PHL Workers Update: DoLE prepared Emergency Employment Program for Residents & Agriculture Workers hardest-hit by typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel.”

Region 1 office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has prepared a P4-million emergency employment program for residents of the most adversely-affected areas of typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel.” DoLE Region I Director Henry John Jalbuena said Tuesday that Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz approved the release of the fund as emergency assistance to agriculture workers in hardest-hit municipalities of the region.

He said the assistance will provide immediate relief to workers whose source of income has been impaired as a result of the successive typhoons which ravaged Northern Luzon this September and October. “While the agriculture industry is recovering from its losses, the DoLE will provide emergency employment to the affected workers in small infrastructure projects,” he added. The DoLE-Regional Office identified 17 cities and municipalities in Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan as recipients under the program."
DoLE prepares P4-M emergency employment | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online: "
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Wellness in Economics: DTI's "One Town, One Product (OTOP) program" created 444,709 jobs from 2005 to 2010

During the opening ceremony, Undersecretary Merly Cruz of the DTI-Regional Operations and Development Group said that the OTOP program has set its sights on generating two million jobs by 2016. She told local executives, entrepreneurs and expo participants that this and other OTOP goals can be achieved by enabling the growth of ‘progressive municipalities’ that have local economies generating their own products and services.

The program has so far created 444,709 jobs from 2005 to 2010 a substantial figure that the DTI wants to more than triple under the present administration. President Aquino has given his nod to continue the OTOP program as a flagship government undertaking to expand the trade of products highlighting the distinct culture and tradition of the different provinces, cities and municipalities."
DTI launches 2nd OTOP program | The Manila BulletinThe OTOP program has surpassed almost all its performance indicators from 2005 to 2010. The DTI reported at the expo that OTOP during this period generated investments worth 11.197 billion pesos (50 percent above the program's target); 16.558 billion pesos in domestic sales (over by 34 percent); exports of $677.2 million (over by 30 percent); and, assisted in the development of 45,820 micro, small and medium entrepreneurs or MSMEs (over by 71 percent). Newspaper Online: "
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Wellness in Education: PHL DepEd explores innovations to support schoolchildren of Indigenous Peoples (IPs)

"Sponsored by the Philippines’ Response to Indigenous Peoples’ and Muslim Education (PRIME) Program, the exhibit dubbed “Bunsód: Katutubong Dunong Pagtuturo Pagkatuto” is also in observance of the National Indigenous Peoples’ Month.
“As a response to our commitment to make education universal and inclusive, DepEd has been extending efforts to cross the boundaries on culture, tradition, and religion,” said Education Secretary Armin Luistro. Luistro added that the DepEd, with assistance from the Australian government, is making quality education more accessible to indigenous people through PRIME.
“While this PRIME project is a big boost to the Education for All goal of the department, it is, more importantly, the government’s way of responding to the needs of Indigenous Peoples and Muslim communities for relevant and responsive basic education, one that removes barriers to meaningful participation in society and empowers learners to exercise their rights and duties as Filipino citizens,” he expressed."
Month-long DepEd exhibit on | Tempo - News in a Flash:
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PHL Peace Update: P. Murphy shares "Winning formula to achieve peace: basis of trust, perseverance, intensity, parity of esteem & int'l dimensions..."

A British lawmaker visited two cities - Davao and Manila — last week to share the lessons he learned at the negotiating table in Northern Ireland to provide insights for the Mindanao peace talks. Called the "talks minister" because of negotiations he had done, Paul Murphy, who is also a former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (NI) and Wales, spent two years chairing some of the talks which led to the groundbreaking Belfast/Good Friday agreement in 1998, the framework for peace in Northern Ireland.

"Peace doesn't happen overnight, but if there's a will, then eventually it will," Murphy told members of the peace panels of the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF); the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and key government offices; the Senate and House of Representatives; Armed Forces of the Philippines; Philippine National Police; civil society groups and business leaders in Mindanao."
Peace talks expert shares insights | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online: "
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Peace Update: PHL pushes for inclusion of climate change in the agenda of the United Nations' Human Rights Council (UNHRC)

"Citing heavy losses to life and property due to recent typhoons, the Philippines pushed for the inclusion of climate change in the agenda of the United Nations' Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The Philippines, together with Bangladesh, urged the UNHRC to help address the effects of climate change on human rights.

In presenting the resolution, Ambassador and Permanent Representative Evan Garcia said, "Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges facing the world community, with direct and severe impacts on a wide range of human rights."

Dubbed "Human Rights and Climate Change," the joint resolution aired concerns that climate change threatens people around the world and affects their full enjoyment of human rights.

Garcia said, "The Philippines is extremely vulnerable to climate change, and our people experience the adverse effects of climate change on their human rights and livelihoods on a daily basis.""
PHL pushes for climate change on UN human rights agenda - Nation - GMA News Online - Latest Philippine News:
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"If you love whatever you’re doing and focus, you will really succeed

“When I was younger, I always heard people say, ‘be passionate about what you do,’” Mr. Paulino says. “Now, as an entrepreneur, I fully appreciate that attitude. If you love whatever you’re doing and focus, you will really succeed.”Hats off to Filipino craftsmanship | BusinessWorld Online Edition:

Reynaldo T. Paulino
Managing Director
Kraftika Filipina

The winners of the Entrepreneur Of The Year Philippines 2011 will be announced on October 12, 2011 in an awards banquet at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.
The Entrepreneur Of The Year Philippines has concluded its 2011 search for the country’s most successful and inspiring entrepreneurs. It is a program of the SGV Foundation, Inc. with the participation of co-presenters De La Salle University, Department of Trade and Industry, Development Bank of the Philippines, Philippine Business for Social Progress, Philippine Stock Exchange and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. BusinessWorld is featuring each of this year’s finalists."

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ROTARY CLUB UPDATE “Mega Cebu” was described by businessman Roberto E. Aboitiz in a meeting of the Rotary Club of Cebu West

Master plan needed for ‘Mega Cebu’ | Inquirer News: "“Success is no accident. It’s a planned journey and the future does not belong to the small, unprepared, incoherent and divided cities,” said the president of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.
The MCDCB is chaired by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.
Aboitiz said that to achieve this goal, proper planning and decision making in the public sector side should go beyond city boundaries of the 13 citizes and towns from Carcar City in the south to Danao City in the north.
Aboitiz said seven businessmen sit in the MCDB : James Velasquez, country general manager of IBM Philippines; Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Samuel Chioson; Cebu Business Club president Gordon Alan Joseph; Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Eric Ng Mendoza; Cebu Leads Foundation president Bunny Pages; Felomino Lim of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and himself."

'via Blog this'The role of business is to contribute “capital, technology and enterprise,” while the government provides the “planning, enabling environment and resources.” Civil society, meanwhile, is the source of “aspirations, obligations, participation and citizenship.”

Aboitiz said a Land Use Master Plan, Transport Master Plan and other sector master plans are crucial elements.

He said MCDB and its committees and working groups would be insitutional anchors, while RAFI will facilite the whole process, provide research and act as knowledge repository, and handle program and organizational development.