Castro
Nueva Vizcaya

    Enchanted Valley        Pre-History      Complete History      160th Birthday      WW2 and Remembrance  

WW2 and Guieb Story     Vizcayanos in Chicago     Searching     Archives      News      emails     Nueva Vizcaya Map        

   BABBAI-Women of Nueva Vizcaya       Southern Nueva Vizcaya Institute     Local Officer of Nueva Vizcaya

 
 
                 
 
               MORE NEWS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   US Army
 
 
 

Vizcaya Pineapple

 By Benjamin S. de Yro

 TUGUEGARAO, Cagayan, Sep 19 (PNA) - The lone representative of Nueva Vizcaya has sought the inclusion of pineapple as among the priority commercial crops to be supported under the Medium Term Agricultural Development Plan (MTADP) in region 2.

 Rep. Carlos Padilla , in a dialogue between the lawmakers of the region and officials of the Department, said of all the fruit production in the region, pineapple has the biggest volume compared to guyabano, jackfruit, lanzones and rambutan.

 He said in three to four years time, there will be an over-supply of pineapple even in the domestic market. Padilla said in Bagabag,Nueva Vizcaya alone, at least 500 hectares have already been devoted to pineapple production.

 On the other hand, Agriculture Regional Director Edmund Sana said the quality of processed dried pineapple can compete with the products of other areas of the country, "but the problem is the products' marketing which has not yet been established".

 "With the trend of pineapple production in Nueva Vizcaya, there must be an intervention from both government and non-government to be able to sustain the productivity level of the producers," Padilla told the regional official. Sana likewise said his office is now finalizing plans to integrate pineapple waste products into the livestock program of the Department.PNA

Wildlife sanctuary in Nueva Vizcaya to get P3.5 million funding

By Purita S. Licas

 BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Oct 10 (PNA) - A 100-hectare wildlife sanctuary located at Dalton, Tactac, Sta. Fe, this province is set to be developed as one of the migratory birds in Cagayan Valley.

 Melody Manzo of the provincial environment and natural resources office (PENRO) said Rep. Carlos Padilla of this province's lone district will shell out some P3.3 million from his Countrywide Development Fund (CDF) for the project. The project will be undertaken in three years for the establishment and maintenance of a seedling nursery, reforestation activities, establishment of infrastructure support and the project's administration , supervision and evaluation before the sanctuary becomes ideal even for birds from other countries. Manzo said lthe legislator has already committed the immediate release of some P50,000 as initial fund for the project.

 During the early eighties, it was observed that from September to February especially during foggy days, endemic or the native and migratory birds from Taiwan, Hongkong and other temperate countries stop at the forest along the Sta. Fe area to rest and feed, Manzo said. In the mid eighties, the province was declared by the national government under logging moratorium due to its forest's destruction leaving only 25 percent of its forest cover. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) , then, has instituted reforestation, maintenance and protection activities including the organization of bodies to plan and implement innovative projects to save the province's remaining forest cover. Regional Technical Director for Forestry Benjamin Tumaliuan said the province's forest cover has improved although no logging activity will be seen in that part of the region in the coming years until full forest recovery shall have been attained.
 


Illegal Land conversions threaten Nueva Vizcaya's agricultural production

Nueva Vizcaya, March 18 (PNA) - The provincial agricultural office here has expressed concern over the growing trend of illegal land conversions in most parts of the province.

 Felipe Panganiban, provincial agricultural officer, said at least a hundred hectares of profitable agricultural lands have been indiscriminately converted for residential or commercial purposes. He said the illegal conversions have caused the reduction in the province's rice production. The provincial agriculturist said the reduction in rice production can go as high as 8,000 cavans per harvest season. The provincial office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) confirmed the indicscriminate land conversions happening in the province.

 Atty. Bronhild Dakilay, the legal officer of the DAR provincial office which is mandated to monitor and control any land conversions, said her office has gathered substantial photographs and other documents indicating the existence of illegally converted lands along the national highway.

 She said the problems will continue unabated because of some technicalities like the absence of a duly approved municipal land use plan.

 On the other hand, Gov. Rodolfo Q, Agbayani said he has ordered the municipalities of the province to draw up and submit their land use and zoning plans to the provincial government but some municipalities are beset with lack of funds to come up with the needed plans. The provincial DAR also said the problem has remained unchecked because of the affected farmers' fear to testify against people behind the illegal conversions consisting mostly of affluent and influential people. (PNA)
 
 

Cagayan Valley flagship projects nearing completion

By Lynda B. Valencia, MANILA, March 20 (PNA) - - Two flagship projects implemented in Cagayan Valley Region are currently in full blast construction and are set to be fully completed this year, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

 Region II Director Segundo P. Urata said that these projects, which are expected to accelerate economic activities in the provinces of Cagayan,Isabela, Quirino and Nueva Viscaya are the restoration and upgrading of Santiago-Tuguegarao road worth P972.8 million and Bambang-Kasibu road costing P94.6 million. Urata said that Santiago-Tuguegarao road is due for completion by September while Bambang-Kasibu road is scheduled to be completed this coming June.

 Philip de Vera, Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development-Project Management Office ((IBRD-PMO) said the 121.45 kilometers restoration of Santiago-Tuguegarao road project involves the widening of existing concrete pavement, improvement of drainage facilities, construction of two existing bridges and upgrading of the entire deteriorated AC/gravel road stretch to Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) pavement. Upon completion, the project is expected to boost the mobility and productivity of several towns along its route which starts from Santiago, Isabela and proceeds northward passing through the municipalities of Ramon, San Miguel, Cabatuan, Aurora, Roxas, Malig, Quezon and Enrile, which is 4.5 kilometers from the town proper of Tuguegarao, Cagayan. The road project serves as an important alternate route and is envisioned to provide the users of Cagayan Valley Road (Pan-Philippine Highway) lesser vehicle traffic, minimal operating costs for transportation companies and reduction of travel time by 26 kilometers. Urata also stressed that the ABD-funded Bambang-Kasibu road which has a total length of 32.60 kilometers involves the construction of three culverts, four new bridges and upgrading of the existing road with combination of concrete and gravel surfacing.

 Completion of the said road rehabilitation project which passes through the mountains terrains of Nueva Ecija is expected to reduce travel time by approximately two hours. (PNA
 


Regional trading center for agricultural crops up soon in Nueva Vizcaya

By Purita S. Licas

 BAMBANG, Nueva Vizcaya, Jan. 21 (PNA) - A 10 million peso trading center for vegetables and other agricultural crops will be established here soon.

 Mayor Luisa Lloren Cuaresma said the project is a giant step toward sustainable development not only for the province but also the Cagayan Valley region.

 The town is accessible to the other vegetable-producing towns of Ambaguio, Dupax del Sur and Norte, Aritao and Kasibu, all of Nueva Vizcaya.

 The trading center, once completed, will encourage the agricultural producers of the region to become more productive knowing that their crops will not be put to waste,she said.

 More jobs will also be created to operate the center which will feature storage facilities, stalls for direct selling and others ,"plus the fact that the town and its residents will tremendously increase income,"the mayor said.

 Initially funds from the town's 20 percent of development fund and its savings from previous years will be used to start construction works this year. (PNA)

Solano Hospital

TUGUEGARAO , Cagayan, March 11 (PNA) - Local resident of the Cagayan Valley region no longer have to go to Manila or anywhere outside the region for advanced diagnosis of their health problems. It has in its midst a computer tomography, (CT) scanner for a detailed cross sections pictures of the human body. .

 The facility which is a modern medical imaging system which uses x-ray and computer technology owned by the Vicente Danguilan Memorial Clinic in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya is the first kind in the region. The machine is useful in imaging the brain, chest, abdomen and spine. Dr. Justo Danguilan, president of the clinic , said the new facility will serve the imaging needs of patients in northeastern Luzon to save on time and expenses for travel. (PNA)
 

 


'PINUORAN', CORDILLERAS' X'MAS DELICACY BAGUIO CITY (PNA) -- What "tupig" (rice cake) to Ilocanos or "puto bumbong" to Bulakenos, is "pinuoran" to the Cordillerans in the highlands of Northern Luzon. "Pinuoran" is pork, but the prepation is different. This Christmas delicacy of the natives in the area is prepared either as roasted, stewed, or cooked in a manner similar to how their lowland brothers prepare their own. But the pig is not scalded by boiling water. The hog after being killed is burnt by glowing fire from pine wood until the hairs are removed and the skin becomes black-red. 'Pinuoran'in the dialect literally means burnt . It refers therefore on how the pig is prepared before being butchered. Bestre Luacan, 60, from Paoay, Atok, Benguet said the custom is believed to have been started by hunters in the olden days. Normally, wild pigs abound during Christmas period -- a time when wild pigs love to roam around for the enormous wild fruits and root crops. In the mountains, it would be impossible if not impractical to still heat water to scald the pig. As seasoned hunter, the catch are just subjected to fire and roasted then and there. Boni Bengwayan, 35, a native of Bontoc, Mountain Province said the Christmas tradition of preparing the favorite delicacies is also practiced in the highlands. While it is true that 'pinikpikan' (burnt or roasted chicken or duck) is common in any other native feasts like "canao", the partaking of "pinuoran" seems to be the greatest treat during Christmas. The native preparation is being regalled not only by the Cordillerans themselves but also lowlanders who have already considered these mountains as their home. Nars Padilla, chairman of the Cordillera tourism council who have his forbears from Pangasinan and Nueva Vizcaya, said 'pinuoran' could be one of the greatest meat preparation in the whole world. He noted that the pork from this preparation is more tasty than scalded pig. Likewise, he said, the meat had lost much fat from the fire that the cholesterol content would be very low. Steven Binal-an, 50, confirmed that even dogs butchered in the Cordilleras are prepared in the same manner "tapno nalamlaman ti kalni na"(so that the meat would be tastier). Tourism observers here said that for a time, "pinuoran" will stay as the best Christmas delicacy of the Cordilleras. As I kid growing in Nueva Vizcaya I remember this method of cooking as "pinulbugan" or something like that. Nestor


News from Vizcaya

The Cordillera fruit production catalyst (Aggie) BAGUIO CITY, Feb. 7 (PNA) -- Since 1985, Cordillera provinces including a portion of Nueva Vizcaya has become chief sources of both tropical and temperate fruits mainly oranges and mangoes. With a total of 778 owners of commercial-scale fruit tree orchards in the area, an acronym is common to their success stories: RP-GFTP which stands for Philippine-German Fruit Tree Project. Funded by the Philippine government and the Federal Republic of Germany through the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), it started in July 1985 and ends in June 1997. Assistant Regional Director Elizabeth Verzola of the Department of Agriculture (DA), said the foreign and locally- assisted project by all indicators proved to have succeeded in its goal "to increase the income of farmers in the Cordilleras while promoting environmental conservation." For 1995 alone, the project's home base at the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) compound here was able to produce 79,097 sexually propagated quality seedlings, and another 22,085 sexually-propagated planting materials. From these highly-profitable seedlings which normally bear fruit two to three years after planting, a total of 13,666 seedlings of citrus, mangoes, pears and guavas are sold to farmer cooperators regionwide. Likewise, in-vitro planting materials of bananas and strawberries totalling 75,000 plants were sold to agro-farmers in the area who had made fruit production as an integral component of their existing farm systems. The RP-GFTP components of research, production, extension and training, and monitoring and evaluation have been continuously done by the implementors under the strict supervision of German agriculture technologists. According to the project status report, within the 46 Cordillera municipalities covered, there are now various facilities established through the years to assure that orchard owners shall always have excellent planting materials, aside from infrastructures for technology transfer. Among the project facilities now serving the region aside from their Baguio central station are: 10 nethouses, one glasshouse, one in-vitro laboratory and one potting shed. According to Verzola, the project in its third and final phase will then have the following thrusts: gradual shift from individual to group approach in the transfer of technology, implementation of a more sustainable technology transfer scheme through coordination with and training of technicians of both local government units and non-government organizations; Support for the establishment of private commercial nurseries which will sustain plant material distribution in the region after the project ends; implementation of a plant certification scheme to ensure that private nursery-propagated and distributed plant materials are healthy; integration of fruit production as a component in existing Cordillera farm systems; promotional campaign for mango, lychee and longan production as recent findings show profitability with less maintenance; and appropriate integration of gender issues into project activities. Since the project started, the farmer cooperators mostly developed tract farming of oranges. However, with the flooding of local market of oranges, kalamansi, lemon and other citrus, the project implementors since 1993 had motivated orchard operators in the area to likewise venture on other profitable fruits like: mango, peach, pear, lychee, longan and mango. With the project, the farmers who diversify their products from the citrus are assured of high quality planting materials aside from ready extension work and technology packages."In a related activity, the eight-hectare Sto. Tomas Pilot area in Baguio City is now planted to semi-temperate fruits and is a source of germplasm collection and trial site for citrus,longa, peach, pear, blueberry and raspberry," said Verzola.Alongside with this, 18 fruit tree field nurseries were accredited by the project as distributors of clean citrus plants;and expansion of fruit.

 


Eco News

Nueva Vizcaya to adopt new measure in sand and grave Nueva Vizcaya to adopt new measure in sand and gravel extraction

 BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, April 16 (PNA) - The local government unit here is set to adopt a new measure in sand and gravel extraction that will help desilt the rivers.

 Asst. district engineer Jose Tiongson of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) , the proponent of the measure, said while the local government unit will collect fees in sand and gravel extraction, it will at the same time benefit from the extractors effort to dredge the rivers of silt for free. He said the new mesure will require sand and gravel extraction at the middle portions of rivers.

 The DPWH district official who is also a member of the provincial disasters and calamities preparedness coordinating council (PDCPCC) said the new measure will help avert the alarming rate of siltation of the rivers.

 The provincial governments where gravel pits are located can easily implement the measure since they are empowered to grant or deny sand and gravel extraction as mandated by a Department Order, he said.

 He said two major infrastructure projects of the government which will require volumes of sand and gravel will test the new measure's effectively, namely: the Aritao-Bambang and Bambang-Bagabag road section of the Maharlika highway; and, the Batu Ferry bridge rehabilitation. 


By Purita S. Licas
BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Feb. 04 (PNA)- Another law school has opened in this capital town to bring education services closer to the people. The St. Mary 's University (SMU), which opened its Bachelor of Laws course to interested students who cannot pursue the course in the cities, is the second law school in the region, the first being the
Cagayan College of Tuguegarao (CCT). Governor Rodolfo Q. Agbayani, during the induction of the officers of the newly organized Law Students Society, has lauded the move of the university to offer the course . The governor said despite the difficulty of further studies, the first set of law students in the province have decided to pursue the course. "Lawyers as aclass of people have noble ideals of courage, justice, and public service aside from the fact that the world's greatest leaders are lawyers by profession," he said. Agbayani said the province which has over 335,000 inhabitants has only 12 active practising lawyers serving their legal needs. He said it does not matter whether one takes up a law course in the province or in the city "if you are determined to make a lawyer of yourself, the task is half done wherever you may be enrolled because law
books are the same anywhere in the country." Meanwhile, the College of Law of the Cagayan College of Tuguegarao
has consistently been among the country 's top 20 law schools since it opened in the early 80's, To date, there are over 80 law schools located in the different regions of the country. (PNA) RGC/RPP/PSL/jeb