DND committed to provide corrupt-free service -- Gazmin
The Department of National Defense remains committed to provide corrupt-free service to the people and to sustaining lasting peace, sovereignty and integrity of the national territory through systemic reform efforts anchored on the goals of President Benigno S. Aquino III’s administration.
Gazmin said that the DND is undertaking a national defense and security policy strategy towards a more responsive and effective national defense agency.
“In the area of instituting reforms we have made specific changes in the management of our financial and logistical resources, we can now assure our citizens that your DND and Armed Forces are now properly spending every peso of our taxpayers’ money and I am here to renew my pledge that there will be no corruption under my watch,” Gazmin said.
Gazmin pointed out that the DND has formulated a national defense policy that would serve as the fundamental guideline on implementing a rationale and doable national defense strategy in protecting the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Apart from this, the DND has also created a unified medium-term defense capability development plan for 2011 to 2016 for the agencies under its jurisdiction.
These agencies include the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), the government arsenal, the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO), the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP), and the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC).
Gazmin said the implementation of management reforms are meant to ensure a prudent and honest disbursement of public funds “for a more prudent, efficient, effective and honest utilization of our resources based on the real needs of our agencies.” (PCOO)
DA says the country to attain rice sufficiency by 2013
The Department of Agriculture is confident the Philippines will attain rice sufficiency by 2013 largely under the helm of President Benigno S. Aquino III, whose government, the agency said, has provided “the infrastructure, human development, upgrading the quality of our seeds and most especially the assistance” to achieve this goal.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said that the key to being rice sufficient is by having rice to harvest even after being battered by the extreme weather conditions of the Philippines.
Alcala said that through advances gained from studying and producing rice varieties tolerable to extreme weather conditions, the DA has come up with a palay variety that can endure heat during summer and can be submerged in water for two weeks but still be harvested during the rainy season.
“The good thing we are doing is that we already have a substitute plant every time flashfloods occur and they are given to farmers for free,” Alcala said.
“Now the agency is putting up seed banks in every region so in case a typhoon strikes, we can still plant rice because the palay variety is site-specific,” he added. (PCOO)
Choppers to augment AFP equipment cache
In line with President Benigno S. Aquino III’s program to modernize the country’s law enforcement agencies, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is procuring eight brand new attack helicopters to augment its equipment cache and improve its ability to protect the citizenry.
AFP Spokesperson Commodore Miguel Rodriguez said the Sokol (Polish for “falcon”) attach utility helicopters (AUH), manufactured by Agusta Westland Ĺwidnik of Poland, will be used for the combat, search and rescue, relief, and patrol operations of the military.
Rodriguez also said the enlisted men’s morale has been boosted because of the President’s modernization program to provide the soldiers with the proper equipment to do their jobs.
“It lessens the risk (to the lives of our men) and makes us work efficiently,” Rodriguez said.
The first batch of four Sokol helicopters will be arriving this November with the other four arriving early next year. (PCOO)
Aquino's National Greening Program on track with 88 percent of targeted seedlings reached -- DENR
President Benigno S. Aquino III’s program to protect and look after the environment remains on track after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources announced it had reached 88 percent of the 25-million mid-year target for tree seedlings under the National Greening Program (NGP) this month.
The DENR said that as of July 15, a total of 22 million tree seedlings had been planted in 3,928 hectares of government land nationwide.
“At least 76 percent of the planting sites have been prepared thus far, with more to be completed in the second semester due to favorable weather,” the DENR said.
Moreover, the DENR said planting materials are being produced in huge volumes as more agencies and private groups join the NGP.
The NGP is a priority government project of President Aquino which was launched at the DENR headquarters in Quezon City last May 13, 2011.
The program specifically seeks to plant 1.5 billion seedlings in 1.5 million hectares of public lands nationwide in six years, from 2011 to 2016—more than twice the government’s accomplishment for the past 25 years, which adds to about 730,000 hectares.
Areas for planting under the program include forestlands, mangrove and protected areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservations, urban areas under the greening plan of LGUs, inactive and abandoned mine sites, and other suitable lands of the public domain.
The NGP also seeks to improve water quality in rivers and irrigation for farm lands, reduce the potential for flooding, soak up carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and lay the foundation for an expanded wood-products economy.
DENR Assistant Secretary Marlo Mendoza issued a call for people to take advantage of the wet season by planting trees for the NGP.
“It is wrong to plant in summer. The trees planted will just wither and die,” he said.
“Besides, if we plant during the rainy season, we no longer need to water the plants since the rain will nourish them,” Mendoza added.
“Some plant trees during summer because it is convenient but the right thing to do is plant during the rainy season, from mid-June to August or September. During summer, we do not have the capacity to water all the plants,” Mendoza stressed.
He added that the DENR has been working with different government agencies, including the Department of Education (DepEd) to get youngsters involved in the program.
“The difference is now, it is no longer a one-day affair, the students no longer plant all the trees in one day,” he said.
“It depends on the climate of the province. As I’ve said it is better to plant during the wet season. The NGP is nationwide, and the climate of some provinces is not as flexible as the others,” he explained.
Mendoza stressed that as of now, local government units (LGUs) have planted 17 million seedlings nationwide.
“It is a continuing endeavor,” he said.
All officials and employees of the government, including government owned and controlled corporations, under the NGP are required to plant at least 10 seedlings per year.
The private sector and other stakeholders are also enjoined to undertake parallel greening activities in consonance with NGP.
Throughout the country, there are eight million hectares of open, denuded and degraded lands in need of immediate rehabilitation. (PCOO)
The Department of National Defense remains committed to provide corrupt-free service to the people and to sustaining lasting peace, sovereignty and integrity of the national territory through systemic reform efforts anchored on the goals of President Benigno S. Aquino III’s administration.
Gazmin said that the DND is undertaking a national defense and security policy strategy towards a more responsive and effective national defense agency.
“In the area of instituting reforms we have made specific changes in the management of our financial and logistical resources, we can now assure our citizens that your DND and Armed Forces are now properly spending every peso of our taxpayers’ money and I am here to renew my pledge that there will be no corruption under my watch,” Gazmin said.
Gazmin pointed out that the DND has formulated a national defense policy that would serve as the fundamental guideline on implementing a rationale and doable national defense strategy in protecting the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Apart from this, the DND has also created a unified medium-term defense capability development plan for 2011 to 2016 for the agencies under its jurisdiction.
These agencies include the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), the government arsenal, the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO), the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP), and the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC).
Gazmin said the implementation of management reforms are meant to ensure a prudent and honest disbursement of public funds “for a more prudent, efficient, effective and honest utilization of our resources based on the real needs of our agencies.” (PCOO)
DA says the country to attain rice sufficiency by 2013
The Department of Agriculture is confident the Philippines will attain rice sufficiency by 2013 largely under the helm of President Benigno S. Aquino III, whose government, the agency said, has provided “the infrastructure, human development, upgrading the quality of our seeds and most especially the assistance” to achieve this goal.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said that the key to being rice sufficient is by having rice to harvest even after being battered by the extreme weather conditions of the Philippines.
Alcala said that through advances gained from studying and producing rice varieties tolerable to extreme weather conditions, the DA has come up with a palay variety that can endure heat during summer and can be submerged in water for two weeks but still be harvested during the rainy season.
“The good thing we are doing is that we already have a substitute plant every time flashfloods occur and they are given to farmers for free,” Alcala said.
“Now the agency is putting up seed banks in every region so in case a typhoon strikes, we can still plant rice because the palay variety is site-specific,” he added. (PCOO)
Choppers to augment AFP equipment cache
In line with President Benigno S. Aquino III’s program to modernize the country’s law enforcement agencies, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is procuring eight brand new attack helicopters to augment its equipment cache and improve its ability to protect the citizenry.
AFP Spokesperson Commodore Miguel Rodriguez said the Sokol (Polish for “falcon”) attach utility helicopters (AUH), manufactured by Agusta Westland Ĺwidnik of Poland, will be used for the combat, search and rescue, relief, and patrol operations of the military.
Rodriguez also said the enlisted men’s morale has been boosted because of the President’s modernization program to provide the soldiers with the proper equipment to do their jobs.
“It lessens the risk (to the lives of our men) and makes us work efficiently,” Rodriguez said.
The first batch of four Sokol helicopters will be arriving this November with the other four arriving early next year. (PCOO)
Aquino's National Greening Program on track with 88 percent of targeted seedlings reached -- DENR
President Benigno S. Aquino III’s program to protect and look after the environment remains on track after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources announced it had reached 88 percent of the 25-million mid-year target for tree seedlings under the National Greening Program (NGP) this month.
The DENR said that as of July 15, a total of 22 million tree seedlings had been planted in 3,928 hectares of government land nationwide.
“At least 76 percent of the planting sites have been prepared thus far, with more to be completed in the second semester due to favorable weather,” the DENR said.
Moreover, the DENR said planting materials are being produced in huge volumes as more agencies and private groups join the NGP.
The NGP is a priority government project of President Aquino which was launched at the DENR headquarters in Quezon City last May 13, 2011.
The program specifically seeks to plant 1.5 billion seedlings in 1.5 million hectares of public lands nationwide in six years, from 2011 to 2016—more than twice the government’s accomplishment for the past 25 years, which adds to about 730,000 hectares.
Areas for planting under the program include forestlands, mangrove and protected areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservations, urban areas under the greening plan of LGUs, inactive and abandoned mine sites, and other suitable lands of the public domain.
The NGP also seeks to improve water quality in rivers and irrigation for farm lands, reduce the potential for flooding, soak up carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and lay the foundation for an expanded wood-products economy.
DENR Assistant Secretary Marlo Mendoza issued a call for people to take advantage of the wet season by planting trees for the NGP.
“It is wrong to plant in summer. The trees planted will just wither and die,” he said.
“Besides, if we plant during the rainy season, we no longer need to water the plants since the rain will nourish them,” Mendoza added.
“Some plant trees during summer because it is convenient but the right thing to do is plant during the rainy season, from mid-June to August or September. During summer, we do not have the capacity to water all the plants,” Mendoza stressed.
He added that the DENR has been working with different government agencies, including the Department of Education (DepEd) to get youngsters involved in the program.
“The difference is now, it is no longer a one-day affair, the students no longer plant all the trees in one day,” he said.
“It depends on the climate of the province. As I’ve said it is better to plant during the wet season. The NGP is nationwide, and the climate of some provinces is not as flexible as the others,” he explained.
Mendoza stressed that as of now, local government units (LGUs) have planted 17 million seedlings nationwide.
“It is a continuing endeavor,” he said.
All officials and employees of the government, including government owned and controlled corporations, under the NGP are required to plant at least 10 seedlings per year.
The private sector and other stakeholders are also enjoined to undertake parallel greening activities in consonance with NGP.
Throughout the country, there are eight million hectares of open, denuded and degraded lands in need of immediate rehabilitation. (PCOO)
