News Feature: Gingoog educator gets Outstanding Teacher award

By: Jasper Marie Oblina-Rucat

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Aug 28 (PIA) -- Dr. Mitchel V. Rodriguez, master teacher of Odiongan Central School in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental has been chosen one of the winners to this year’s Metrobank Foundation Search for Outstanding Teachers in the country.

Now on its 29th year, the search honors the teaching profession, recognizing those who exhibit competence, remarkable dedication to their work, and effective educational leadership, as well as their various community involvements implemented by the Metrobank Foundation in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Aniceto M. Sobrepeña, president of Metrobank Foundation said that by winning this year’s search, Dr. Rodriguez joins the elite group of 316 outstanding teachers of the country honored by the foundation since 1985.

My life and teaching philosophy has always been building everything on the ground of love, said Dr. Rodriguez.

She emphasized that “Teaching is the most rewarding profession. It is even more than a profession because it is a noble mission. A mission not only confined with the pupils but even to co-workers.”

“I have done my mission to impart what I have. I had conducted and served as resource speaker through trainings, I am certain that I have shared what I have and helped them become better if not best teachers. I have also extended technical assistance to those who asked. I have made, searched and shared materials helpful to our teaching field. I have even done beyond the description of my job as long as it is for the good of our schoolchildren. With this, we can make a difference and build a better nation together through our profession with our mission. All these are because of love.” Dr. Rodriguez stressed.

She explained that saying “No” to work is not in her vocabulary no matter how challenging the work is she always tries to manage and work them out with love.

A total of 367 teachers were nominated to this year’s Search. They were trimmed down to 167 provincial finalists through documents review and were then reduced to 40 regional finalists who underwent interviews and teaching demonstrations before the members of the preliminary board of judges identified for each category. Nineteen (19) of the regional finalists were then selected to become the national finalists.

The national finalists then faced the 2013 Final Board of Judges chaired by Sen. Aquilino Martin DL. Pimentel III together with Co-Chairperson Supreme Court of the Philippines Associate Justice Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe, Vice-Chairperson 6th District of Manila Congresswoman Rosenda Ann M. Ocampo and members, Albay Province Governor Jose Ma. Clemente S. Salceda; Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) Chairperson Teresita R. Manzala; Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas Rector Very Rev. Fr. Herminio V. Dagohoy, O. P.; and Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI)  Columnist Rina Jimenez-David.

This year’s Outstanding Teachers will be conferred with gold medallions and will be presented with plaques and a cash prize amounting to P350,000 each.

They will be presented together with the 2013 awardees of the COPS (Country’s Outstanding Policemen in Service) and TOPS (The Outstanding Philippine Soldiers) in formal awarding on September 5 as highlight of Metrobank’s 51st anniversary celebration. (JMOR/PIA10)

New SOPs set to improve power transmission service—NGCP

ILIGAN CITY, Lanao del Norte, August 28 (PIA)--In a move to continuously improve its daily operations, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) recently revised some of its technical standard operating procedures (SOPs), especially those pertaining to the inspection of lines and substation equipment.

While most of the SOPs inherited from the former grid operator National Transmission Corporation were already enhanced by concessionaire NGCP since it took over in 2009, the privately owned corporation is bent on finding more ways to better enhance the delivery of high-voltage electricity to its power customers.

“NGCP operates almost 20,000 circuit-kilometers of transmission lines and more than 27,000 megavolt amperes of substation capacity across the country. It’s a huge responsibility that NGCP takes very seriously,” said Venusto D. Hamoy, NGCP’s Deputy Assistant Chief Technical Officer for Operations and Maintenance.

The revisions cover the SOPs on inspection of critical substation equipment such as Power Transformer and Shunt Reactor. NGCP created a new inspection checklist to ensure that all parts of the substation equipment function at optimal conditions.

NGCP also improved its line patrolling and vegetation management on lands along the Right-of-Way. Line patrolling, which includes activities like tower-to-tower inspection and aerial patrol, were made more stringent to thoroughly assess the status of transmission lines. For aerial line inspection, NGCP procured gimbal cameras to be installed on helicopters. The cameras are expected to arrive before the end of the year.

“We are working on the more detailed reporting of transmission line and substation inspections as a proactive measure to avoid line trippings that may disrupt services to our customers,” Hamoy added.

Aside from the new procedures, NGCP also conducted a series of training seminars for its engineers. Before the first half of 2013 ended, all substation engineers were given a refresher on substation operations and protocols while a more advanced substation course is scheduled to be rolled out by the 3rd quarter of this year.

NGCP also purchased more than a hundred line trucks and new personal protective equipment for its line personnel to be distributed to all its field offices.

“All these changes and purchases are expected to uplift the level of our day-to-day operations and to develop the skills of our personnel. We acknowledge that these seemingly small changes have a big impact on power delivery to the whole country,” explained Hamoy. (NGCP/LVG/PIA-10 LDN)

Four MisOr schools are model in CITLE Project

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Aug. 27 (PIA) -- Four schools in the Division of Misamis Oriental (MisOr) region 10 were chosen as models for the project Continuous Improvement Towards Leaner Excellence (CITLE) of the Department of Education (DepEd) and the government of Australia and Human Capital Asia.

This CITLE is aimed to institute quality and continuous improvement in schools as part of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 or K to 12 Education Program.

These schools include the Baliwagan and Laguindingan Central Schools and Baliwagan and Laguindingan High Schools here in MisOr.

Dr. Cherry Mae Limbaco, MisOr schools division superintendent with the four school heads of the model schools attended the CITLE Planning Workshop on July 8 to 11 in Tagaytay while another workshop is conducted on August 25 to 30 for the training facilitators.

Teachers in the model schools are expected to gain competencies such as costumer orientation, process mapping, problem solving, project management, change management, group management, systems thinking, monitoring and evaluation as applied to continuous improvement.

Funded by Australian AID (AusAID) and managed by the Philippine Australian Human Resource Organizational Development facility (PAHRODF) with Human Capital Asia (HCA), a total of 34 model schools in five regions in the country are the focus of the Continuous Improvement (CI) interventions to provide effective and efficient basic education. (Erlinda Dael/DepEd10/JMOR/PIA10)

DENR-10, CDO step up massive reforestation

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Aug 27 -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Cagayan de Oro City are moving forward with the implementation of a new law seeking to reforest some 3,000 hectares throughout Cagayan de Oro City, in a bid to prevent a repeat of the devastation inflicted by typhoon “Sendong” in 2011.

President Benigno Aquino III signed Republic Act (RA) 10452 mandating the DENR to plant trees in 3,000 hectares of public land in Cagayan de Oro to protect its people and its environment from floods and landslides.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje said validation team has been formed and identified the areas to be covered by the massive reforestation program in the city, as mandated under RA 10452.

Paje reiterated that the law complements the Aquino administration’s forest policies—the National Greening Program (NGP) and the total log ban—aimed at fighting the adverse effects of climate change.

The program, he said, will also include former concession areas covered by timber license agreement earlier issued by the government.

Agustilo Obsioma, DENR-10 Technical Director for Forestry, said the ground mapping and validation of these areas, using the global positioning system (GPS) technology, would take at least two weeks.

Meanwhile, DENR-10 and City Local Government and Natural Office, here, just finished the draft of the implementing rules and regulations of IRR of RA 10452, draft work and financial for calendar year 2013 with a cost estimate of P37 million, gantt chart and organizational set up.

According to the DENR, Cagayan de Oro’s forestland area covers 20,702 hectares or about 48 percent of the city’s total land area of 42,246 hectares. (Edwin Ilogon Dael/CLENRO/PIA10)

516 teachers participate in DepEd K to 12 training in CdeO

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Aug 27 (PIA) – A total of 376 secondary level and 140 elementary schools  teachers hereh attended the Department of Education’s (DepEd) four day training workshop.

The participants were not  only newly hired teachers for School Year 2013 to 2014 but teacher transferees as well.  Newly hired teachers also attended the training. .

The training  aimed to make teachers even more competent and effective as innovations and teaching strategies were shared by speakers and facilitators who were trained in Baguio, Tagaytay and Cebu.

An important activity during the seminar was the walkthrough on the use of K to 12 Teaching Guides, Curriculum Guides and Learner’s Materials. Further, there was a teaching demonstration by participants as highlight of the last day of the workshop.

Meanwhile, one salient feature of the K to 12 is to “start where the learner is” and the use of Mother Tongue as medium of instruction and subject from Grades one to three.  

Intended for untrained Grades 1, 2, 7 and 8 teachers, the training was held on July 27 and 28 and August three to four at Cagayan de Oro National High School and West City Central School respectively. (Lorebina C. Carrasco/DepEd/JMOR/PIA10)

ICT e-reading program launched in Sugbongcogon, MisOr

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Aug 27 (PIA) -- To develop reading performance through the power of technology, the District of Sugbongcogon in Misamis Oriental (MisOr) launched recently the Information Communication Technology ICT e-Reading program at Alicomohan Elementary School in the town of Sugbongcogon.

Eight barangays from Binuangan and nine barangays from Sugbongcogon including Binuangan Central School and Sugbongcogon Central School received external memory and daylight projector as ICT gadgets that would benefit  2,797 pupils in the district.

Mildred Lagbas-Mondigo, vice-mayor of Sugbongcogon and Marcelo Z. Abao, vice-mayor of Binuangan turned over these gadgets to the schools of their respective towns.

Cydel P. Valmores, district supervisor initiated the 2G project GIVE and GROW, an outsourcing project to purchase these gadgets which seeks to address the district’s poor reading performance based on Reading Inventory record.

Meanwhile, administrators and teachers of the 17 schools of the district, local government and stakeholders responded to the call in bringing the milestones of education to the district.

Dr. Erlinda Dael, EPS I (English) and District Adviser extended her appreciation for launching this program in MisOr and urged everyone to support its sustainability which she believes could provide improvement on the school’s performance. (Juvelyn Galinada/DepEd/JMOR/PIA10)

472 Hajj in Lanao Norte readies for Mecca pilgrimage

ILIGAN CITY, Lanao del Norte, August 28  (PIA) -- The Lanao del Norte Hajj contingent of 472 Muslim pilgrims, bound for Saudi Arabia for this year’s hajj (a Muslim’s pilgrimage to Mecca) were given vaccines for flu and meningococcemia.

This is in compliance with the requirement of the Saudi Arabian government for issuance of hajj visas.They were treated with the vaccines on August 26, 2013 at Crystal Inn, Brgy. San Miguel, Iligan City.

The mass vaccination activity was led by the Provincial Government of Lanao del Norte (PGLDN) through its Provincial Community Affairs Office (PCAO) and Provincial Health Office, in cooperation with the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos.

The first batch of pilgrims will depart for Manila on September 15 for their international flight to Mecca, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, while the second batch is set on September 20, 2013.

The vaccination is part of Lanao del Norte’s Hajj program presently implemented by Governor Khalid Dimaporo.

“Although most of the pilgrims present here are from the Muslim-dominated towns of Lanao del Norte, there are also a few Muslims from Iligan City and Lanao del Sur who are availing of our Hajj program,” PCAO Staff Mina Tanggote revealed.

Under PGLDN’s Hajj program, the pilgrims were assisted in by the provincial government in securing their passport, getting their vaccination, booking of their boat trip to Manila, booking of their hotel accommodation while awaiting their flight schedule and booking of their international flight to Mecca.

“This is much easier for us because everything is already prepared and we don’t have to go to Cagayan de Oro City for our requirements. We are thankful to the Dimaporo family because of their assistance to Muslims in Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur,” expressed Monique Dimapunong of Pantar town.

Governor Khalid Dimaporo is giving his full support in the Hajj program. The pilgrimage program of the province was also implemented during the term of Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo and Rep. Imelda Quibranza-Dimaporo when they served as local chief executives of Lanao del Norte. (VNL/PIO-LDN/LVG, PIA-10 LDN)