Nutri-program evaluation, monitoring underway in Central Luzon

By Joelyn G. Baluyut

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, July 10 (PIA) -- National Nutrition Council’s (NNC) Monitoring and Evaluation of Local Level Plan Implementation (MELLPI) of nutrition program among the provinces, cities, and municipalities in Central Luzon is now on its last three months of evaluation.

According to outgoing Regional Nutrition Coordinator (RNC) Maria Vicenta Magpantay “MELPPI started last May until September of this year.”

MELLPI is a management tool to assess progress of plan implementation, identify strengths and weaknesses in implementing the program, and institute appropriate corrective measures and facilitate achievement of the plan’s objective.Among its objectives are: to assess the efficiency of local level plan implementation; to measure changes in weight status of preschool and school children during the evaluation year; to determine the extent to which nutrition is integrated into local development plans and programs; and to advocate for the continuing support for local nutrition programs.

Magpantay also said that “the coverage of this includes all provinces and cities that formulated their provincial/city nutrition action plans (P/CNAPs), all municipalities that formulated their municipal nutrition action plans (MNAPs), and Provincial Evaluation Team (PET) identified Outstanding Municipality in the Province will be automatically included among the municipalities to be evaluated by the Regional Nutrition Evaluation Team (RNET).” Meanwhile, NNC also evaluates the performance of the Barangay Nutrition Scholar (BNS).

BNS are the barangay-based volunteers tasked to coordinate the delivery of basic nutrition and related services in their respective area of assignments.

The provision for giving of awards is in the level of National, Regional, and Provincial. And recognition comes in the form of incentives or awards such as the Green Banner Award, Consistent Regional Outstanding Winner in Nutrition (CROWN), Nutrition Honor Award (NHA) and the National Outstanding BNS.

The Green Banner Award (GBA) is given to a municipality, city or province, which has shown very satisfactory performance in implementing its nutrition program. An area awarded the Green Banner

for three consecutive years as outstanding regional winner is automatically awarded the CROWN Award.

For Region 3, the province of Pampanga is the GBA for 2010. While, for the City category, Tarlac City in Tarlac is the GBA from 2009-201. For municipality level, the following are GBA holders: Paombong, Bulacan; Dinalungan, Aurora; Bagac, Bataan; Talavera, Nueva Ecija; Guagua, Pampanga; Anao, Tarlac; and Candelaria, Zambales.

To date, Bulacan Province is vying for 2nd year CROWN Maintenance award; the National Evaluation Team (NET) visited it last June 4-8 and sample municipalities are Bulakan, San Rafael, Balagtas and Doña

Remedios Trinidad. Tarlac City, meanwhile, is on its third year running for RGBA for Crown. Pampanga Province and Paombong, Bulacan are vying for their second year run for RGBA outstanding province and municipality in the region.

The CROWN awardees are then visited by a National Nutrition Evaluation Team for three consecutive years to check whether their efforts in maintaining a downward trend of malnutrition are sustained through a

well-coordinated plan implementation. Recipients of the CROWN Award qualify to vie for the Nutrition Honor Award, the highest award given by NNC to outstanding achievers in nutrition program implementation for another three consecutive years. (CLJD/JGB-PIA3)

LGUs responsible for class suspensions – DepEd

By Joelyn G. Baluyut

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, July 10 (PIA) -- The Department of

Education (DepEd) said local chief executives may implement localized class suspensions or cancellations during weather disturbances in the absence of typhoon signal warnings from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pag-asa).

DepEd said that local chief executives, in their capacity as chairpersons of the local disaster councils and in coordination with the national disaster council, may cancel or suspend classes in private and public schools and work in government offices in their

locality through all forms of mass media available under the circumstance.

DepEd Region 3 School Division Superintendent Nicolas Capulong said,“According to DepEd Order No. 43, any decision to cancel or suspend classes must come from the local government.”

“A school head may only cancel or suspend classes in cases where urgent action is needed to prevent loss of life or bodily harm,”Capulong added.

Capulong also said, “LGU officials are expected to announce cancellation or suspension not later than 4:30 a.m. for whole day cancellation or suspension or not later than 11 a.m. for afternoon cancellation or suspension.” (CLJD/JGB-PIA3)

DOH eyes revival of Inter-Local Health Zones in Central Luzon

by: Carlo Lorenzo J. Datu

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga July 4 (PIA) -- Department of Health-Center for Health Development 3 (DOH-CHD 3) is eyeing the revival of all Inter-Local Health Zones (ILHZ) in Central Luzon.

In an interview, DOH-CHD Central Luzon director Leonita Gorgolon explained that “the resurgence of these health zones is one of the key strategies I see that will further our objectives in providing quality health services to our people.”

ILHZs were conceived via Executive Order No. 25 of former president Joseph Ejercito Estrada in 1999.

It is defined by the issuance as any form of organized arrangement for coordinating the operations of an array and hierarchy of health providers and facilities, which typically includes primary health providers, a core referral hospital and an end-referral hospital that is jointly serving a common population within a local geographic area under the jurisdiction of more than one local government.

DOH-CHD 3 started with six pilot ILHZs in the then six provinces of Central Luzon namely Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales.

From 1999 to 2003, a total of 28 ILHZs were established in the region however at this time only two are considered functional- one in Gapan and the other in Guimba.

“The Kalusugan Pangkalahatan of the Aquino administration seeks to achieve three strategic thrusts namely financial risk protection through expansion in National Health Insurance Program and benefit delivery, improved access to quality hospital and health care facilities, and attainment of the health-related Mid-Decade Goals by combining the efforts of DOH, Local Government Units and other stakeholders. Thus with the present status of ILHZs, there is a need to reorganize them to facilitate the implementation as well as attainment of our targets” Gorgolon emphasized. (WLB/CLJD-PIA 3)

Disaster management network condemns brutal killing of Dutch NGO worker

The Citizens’ Disaster Response Network (CDRN) condemns the brutal killing of one of its officers -- Alay Bayan-Luson, Inc. (ABI) Executive Director, Willem Geertman. Willem was gunned down by motorcycle riding gunmen at 12:28 pm on July 3, 2012 in front of his office in San Fernando, Pampanga. He was shot at close range.

CDRN, where Geertman was an Executive Council officer, is a national network of community-based disaster management organizations focusing its assistance to the most affected, least served and most vulnerable sectors of the population through disaster preparedness and mitigation, emergency relief, and rehabilitation programs.

Geertman, a Dutch national, lived in the Philippines for 46 years and actively championed the rights and welfare of disaster-affected people in rural communities of Central Luzon.

Geertman is the second European NGO/community worker killed recently. In October last year, Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio, an Italian priest in Mindanao, was shot as well.  Fr. Pops was also a Board Member of one of CDRN’s member organizations, the Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation, Inc. (MISFI).

Both Geertman and Tentorio were active in several environmental, anti-mining and indigenous peoples’ advocacies.

“The death of Willem is a big loss to the entire network. We mourn and condemn his brutal killing . But as we mourn the loss of a committed development worker, we also vow to continue his good works for vulnerable communities and humanitarian response,” CDRN Chairperson, Jimmy Khayog, said.

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The Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC) serves as the secretariat of the CDRN.

Dialysis patients in CL stands at 1,136

By Joelyn G. Baluyut

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, July 3 (PIA) -- Latest figures from the Philippine Renal Disease Registry (PRDR) show that 1,136 of the 9,769 dialysis patients nationwide are from Central Luzon.

Central Luzon Organ Sharing Effort (CLOSE) head Joy Mallari said this during Thursday's press conference at the Philippine Information Agency Regional Office III.

She said Pampanga topped the list in the region with 434; followed by Bulacan, 202; Nueva Ecija, 178; Tarlac, 140; Bataan,100; Zambales, 81; and Aurora with one.

Most of the patients were male at 607; females numbered at 529.

On the age bracket, the 51-to-60 bracket topped with 282 patients, followed by 61-70 with 262, and the 71-80 at 166 patients.

“And 37 patients were kidney transplanted in Region 3 alone,” Mallari added.

With this, Mallari advised the public to prevent dialysis, "one must maintain a healthy diet, exercise, lessen the intake of alcohol, and do regular check-ups.”

Central Luzon has a total of 65 dialysis centers and two transplant centers which are Angeles University Foundation Medical Center located in Pampanga and Jecsons Medical Center in Tarlac.

PRDR is a joint three-year project of National Kidney and Transplant Institute - Renal Disease Control Program and the Philippine Society of Nephrology, which started in May 2000.

The objective of the research is to provide a national perspective ofkidney disease and its treatment. (CLJD/JGB-PIA3)

Dengue cases in CL up by 12%

by: Carlo Lorenzo J. Datu

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga July 3 (PIA) -- Department of Health-Center for Health Development 3 (DOH-CHD 3) recorded a 12-percent surge in dengue cases in Central Luzon from January to June 30 this year compared to the same period last year.

Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit chief Jesse Fantone disclosed in a press conference in Pampanga last Monday that Central Luzon placed second to National Capital Region with the highest cases in the entire archipelago at 6,241.

Of the seven provinces, Nueva Ecija has the most number of cases at 1,785 followed by Bulacan with 1,745, Pampanga- 1,167, Bataan- 677, Tarlac-488, Zambales-348 and Aurora- 31.

Fantone added that Dengue deaths in Region 3 totaled to 11 during the period with Nueva Ecija registering the most at five followed by Pampanga with three, and Bataan, Bulacan and Tarlac with one each.

As the number of cases continues to rise, DOH-CHD 3 urges the public to conduct clean-up drives in their respective communities and destroy all possible breeding sites of mosquitoes such as old tires and tin cans.

The agency emphasized the importance of cleaning not only the homes and schools but also places like churches and markets as well as the streets and public playgrounds as you cannot pinpoint where one gets bitten by a dengue-carrying mosquito.

Dengue is a disease caused by the bite of Aedes aegypti mosquito.

These mosquitoes bite during daytime. Headache, fever, muscle and joint pains and skin rashes characterize the disease. In extreme cases, bleeding of the gums and nose may occur. (WLB/CLJD-PIA 3)

TMC to implement agreement with TRB at NLEX by July 1

GUIGUINTO, Bulacan—Vehicles with top load above seven feet will be charged for class two vehicle category at North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) toll plazas starting July 1.

This came as the Manila North Tollways Corporation and its NLEX operator, the Tollways Management Corporation (TMC) implement an agreement with the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB).

Bobby Bontia, TMC Vice President for tollways operation said that under the MNTC and TRB agreement, vehicles with two axles and top load above seven feet are supposed to be charge under class two.

However, in the past years, such vehicles were only charge for toll fee under class 1.

Bontia that TMC has been distributing leaflets to motorist since last month to inform them of the changes on toll fees for the said vehicles.

”We are implementing the agreement by July 1,” he said noting that vehicles with top loads above seven feet were being charged under class two category at the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) for a long time.

 Bontia said that vehicles with two axles and top load below seven feet are considered as class one vehicles and are only pays and initial P45.

But class two vehicles which were describe as with two axles and top load beyond seven feet pays and initial toll fee of P114 along the NLEX.

As head of the toll operations of the TMC, Bontia said they will place market on every toll plaza along the NLEX in order to serve as reference for motorists on the actual height of their load.

This developed, Bontia also announce that by next month, the MNTC will open the new Bocaue Interchange on the northbound of the NLEX.

Like its south-bound counterpart, the new interchange will have three toll booths for TMC to start collecting toll fees.

Road approaching said interchange from the NLEX was widened to accommodate more vehicles.  The MNTC and the TMC are also coordinating with Bocaue municipal government to widen the road after the interchange that leads to Bocaue and Sta. Maria towns.

Bontia clarified that the Bocaue north-bound interchange is not part of the open system implemented by the TMC along the NLEX.

He said the open system is only between Marilao and Balintawak interchange.  (Dino Balabo)