Cordillera This Week: Sept. 12 to 18, 2010

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NGO spearheads malnourished kids clinic

LAGAWE, Ifugao — About 156 severely malnourished children in the province were given free clinic and malnutrition education intervention last September 14 at the Lagawe Central School Gymnasium here. Provincial Planning and Development Coordinator Engr. Carmelita Buyuccan said the activity was undertaken by the Malnutrition Alert Ifugao, Inc. (MAII), a non-government organization that helps local government units in the management and rehabilitation of malnutrition cases.

Doctors led by MAII President, Dr. Felix Ayahao, volunteered their services to do comprehensive physical examination for the said children. Volunteers from the different sectors assisted Meanwhile, Provincial Administrator Guillermo Tadao praised the organization. “Malnutrition is not a family problem, rather it is a community concern. We therefore need the concerted effort of everybody to address it because it will indicate the future families of Ifugao,” he said. This is the first activity of the MAII which was organized last May 2010. # Vency D. Bulayungan/PIA

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Bangued’s Zero Waste Management Program

Bangued, Abra — The local government of this capital town is seriously executing its Zero Waste Management Strategic Plan with support from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAG).

Menandro Buenafe of DOST-Abra said they have already prepared a funding proposal for the provision of the trichoderma for composting in the production of organic fertilizer and Vermi culture (earthworm) at the Eco-Park at Brgy. Cosili here.The trichoderma and vermin culture will be implemented in the recycling of garbage to solve once and for all the problem of waste disposal system in this capital town. This will also address the needs of the farmers with the supply of organic fertilizer.# Maritess Benas/PIA-Abra

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86.4% of Filipinos are functionally literate

Baguio City — About 58 million of the estimated 67 million Filipinos aged 10 to 64 years old are functionally literate – meaning they can read, write, compute and comprehend. This is based on 2008 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS),presented by National Statistic Office Administrator Carmelita Ericta during the 2010 National Literacy Conference and Awards held at the Teachers Camp here last Friday. According to Ericta, the 2008 functional literacy of 86.4 percent is slightly higher than the 2003 FLEMMS survey result of 84.1 percent. She also stressed literacy is much higher for persons who have completed high school or higher education.

Cordillera ranked fifth among seventeen regions with 89.2 literacy rate. The Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao has the lowest functional literacy rate at 71.6 percent. The latest FLEMMS also showed that more female (88.7%) are functionally literate than men (84.2%). In spite of the high literacy figures, Ericta stressed that the country still needs a yearly three percent increase for the Philippines to reach the United Nations Millenium Development Goal (MDG) of providing a primary’Education for All.’ Based on the survey, television remains the most influential mass media medium to Filipinos with 94%, followed by radio with 90% and magazine with 83%. Only 43% of the respondents said Internet is the most influential medium.# Lito Dar/PIA