Gov’t ups rice target under action plan

DAVAO CITY -- The Department of Agriculture has increased its rice production target to 17.3 metric tons this year from last year’s 16.9 MT as it implements its “Rice Action Plan,” a top agriculture official said on Tuesday.

Assistant Secretary Salvador Salacup said the plan was also aimed at reducing the country’s dependence on rice imports, distributing fertilizers and seeds, and constructing more agriculture-related infrastructure and post-harvest facilities.

Farmers can also avail themselves of loans, extension services and education under the program, he said. Rizalene P. Acac, Inquirer Mindanao

Cebu Pacific to start Cebu-Siargao flights

Cebu Pacific will fly from Cebu to Mindanao’s surfing capital of Siargao Island starting March.

“This will make Cebu Pacific the first commercial airline to fly to Siargao,” RG Orense, Cebu Pacific communications officer, told reporters in Davao City.

This month, the company will also open direct flights from Cebu to Cotabato and from Manila to Catarman and Calbayog City in Samar, Virac in Catanduanes, and Cauayan in Isabela.

A Manila-Siargao flight is also being finalized, Orense said. The airline will start flying to Siargao from Cebu about two months before the expected influx of tourists for the annual surfing festival. Jeffrey M. Tupas, Inquirer Mindanao

Tornado damages 30 houses, school, farms

DAVAO DEL SUR --At least 30 houses, a high school building and rice fields were damaged when strong winds hit two villages in Magsaysay town late Sunday afternoon.

Town police chief Inspector Editho Mandi said the Municipal Disaster Coordinating Council believed that it was a tornado that hit Barangays Poblacion and New Ilocos.

Mandi said that the strong wind also uprooted palay on rice fields. Police said no one was hurt. Orlando B. Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao

Shariff Kabunsuan employees optimistic

COTABATO CITY -- Employees of the defunct Shariff Kabunsuan province continue to report for work and are optimistic that the Supreme Court will reverse its Jan. 9 decision that nullified the creation of the province.

Even the decision of Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to appoint officers-in-charge for various elective posts in the mother province of Maguindanao has failed to deter Shariff Kabunsuan employees.

In appointing OICs, Ampatuan said the elective officials of Maguindanao, led by his father Datu Andal Sr., lost their mandate because they were not voted into office by Shariff Kabunsuan residents, who were reverted to the jurisdiction of Maguindanao. Edwin O. Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao