DOTR, CPA inaugurates P989M Cebu Port expansion, starts San Fernando Port in 2022

 MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY--The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Cebu Port Authority (CPA) inaugurated the newly-completed port expansion project at Berths 7-10 at the Cebu Baseport in Cebu City with a budget of P989 million, a significant milestone for CPA under The Build, Build, Build Program of this administration.

CPA general manager Leonilo Miole, in his message during the event on November 26 said that the newly expanded port is seen to accommodate increased vessel traffic, improve cargo handling capacity and enhance the overall port productivity of the Cebu Baseport, one of the busiest and main gateway ports in the country.

Miole said that the Port expansion project included the construction of a 40-meter width and 310-meter length reinforced concrete deck and back-up/operation area, port lighting system, complete mooring and docking facilities and gantry crane rails to accommodate the projected increase of Granty Cranes to achieve shorter turn-around time for cargo operations.

He bared that Phase 1 of the expansion project with a budget of P339-million started in August 2017 and was completed and operationalized in January 2019. Phase 2 commenced on February 2020 with a budget of P600-million and was turned-over to CPA on October 2021 following the completion of contract with UKC Builders, Inc.

Miole added that CPA’s commitment to progress is to continuously initiate port development and improvement projects to ensure more convenient and safer port operations for the benefit of all port users and stakeholders.

In similar development, the construction of San Fernando Port Project at Barangay Poblacion, San Fernando, Cebu will begin on January 2022, after CPA has completed the procurement activities and after it has received the approval for the award of contract to WTG Construction and Development Corporation from the Cebu Port Commission on November 26 during its regular board meeting.

Miole said the CPA will issue the Notice of Award, sign the contract and then issue the Notice to Proceed to immediately start the groundwork and construction on January 2022 and the project is expected to be completed on May 2023.

The San Fernando Port once completed forms part of the Central Spine Roro Route Project of DOTr to put the RORO facilities in place to maintain an inter-island connectivity and for trade and tourism needs.

San Fernando Port Project is expected to cater to vessels plying from the town to Tubigon and Jagna ports in Bohol; to the municipalities of Mambajao and Mahinog in Camiguin and then finally stop at harbors in Balingoan and Cagayan de Oro in Misamis Oriental. (Photo: CPA/Google Images)

 

 

Childlink holds events to observe National Children’s Month

CEBU CITY – Childlink Learning Center and Highschool Inc. recognized the importance to address the adverse impact of the pandemic on their students thus it came up with several activities for the month of November in observance of the National Children’s Month.

Childlink founder and directress Maria Theresa Tio said that the events started on November 6 with a webinar entitled Resilience in Children: Building Academic Stamina and Socio Emotional Resiliency organized by Scholastic Philippines for its partner schools.

Childlink parents and teachers joined the webinar which provided information, especially to the parents on how to counter the adverse effects of the pandemic on their children.

 “More than ever, we need to listen more to our children and look at what they need (which is) not just physical. During this time, parents are the only ones they get to talk to,” Tio explained.

Childlink has partners whose objective is to support children currently of the pandemic. Tio encouraged the Childlink parents who were not able to attend the webinar to check out the Scholastic Philippines Facebook page where it posted the recently held webinar.

On November 20, the school conducted a Career Orientation For Teens for all its high school students in the areas of business, medicine, engineering, information and technology and politics and governance with Childlink parents as speakers.

“Being in top positions in their fields, they shared with the students on how important it is to have inherent values. The students were taught that work may be hard but if you love your work, it is not really work,” Tio said.

Azela Honor talked about business while Dr. Manuel Villamor Jr. spoke on medicine.  Engr. Jan Claudette de Joya discussed careers in engineering and Atty. Amando Virgil Ligutan focused on politics and governance and Kristine Borja also delivered a talk on information technology.

The speakers were given 15-20 minutes for their presentations. Aside from a discussion on careers, the speakers also taught the high school students work ethics and the value of work.

On November 29, Childlink held a book reading with an author for students in Pre-school to Grade 3 and Let’s Go e-Games activities.  Grace Chong will be reading her book entitled Lumpia Lane. It is a story about a restaurant owned by a Chinese family and how the grandparents wanted their grandchild to learn the business to be able to leave a legacy.

Chong is a multi-awarded author who left advertising creative work in 2000 to write full time.  As of 2015, she has 50 published books in two genres (inspirational and children's books) and has received six recognition from the prestigious Palanca Awards; two Gintong Aklat Awards; and the National Book Awards. She was educated in both the Philippines and the US.

According to Tio, the aim of the activity is to promote reading to children.  The school made it a requirement for students and parents/guardians to attend because this is a very good learning activity.

Meanwhile, Let’s Go e-Games is a fun activity organized by the Childlink Student Council and will feature the popular games such as Roblox, Mobile Legends, and others. This will be attended by students from Grade One to Highschool.  The Student Council planned the e-Games activity to foster camaraderie among students.

“We are promoting eGames because a lot of games are really educational. We advise our students that they can play but should remember to set aside time to study and help at home.  Our teachers try to relate e-Games to lessons because these also benefit the students,” Tio explained.

On the other hand, Childlink will hold the Good Grooming and Etiquette for Tweens with Zara Hernaez De Joya for students from Grade 4 to 6, who are now in their puberty stage.

De Joya’s discussion will focus on the context of self-love, the individual’s roles in society and interconnectivity to the world in general.  She will be talking about personal hygiene and sanitation, which plays a key role, as well as basic etiquette and netiquette and its importance. (Photos: Childlink/Robby Alugar)

Imee calls on NTC, NPC to solve rise in cybersecurity attacks

CEBU CITY -- Senator Imee Marcos who chairs the Senate committee on economic affairs called on the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and National Privacy Commission (NPC) to solve the sudden rise of cybersecurity attacks on the public through spam messages and “smishing.”

Smishing, short for SMS phishing is the fraudulent practice of enticing people via text messages or mobile data apps to disclose sensitive personal data like passwords or credit card numbers, usually by offering employment, prizes, or discounts.

Marcos asked how did these “Smishers” get hold of everyone’s mobile numbers?  “We have to get to the bottom of this soon after more than a month since these incidents were reported,” she added.

The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 prohibits “unsolicited commercial communications” that disguise the source of electronic messages and are sent without the recipient’s prior consent.

Although telcos have released advisories on how to handle these spam messages, Marcos believes that this is not enough to put an end to the problem.

“The NTC and NPC together with telco companies, banks, and online shopping platforms should develop a system that can block these spam messages so that no one could receive them,” Marcos said.

Marcos also called for a stop to the careless collection of mobile phone numbers for contact tracing purposes by requiring people to list them down on an open information sheet before being allowed to enter banks, supermarkets, and other business establishments.

“This practice exposes the public to scammers. Businesses must find a way to do contact tracing more privately, especially for those whose mobile phones have no app to generate QR codes,” she explained.

 

"Artabang 4" an auction for a cause at 1st Visayas Art Fair

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY-- Fifteen art pieces for auction and seven artworks for straight sales are included in the "Artabang 4," an auction for a cause on November 26 organized by the Sacred Heart School for Boys Batch 1985 Foundation at the First Visayas Art Fair at the Glass House, Montebello Garden Hotel which proceeds are used to fund the foundation's various community programs and projects.

 

"Everything here at the art fair are for kawang gawa, non-profit. For the students too to witness the artwork of the art masters in the country," Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Visayas (OPAV) secretary Michael Dino said during the art fair's opening ceremonies on Wednesday. 

Most of the artworks featured at the "ArTabang 4" will be included in the auction while the rest will be for straight sales and all these are donated by the artists. Each artwork has a starting bid with a minimum increment of P25,000, Dino said.

"ArTabang 4" is unique because it is a silent Art Auction with bids written on the title card and the bid sheets located on the tables next to each piece. Bids can also be submitted off-site by calling or sending a text message to the phone operator assigned to the bid number of the art piece.

“We are running a silent art auction because most of us here in Cebu are shy,” says Lorenzo Miguel Uytengsu, who helps Sacred Heart School Batch 85 Foundation to hold the auction. The bidding starts at 10 am until 9 pm on November 26.

Uytengsu said they are bringing artists from Metro Manila so Visayan artists could learn from them and vice versa. He added that the art auction also provides a venue for the artists since most of them have not been able to show their artworks during the pandemic since art galleries have been closed.

The artists include Dino Gabito, Randalf Dilla, Ronald Ventura, Adrian Evangelista, Joel Chavez, and Cebuano Mark Copino, among others. Collaborative pieces by groups of seven to 10 artists are also featured in ArTabang.

Thirty-one-year-old Gabito is known for his monochromatic “shroud” paintings or paintings of shroud or cloth suspended draping objects or a human form. His Tranquil oil on canvas has a starting bid of P350,000.

Dilla is known for his hyper-realistic socially conscious paintings that are strongly influenced by the human condition in modern conflicts. Dilla’s ‘Untitled’ charcoal and water of paper have a starting bid of P200,000.

Ventura has set the record for the highest ever paid Southeast Asian contemporary artwork when his painting Grayground sold for $1.1 million at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings auction in Hong Kong in 2011. Ventura’s Zoomanity 3/5 has a starting bid of P350,000.

Evangelista showcases a pair of luscious desserts, which seem to be a feast for the eye but appear to unmask the struggle to cope with and compensate for lonesomeness. His 'Love Sick Girl 1' has a P100,000 starting bid and a minimum increment of P10,000.

Chavez’s painting Scent, which is among the artworks up for auction, has a starting bid of P150,000 and a minimum increment of P25,000.  The starting bid for Heir Apparent by Josue Mangrobang Jr. is P350,000 with a minimum increment of P25,000.

Copino, more popularly known as “Kidlat,” is a well-known contemporary stencil artist whose thought-provoking work shows symbolic subjects in minimalist compositions. His Adjacent Lines to the Horizon artwork has a starting bid of P100,000 and P10,000.

The other art pieces for auction are Strategy Analysis by Keb Cerda with a minimum bid of P150,000; and Storytellers’ Chair 3 at P150,000 with a minimum increment of P25,000.

Some of the artworks are collaborative pieces by seven to 10 artists. One of these is “The Acts of Seven” oil on canvas by the Portrait Artists’ Society of the Philippines. It has a starting bid of P300,000 and a minimum increment of P25,000.

Another collaborative artwork is the Nostalgia 3 acrylic on canvas painting by the Artists Association of the Philippines. The starting bid for this is P250,000 and a minimum increment of P25,000. The acrylic on canvas painting “Sayaw sa Pangaliya” by the Cebu Artists Incorporated has a minimum bid of P300,000.

Southwest Art Club’s Behind the River oil on canvas has a starting bid of P300,000. The Collaboration Functional Sculpture by the Orange Project has a minimum bid of 500,000.

The Nostalgia 1 acrylic on canvas by the Artist Association of the Philippines has a minimum bid of P500,000. The art pieces for straight sale are Buffalo Soldier by Loise Go (P130,000); Libakera by Wyndelle Remonde (P40,000); Woman Ate Too Much Dick by Chalk Zaldivar (P80,000); Papa Legma by Miguel Paulo Borja (P80,000); Fractal 5 by Dennis Bato (P100,000); Nocturne Variations by Mark Bumgarner (P30,000) and Face to Face by Jheco Lorica (P100,000).

Sacred Heart School Batch 85 Foundation is committed to promoting, developing, and enriching Visayan, Art Culture and History through various projects like Artabang, an art auction to charity, Visayan Music Awards, a Visayan songwriting competition, Binibining Cebu and Baladhay Music Festival, among others.

The Foundation has been assisting the rehabilitation of communities in various areas such as the P2-million donation to Aboitiz Foundation Inc. for Northern Cebu, which was devastated by typhoon Yolanda; P1-million to the Roof Relief Project of Gawad Kalinga for Ormoc City that was affected by the earthquake and other areas affected by calamities. 

MCIA implements ‘One Health Pass’ for arriving international passengers

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – The Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) begins to implement the One Health Pass (OHP) for arriving international passengers here in compliance with the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Resolution No. 135 dated August 26, 2021.

In a media advisory, MCIA enjoined all international arriving passengers to Cebu must register for a (OHP) account via https://onehealthpass.com.ph/ effective November 26, 2021, 00:00H.

The current MCIA Passenger Arrival Registration Form shall no longer be in use beginning November 25, 2021, 23:59H.

Passengers arriving on November 26 and 27, 2021 must register for the OHP account and accomplish the electronic Health Declaration Checklist (eHDC) at least a day before their scheduled departure.

For passengers arriving after November 27, register for an OHP account at least three (3) days prior to your scheduled departure.

Passengers are reminded to ensure completion and compliance with the OHP procedure to avoid being denied boarding. To know more about the arrival procedures using the One Health Pass (OHP), visit https://bit.ly/MCIAOHP.

Meanwhile, the use of face shield at Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) shall no longer be required, until further notice.

This is in accordance with the Memorandum from the Executive Secretary issued on November 15, 2021, IATF Resolution No. 148-D, s.2021, and the Memorandum from the MCIAA Office of the General Manager issued on November 18, 2021.

This shall apply to all passengers, airport employees, and stakeholders whenever within MCIA premises.

With reference to the said memoranda and resolution, the use of face shield in public places shall be: Voluntary for areas under Alert Levels 1, 2, and 3; Discretionary for areas under Alert Level 4; and Mandatory for areas under Alert Level 5.

From November 15 to 30, 2021, the local governments of Cebu Province, Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City, and Mandaue City are under Alert Level 2, subject to IATF guidelines and protocols.

Cebu Design Week mounts 1St Visayas Art Fair on Nov 25 to 28

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – The First Visayas Art Fair kicks of today, November 25 which gathers the creatives from the three Visayas regions and the National Capital Region at Montebello Garden Hotel in Cebu City, initiated by the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) with the Cebu Design Week Inc.(CDWI), Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV), Sacred Heart School for Boys Batch 1985 Foundation, and the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation. (CFIF).

The 1^st Visayas Art Fair kicks off with the launching of two landmark multi-sectoral projects for Cebu UNESCO City of Design: The Creative City Playbook and the Design Cebu Gateway on November 25 and the rest of the events continues until November 28 featuring diverse set of participants and artisanal makers to celebrate the creativity and craftsmanship of the Visayas Region.

The Creative City Playbook by Thames International Business School is a toolkit that can be used by localities to use creativity for socio-economic development.  It is a 9-point document that outlines the core tenets and intents of the Philippine Creative Cities Network that aims to nurture and leverage the country's creative industries to drive inclusive, innovative, and sustainable growth in the Philippines.

The Design Cebu Gateway, a project of the UNESCO City of Design and Cebu Creative Network, is a repository of what Cebu, a UNESCO City of Design, has to offer.

The Sacred Heart School-Jesuits Batch 85 will again hold the ArTabang 4: Silent Auction. ArTabang is an art auction to benefit various disaster relief efforts and art organizations all over the Philippines. The bidding starts on November 25 at 6 pm and ends on November 26 at 9 pm.

The next three days, from November 26 to 28, will be open to the public and will be full of various activities.

These activities include the Art Fair Exhibition--the main event of the fair, the all-women exhibition 'By No Means,' Tito Cuevas In Bold Strokes, an exhibition by the father of abstract expressionism in Cebu, and the Makers' Pop-Up Market that will showcase art and design in various forms.

 The Kalibutan Project of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-7) is supported by the Design Center of the Philippines will also join the fair.  The project is the 2021 version of the One Town, One Product Program (OTOP) in Central Visayas with the participation of a select group of product and communication designers. It is an initiative to address specific problems that MSMEs are facing during this pandemic.

Another special activity is the launching of the “I Love Filipino Design Activity Book” on November 26. The activity book features works from 19 prestigious names in the Philippine design industry such as Happy Garaje, Kenneth Cobonpue, Vito Selma, and Debbie Palao.

The book will be sold after the launching. It is a project spearheaded by the CDW Over-All Chairperson, Maria Luisa Booth. This passion project is CDW's take to make Filipino design more interactive and approachable to everyone.

The book will showcase the Philippines’ wide array of unique pieces of functional designs, paintings, and things that we see in our day-to-day lives. The book's mission is to spread awareness and appreciation of our culture and the design and work that comes behind it, Booth said.

Multi-awarded designer and artist Kenneth Cobonpue will put up his first immersive light installation Curio starting on November 26 while Chocolate Queen Raquel Toquero-Choa of the Chocolate Chamber will have several sessions to showcase how cacao can be transformed into various products.

 A fashion show will also be staged on Friday with the Cebu Wear Fashion Show to feature Miss Cebu candidates and celebrate Hablon, the woven fabric of Cebu as seen and felt in the designs by Dexter Alazas.

Diverse live open-air performances in the forms of acting and musical numbers will also be featured during the fair.  Art talks, art competitions and demonstrations will also be done all over the venue, as well as special participation from the Jose Joya Arts Awardees and professors of UP-Cebu.

The fair will also feature several special settings from small to larger-than-life-sized sculptures, crochet bombing of the beautiful trees in Montebello, among others.

All guests, exhibitors, and staff must be vaccinated. Non-vaccinated individuals will have to pay and undergo a COVID-19 antigen test onsite and must receive a negative result.

The influx of people will be limited, and the capacity will be based on the regulations of the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) that will be implemented during the time.

Guests will be charged P100 for regular admission and P50 for students. There will also be a 3-day pass promo of ₱250. Tickets can be bought on this link: Visayas Art Fair Tickets

Guests who are 15 years old and below must be accompanied by a fully vaccinated adult. (Photos: CDW FB/Google Images)