OPEC entity offers to fund P3-billion projects. A financial society established by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries offered these grants to reduce poverty in developing countries. This is in line with the Duterte administration's Build, Build, Build infrastructure modernization program. The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) offered its keen interest to assist and collaborate with our government in carrying out its priority programs. Finance Secretary Dominguez said that it can help rebuild the devastated city of Marawi in Mindanao. It also intends to help in the development of the New Clark City in Pampanga where an alternative international airport is being built and where a new government center will also rise. OFID also plans to rehabilitate the Agus power plant system, which generates at only 40% capacity now. These plans will help poverty alleviation and provide employment generating activities.
The Kiwanis Club of Agila Dabaw group provided the Home Child Therapy and Learning Center with a Desktop Computer and Printer to help the documentation needs of the center. The Home for Child Therapy Center is located in Bago Aplaya, Davao City. The Home is serving children with special needs to enable them to live normal lives. The present staff is trying to recruit kind-hearted individuals to extend assistance to the Home.
The National Electrification Administration (NEA) will pursue the plan to set up more solar home systems in the present unserved areas covering 10,000 households in Mindanao this year. Several homes are scheduled for the program this year. This is funded by the European Union's Access to Sustainable Energy Program through the world Bank. The second leg performance is intended to cover a total of 30,000 households. These are the households located in rural and remote areas that are too far or have no access to the main electricity grid. There are 19,740 sitios across the country that are still without access to electricity. 1,702 homes are identified as off-grid so they have to install solar powered apparatus. Personally, with the frequent brownouts in Davao city, my family opted to install our Solar system in our home. The initial expense is well recovered when we turn them on when needed. No Meralco monthly bills is a benefit.
USAID' s early-grade literacy project reaches 1.8 million Filipino kids. It had completed its five-year, P1.9 billion Basa (Read) Pilipinas project which improves literacy and reading comprehension among more than 1.8 million students from kindergarten to grade 3 in our country. It trained more than 19,000 teachers and school heads and provided more than 9 million copies of teacher guides, story books, and other education AIDS to 3,000 public elementary schools in the Phillipines. The USAID has piloted the use of computer tablets for reading lessons, increasing their fluency and comprehension.
I got curious about these news items in a national broadsheet newspaper. I read a section on Letters from readers. I take them for their face value. There must be some truths to the letters like the thousands of errors in published books. I had published some 18 textbooks for High School and College levels.. Before each one was published and officially permitted for School and College Levels by the Bureau of Education then, circa 1960 to 2000; I was examined by a big group of examiners on contents, development, grammar, spelling, syntax, Yes, something like passing through the eye of a needle before approval.
The letter read: A Grade 7 MAPEH (Music, Arts, PE and Health). Another is a 364 page Grade 3 English Learners Materials written by 15 authors and reviewed by 3 reviewers only has 430 errors. Another book written by 3 authors has 1,308 errors . The errors are funny . Example is Banana Rice Tereces for Ifugao Rice Terraces. Manila is near the equator that's why it is low and it sometimes rises. Palay is the main food of Filipinos. A large portion of the egg comes from Batangas because of its poultries. Space will not allow me to go on and it might save you from going insane. These books were approved by the Education Bureau. The worst last item is on the subject Good Manners and Right Conduct. This was addressed to the President. He should be a good example for our young students. But he had a reason for this . His coarse manners and cuss language like ... Ina mo , a disrespect for a mother is so deeply ingrained in him since he was young and it seems nothing can be done about it. I am not happy writing this last item after all the inspiring parts of my column today.
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