Igpat sang Kamera announces the winners of the 1st City of Tacurong Photography Contest with the theme: “Capturing the Beauty of Tacurong”. The judging was held at City Hall Building, Alunan Highway, Tacurong City. All 84 photo entries were printed on 8”x12” digital paper. All entries were judged according to the following criteria:
The Regional Council for the Welfare of Children has chosen Tacurong as the most child-friendly city in Region XII under the component cities category, a proof of the city’s seriousness in putting children’s welfare to the fore of its priorities.
In a letter sent to the office of Mayor Lina Montilla last week, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Regional Director Bai Zorahayda Taja officially informed the mayor that Tacurong satisfactorily passed the regional evaluation conducted last month.
Director Taja added that by becoming the region’s most child-friendly city, Tacurong will receive a child-friendly seal plus a fifty thousand pesos cash prize. Further, the city becomes the regional entry for the National Search for the Most Child-Friendly City to be launched this month.
The city was evaluated based on its child-friendly policies and programs particularly in the areas of survival, protection, education, and development. Representatives from the Department of Health, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Education, and DSWD composed the regional evaluation team.
During the validation on July 27, the evaluators checked various pertinent documents such as the annual budget of the city to determine how much funds go to programs that promote the welfare of children. Evaluators also paid a visit to the police station and inspected the latter’s Women and Children’s Desk along with its records.
Three out of the twenty barangays were also subjected to ocular inspection to know the functionality of each of its Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC). The City Council for the Welfare of Children (CCWC), being allowed to submit one barangay for inspection, chose Barangay Buenaflor, which has the most functional BCPC in Tacurong. The other two barangays, Tina and Calean, were selected by the evaluators in random.
Since the education aspect of the children were given equal consideration, evaluators also inspected one of its public schools, the Tacurong National High School, to determine how far did the City Schools Division go in terms of providing quality education for all.
After a whole day validation, the evaluators and members of the CCWC headed by Mayor Lina Montilla, sat down for an exit conference. The evaluation team declared that except for some minor comments, the city had done well in almost all areas, highlighted by the education sector getting relatively the highest rating.
Nearly a month after the validation, Tacurong got the official word that it passed the evaluation and declared as the regional winner.
Mayor Montilla, who also sits as the chairperson of CCWC, hopes that the city will be able to get the national award despite strong competition anticipated to be presented by other regions.
CCWC Action Officer Nancy Bawe said that the council is making improvements based on the feedbacks offered by the regional evaluation team. “Before the national evaluation team visits our city for the validation, we hope to already make enhancements to boost our chances in the national search’, Bawe said. [Allan S. Freno]
More than two hundred youths trooped to the city gymnasium of Tacurong on August 28, 2011 to take the entrance examination of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).
The entrance examination, the first ever to be conducted in the city, was the initial stage in the arduous process an applicant has to hurdle to enter the most prestigious military academy in the country.
Many of the applicants who took the exam were from Tacurong City but a sizable number also came from other municipalities of Sultan Kudarat and neighboring provinces.
Before the written test, examiners from the PMA checked first the exam permits of the applicants and subsequently conducted a limited physical test, which included height measurement among others. For males, an applicant must not be less than 5 feet and four inches tall, while a female applicant must reach at least 5 feet and two inches limit.
The examiners also accommodated a number of walk-in applicants with complete documentary requirements.
Major Edgar Catu, Senior Tactical Officer of PMA and team leader of the examiners who arrived in Tacurong, said that most of the applicants passed the limited physical test but there were some of them who failed to reach the height requirement.
One hundred ninety-nine applicants who passed the physical test were eventually allowed to take the written test.
Joining Major Catu in the team of examiners were Technical Sergeants Adelino Lomibao and Joel Tongawan. Two Cadets 1st Class, Bryan Vingno and Alvin dela Cruz, also were part of the five-man team. Vingno and dela Cruz, both residents of Barangay San Pablo, Tacurong will graduate in the PMA next year.
Residents of Tacurong and neighboring municipalities were excited upon hearing that the PMA selected the city as one testing centers in Region XII.
Mayor Lina Montilla said that the city government is grateful to the effort of Major Catu who personally recommended and lobbied to the PMA to add Tacurong as another testing center in the region.
In an interview, Major Catu said that in years that he has been conducting entrance tests, he observed that many applicants from Tacurong and neighboring towns were flocking to the testing centers in General Santos City and Cotabato City.
“I saw how difficult it was for them to go to far testing centers”, Major Catu said. “I recommended Tacurong to be a testing center and I am grateful that my recommendation solicited a positive response”.
He also stated that Tacurong has been a familiar place since he spent three years in the city when he was still with the 301st Infantry Brigade, Philippine Army, which was formerly based in Barangay Kalandagan.
With the number of examinees who took the entrance test last Sunday, Major Catu is confident that the PMA will make the place a permanent testing center in the years ahead.
Mayor Montilla also hopes that with this recent development, the city will start producing a number of PMA graduates every year. [Allan S. Freno]
The photo contest is open to all hobbyists, non- professional and professional photographers.
There are two categories which are the following:
1. Discover Tacurong Category
2. Talakudong Festival Category
For the Discover Tacurong Category, entries must have been taken within the City of Tacurong. Entries must depict the beauty of and what is uniquely Tacurong.
For the Talakudong Festival Category, entries must be taken during the festival celebrations – streetdancing & field demonstration and other festival highlights and must conform to the festival theme. Entries must have been taken during the 11th Foundation Anniversary and Talakudong Festival on September 12-18, 2011.
Prizes are: Discover Tacurong Category Talakudong Festival Category
First prize P8, 000 & certificate P8, 000 & certificate
Second prize P5, 000 & certificateP5, 000 & certificate
Third prize P3, 000 & certificateP3, 000 & certificate
For “Discover Tacurong Category”, there will be a one-day photo tour** on August 26, 2011.
Entries must be accompanied by the official entry form with the title and brief description of the picture, name and signature of the photographer, address, date the picture was taken and place where the picture was taken.
Entry forms are available at the Tri-Media Room (2nd floor of city hall building) or download from this website.
Nudity, vulgar, obscene, scandalous, gruesome, and violent photos are automatically disqualified. Photos should focus on the theme.
Entries should be in 8” x 12”, in color prints, unmounted and taken in either film or digital format.
Photos must be in their original form, not super-imposed or retouched or edited in any photo editing software. Manipulated photos will NOT be accepted. Only basic enhancements like cropping, resizing, and minor adjustments in brightness and contrast will be allowed. Entries must be accompanied by negatives. In the case of digital photos, they must be written to a CD which properties must contain the information about the camera used and settings for the photo. The original file must be submitted together with the enhanced file.
Printed photos must not have any identifying marks that would indicate its owner.
In each category, participants may submit as many entries but not less than three (3) in a category he or she wishes to join. Should an entry be less than three, it shall be disqualified.
One photographer can only win one prize in each category.
All entries for the Discover Tacurong Category must be submitted on or before September 6, 2011 with duly accomplished entry forms to the Tri-Media Room (2nd floor, city hall building), City of Tacurong. Discover Tacurong Category entries will be displayed in a Photo Exhibit at the lobby of the city hall from September 12-18, 2011.
The city government of Tacurong reserves the right to cancel the contest in the event that an insufficient number of entries of suitable quality are submitted.
All entries maybe reproduced and/or reprinted into any size for exhibition and use by the city government. Proper credit shall be given to the photographer.
All entries shall be the property of the City Government of Tacurong after the competition. The city government reserves the rights to use winning photo entries for any printed materials and advertisements to further promote the city and the festival.
Judging for the Discover Tacurong Category will be during the duration of the festival. Deadline for the submission and judging of the Talakudong Festival Category will be announced during the awarding of prizes for the Discover Tacurong Category on September 18, 2011.
The decision of the Board of Judges is FINAL.
For more details please contact: Mobile phone nos. 09067315203; 09393562151.
The City of Tacurong was awarded a Seal of Good Housekeeping (SGH) by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in recognition of the city’s excellent performance in local governance.
DILG XII Regional Director Buagas Sulaik officially informed City Mayor Lina Montilla of the award in a letter received by the latter on June 24, 2011.
Tacurong, which belongs to the second batch of SGH recipients this year, is one among the only five cities in the Philippines and the only one from Mindanao belonging to the 4th to 6th class to be conferred with the award. The other awardees for the cities category are Alaminos, Pangasinan; Candan, Ilocos Sur; Passi, Iloilo; and Vigan, Ilocos Sur. They are joined by municipalities belonging to the 4th to 6th class stamped also with SGH seal.
The Seal of Good Housekeeping is a mechanism comprising a set of criteria aimed at recognizing Local government Units (LGUs) with good performance in internal housekeeping particularly in the areas of Planning, Sound Fiscal Management, Transparency and Accountability, and Valuing Performance Management.
Among the key components of the SGH criteria are compliance to the mandates of the Anti-Red Tape Act as well as to the Full Disclosure Policy of the DILG. Further, LGUs stamped with Good Housekeeping Seal should have “no adverse” report from the Commission on Audit, which means that they should have complied with all the requirements of the government’s auditing agency. Emphasis is also given to the LGU’s compliance to the mandates of the Anti-Red Tape Act.
Tacurong was evaluated in March by the team from DILG Regional Office. Several data were gathered from offices concerned; interviews were conducted; and even the records of the local police station were checked as to the peace and order condition of the locality. After passing the regional evaluation, Tacurong made it through the National Table Assessment and Validation, and subsequently stamped with SGH Seal.
Director Sulaik also informed Mayor Montilla that by passing the national assessment on Good Housekeeping, Tacurong is now eligible to access the 2011 Performance Challenge Fund (PCF) amounting to three (3) million pesos. The PCF is an incentive fund to LGUs in the form of counterpart for projects to be financed from the 20% component of the LGU’s Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).
Mayor Montilla is ecstatic at the recent accomplishment of LGU Tacurong. “I am very happy with the most recent award we received, but then again ,we only have to work harder; after all, this is what we, public servants, are expected to do”, Mayor Montilla said.
Less than a year since assuming office as the mayor of Tacurong, the LGU has already received two national awards, the first of which was the Seal of Excellence from the Civil Service Commission in December 2010. (Allan Freno, LGU-TacurongCity)
Stop or face disciplinary action. This is the marching order of Mayor Lina Montilla after getting reports that there are still some employees accessing social networking sites and playing computer games during office hours.
Mayor Montilla’s directive is stated in Memorandum Order No. 11-172, issued on June 8, 2011, the subject of which is ‘Reiteration of Internal Policies’. The said memo is a stern reminder of what was provided in the first Administrative Order issued by the mayor last year.
While other local government units had just recently ordered the prohibition of browsing social networking sites during office hours, employees of the city government of Tacurong had been told to do so in August 2010, a month after Mayor Montilla was sworn in as mayor of the city.
Administrative Order No. 01 provides that ‘playing of computer games, internet surfing and social networking are strictly prohibited during office hours and those who will not abide by it shall be dealt with administratively’.
During the Monday flag-raising ceremony on June 13, Mayor Montilla urged all employees to follow what is stated in the internal policies of the local government. She added that to be efficient and effective service providers, they must optimize their working hours doing what they are paid to do.
In 2010, the city government of Tacurong was awarded the Seal of Excellence by the Civil Service Commission, a proof that the city was among the LGUs to carry out the provisions of the Anti-Red Tape Act. The city got the recognition as the one among the only six LGUs in the country to receive the said award. “We must always strive to be worthy of the award that we receive, and following our internal policies is one way of standing by it”, the mayor said.
Further, to guarantee that the new memo is effectively enforced, Mayor Montilla had instructed the Information Technology Section to disable in the main server of internet connection most common social networking sites such as facebook.
The mayor also directed the IT personnel to inspect all computers of the city government and delete all computer games that are saved in the hard drives.
Likewise, Mayor Montilla stood firm on her previous directive that no employees goes out of the city hall building during office house except for those who have permission slips or authorization from the head of office. “I have already deployed persons to monitor the employees who transact personal business outside of their office during working hours, specifically those who are going to the department stores and other establishments’, she said.
On austerity measures
The city government also continues to implement austerity measures especially on electrical consumption, office supplies and fuel utilization. The measure, embodied also in the Administrative Order No. 1 issued last year, is one vital way to cope with the rising cost of basic utilities and various supplies.
On electrical use, all air conditioners are turned on at 8:30 a.m. and turned off at 11:30 a.m. In the afternoon, switching on is at 1:00 p.m. up to 4:00 p.m.
Conservation and recycling of office supplies is also practiced such as using the back portion of used bond papers for inter-office communications.
To minimize fuel consumption, employees should maximize sitting capacity of vehicles especially for large groups traveling in the same place in case of seminars.
According to Mayor Montilla, these cost-effective measures among others are important initiatives to really optimize the local government resources. (Information)
