After so many years, Oasnons will finally have their new two-storey municipal building by August 2008. As part of the 10-point agenda of Mayor Greg Ricarte, which is giving a new face to the municipality of Oas, construction of the new municipal building (Phase I) was finished last November 2007. The new structure, which was started in September, was built under the administration of Mayor Greg Ricarte and the Sangguniang Bayan.

Mayor Ricarte disclosed that the Sangguniang Bayan allocated a total project cost of P12 million which was scheduled in two phases. Phase I, which is the construction of the ground floor, was allocated a budget of P2 million while Phase II was given a budget of P10 million and is set to start in March 2008.

“This new building which is considered the face of the municipality will give a more dignified and corporate image to the municipality and its people. Hopefully, this will also inspire our people to lead a more dignified way of life and help Oas raise notches higher from its present economic state in the years to come”, Ricarte said.

Oasnons will witness the total completion of their new municipal building by August 2008. “By this time I can proudly say that I have lived up to my promise as stated in my 10-point agenda”, Mayor Ricarte added.

Garbage collection in lowland barangays and schools has been implemented by the Municipality of Oas effective October 2007. This is part of the cleanliness program of the municipality as stated in the 10-point agenda of the present administration.

“Cleanliness is one of the priority programs of my administration”, Mayor Greg Ricarte said. “I believe that in a clean community lives a healthy citizenry”, he added.

Engr. Domingo Renales, Jr, head of the Engineering of the Municipality of Oas, announced that the areas included in this garbage collection scheme are the following: Market Site, Iraya Norte, Iraya Sur, Calzada, Rizal, Ilaor Sur, Ilaor Norte, Centro Poblacion and the four schools. The collecting team to do rounds in these areas twice a week. Engr Renales likewise said

The conduct of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections last October 29 was generally peaceful. Mayor Greg Ricarte said the Philippine National Police (PNP); the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the barangay tanod were very active in keeping the peace and order in the polling places. “It is noteworthy that no untoward incident was reported during the elections”. Mayor Ricarte added.

About 90% of the Oas population, including the youth, trooped to the polling places to cast their votes for their respective barangay officials. “Minor problems like missing names in the list provided by COMELEC, names of dead persons still on the list, etc. were encountered but in general the election process was peaceful and orderly”, said Acting COMELEC Officer Mr. Cristobal Pallan.

A total of 636 teachers who served in the elections likewise said that no major problems were encountered in their respective precincts. However, there was only one point at issue wherein a tie for councilor for slot 5 and 7 in barangay Calzada was recorded. To break the tie, the concerned candidates agreed to draw lot.

In his desire to serve his constituents better via the information highway, Mayor Greg Ricarte disclosed that the Municipality of Oas will be accessed via the world wide web comes January 2008. Ricarte said, “the website, www.oas.gov.ph will be our portal to the world and vice-versa. Having an active web address gives our local government unit (LGU) a virtual face among our stakeholders all around the world”.

The website was conceptualized by Ariel Pagulayan and Billie Lee Guvarra who attended the Website Upgrading Workshop (WUW) held last December 4-6, 2007 at the Computer Laboratory, Bicol Univeristy, Legazpi City. WUW is a project of the League of Municipalities – Albay Chapter, in partnership with the National Computer Center.

The project was born of shared vision of getting all LGU in the Province of Albay on line with an interactive, citizen-centric website equipped with such features as download, feedback form, forum or discussion board, an online polls, among others.

Lastly, Ricarte said the website could become a very convenient contact point, especially during times of calamities, in times of milestones and basically to inform the constituency. “It is very potent medium to inform them of what we are doing, what services they can avail of and how they be engaged in various community projects”, Ricarte added.

A year after the onslaught of Typhoon Reming in November 2006, Oasnons seem to have already recovered from the devastations. As branches of trees have grown fresh leaves and the fields now verdant green, a new hope springs. Life may not be as rosy as we wish it to be, but somehow, we have taken a smooth turn for the better.

And there is much to hope for.

The new leadership of Mayor Greg Ricarte might have triggered this new hope for Oasnons. With the strong resolve to deliver what has been promised during his inaugural speech, Mayor Greg Ricarte is, little by little, making good his promise. The once perennial problem on water system has been remedied five months after he assumed office. All constituents now enjoy having more water for drinking, bathing and laundry.

For this Christmas Season, what was missing the past years is now full aglow. Christmas lights abound in our Rizal Park and trees around the municipal hall. Passing through these lighted park and trees brings so much happiness to young and old alike and gives a feeling that indeed Christmas is just around the corner . . . so much like the olden merry days.

In order for Oasnons to truly feel the spirit of Christmas, the local government has lined up activities until the end of December 2007. These activities include: Pastora, Christmas Lantern Making Contest, Floating Parol Contest, Christmas Carol Competition, Firework displays and others. All of these are anchored on Mayor Ricarte’s 10-point agenda.

But these are just the beginnings. Certainly, the people of Oas continue to hope for better leadership, better way of life, better Christmas, better tomorrow. The Oasnons expect the new leadership to make good its promise without let up.

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!

The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed between the Department of Education (DeptEd) and the Oas Teachers Credit Cooperative (OTCCO), two preschools are now serving 50 pupils free of charge and these pupils are provided with books and all school supplies needed.

The program now being implemented in Oas North Central School and Gumabao Elementary School, aims to help prepared pupils for grade one next school year. Pupils enrolled are those coming from families that cannot afford to pay for the preschool education of their children.

In the MOA, the OTCCO will provide the books and school supplies needed by the pupils. Each pupil is allotted P30, 000.00 a month for the six-month and P3, 000.00 monthly salary of the teacher. At the end of the program, DeptEd will pay the OTCCO the amount spent for the pre-school.

The MOA was signed by Carmen Rayel, OTCCO Chairman and Dr. Alice Terrel, School Division Superintendent of Albay Division.

In line with the OTCCO’s mission to serve the youth, the Cooperative culminating program was held last November 15, 2007. In the morning, contests in poster making, slogan writing and essay writing were held. Officers of the different Laboratory Cooperatives were inducted into office by Mr. Salvador Bustamante.

Another activity is a choral competition among children from many schools and barangays. This is sponsored by the Parish Youth Ministry on December 19 – 21 at the Social Pavilion. This event will develop the talents and skills in signing. The Lantern Making Contest scheduled December 23 gives every barangay the chance to be creative, resourceful and innovative, “pakulo” thought of by the architects of these three-weeklong activities will start t the River in Bongoran, pass thru Centro and end in Busac on December 23.

Wanting to produce athlete like Pacquiao, the LGU will sponsor Boxing Competition to harness their physical and mental abilities on December 23. Other activities are Beer Plaza, December 24 Karanyonan, December 25 Barangay Night/Beer Plaza, December 28 Pastora, December 30 Fireworks display.

Surely these varied activities would enliven the atmosphere, bring good tidings to our townspeople, develop cultural awareness and give love, hope and encouragement to everyone. Kudos to the government officials who are making this year’s yuletide season alive and aglow!

“Salamat. . .Paalam . . .Kap” parting words of the Accounting Department and Staff headed by their energetic Municipal Accountant, Marilyn Reonal. It conveys the meaning of recognition and gratitude to outgoing Barangay Chairmen, who during their entire term of office have been in constant intermingling with the Accounting Office. They were feted with a late afternoon party at the OSCA Building last November 15.

Food and drinks were served. Over bottles or cans of beer, the not so young, yet not so old Barangay Chairmen talked about what was a ‘for the last time’ moments of sharing, bonding, and reminiscing, especially of their Lakbay Aral escapades in Baguio, in Ilocos Sur and Bohol in the Visayas. During lighter moments, endless jokes and ‘kantiyaw’ accompanied by laughter were heard. Then, when sentimentalism set in, their creaky voices and misty eyes became evident.

Congressman Reno Lim took time out from his busy schedule and grace the affair. He delivered his parting message to the outgoing Barangay Captains and our course mentioned his thank you for their support in the May elections. However, after delivering his message he left hurriedly for another important commitment.

Certificate of Recognition were awarded by Mayor Greg Ricarte assisted by the Municipal Accountant to the outgoing Barangay Chairmen as a fitting tribute for their unselfish service to their barangay constituents and their being very compliant to existing COA and Accounting Rules and Regulations.

“Salamat. . . Paalam . . .Kap” coincidentally, this farewell message was also intended to the departed Barangay Chairman of Maporong, Alfredo Casim, who joined our Creator on the same date. “Salamat…Paalam…Kap”.

The Municipal Health Office (MHO) together with the Department of Health (DOH) team conducted a bloodletting activity last December 6 with the theme “Dugong Alay, Karugtong ay Buhay”. The purpose of this activity was to generate readily available blood types to be deposited at the DOH blood bank.

A total of 60 blood donors coming from different barangays of Oas and five donors from the military based in Tula-Tula, Ligao City, were screened. Out of this number, only 33 passed thereby depositing 33 bags of blood o the DOH blood bank.

The success of the activity was due mainly through the efforts and cooperation of the barangay officials, barangay health workers (BHW), Rural Health Unit (RHU) personnel and the local government unit (LGU) of Oas. The next scheduled bloodletting activity will be in March 2008.

A three-day medical and dental mission at Badian was conducted by the Municipal Health Office on October 21-23. Seventy-five patients had tooth extraction and five were treated. The most common medical cases treated were upper respiratory tract infection, urinary tract infection and acute bronchitis.

A food handlers training was also conducted at the Municipal Health Office on November 28-29 to which 35 food handlers participated. Its purpose was to give added information regarding proper handling of food in order to control the spread of food and water-borne communicable diseases. It is also a requirement for food handlers to secure the necessary permit to operate their business come year 2008.

To make things better in the environment, garbage collection has been an ongoing project of the local government since August. Two dump trucks ply the barangays twice a week. The people are learning the proper way to dispose their trash.

Potable water is now available form our faucets which is good news to everyone who must spend extra money for mineral water.

“Knock Out Tigdas”, a nationwide program of the Department of Health (DOH) aimed to eliminate measles infection as a public health problem was realized in the Municipality of Oas last October 14 to November 15 by immunizing children nine months to 48 months old at the Rural Health Unit building.

Mayor Greg Ricarte disclosed that a total of 10,063 children covered by this program were immunized from the program’s inception up to the time it as concluded . Municipal Health Officer Dr Jane N. Revereza likewise said that no less than DOH Undersecretary Jake Del Mundo, together with his team, visited the RHU last October 18 to show full support to the health programs of the municipality.

Out of the targeted population, about 95% was covered by this program. Included were children older than the age group mentioned who did not receive measles vaccination. “Knock out Tigday” is a follow-up program of the “Ligtas Tigdas” program conducted in 1998 and 2004. “ Ligtas Tigdas” was implemented by the DOH and MHO through the efforts of the RHU personnel and barangay officials with the full support of the LGU.

Climate change is one of the most threatening phenomenon that confronts Mother Earth today. This is triggered by global warming resulting from carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted by human activities, chiefly the combustion of fossil fuels and deforestation.

The 2007 Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that the “warming of the earth’s climate system is unequivocal”. This reality sends a chilling message to all of us. What can we do about this?

The provincial government of Albay has taken the lead to combat climate change. Last August, Governor Salceda launched the Albay in Action in Climate Change (A2C2) program, which outlined climate change adaptation measures. The program has gained support from local government units in the province.

The local government of Oas in response to this challenge has also committed to undertake its own projects as outline in the 10-point legislative agenda of Mayor Greg Ricarte especially the Coastal Eco-Tourism and Agro-Forest Development Project launched in Badian recently.

Action on Climate Change Adaptation in our municipality is a responsibility and duty of every Oasnon. Let’s take the challenge to mitigate the effects of global warming.