Mayor Jed Patrick E. Mabilog received from Sia the ceremonial key in a simple rite at the newly-built educational structure at Brgy. San Pedro in Molo district.

Mabilog and Sia toured the whole building to check its preparedness and finalize all the necessary facilities.

Sia gave the gift of knowledge and learning to the Ilonggos because “we believe that education is the best way to fight poverty.”

Mabilog said the City Government is very grateful to Sia for the establishment of a legacy project that will greatly help and benefit the Ilonggos.

“Our dream of a city community college has been realized and will be utilized starting school year 2012 when classes open in June,” the mayor said.

The ICCC is set for a grand launching on June 14 to be witnessed by its pioneer students. The first day of classes is scheduled on June 13.

The green building is equipped with school administration offices, 17 classrooms, 150-seater library, audio-visual room, and 50-seater computer laboratory.

Sia also donated 50 desk chairs per room, teacher’s desk, whiteboard and four electric fans per room.

An elevator will also be installed inside the building soon.

Another private donor has pledged for the construction of a medical and dental clinic within the ICCC compound.

The ICCC will accept some 300 poor but deserving high school graduates who are bonafide city residents.

It will offer two courses including Bachelor of Science in Travel Management and Bachelor of Science in Office Administration.

The ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital is a “hospital with wings” that brings together dedicated eye care professionals and aviators to give the gift of sight to developing countries around the world.

Now on its 30th year, ORBIS circles the globe to train eye care professionals and treat underserved patients in developing countries.

ORBIS destinations for 2012 kicks off in Iloilo.

Onboard the refurbished DC-10 jet aircraft, local doctors, nurses and technicians work alongside ORBIS’s international medical team to exchange knowledge and improve skills.

The globe-trotting mobile teaching hospital is a unique tool in the fight against preventable blindness in developing countries.

In the 48-seat classroom at the front of the plane, doctors gather for lectures, discussions and live broadcasts of surgical procedures being performed nearby in the flying hospital operating room.

If needed, surgeries can also be broadcast to an additional classroom outside the aircraft, for instance, at a nearby hospital.

Large numbers of trainees observe the surgeries and ask questions of the operating surgeons via a two-way audio-visual system.

Videos and follow-up are part of training. 

Upon the flying hospital’s departure, videos of the surgical demonstrations are left with local institutions to be used in further training.

As part of ORBIS’s commitment to ongoing quality care, an ORBIS ophthalmologist returns to the host country within two months of each program to examine patients and review cases with the local doctors.

Since its first program in 1982, ORBIS has traveled to more than 89 countries and saved the sight of millions of people.

By training local doctors and eye care workers, who in turn teach their colleagues, ORBIS is strengthening the capabilities of local health care communities in blindness prevention and treatment. (www.orbis.org)

Some 350 employment opportunities are available for job applicants through the Iloilo City Public Employment Service Office (PESO).

Mayor Jed Patrick E. Mabilog encouraged Ilonggos to take the great opportunity to find stable jobs.

PESO manager Alan Zaldivar said applicants should bring with them necessary papers such as resume, passport, certificate of employment and certificate of trainings when they apply at PESO, fifth floor of New City Hall, Plaza Libertad.

Several recruitment agencies have coordinated with PESO to hire jobseekers.

Some 200 female nurses are needed for Jordan and Saudi Arabia for applicants with at least 6-month training or work experience even if they are still fresh graduates and have not passed the board exam, Zaldivar said.

Some 100 waitresses, service crew and cashiers are needed for United Arab Emirates for female applicants with at least 6-month training or work experience and ages 23-28 and 5’2” in height during an interview at PESO on March 2.

At least 50 cooks are also needed for Royal Carribean Cruise ship for applicants with at least 6-month training or work experience.

“Recruitment agencies prefer Ilonggos because they are friendly, competitive and have high English proficiency skills. They are happy with the performance of our workers,” Zaldivar stressed.

He added that the recruitment agencies offer high salary for qualified and skilled workers.

PESO also set available jobs for Italy and Dubai to be offered next month.

The metropolis has been nominated along with 17 Philippine urban centers listed from among the 1,220 cities from 220 countries worldwide.

Mayor Jed Patrick E. Mabilog encouraged Ilonggos to cooperate and work together to help achieve the vision of becoming a premier by 2015.

The new campaign will become a catalyst for discussing everything from urban planning to metropolitan governance, from tourism to architecture amid mass urbanization worldwide, said Bernard Weber, founder and president of New 7 Wonders on its website www.n7w.com.

Friends, fans and followers can know more about Iloilo City on its official website www.iloilocity.gov.ph, Facebook pages Iloilo City Government and Iloilo City for New7Wonders Cities, and Twitter account iloilocitygov.

Online users could now choose the 7 cities they want to be included in the next phase.

They just have to check out http://cities.new7wonders.com/form/nominate/en and nominate Iloilo City and six other urban centers, enter the characters shown in the image, their email address and clicks submit to confirm their nominations.

Iloilo City is listed in “I-cities” alphabetically in the nomination. The qualification phase runs March 7 – Nov. 23 with more than 300 cities or one per country plus the Top 77 voted.

The shortlist of 28 official finalist candidates will be known Nov. 23 – Dec. 6. The finalist phases of Top 21, then Top 14 and down to final Top 7 are set Dec, 7, 2012 – Dec. 6, 2013.

The official New7Wonders Cities voted by hundreds of millions of people from around the world will be announced Dec. 7, 2013.

The New7Wonders Cities is the third campaign organized by N7W, following the man-made new wonders of the world and the new wonders of nature where the Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) was already included.

Pope Benedict XVI announced Calungsod’s canonization or sainthood recognition and of six others  on October 21, 2012 in Vatican City, Italy. 

Coupled with Ilonggo ingenuity in music an event was coined to further boost Iloilo Paraw Regatta Festival’s claim of being a truly “Sports Tourism Event in the Philippines.”

Thus the “SINAMBA” sa Paraw Regatta Mardi Gras Competition was born seven years ago to show the world that Ilonggos could be the graceful top-rated and world class dancers & musicians when it comes to “Dance Sport.”

“Sinamba” is coined from SINaot kag inAMBA. It is the signature activity, the top crowd drawer of the sailing event.  It is distinct, indigenous, and endemic to the Iloilo Paraw Regatta!

The competition starts Feb. 16 with a Torch Parade around the main street of the city to announce the coming of the regatta. Various competing “Grupos” in their most colorful and ingenious Mardi Gras night costumes dance in the streets to the live music of the “Musikeros” decked on top of beautifully lighted and decorated floats highlighted by a “Dance Sport” competition presentation.

Various musical and artistic groups have appreciated this special event of the festival and making it as a good venue for their musical and other varied artistic expressions.

Now on its 8^th year as a Special Event of the Festival, it has continuously developed into another visual tourism spectacle of Iloilo City.

“Sinamba” is purely a statement of Ilonggo excellence in the field of “Dance Sport.”

Originally set against a beach backdrop, the gaiety in “samba” beat befitting of a beach ambiance, was sought to invade the city streets for the last seven years in an attempt to make the “SINAMBA” sa Paraw Regatta Mardi Gras a vehicle for city-wide awareness, appreciation and participation of the Iloilo Paraw Regatta Festival as another great and colorful Iloilo City Festival which is entirely different from the other festivals of the city.

This event evolved several years ago when during the “bespiras” or the eve of the Paraw Competition, participating “tripulantes” or boat men from all over Panay, Negros and Guimaras Islands, together with visual artists painting the “layags” or sails of the “paraws” and regatta aficionados would gather along the shores of Villa Beach to drink, dance and enjoy the samba music of various local musicians set around several bonfires along the beach while eagerly awaiting and anticipating the arrival in the early dawn of the various “paraws” that will participate in the Big Regatta Day.

Looking back further, “SINAMBA” sa “Paraw Regatta” is an Ilonggo Mardi Gras Celebration expressed in music and dance to usher the Main Paraw Sailing Competition or Regatta Feb. 19.

This event is neither religious nor cultural in nature. It is simply a celebration and an expression of the Ilonggos in appreciating their own talents and ingenuity in the field of arts and sports. Most of all it is simply celebrating the happy and festive Ilonggo traditions and way of life!

The Iloilo Paraw Regatta Festival was the 2009 Best Sports Tourism Event in the Philippines and 1^st Runner-up for the year 2011.

It was awarded as Best Sports Tourism Event mainly because it focuses on the excellence of the Ilonggos in the various fields of Sports as a vehicle for tourism attraction.

Highlighted by the sailing competition or the Regatta using the traditional “Paraws,” the festival also offers various big sports events such as Beach Volley Ball, Beach Football, Jet Ski competitions, Rowing, Paddling & Dragon Boat Races,  and even a Rapid Chess Tournament all done along the shoreline of Villa Beach! (Tres Solis)

(Photos from organizer Ronnie Gabalda)

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Mayor Jed Patrick E. Mabilog said the big event boosts the city’s growing reputation as an educational and research center and an ideal convention destination in the country.

Themed “Environmental Education for Adaptive Water Resource Management,” the three-day global convention brings together international and national environmental education experts and practitioners to present their work as technical papers or posters on their initiatives in managing water resources through relevant and innovative environmental education approaches.

The theme covers individual and institutional efforts on instruction, research, training and extension, and development works that mainly deal on reexamining how to manage freshwater and coastal and marine waters.

The global meeting is sponsored by the Environmental Education Network of the Philippines, Inc. (EENP) now Philippines Network of Educators on Environment (PNEE) and hosted by JBLFMU.

“In the global ecosystem, water performs a host of crucial, life-giving roles and has sustained the world’s human populations in complex interaction with the natural and social environment,” PNEE said in a statement.

“Today, every community is not spared from water-related problems or water crisis. Floods, water shortages, famine and droughts may seem to fit the notion of ‘natural disasters’ but in reality, these are the direct results of the ways and means we use and manage water,” it added.