San Jose de Buenavista vies for second Galing Pook Award

The Municipality of San Jose de Buenavista is vying for its second Galing Pook Ten Outstanding Local Governance Programs. The Municipality’s Farmville project was shortlisted for site validation in this year’s national search for innovative practices of local government units.

In 1999, San Jose de Buenavista already won the award for its Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) scheme in rebuilding its town public market -- now San Jose Business Park, razed by fire.

This 2015, Mayor Rony L. Molina is hopeful that San Jose de Buenavista will clinch another Galing Pook Award with Farmville. Farmville is an integrated farm owned and managed by the local government unit inspired by a popular farming simulation game on a popular social media networking platform. The project aims to establish an environment-friendly integrated model farm which shall serve as a show window for technology transfer to encourage take up of modern farming techniques and make farming relevant to the young generation.

Galing Pook Award is a program that recognizes innovation and excellence in local governance. Selection of winners is based on positive results and impact, promotion of people’s participation and empowerment, innovation, transferability and sustainability, and efficacy of service delivery.

Site validation is on June 23-24, 2015. 

Orientation on conduct of earthquake drill for LGU employees

Orientation on Conduct of Earthquake Drill for San Jose LGU Employees (March 14, 2014). 
Topics discussed were: (1) what are hazards associated with earthquake; (2) what to do before, during and after an earthquake; (3) and earthquake evacuation plan of the LGU.

National Simultaneous Earthquake Drill will be on March 19, 2014 (Wednesday). 

Take note of earthquake safety: When shaking starts go to safe spots. Duck. Cover. Hold. After the earthquake, calmly evacuate the building and proceed to designated evacuation area (for March 19: Gov. Villavert St. at the back of RHU).

Food Heritage of Antique Project: Advocating Use of Local Produce in F&B Industry

It was my first time to experience a five-star hotel chef cooking gourmet food using local produce right in front of me . It was like those "Wolfgang-Puck-cooking-show" on TV where a celebrity cooks for the audience.

The event dubbed as Food Heritage of Antique Project, held at the Advance Central College (ACC) Annex, was by invitation only and had this exclusive ambiance.

Mr. Rani Rodriguez, President of ACC in San Jose, Antique, organized the said event to increase knowledge of his students on various techniques of food preparation using local produce and also to promote use of local produce among local restaurateurs.

He has invited over Chef Aurora "Babes" Austria for the Project. 

According to this article,  Chef Babes is a former Malacañang Palace Executive Chef. She was  a budget and finance expert, a CPA with a degree in law, she held the post as Finance Director of the Department of Social Welfare and Development under the leadership of then Vice President Gloria Arroyo. She is also a retired executive chef of Taal Vista Hotel and is now a food consultant for the SM Hotel group.

Chef Babes emphasized that the local restaurateurs could help the local economy by buying local produce (such as the moscovado, coconut vinegar, fish and vegetable produce, tableya) for their menu.

As Chef Babes shared her techniques while cooking, she said that aside from helping the local economy it is also a social responsibility to serve healthy food to your clients by removing unwanted fats (beef fats in broth) or avoiding artificial additives in ingredients (citric acid in commercial vinegar).

After the cooking demonstrations, guests, selected students and ACC faculties sampled the Chef's masterpieces for lunch which includes: Tanguige ceviche using local coconut vinegar and malunggay flowers; Fresh shredded sayote salad with dried salted shrimp (locally known as kalkag) and passion fruit - honey vinaigrette; Antique batwan lechon; Baked chicken with alupidan (vine which serves as host of rafflessia) leaves; Ensaladang talong using local coconut vinegar; Gaway-gaway (katuray) salad; Seafood paella; Deep-fried pinindang, Gourmet KBL (kadyos, baboy, langka); Baked fish (dorado) with bell pepper and native tomatoes; Garlic bread with fried dilis with olives, katuray and native tomato; Fried dilis and ray (locally known as pagi).

Thank you Sir Rani and congratulations for the successful conduct of the Food Heritage of Antique Project with Chef Babes Austria.

It was an awesome experience!

Baked Chicken with Alupidan Leaves

Fried Dilis and Pagi garnished with native tomatoes

Garlic bread topped with anchovies (dilis), olive, slice of native tomato and gaway-gaway

Deep Fried Pinindang

Fifth from left is Chef Babes Austria.

Fish (Dorado) with native tomatoes and bell peppers

Gaway-Gaway Salad

Tanguige Civiche

Antique Batwan Lechon

Seafood Paella

Suman Using Local Tableya

Sayote Salad with Dried Fish (Kalkag)

Ensaladang Talong

*Some bits of wisdom picked up from Chef Babes (translated and/or paraphrased):

"From the soil to the plate." 

"When mixing with acid, such as vinegar, do not use metal mixing bowl. Use plastic, ceramic or glass. If you use metal, the food will taste metallic. This is a basic in culinary school. "

"

Radio geusting at PIA radio program

To promote emergency medical service (EMS) of San Jose de Buenavista, Municipal Information Officer designate opted for a radio guesting at the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) radio program - Wednesday, February 12, 2014, 10:30 A.M. - 11:00 A.M. at station DYKA.

DRRM orientation for key barangay officials held

San Jose de Buenvista Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Office held a one-day DRRM orientation for re-elected and newly elected punong barangays and barangay DRRM focal person.

The activity aims to enhance the understanding of the punong barangays and their barangay DRRM focal person on basic DRRM concepts, laws and policies.

Acting Municipal DRRM Officer Engr. Alex Crespo, Municipal Local Government Operations Officer Janeth Norella, and Municipal Information Officer Designate Ms. Chin Tacogdoy discussed (1) Basic DRRM terminologies, (2) Top Hazards of San Jose de Buenavista, (3) Republic Act 10121 (DRRM Act of 2010), (4) Reorganization of the Barangay Development Council and the Barangay DRRM Committee, (5) Guidelines re the Utilization of the Local DRRM Fund, and (6) Guideline re Declaration of State of Calamity.

Also discussed in the orientation were plans for the the 3rd Municipal Rescue Olympics on July and participation to Gawad Kalasag Award 2014 (rural barangay category).

DOT holds tour package dev't and delivery seminar

"Antique should move from awareness to selling," said Atty. Helen Catalbas, Regional Director of the Department of Tourism  VI.

Atty. Catalbas also said that hopefully by the end of the  seminar-workshop, participants will be able to put together a travel itinerary for Antique that is salable to the market.


Statistics  have shown that Antique is the least visited Province in Western Visayas. The Province tourism industry has been lackluster despite its proximity to world-renowned Boracay and Iloilo City. 

In line with this thrust, DOT VI with DOT Office of Tourism Standards and Regulations and  held a two-day tour package development and delivery seminar-workshop on January 28-29, 2014.

Mr. Bien Claravall, a  noted professor from the University of the Philippines Diliman Asian Institute of Tourism and writer of tourism textbook Travel and Tour Operations in the Philippines was the resource speaker.

The seminar-workshop was attended by tourism front liners from the local government units and private sector tourism from all over the Province.

Event was held in Adelaide Tourist and Travellers Inn, a DOT-Accredited establishment in the capital town of San Jose de Buenavista .

Poverty reduction team meet for 2015 grassroot budgeting

 

The San Jose de Buenavista Municipal Poverty Reduction Action Team (MPRAT) held a workshop on January 22, 2014 at Adelaide Tourist and Travellers Inn to agree on indicators to address for poverty reduction and ultimately decide what projects will be requested for funding from the national government and projects to be funded by the local government unit for 2015.

Bulilit Activity Camp inaugurated in Bgy. Madrangca

Bulilit Activity Camp, an early childhood development education center was inaugurated on January 23, 2014.

The Camp is located within the premises of Canuto Pefianco Elementary School in Brgy. Madrangca.

San Jose dB prepares ELA 2013-16

Local elected officials, department heads and non-government organizations came together under the tutelage of the Department of Interior and Local Government to come up with a Capacity Development Plan and Executive Legislative Agenda on October 16-18, 2013 at the Adelaide Tourist Inn.

Mayor Rony Molina on his opening message.

Mr. Darcy Bungay discussing the output of the economic sector on issues relevant to the group.

Engr. Jose Magbanua discussing the issues relevant to the physical infrastructure group.

Vice Mayor Elmer Untaran giving a closing message.

According to this document, the ELA is a planning document, covering a three-year period corresponding to the term of localelective officials that is mutually developed and agreed upon by both the executive and legislative departments of an LGU. It is an integrated plan that contains the major development thrusts and priorities of both the executive and legislative branches towards a common vision for the locality and an instrument that will prioritize responses to
multi-stakeholder needs, e.g., programs, projects, activities, legislations and capacity development programs, and put into action local development plans.

The people from the  executive and legislative branches.

On the end of the three day seminar-workshop, the participants signed a pledge of commitment towards the completion of the ELA document and the ELA implementation.

Pledge of commitment.

Pledge of commitment.

TOT on participatory risk assessment held

Fifteen selected personnel of the local government unit attended the trainors training on participatory risk assessment.

The training is part of the special project - Disaster Risk Reduction and Management-Capacity Enhancement Program (DRRM-CEP) of the Office of Civil Defense VI.

TOT participant sharing their vision of a disaster resilient community.

Another participant sharing their group's vision of a disaster resilient community.

After a two-day lecture and workshop, the trainees were sent on a fieldwork at Brgy. Catungan-Bugarot to demonstrate competencies learned from the training.

Participatory risk assessment fieldwork in Brgy. Bugarot.

Punong Barangay Pacheco presents result of institutional analysis Venn Diagram workshop to his constituents.

San Jose dB to push for gender responsive land administration and management

San Jose de Buenavista was chosen as one of the two pilot local government unit in the Philippines to implement the Strengthening Capacities for Gender Responsive Land Administration and Management, Land Tenure Improvement and Tax Administration Project.

In line with the project, a training workshop on integrating gender and development (GAD) in land administration and management (LAM) was conducted.

A gender assessment of the existing land administration policies, systems and procedures, and the Comprehensive Land Use Plan of San Jose de Buenavista was conducted which resulted to the development of short-term action plan for integrating gender in land administration and management.

The training-workshop was attended by key land administration personnel of the LGU (such as the Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator, Municipal Assessor, Municipal Treasurer, Municipal Environment and ) and national government agencies (Department of Agrarian Reform and Department of Environment and Natural Resources), GAD focal person of the LGU and NGAs, and representatives of relevant organizations.

Partners from the provincial government (Provincial Assessor's Office, Provincial Planning and Development Office) also attended the training.

The GAD project is a grant funded by the Asian Development Bank and hopes to promote equal rights of women and men to access, use and own land.

The other pilot LGU is Bayawan City, Negros Oriental.

University planning students on DRRM learning visit in San Jose dB

Students of Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the Philippine in the Visayas came to San Jose de Buenavista to learn about disaster risk reduction and management best practices of the town.


After the sharing of best practices, the group visited the town's Farmville in Brgy. San Pedro, Antique Atelier Display Center in Tradetown, Funda-Dalipe and Coastal Marine Resource Gallery in Brgy. Funda-Dalipe.

DOt-trained site guide Ms. Lucia Bantolo introducing Farmville to DUPR students on tour.

DOT-trained site guide Mr. Godhel Basanes introducing the CRM Gallery to DURP students on tour.

Baby green sea turtles released back to sea

 Baby green sea turtles were released backed to the sea in San Jose de Buenavista.

The first batch of was released on the evening of September 19 and another batch of more or less 37 green sea turtles was released evening of September 23 at the Marine Protected Area, Brgy. Funda-Dalipe of the town.

The first batch of green sea turtles was born in Brgy. Durog sometime July of this year.  Barangay officials notified the Local Environment and Natural Resources Officer Cornelius Yanga about the event. In cooperation with the municipal government, the barangay made sure that the eggs survived until they hatched.

On September 18, 68 hatchlings were removed from their nest in Brgy. Durog and were taken to the MPA and were released.

The second batch was from Funda-Dalipe where a green sea turtle laid its egg under a house also sometime in July.






Municipal Environment Code has declared the shores of Madrangca up to Durog as turtle sanctuary.

Pastrana Leyte in San Jose on DRRM learning visit

Mayor Rony Molina of San Jose de Buenvista, Antique with Mayor Ernesto Martillo of Pastrana, Leyte.

Pastrana, Leyte local government unit visited San Jose de Buenvista, Antique to learn about the disaster risk reduction and management programs and best practices of the town this September 18.

Pastrana, Leyte on MDRRMC study tour.

The LGU contingent is composed of elected officials, department heads, Municipal DRRM Office staff and personnel.

Engr. Alex Crespo presenting DRRM programs of San Jose de Buenavista.

Leading the group on visit is Hon. Mayor Ernesto Martillo.

Day care parents recycling contest now on its 2nd year

Parents of children of Barangay 1 Day Care Center once again competed in a Recycling Contest to mark the Center’s 23rd Anniversary.

Left: A mother presenting a chime-like decore from rotating fan blade with empty bullet casings. Top-right: Flower from plastic drinking straw sit side by side with an origami flower from recycled paper. Bottom-right: A turtle coin bank from coconut shell.

Above: Judges going over a group entry. Below-left: Tin can robot with spoon and fork for limbs.  Below-right: plastic roses from melted plastic.

Above: Recycling contest entries on display during Barangay 1 Day Care Center 23rd Anniversary celebration. Bottom-left: Drinking straw weaved into a bag. Bottom-right: Origami decorative basket from recycled paper.

The contest is the brainchild of the Day Care Center teacher Ms. Beth Gernade and aims to promote solid waste management among the Day Care Center parents.

Just like last year, the parents were divided into groups and tasked to recycle items found in their household.

Group entries were judged according to originality (40%), craftmanship (30%), and creativity and uniqueness (30%).


“Craftmanship improved this year and the competition was stiff,” said Ms. Fe Tacogdoy, town's Tourism Officer and this year’s contest chief judge.

“We have seen new items this year. There was an electric fan rotating blade turned into a chime-like decoration using empty bullet casings and there is this robot-like decoration made from tin can,” she added.

This year’s output ranged from household decorations from paper or plastic straw, desk organizers from plastic bottles or tin caps, rags from recycled cloth, slippers and bags.

San Jose de Buenavista Recently Received Awards

San Jose de Buenvista recently received the following awards:

1. Apolinario Mabini 2013 Local Government Unity of the Year Award for rendering exceptional services to a significant number of citizens with disabilities within its jurisdiction in the last two years.

2. Sandugo Award from Red Cross (for efforts on voluntary blood donation).

3. Best Police Station (Municipal Category)

San Jose dB, DOT train site guides for town's main attractions

The local government of San Jose de Buenavista in partnership with the Department of Tourism (DOT) conducted a tourist reception and basic tour guiding techniques seminar.

According to DOT, The seminar was designed to develop and improve the performance of front-liners in rendering first rate professional service in the tourism industry.

Moreover, the LGU hopes to improve the service in its main tourist attractions - Farmville and the Marine Protected Area especially the Coastal Resource Management (CRM) Mini Galley.

Farmville is an LGU-owned demo farm for integrated organic farming, which offers tour, lectures and training on organic farming techniques.

The CRM Mini Galley offers discovery tour of the marine ecosystem and environmental protection and conservation while the Marine Protected Area is open for snorkeling activities thru the CRM Mini Galley.

Participants from allied services such as accommodation establishments and souvenir/ craft shop also attended the training.

On the last day of the training, a mock tour was conducted to assess the compentency of the participants.

Mayor Rony Molina hopes to conduct tourist reception training to tricycle and jeepney drivers in the Municipality. 

San Jose dB to receive eHealth tablets

San Jose de Buenavista has been chosen to be one of the recipients of the eHealth TABLET (Technology Assisted Boards for LGU Efficiency and Transparency) in Western Visayas.

The  provision of tablets is a component of the "Developing eHealth TABLET Prototype: A Bottom Up Approach to the Development of an Electronic-based Health Information System Integration Application" which aims to design and develop a mobile patient record system (a software application) with dashboard output and a doctor-mayor communication system.

Hoping to provide an innovative solution to the Philippine's health information management problem and to improve the health decision-making process of local government units, the Philippines Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC), and Ateneo Java Wireless Competence Center (AJWCC) of the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) partnered with and the League of the Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) to select 12 pilot sites across the country.

A signing of Memorandum of Agreement and turn over ceremony will be held on August 23, 2013 at the Municipal Hall.

San Jose MDRRC holds 2nd rescue olympics

Clustered barangay-based emergency responders were pitted against each other on Chariot and Tripod Race, Vehicular Accident Extrication, Rescue Swimming, Rescue Tube Throwing and Relay, Underwater Knot Tying, Basic Life Support and Basic Fire Fighting during the San Jose de Buenavista Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MDRRMC) 2nd Rescue Olympics.

Zone 1 (barangays Maybato North, Maybato Sur and Bariri) was Best in Chariot and Tripod Race and Best in Rescue Swimming; Zone 3 (Brgy. 2 and Brgy. 5) was Best in Basic Life Support; Zone 4 (Brgy. 4, Malaiba and San Angel) was Best in Basic Fire Fighting; Zone 5 (Brgy. 1, Bugarot, Cansadan Tubudan and Inabasan) was Best in Rescue Tube Throwing and Relay; Zone 2 (Badiang, San Fernando and Supa) was Best in Underwater Knot Tying; and Zone 8 (Atabay, Badiang and Funda-Dalipe) was Best in Vehicular Accident Extrication.

Zone 1 emerged as this year’s overall champion and Zone 3 and 4 were runner-ups.

Aside from certificates of recognition, the winning barangays also received personal protective equipment – hard hats and rain coats, as prizes, while other participating barangays shall receive LED battery-operated, waterproof flashlights.


The Rescue Olympics serves as a monitoring tool to check whether barangay-based emergency responders maintains the knowledge and skills taught by the Municipal DRRM personnel in their respective barangay trainings.

This year, the barangays were clustered to encourage cooperation and teamwork among neighboring barangays.