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Bacolod City, PhilippinesWednesday, August 29, 2012
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Four lawyers to be awarded
today for services to Church

Four lawyers will be conferred the St. Thomas More Award by Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra, at 5:30 p.m. today at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City, a press release from the diocese said.

The awards will be conferred on Mitchelle Abella, Henrietta Vinco, the late Judge Henry Arles and the late Ombudsman Juan Hagad (posthumous) in gratitude for their service to the Diocese during the Eucharistic celebration.

Abella and Vinco served as legal counsels for the Diocese of Bacolod, Arles as legal counsel of the Diocesan Social Action Center, and Hagad was known for his service to the Diocese, the press release also said.

The award is a Diocesan honor accorded to lawyers in recognition of their services to the Church, especially on its advocacies, like the promotion of social justice, defense of human life and rights, protection of the environment, and the promotion of genuine peace based on justice.

It is named after the patron saint of lawyers, who died a martyr for the faith rather than succumb to the threats and enticements of the powerful, the press release also said.

The project was initiated by Navarra in 2005, with lawyer Francisco Cruz, counsel of the Diocesan Social Action Center as first recipient, the press release added.*

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Negrense agriculture awardee
promotes organic farming

Agriculture is business. Agriculture is the way to the future. Agriculture is life.

This is what 22-year-old Louie John Gelluagan from Hinoba-an town, Negros Occidental, said molded him when he decided to become a farmer.

Louie recalled that it was not his dream to become a farmer. He wanted to be an engineer and put up his own business. But he became a farmer when his aunt sponsored his college education at the Negros State College of Agriculture and he took up Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, major in Crop Science.

In 2008, at the age of 17, Louie started to manage their three-hectare land and started to convert his conventional agriculture practices to organic farming, and admitted that the shifting practices decreased their rice production from 80 bags per hectare to 60 bags.

But after a year, he was able to recover and started producing 80 bags of organic rice per hectare, he said.

“When you campaign for organic farming, you do not do it by information dissemination alone, you have to do it yourself and show it that it really works, and it works for us,” Louie said.

In 2005, the governors of Negros Occidental, the late Joseph Marañon, and Negros Oriental George Arnaiz signed a memorandum of agreement making the Negros Island the organic food bowl of Asia. The signing was witnessed by former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Tanjay City.

Negros Occidental has started the organic movement before Republic Act 10068 or the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 was passed into law in 2010. The province also passed a local ordinance banning the entry of the g enetically-modified organisms particularly on seedlings for GMO crops.

Three years later, Louie was one of the participants of the Asia Organic Farmers' Association Organic Village, sponsored by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist and from then on, he was the representative of his town in trainings on organic agriculture until today.

Early this year, Louie created his organic concoction production, which he called the “Organic Foliar Production.” He said the concoction is made based on the needs and experiences of farmers in organic rice farming.

He called it the “Patambok Foliar Fertilizer” and “Pahinog Foliar Fertilizer”. ‘Patambok' means to fatten and ‘pahinog' means to ripen.

He is now using his homemade fertilizers on his farm and once perfected, the 4H Club of Negros Occidental will fund its production to start a business.

Though he cannot yet reveal the materials and ingredients he is using, he said he hopes that when the technology is completed, it will help the farmers.

Louie has also started to become a businessman.

Organic farming has taught him a lot of things, he said. “It is not just about producing healthy food but it also takes care of the environment and having a productive and viable business,” he said.

Louie is the 2012 Outstanding Farmer of Negros Occidental. He is also the Department of Agriculture Gawad Saka Award 2012 Outstanding Young Farmer for Region VI, and he has been nominated for the DA Gawad Saka Award 2012 Outstanding Young Farmer of the Philippines.

Louie appealed to all youths not to look down on farmers and what they do because, if not for them, people will starve as agriculture is the future of the Philippines.*LTG

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Journalism seminar set

A campus journalism seminar-workshop for high school staffers, on the theme “Convergence Journalism”, will be conducted by the Philippine Information Agency from September 4 to 6 at the Grand Regal Hotel in Bacolod City.

Participants will be instructed on the concepts of development journalism and other forms of writing, hone their skills in writing, reporting and editorial management skills, know the concepts of convergence and online journalism, and apply them in news and information efficiently, a press release from the PIA said.

Modules will include the principles of development communication, reform agenda of the Aquino administration, emerging journalism forms, the multi-lingual campus paper, news and features, opinion editorial articles, sports writing, photojournalism, copy editing/headlining, page design, social media: ethics and responsibility, online journalism/smart journ.ph, the press release said.

A registration fee of P1,500 will be collected from each participant, who are either editors, writers or advisers, who have not yet attended similar seminars in the past. A laptop is required for each publication on the third day, and a camera is needed for the photography session, the press release also said.

Interested schools may contact the PIA at 435-3933, 0920-9459381 or email piabacolod@yahoo.com for reservation or more details, the press release added.*

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People & Events
Four lawyers to be awarded today for services to Church
Negrense agriculture awardee promotes organic farming
Journalism seminar set

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