Communications Secretary Martin Andanar (File photo) MANILA - The Presidential Communications Operations Office is looking at achieving population protection by year-end, after marking a major breakthrough with the vaccination of 85 percent of personnel of PCOO and its attached agencies nationwide. "PCOO has made it a departmental goal to inoculate and vaccinate all of its government personnel and their families," PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar said in a news release on Sunday. In June 2021, the PCOO management started the vaccination drive of the general population of the agency together with their dependents with the valuable assistance of the National Vaccine Operations Center and the local government units of the City of Manila and Quezon City, and as well as local government units for the regional offices of PCOO units and agencies nationwide. "This is to ensure the unhampered delivery of information, communications, and government services to the Filipino public,&qu
RAISING YIELDS. Potato farmers from Bukidnon showing their bountiful harvests. The Department of Agriculture and Universal Robina Corp. (URC) agreed in 2018 to work together to provide farmers with quality potato seeds, training, and research access. Potato yields from the program have grown by more than fivefold since then. (Photo courtesy of URC) MANILA - Potato farmers have found a lifeline in a project initiated by Universal Robina Corp. (URC) with the government, allowing them to thrive amid a devastating pandemic. In support of the Duterte administration's major initiative of fostering a more productive and progressive agriculture sector through inclusive growth and sustainable development, URC, one of the country's largest food firms, and the Department of Agriculture agreed in 2018 to work together to provide farmers with quality potato seeds, training, and research access. Since then, potato yields from the program have grown by more than fivefold. "Despite the pa