agencies.

We have not talked about tourism activities yet. Oh, well, Bohol is fully booked.

In this busy July, you can make your round and appreciate what Boholanos can offer in this special Sandugo month- -a good strategy to liven up part of the lean season for tourism and a good suggestion to the itinerary of foreign tourists and balikbayans on their break.

Whew! Busy July may even be renaissance for lazy writers- -always something there to write.

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July 5, 2009

Cubicle

Reality that bites- -one's confidence shrinks at the doorstep of a government office.

Shivering stance would never make it beyond the door. But if that stress in your nerves only tries to bring as many answers to many questions that size you up for a place in the office, you could be wasting your time.

Fool! The single question to answer flashes right on your forehead- -Do you know somebody here?

That's the only question you have to answer if you want to get a job in a government institution.

But, Capitol will push that to history upon the implementation of reengineering. That will categorically classify each employee based on skills and other qualifications.

Yet, the doubt remains on the discretion of how HRMDO would choose to look at favorite people's qualifications and avoid seeing the credentials of the other kind. The extensive training of the HRMDO group on formulating a reengineering design assures us this will never happen. The spirit of this move has been intended to repair the sullied image of government service. A blueprint of systematic and logical placement of personnel in the organization is what this reengineering is all about.

The worst scenario is when we are disqualified because we ask questions. Again, HRMDO personnel are trained to handle it well, never resorting to humiliating the one who asks and never trapping smoke in a bottle. Never vindictive. Never political.

Even mute and deaf people make sound.

The implementation of "biometric DTR" may support a smooth prelude to the transition to the systematic and logical reshuffle. Without sarcasm, the strict compliance of the policy of keeping daily time record is laudable and basic. What complicates it is the attitude of the one monitoring it and the absence of parameters.

Did the machine see what you're doing before and after the fixed schedule for the entry of "time-in" and "time-out"? Does it measure the weight of every employee's output? Or has it ended up to having hard-working employees equally treated with the lazy ones? In some instances, busy employees had little chances to take note of the time, while the idle ones have nothing to do but take note of the time.

Again, a policy is in the making to address these concerns.

At a point, the biometric machine only ensures the identity of the one logging in, but this does not ensure performance and skills. This does not even assure accurate measure of actual time spent on rendering services. This surest thing it confirms is that you logged in at that specific time registered in the machine through biometrics.

Therefore, it can be more effective as an aid for security.

However, it helps a bit. It has helped in building up awareness among employees that they have to report to work on time and maybe leave few minutes after the official time-off.

A government organization is not so stupid to implement this policy only to ruin the unity of the workforce and develop liars among employees. But, many respond to it negatively. That calls for the human resource managers to design a strategy to sensitize the workforce for them to understand the noble intention of this effort and its gains, especially in establishing discipline.

Moreover, to avoid bottleneck, there must be a daily monitoring on the discrepancy in the DTR entries of the employees, as the "D" in DTR actually stands for daily, rather than settle everything during processing of salaries.

Human resource is not just about taking note on attendance. It is building up the attitude and commitment of each employee to understand the significance of their presence in the places they are expected to render services.

In the absence of a system, the employees seemed to be lost in a wilderness without any trail to follow on their way home.

And, there has to be parameters that would help design a far-sighted policy that will set the system without waiting for a problem to crop up. That is preventing the fire before it sparks. The best adjective of a system is "proactive".

The employees should also understand that we cannot sacrifice the logic in the principles of accounting followed in auditing the documents supporting claims of wages, since, as categorical as numbers, accounting system leaves no tolerance for things hard to quantify.

In a loose system, anyone can claim he lost a part of his equipment without proving if it was really lost or he just placed it out of other's sight to create a scenario that something's lost and one in the office is a thief. In situations where the supposed victim is the only one who has knowledge about the existence of the gadget he claimed is lost, then he himself has the knowledge who else has interest on it, for how could a supposed thief take away a thing when he has no knowledge that it ever existed in the first place?

The underlying logic in this situation is what accounting people have been clarifying in requiring lots of explanation to justify a claim.

But, what if a blow dislocates that something between the ears?

Think positive!

June 28, 2009

Virus

Virus that thrive in human blood. Virus that gives a lesson. It’s called HIV.

The Baseline Research for Programme Area 1 of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS and Migration revealed low prevalence but the confirmation of risk behaviors is enough to make the health workers, the government, the families of OFWs and other sectors to act now.

Dr. Ofelia Saniel, a faculty of UP College of Public Health, issued this calle during the presentation of the research to media on Thursday last week at the JJ’s Seafood Village. Dr. Saniel presented the result of the quantitative reseach, while Dr. Maria Carmen Tolabing took charge of the qualitative.

The study focused on HIV risks and vulnerabilities of Overseas Filipino Workers, their spouses and their children. Risk factors include non-condom use, multiple sexual relationships, injecting drug use. Vulnerability of OFWs include lack of knowledge on transmission, prevention of HIV, unavailable health information/services/resources, and loneliness being away from their families.

On the respondents’ knowledge about HIV/STI, the survey had it that they were generally aware of HIV/AIDS and STI. The female respondents had misconceptions about transmission, believing mosquitoes are vectors. The male respondents had very limited understanding of HIV/AIDS and STI with 8/10 perceiving that HIV can be transmitted by sharing meals with HIV+ persons and 9/10 believe that mosquitoes can transmit HIV. The survey also shows that 10/10 know that sharing needles can increase risk of HIV infection; that 10/10 believe condom use decreases chance of getting HIV infection; that 10/10 believe that a healthy looking person can also get HIV; that 9/10 believe that a pregnant woman can transmit HIV to fetus and that breastfeeding can transmit the virus to the infant.

On the attitude about extramarital affairs in general and spouse's extramarital affairs, the survey shows that respondents felt that they and their spouse are both at risk for HIV/STI; that male spouses showed a double standard; that few of the male respondents felt that it is acceptable for both parties to engage in extramarital affairs as long as each partner will not know about it. The survey also shows that female respondents indicated that spouses fear that their husbands can engage in extramarital affairs especially when their ship is at port and that spouses tend not to think and just pray that that these undesirable events will not happen. For the male respondents, some spouses believe that their wives are at risk of HIV/STI since they do not know their wives' behavior while away from home; others think that their wives are not at risk and that they cope with this uncertainty by keeping themselves busy with work, play majong, drink alcohol, engage in sports.

The survey tells more about a problem that needs more of our being.

June 21, 2009

Season

Here comes harvest time. We reap what we sow, so goes the cliché.

The fruits show the varieties of the crops we grow, just like the way we establish our foundation as professionals.

Of the many seasons possible to imagine, the brink of campaign period bears the most colorful fruit. MONEY!

Say, five to ten years can be enough to claim you have already established a name in the industry. People respect your byline. People believe the story you entitled, “Truth”.

With your byline in every issue of the paper in a period of over ten years, the campaign period is the season for you.

It’s harvest time.

Things just become difficult when you have established the name-recall factor because of the byline exposure, but you never learned your craft even in the length of time. From time to time, when you get up to walk, you always grope for a third leg.

Harvest time, we go to the presscon. I bet, we will get identical envelopes. But, do we produce identical payola juice?

Honestly, I envy some information officers of some agencies who regularly receive their salaries at standard rates for an easy job of putting words together that hardly make sense. They call that press release.

I call them scratch papers. But I cannot throw them to the trash can, because that means job to me.

Sometimes, editing can be scavenging. And, the desk is the junk shop.

As a way fo sweet-lemoning, I celebrate the day skills had forsaken these information officers, because I have a job.

Still, I envy them, because they are paid higher for littering and I’m getting the lower rate for cleaning the room.

That must be job’s fair in a lampoon.

oOo

P.S.
Let me correct the impression of being in the real world for 23 years already as what came out in the preceding issue. It’s supposedly 13 years. The number just seems eerie.

oOo

According to Benjamin Franklin, “All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse”.

June 14, 2009

Angst-ridden Proportion

Real world in 23 years successfully downloaded disillusions in learning to unlearn the ideals. And, often that tastes even better instead of bitter, especially for the artificial professionals.

In a distorted world, the badge of valour becomes elusive to the real brave one and the puppets grab it; as if the rendering of pixels produced an image of a sabotaged workplace where crabs prey on the real talent. That paints the semblance of every Monday that meets us, a good start of the week to ruin.

Sometimes, I am tempted to define workplace as the cubicle of crab mentality. Those who can hardly equate the real talent tend to drag down people to their level, so catching up would be easy.

Pity the artificial persons, that envy wraps, as they lose the privilege of knowing wonderful people around- -the real talents they can copy.

Maybe people short of talent think they best protect their tenure by getting rid of real talents who could be real threat like the brightness of sun that devours the light of stars in the morning. This explains why most companies are short of experts. This explains a job hopper's déjà vu drained from a workplace to the next.

Maybe the mediocre proves safer to compete with in quest for promotion and we love to work with them, because they create problems that we can solve. They make us heroes. Their lapses become our merits.

When everyone in the workplace thinks like this, it's already high time to talk about reengineering that will set the parameters. After all, human infrastructure weighs heavier than every cubic meter of gravel. It can also be that human infrastructure is the best investment, if the government is an investor.

So how do we define losses, then? Those are the salaries paid to personnel who convert the office into a review center or a library, and considers the office tasks a disturbance to his concentration. Much funds also go to waste in paying for bench players. Their job description only means the assurance that the other camp does not have them. The worst loss? That's opportunity wasted in losing grip of a real talent- -an asset of the group.

And, the greatest gain comes with independence from greed. Oh, that's harder to let go, more leech than us.

June 7, 2009

Midas Touch

Except that they never turned rigid, every service channel that Governor Erico Aumentado touches turns to a legacy as precious and as lasting as gold.

Over 40 years of public service must have polished finely his political track that’s as concrete as his road projects. But that never came easy.

A pro carved in the smithy of a youth that’s never so comfortable and with a childhood chiseled by hard life, knows every detail of poverty. And, so that’s what he hit bull’s eye, the bullet reaching through another problem lurking behind.

Indeed, he was made for the rudder that veered, 360 degrees, this province from the quicksand of poverty.

His convergence formula that treated poverty in the countryside swept along insurgency and literacy problem in the hinterlands.

In the long run his art in governance had overwritten political beckerings.

The second district that he once served as congressman had its share of his mega-projects.

And when he became governor, he had the whole Bohol to paint with progress. That stretched to three consecutive terms.

The farmers’ table, once as barren as their fields , has now food on it and some idle hands now have lands to till.

This land that used to be the rebels’ haven has now become the cradle of professionals, and has greened enough to lure the tourists. Its soil that cracked in thirst has learned to trap the dewdrops in the meadow that the dams had nurtured by its overflow.

What else can Midas Touch spare from the luster of gold? Only stolen shapes of fleeting clouds wasted the chance to savor the blushing sky when they ignored the rainbow in Aumentado’s moment on the rudder that spared no grain in pursuit of progress.

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