Gov calls DRRM to inspect Earth movements’ causes

GOVERNOR Edgar Chatto issues calls for all disaster risk reduction managers (DRRM) to inspect and report any
earth movements in their respective areas in the wake of land slips happening in a town here.

Local officials have reported a land slip, with crack measuring more than a meter wide, in barangays
Magsaysay, Dusita and Danicop in Sierra Bullones town.

The landslip is the latest of the land movements reported here as disaster authorities pointed to the
continuous rains in the past week affecting the integrity of the earth’s base and forcing the movements.

Few days ago, similar land slips were noted in barangays Bosongon and Cawayanan of Tubigon, in barangay
Tubod Monte of Jagna town and in Barangay Abejilan of Garcia Hernandez.

The early land slips however left no human casualty but temporarily cut off crucial road links connecting
Tubigon to Catigbian, Sierra Bullones to Jagna and to some barangays of Garcia Hernandez.

The latest landslip however prove to be more destructive as the slip caused cracks in the walls of houses and
shifts in the soil leaving gaping dangerous fissures, reported Magsaysay barangay chairman Germogenes Tadle
in a radio interview Thursday.

He also said a house in his barangay has a kitchen slowly separating from the living room, the crack in
between creating a void dangerous for its residents.

Governor Chatto said he and Mayor Alfredo Gamalo have conducted ocular inspections on the affected areas
and met with the families to warn them and assure their safety at evacuation sites.

Aside from bringing in relief assistance, the mayor in a radio interview said he has advised residents to go to
the nearest temporary resettlement at Dusita High School at night and in case the movements do not stop.

The resettlement, he said is located about a kilometer away from the affected areas.

The mayor also added that a troop of government soldiers camped at Dusita would help monitor the situation
and alert authorities of any other developments.

On this, Chatto has called on Disaster Risk Reduction Managers to inspect these affected areas and determine
its causes so appropriate interventions can be done.

At least 23 families living in barangay Magsaysay and some more families living in Danicop and Dusita have
been affected, several houses already unfit for stay.

The cracks in Magsaysay have affected rice-farm lots and these continue to widen everyday, the movements
already tearing into the newly constructed road sections of the national highway posing danger to travelers.
(racPIABohol)

“No letting guards down”

“THE deadline has passed but we are not letting our guards down,” Col. Romeo Brawner told the Provincial Peace and Order Council during a meeting at the Bohol Tropics Thursday January 13.

“We are fortunate that we have surpassed the deadline set by Abu to kidnap foreigners,” Brawner said during the recent assessment of the peace and security situation in Bohol.

“We will not let our guards down, we will maintain security not only in Panglao but the whole of Bohol as well, our boats will remain in the area and our focus will remain in place,” he added.

Governor Edgar Chatto also echoed Brawner pronouncements saying “The most critical moments are when we believe the danger has passed.”

Brawner, who leads the army Special Forces Battalion cited the intelligence report that said a band of Abu Sayaff bandits were heading to Bohol on a double-engine speedboat Monday January 10 to kidnap two foreign tourists.

Brawner also confirmed that the same intelligence report which said that the deadline for the operation was within January 10-11.

“Bohol was indeed a target for kidnapping by Abusayyaf, our Manila intelligence has confirmed,” Brawner shared.

Immediately after receiving the intelligence report, which was validated and was said to have come from a reliable agent in Zamboanga, police and military authorities in Bohol rolled into motion security operations and crisis management planning to get the most immediate deterrent assets in the general area where the hit was supposed to happen.

PSSupt Constantino Barot also immediately placed Bohol under a heightened security alert even as he directed the deployment of additional police troops, augmented police stations located within Panglao island and neighboring tourist islands of Balicasag and Pamilacan.

The Philippine Navy also sent a patrol boat while the Army Special Forces also deployed their sea asset to beef up security operations in the seas.

Barot also bared that the Philippine Air Force has committed an attack and a utility chopper for the operations of the area south of Bohol.

On this, Governor Edgar Chatto stressed that “Our preparedness would never be substituted by anything else.”

We should always have the capability to respond not only to the present, but future dangers and threats, Chatto told PPOC members. (racPIABohol)

Bohol eyes BPO center in 2011

WE have built a digital communication infrastructure that could boost local jobs, but will investors
take the bait?

Taking the cue from the country’s overtaking India as the business process outsourcing (BPO) capital
of the world, Bohol officials eye offering Bohol to investors as a future BPO center in 2011, reveals
Governor Edgar Chatto during his weekly radio program.

Recently completing a fiber optic link that connects Bohol to a major information communications
hub, local efforts have also succeeded in opening up slots to accommodate at least 10,500 seats for
call center and BPO agents, Chatto said.

Recent records tell that Bohol has only a single call center operating in Tagbilaran despite an
infrastructure that could accommodate practically a thousand times more, a graduate from a
computer learning center shared.

With at least five Bohol schools offering ICT and call center operations courses, even the manpower
support has proven to be a formidable force for now, he added.

A year after putting up the infrastructure support for the miracle industry that has netted billions of
revenues for the government, government leaders here are taking a serious look at the prospects of
a bullish BPO here.

The newly organized Bohol Information Communication Technology Council (BICT) supervised by the
Department of trade and Industry and the Provincial Government has been in a series of meetings to
usher in the golden age of ICT in Bohol, the latest of which was this week, Capitol sources said.

Governor Edgar Chatto, at the recent Kita ug ang Gobernador Friday was ecstatic about the present
Bohol capability to accommodate seats for call center and outsourcing industries.

Now with the digital infrastructure and manpower support, Bohol is in a threshold of opening the
gates for investors to bring in job opportunities for communication technology workers here and
nearby provinces.

More on this, the governor said he is inviting the Commission on Information Communication
Technology (CICT) through Commissioner Monchitio Ibrahim to meet with the local council and
leaders to iron out the details of the plan.

The moment ICT starts in Bohol, there would be more to come as the government could build more
and more infrastructure to enhance the industry, Chatto said. (racPIABohol)

Chatto urges bgy govts To be IRA independent

CAPITOL is coordinating with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in designing
capacity building trainings for barangay officials.

Governor Edgar Chatto revealed during his weekly radio program that along the resource generation
policy of the provincial government, he would urge newly elected barangay officials to seek out other
resources and find other income sources rather than rely on the Internal Revenue Allotment.

While saying that the interior and local governments have their capacity training modules to
capacitate local officials, towns and provinces, Chatto hinted that Capitol can come in and enrich the
modules to empower local governments in their revenue generation tasks.

The local dependence on the IRA has been a noted situation in almost all local governments, he told
media during his weekly forum carried live over local radio stations.

“We can meet so we can come up with measures on how to come up with a wider capacity for
resource generation,” Chatto said.

Chatto also stressed that along with the trainings, the new officials must understand that beyond
seeking more tax legislation measures, there is such a thing as efficient tax collection that can prop
up the fiscal capacity of the barangays.

We can be dependent on the IRA from the start but we shall struggle to stand and attain
independence in the end, he urges local elected leaders.

Meanwhile, in efforts to initially give clues to barangay officials who will start their official amdnates
on December 1, a radio program called “Pamuhis” has been airing at DyTR every Saturday from 4:00
to 4:30.

Anchored by the Philippine Information Agency, the program attempts to educate local government
officials especially barangay dads on the revenue sources for barangays and their possible areas for
widening its tax base.

The program, funded by the national government hopes to engage local governments to generate
income from their own sources and hopefully prop up the government’s fiscal capacity to implement
priority programs and projects. (PIABohol)

Guv to firemen: Keep the Fire burning

“KEEP the fire burning,” Governor Edgar Chatto told members of the Provincial Intergrated Fire
Alarm and other Related Emergency Responders Dispatching System (PIFARERDS), which is mostly
composed of fire men.

Addressing the strong PIFARERDS members composed of firemen, coast guard, amateur
communications groups, Red Cross, Outdoors groups and government rescue agencies during the
first anniversary of the integrated rescue and quick action salvage team launched here, Chatto
however meant the fire of enthusiasm and zeal they pushes every volunteer to act with courage.

Short of saying that there’s little we can do to predict disasters, Chatto instead grounded his
arguments on preapredness which has always been the name of the game.

Committing the provincial government resources including technical, financial, moral and logistical
support, Chatto also added that he is optimistic that with the continued collaboration, a much
stronger force could be created for emergency reponse.

Highlighting manpower training and citing critical technologies and equipment in rescue and
emergency situations, he also said dared volunteers to use the new frontiers in communication
technologies as a means to reach out to some more people.

Bohol PIFARERDS was created as a Special Project of the Provincial Government in coordination with
the Bureau of Fire Protection by virtue of Provincial Ordinance No. 2004-015 and Executive Order No.
17 series of 2004 aimed at addressing the day-to-day emergency requirement of the province in an
integrated approach, a
ccording to a briefing by FSSupt Pepe Rebusa of the Bohol Bureau of Fire Protection.

Its goal is to preserve life and property through an integrated emergency response in the community,
he added.

Part of its objectives is to preserve prompt response to request for assistance in cases of disaster
such as fires, earthquakes, and other natural or man-made calamities, and accidents and to provide
information to the public on the basis of firefighting, first aid, rescue operation and emergency
reporting and communication.

He said the volunteer members respond to calls for public safety service lines like fire, sparking wire
and medical emergency like pre-hospitalization care or first aid to life threatening emergencies,
ambulance assistance, emergency rescue, traffic accidents, and other related emergencies.
(PIABohol)