(File photo) MANILA - As President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. turned 65 years old, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) on Tuesday announced the top 65 government agencies that it will honor for "religiously and accurately paying GSIS premiums and loan payments on time." GSIS president and general manager Wick Veloso said the 65 government agencies, including the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, are helping government employees enjoy the hard-earned benefits that they deserve for devoting the best years of their lives to serving the government. "We all know that loan balances, if left unpaid, would balloon to unmanageable amounts. This will diminish members' benefits and leave them with little or no proceeds at all when they retire or separate from the service," Veloso said in a statement. These government agencies, he noted, are utilizing GSIS' various programs for their employees. "Pinararangalan din natin ang animnapu't liman
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga - A total of 27 farmers' cooperatives and associations (FCAs) in Nueva Ecija will receive farm machinery and equipment that could help boost their productivity. Bernando Valdez, chief of the Nueva Ecija Provincial Agriculture Office, said Thursday that the certificates of ownership were already awarded to the FCAs for the agricultural interventions that could increase their income. Valdez said the machinery includes four units of four-wheel drive tractors, four combined harvesters, and 20 pumps and engines. He said the formal turnover of the farm machinery and equipment would be done by the end of July. The initiative, he noted, is under the Department of Agriculture's (DA) mechanization program that aims to elevate the level of farming through the use of the different machinery and equipment that could help boost palay (unhusked rice) productivity. "Ang tanging hinihiling lamang po ng DA, iyon pong ating mga makinarya na natatanggap ay atin
(PNA photo by Joey Razon) MANILA - The country's lower coronavirus figures could be attributed to Filipinos' adherence to the minimum public health standards and the high vaccination rate, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said. In his presentation to President Rodrigo Duterte Monday night, Duque reported a 31 percent decrease in the daily average cases for the week of March 1 to 7 at 899 infections compared to the previous week - February 22 to 28 - at 1,306 infections. "One differentiator compared to many of these countries, I should like to believe, is our very good compliance to minimum public health standards, 'yung masking ng mga Pilipino (the wearing of masks of Filipinos)," Duque said. He added that countries with high vaccination coverage rates "just threw caution to the wind" while Filipinos are disciplined in terms of compliance to the minimum public health standards - physical distancing, hand hygiene, and all other non-pharmaceutical inte
Leo Quintilla, regional director of DSWD-Bicol(Photo by Connie Calipay) LEGAZPI CITY - The Department of Social Welfare Development-Bicol (DSWD-5) is now preparing for and providing technical upgrading and capacity building to its employees who will be affected by the Supreme Court's Mandanas-Garcia ruling. Leo Quintilla, DSWD-5 regional director, in an interview on the sidelines of his State of the Region Address here on Thursday, said some 700 of their employees will lose their jobs once the ruling is implemented anytime this year because their functions will be devolved to the local government units (LGUs). He said they want to ensure that the employees who will be terminated will be prioritized in the hiring programs of their respective LGUs. "For LGUs, these DSWD staff are already trained, they know the programs and services, and they can implement it immediately, then it already solves half of their problems," Quintilla said. DSWD-Bicol, he noted, shall discontinue
Leo Quintilla, regional director of DSWD-Bicol(Photo by Connie Calipay) LEGAZPI CITY - The Department of Social Welfare Development-Bicol (DSWD-5) is now preparing for and providing technical upgrading and capacity building to its employees who will be affected by the Supreme Court's Mandanas-Garcia ruling. Leo Quintilla, DSWD-5 regional director, in an interview on the sidelines of his State of the Region Address here on Thursday, said some 700 of their employees will lose their jobs once the ruling is implemented anytime this year because their functions will be devolved to the local government units (LGUs). He said they want to ensure that the employees who will be terminated will be prioritized in the hiring programs of their respective LGUs. "For LGUs, these DSWD staff are already trained, they know the programs and services, and they can implement it immediately, then it already solves half of their problems," Quintilla said. DSWD-Bicol, he noted, shall discontinue