PICPA meet – a boost to Negros tourism

By the weekend, some 400 Lions members from all over the Visayas will descend on Bacolod. The lure – the 2nd Cabinet meeting under Lions District 301-B Governor Nestor Chua.

As of last count, chairman Celia Ferrer of the Council of Lions Club presidents of Negros, projected more than 400 participants in the meet based on advanced bookings and reports from various club presidents from Panay, Cebu and other Visayan areas.

What perked up interest was the still unconfirmed report that Rep. Jules Ledesma (1st District, Neg. Occ.) had been invited to grace the Governor’s Ball Sunday. Even jaded Negrenses were agog over the prospects that Ledesma may bring along Assunta da Rossi whom he is scheduled to marry this December as of the latest announcement.

But the major boost of Negros Occidental’s tourism industry is the forthcoming Nov. 26-29 56th Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants national convention in Bacolod.

The PICPA convention national chairperson Wilhelmina Gonzales expects a record crowd of 2,000 accountants from all over the country.

The executive committee, chaired by former PICPA president Percival Salado, disclosed that the opening plenary session will be held at the Panaad Stadium with Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho as keynote speaker. Camacho’s wife, Kim, is from Bacolod. She is the daughter of Negros del Norte Planters’ Association president Arsenio Acuna.

Former Education Secretary Raul Roco will be the luncheon speaker at the Bacolod Convention Plaza Hotel on Nov. 28.

There will be the presentation of Negrense fiestas to highlights the opening rites on Nov. 27. This will be followed by a dinner and the Governor’ Fellowship Ball.

Both city government under Mayor Luzviminda Valdez and the provincial government headed by Governor Joseph Maranon have tagged tourism as the priority project. This year, Bacolod has hosted a series of conventions and regional conferences.

The spadework for the PICPA meet was handled by the Gonzales-led group. the executive committee assisted her and vice chairman, Belma Pestano-Luna, Godofredo San Jose Jr., Merlinda Ordoyo, and auditor Attila Granada.

Mabel Ponferada is the secretary with Jane Lboso as assistant secretary. There is also committee chair on publication Evelyn Sarabia.

Among the resource persons are UE vice president Baltazar Endriga, SEC Commissioner Enrique Martinez, Bankers Association of the Philippines executive director Leonilo Coronel, Accounting Standard Council chair Carlos Alinoada, vice chair David Balangue of the Sycip, Gorres, Velayo and Company.

The others include chair Antonieta Fortuna-lbe of the Professional Regulation Commission, and deputy BIR Commissioner Estelita Aguirre.

A trove of masteral and doctorate grads

Negros Occidental, specifically the Fourth District, may soon have the biggest catch of public school teachers holding masteral and doctorate degrees.

November 24 will be a red-letter day for the University of St. La Salle where the graduation rites for 940 masteral and doctorate candidates under the F.R.E.E. will be conferred their degrees by USLS president Bro. Gus Boquer, F.S.C.

Of the total, 830 will complete their MA in Teaching, while 64 are graduating with MA in Educational Management. Forty-five others will graduate with doctoral degrees.

Two graduating mentors are school administrators, principals and teachers of the Fourth District of the province.

FREE was made possible with a P16.174 million scholarship grant from the family of former Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. The program was jointly launched with the USLS, the Commission on Higher Education, with USLA vice president Dr. Elsie Coscolluela as project director.

Cojuangco will be he commencement speaker. Rep. Carlos Cojuangco will deliver the message from the family grantors.

Dr. Coscolluela will present the academic awards, but Mrs. Gretchen Cojuangco will handle the conferment of honors.

FREE may be a Negros first. For the mentors, a boost to their credentials for American schools, that story could also bring into Negros at horde of talent scouts offering overseas placements.

Already, there are some 100 physicians, including several from Panay, who are training up nursing at the West Negros College (WNC). Their primary intention is to find placement abroad with the heavy recruitment of the nurses by both the United States and several European countries, notably the United Kingdom.

Earlier last year, several Florida-based schools dispatched their own recruiters to the Philippines to recruit science and match teachers, further depleting the country’s cadre of competent mentors.

Honors for Polytechnic alumni

Another positive report was the announcement by the Central Visayas Polytechnic College of Negros Occidental that it is awarding four outstanding alumni on December 3 during the school’s Diamond Jubilee celebration.

The four are Amparo Maginsay, Eduardo Sendiong, Francisco Molas and Eduardo Ajunting.

Maginsay is cited for public service having served as elected official in Siquijor and an active leader of women’s organizations since 1982.

Sendiong, on the other hand, established in 1977 the Dumaguete Asian printer that eventually became the biggest printing press in Dumaguete City.

Molas, is the senior manager of Cannery Operations of the Del Monte Philippines and was once production supervisor of pine operations of the farm in Bukidnon.

Ajunting is the proprietor of the Nine Four International Manufacturing, a firm that deals on lumber and gift items. He also is general manager of a company which manufactures woodcraft and Philippine handicrafts.

Changing of the guards

Newly-promoted Brig. Gen. Alphonsus Crucero received a distinguished service star medal from Maj. Gen. Reynaldo Alcasid Tuesday during the turnover of command of the 303rd Infantry Brigade to Col. Victor Ibrado, a Negrense from Talisay City.

But the starting news, however, was the announcement that the two companies of Scout Rangers are being brought into Negros island in lieu of the 78th Infantry Battalion.

Third Division commander Maj. Gen. Alcasid, however, said the government remains hopeful that the stalled peace talks between the National Democratic Front and the government will resume soon.