CALABARZÓN Region

[othanhinagpis]

By Jun Ilagan
FilAm Star
4:46 pm | Saturday, September 1st, 2012

SAN LEANDRO, Bay Area, California—In this multi-ethnic city of 85,000, an immigrant from Cabuyao, Laguna (23 miles south of Metro Manila, Philippines) hopes to be elected the first Filipino member of the San Leandro City Council on November 6.

Hermy Almonte, running for the District 6 seat against current councilmember Jim Prola, is set to reenact his November 2008 landslide victory in the race for the Area 1 seat of the San Leandro School Board. The margin of 3,800-plus votes he wielded against the incumbent not only gave Almonte a clear mandate, but also the distinction of becoming the first Filipino to serve the school board of a city, whose demographics began to diversify only in the ‘80s.

The upset was more than just a redemption for Almonte, whose first foray into American politics was a failed attempt at a city council seat in the June 2008 elections. The win five months later thus gave him greater impetus to draw the best out of himself as public servant and, equally significant, a pro-people team player.

“As San Leandro School Board vice president, I made hard choices to balance budgets and preserve student programs,” Almonte said at his campaign kickoff Wednesday, August 22, in San Leandro’s Zen’s Cuisine. “I supported the successful bond to renovate school athletic fields and collaborated with my colleagues to complete the construction of the ninth grade campus and Arts Center, within budget and on time.”

But despite the board’s brilliant performance and, thus, his excellent chances of being reelected in November, Almonte opted to pursue a higher calling at City Hall, and filed his candidacy for the city council.

“I am giving way to other parents and members of the community to serve San Leandro students,” he pointed out. “But more than that, I am running for city council because there are community needs that need to be addressed. I know those needs; more important, I know how to answer them.”

Almonte is running on the platform of “Real Reform for San Leandro,” one that is founded, according to him, on integrity and fiscal discipline.

He emphasized: “Business as usual must end at City Hall. Too often, San Leandro council members take large campaign contributions from city employee unions. I respect the hard work and dedication of our city employees, but I will not take any campaign donations from city employee groups.

Almonte also promises to introduce reform to the city’s pension program if elected. San Leandro, he said, is spending $13 million annually – or almost 20 percent of total city revenue – on employee pensions. “The city cannot afford to continue to pay 100 percent of employee pension costs,” he rued.

He continued: “Funds that should be spent on fixing our streets, keeping libraries and pools open, and maintaining senior services so vital to keeping San Leandro a wholesome place for retirees to live ….. all are being used for employee pensions.”

Just as critical, Almonte added, is the need to hire more police officers — an investment in public safety which the city can only ill-afford, partly because, again, of the heavy strain employee pensions are putting on the city budget.

And he is wary.

“Two residential burglaries occur every day in San Leandro,” he said. This is unacceptable. We must hire more police officers and step up efforts to keep our neighborhoods safe.”

Yet for him, public safety does not only involve the commission of a misdemeanor or outright crime. Omission of otherwise crucial things that people tend to overlook constitutes community endangerment just the same, which, Almonte insists, he will bring to the fore at the city council: wheel-chair accessibility, bus stops without waiting sheds, crosswalks for children and wheelchair-bound individuals, and missing traffic and pedestrian signs, among others.

He said he will also look into one aspect of community welfare that is very close to his heart: housing, especially for seniors, teachers, working families, and people with medical challenges.

Almonte is senior property manager overseeing and supervising the day-to-day operations of a senior housing facility in San Lorenzo and a family housing in San Leandro.

-SOURCE

[jake_01]

nice info. bro.

[othanhinagpis]

He will be the first Filipino to be a City Councilor in San Leandro, California. I'm glad that he's from Cabuyao City..

[blueskyscraper]

CALABARZON CAPITOLS

CAVITE





LAGUNA





BATANGAS





RIZAL





QUEZON





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CITY OF DASMARIÑAS

TIGER CITY OF THE SOUTH

[othanhinagpis]

anlaki pala ng Rizal Capitol Building, palibhasa bago

[blueskyscraper]

Rizal nga ang may pinaka-modernong Kapitolyo...

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[othanhinagpis]

PAST



THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCE OF LA LAGUNA




OLD PROVINCIAL CAPITOL OF LAGUNA

PRESENT





FUTURE??

[blueskyscraper]

Mas maganda ang design ng Old Capitol ng Laguna... classic ang dating!

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[othanhinagpis]

Originally Posted by blueskyscraper

Mas maganda ang design ng Old Capitol ng Laguna... classic ang dating!

Tama, antagal na nung picture, flag ng US pa ang nakatayo sa unahan

[Waldenstrom]

very nice. pero bakit may name pa ni ER Ejercito ang building na yan? tsk tsk

[blueskyscraper]

Oo nga noh!?!? Magagalit mga Anti-EPAL niyan

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[othanhinagpis]

By Carlo P. Gonzaga
Monday 24th of September 2012

CALAMBA CITY, Laguna, Sept 24 (PIA) -- More than 50 micro and small entrepreneurs set up booths to exhibit and sell their products at the Market Week Philippines at SM Megamall's Mega Trade Halls 1, 2 & 3 last Sept 19-23.

Organized by the Bureau of Domestic Trade, Market Week Philippines was a trade fair and a showground of home, food, and fashion products from all regions of the country.

"It's where the best of the country's fresh and processed food; furniture and furnishings, home décor, gifts and houseware and holiday décor; and footwear, apparel, fashion accessories and jewelry, converge," said DTI Calabarzon Regional Director Marilou Quinco-Toledo.

Among the attractions was Calabarzon's special setting that showcased products of other regions made from water hyacinth, commonly known as water lily.

Calabarzon is the lead region for the water hyacinth industry development, created and adopted by DTI as a flaghip project of the regional operations and development group headed by Undersecretary Merly M. Cruz.

The water lily industry, as a source of livelihood and jobs, has a significant contribution to the local economy most particularly in the coastal towns of the Laguna Lake.

Moreover, the industry conveys the environmental advocacy by creating a shift in the use of the traditional, non-biodegradable plastic materials to the use of eco-friendly water lily. (Charlie S. Dajao, DTI Calabarzon/CPG, PIA4A).

-Philippine Information Agency

[jondan23_83]

Originally Posted by blueskyscraper

Mas maganda ang design ng Old Capitol ng Laguna... classic ang dating!

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oo nga.ewan ko ba kung bakit ganun naging bagong kapitolyo ng laguna .buti may plan silang baguhin ulit

[blueskyscraper]

Water is everywhere, but there's still shortage

Less rainfall in 2013; water scarcity by 2020
DR. Carlos Primo David, professor at the National Institute of Geological Science at the University of the Philippines, at the same forum warned that the Philippines is expected to experience less water supply with the decrease in rainfall in the summer months next year and some areas will suffer from water scarcity by 2020.

David cited data from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) that show a net decrease in rainfall from March to May, and that by 2020, the country may experience water scarcity due to less rainfall.

David told the BusinessMirror that the less rainfall in the coming months is due to a mild El Niño weather disturbance, or the warming of the Pacific Ocean.

He said the top 10 provinces that will be badly affected by water scarcity in 2020 are Cavite, Agusan del Norte, Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Surigao del Norte, Laguna, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur and Bukidnon.


source: http://www.smprime.com/smprime/index...c=49&aid=13592

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[jondan23_83]

Originally Posted by blueskyscraper

Water is everywhere, but there's still shortage

Less rainfall in 2013; water scarcity by 2020
DR. Carlos Primo David, professor at the National Institute of Geological Science at the University of the Philippines, at the same forum warned that the Philippines is expected to experience less water supply with the decrease in rainfall in the summer months next year and some areas will suffer from water scarcity by 2020.

David cited data from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) that show a net decrease in rainfall from March to May, and that by 2020, the country may experience water scarcity due to less rainfall.

David told the BusinessMirror that the less rainfall in the coming months is due to a mild El Niño weather disturbance, or the warming of the Pacific Ocean.

He said the top 10 provinces that will be badly affected by water scarcity in 2020 are Cavite, Agusan del Norte, Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Surigao del Norte, Laguna, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur and Bukidnon.


source: http://www.smprime.com/smprime/index...c=49&aid=13592

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this is alarming.sana maka-aksyon agad ang lgu's about this

[blueskyscraper]

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PARKS TO BOOST PHILIPPINE BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING INDUSTRY


INFORMATION Technology (IT) Parks are rising in the provinces and in Metro Manila to provide the infrastructure and connectivity needed to boost the robust growth of the country’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. The new IT Parks outside Metro Manila are in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Iloilo, Biñan, Tarlac, Baguio, Cabanatuan, Dasmariñas, Dumaguete, General Santos, Lipa, Naga, San Fernando, and Urdaneta, and in the municipalities of Marilao, Bulacan; Bacong and Sibulan, Negros Oriental; Rosario and Silang, Cavite.

BPO firms are the predominant locators in IT parks registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. The government offers tax incentives to BPO firms, including value-added tax and income tax exemption. The IT-BPO industry is today one of the country’s biggest job creators. In 2011, the sector recorded $11 billion investments and created 638,000 jobs. For 2012, it expects $13 billion revenues on a labor force of 764,000. By 2016, it projects $27 billion revenues and jobs for 1.3 million Filipino workers.

The rising demand for call center services leads the BPO boom. The Philippines holds a major portion of the global outsourcing market, due to the English proficiency of Filipinos. Call centers count among its clients giant multinationals. Pharmaceutical firms outsource their medical transcriptions in the country.

This year, several grants and subsidies were earmarked by various agencies and institutions for the sector’s educational and technical development. The Asian Development Bank granted R27.3 million in technical assistance for skills enhancement. State universities nationwide were allocated a budget of R125 million to fund IT-BPO-based programs. A R450-million subsidy was set aside by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for training. The Information and Communication Technology Office of the Department of Science and Technology allocated R350 million to support the IT-BPO industry.

We wish Philippine Economic Zone Authority Director General Dr. Lilia B. de Lima and Information and Communication Technology Office Executive Director Department of Science and Technology Undersecretary Louis Napoleon C. Casambre, all the best and success in their unwavering support to promote the global competitiveness of the information and communication technology sector. CONGRATULATIONS AND MABUHAY!


source: http://mb.com.ph/articles/375035/inf...ourcing-indust

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[othanhinagpis]

By Maricar Cinco
10:02 pm | Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

SAN PEDRO, Laguna—To nonhistorians, it may simply be a trifling topic, but the question that was said to have baffled even Gregorio F. Zaide, who authored many textbooks about Philippine history, is serious matter to the provincial government: When was Laguna founded?

Jose Mario “Pepe” Alas, 33, wasn’t even looking for an answer when he saw the date—July 28, 1571—while researching for a coffee table book he was commissioned to write about the province.

“That was the earliest date found even after cross-checking with other history books,” said Alas, a historian who keeps an antique collection of Filipiniana in his home in San Pedro town in Laguna.

In June, Alas was reading “Historia General de Filipinas,” a book written in 1926 by Jesuit priest, Pablo Pastells, one of national hero Jose Rizal’s professors, when he saw the date “28 julio 1571” on page 17 in a chart that listed the encomiendas (land grants) distributed by Spanish governor-general Miguel López de Legazpi.

“La Laguna,” which means “the lagoon,” referred to the land mass around the lake region. It was entrusted as an encomienda to Spanish conquistador Martin de Goiti.

Long search

Alas and his book editor, Ronald Yu, immediately went to see Gov. Jeorge Ejercito to present the proof. “When I showed him the book, he appeared excited. He even said he got goose bumps,” Alas recalled.

Several attempts had been made earlier to establish Laguna’s founding date. Some parties even explored archives in Spain, while a former Laguna governor offered a reward.

“I learned from the NHCP (National Historical Commission of the Philippines) that even the famed historian Gregorio Zaide searched for it but to no avail,” said Alas, who has been passionate about history since childhood.

Although the NHCP has yet to validate Alas’ find. a provincial board member, Neil Nocon, who chairs the committee on education, tourism, history, arts and culture, had already drafted a resolution declaring July 28 as Laguna’s official founding anniversary.

‘Unpatriotic’

“I had expected a lot of people to dispute my claim. Who am I anyway? A nobody, who works in an IT (information technology) company,” said Alas, who has made history his passion since childhood.

A critic of Alas’ paper said Laguna was declared an encomienda only on July 28, 1571, but it became a province in 1581 with Bay town as capital. But even so, Alas argued, Laguna was already declared a “juridical entity.”

“Some people from the NHCP (also) found it unpatriotic to commemorate something that connotes slavery,” he said, pointing out that an encomienda was a piece of land where an encomendero extracted labor from the native settlers.

“I just hope they wouldn’t let their biases come first. What could we do if that’s what the facts tell us?” he said.

A University of the Philippines Los Baños history professor, Dwight David Diestro, said Alas’ claim had basis. “In the absence of any document (that challenges Alas’ claim, Alas) was able to unravel something worth recognizing,” Diestro said in an earlier interview.

“What good comes out of this is that people are talking (and) debating on how to evaluate history (thus giving them) a sense of origin,” he said.

-Philippine Daily Inquirer

[othanhinagpis]

Can we claim that Laguna is the oldest province in the Philippines?

[blueskyscraper]

Originally Posted by othanhinagpis

Can we claim that Laguna is the oldest province in the Philippines?

Pero ang Cebu 1565, Iloilo 1566 at marami pa iba...

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[othanhinagpis]

Originally Posted by blueskyscraper

Pero ang Cebu 1565, Iloilo 1566 at marami pa iba...

How about in Luzon? but in CALABARZON, Laguna is the oldest..