DAILY STAR: Star Life

1st Bacolod-Korea Fest
launching tomorrow

It’s all systems go for the first Bacolod-Korea Friendship Festival, to be celebrated on Friday at the Bacolod City Government Center, a press release from City Hall said.

Mayor Monico Puentevella said Bacolod is ready to celebrate the first of its kind, not only in the city, but in the Philippines, the press release said.

“This is more than another festival for us to enjoy. This is also a celebration of friendship and a common pledge to promote two cities,” Puentevella said.

“They (Koreans) are one of the reasons why our economy is booming. They come here to study and in return, we make them feel at home,” he added while recalling the sisterhood agreement he and Daegu Metropolitan City Mayor Kang Seong-Ho signed last October 17, 2013, the press release said.

Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez, meanwhile, will be in the city in time for the festival and has accepted the invitation of Puentevella to join him for dinner, the press release said.

Romualdez was initially invited by a city-based religious group and should grace their occasion before his engagement with Puentevella, it also said.

Korean Embassy Counselor for Culture and Public Relations and Korean Culture Center Director Oh Choong Suk will also arrive in Bacolod as the festival’s guest of honor following his confirmation to the invite sent by Puentevella last August 7, the press release said.

The whole day event will kick off with an opening ceremony at 10 a.m., ribbon cutting and a Korean Cook Fest to indulge the city’s residents with traditional and authentic Korean cuisine, it added.

A Taekwondo clinic is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. and a “Psy Alike” and K-Pop dance competition starting 4 p.m.

The festival is open to the public, the press release added.

Feeding drive
for 3,852 starts

A Supplemental Feeding Program for 3,852 children simultaneously started Monday in 45 schools in Negros Island and Bicol Region using the Negrense Volunteers for Change MINGO meals.

Covered by the program are 24 schools in Bicol and 21 in Negros Island, NVC president Millie Kilayko said yesterday.

MINGO is an instant mix of rice, mongo and moringa (malunggay), which are rich in vitamins, potassium and calcium,she said.

The feeding of the 3,852 children was made possible by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, Asian Development Bank and theAklat Gabay Aruga Tungo sa Pag-angat at Pag-asaFoundation, Kilayko said.

Karin Schelzig of the Asian Development Bank visited the kindergarten pupils in Guinpanaad Elementary School, Moises Padilla in Negros Occidental, one of the 45 schools covered by themassive feeding program during the launch Monday.

The NVC Nutritional Supplemental Feeding Program for Kindergarten will be conducted daily for at least six months for the kindergarten pupils in AGAPP Silid Pangarap classrooms built on a grant given by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, under the supervision of the ADB, Kilayko said.

The objective of the grant is to enhance access to quality early childhood education in the poorest areas of the country, she said.

Its three components are building Silid Pangarap classrooms in Negros Island and Bicol Region, training the teachers of the beneficiary schools in early childhood education and development, and providing the supplemental feeding program, Kilayko said.

The supplemental feeding is providing food in addition to regular meals to cover nutritional deficiencies in their normal diet, Joy Jarabelo, NVC trustee in charge of its nutrition program, said.

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute-Department of Science and Technology studies showed that in the 6th Nutrition Survey of 2003, three out of 10 school age children, or 30 percent aged 6-10 years old, are undernourished, she noted.

Studies have also showed that the worst-off regions are Eastern Visayas, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Western Visayas, and Bicol, she added.

The objective of the feeding program is to improve general health, and rehabilitate the undernourished, Jarabelo said.*CPG