Free services were also offered such as blood pressure monitoring, diabetes screening, ferrous sulphate supplementation, which were offered by the City Health Office; family planning services by the Provincial Department of Health (DOH); as well as free services offered by TESDA, Philippine Red Cross – Catbalogan City, Western Samar Chapter, Social Security System, and other government agencies.

An oath-taking among members of the Local Council of Women was also conducted during the said congress led by no less than City Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan, who is a strong advocate of women empowerment.

Mayor Step encouraged everyone especially fellow women to be strong partners, not just of their respective families but of the community as well further emphasizing the important role that women play in our society.

She further emphasized that this activity was part of her commitment to Catbaloganons of bringing in closer the social services that the local government is mandated to deliver to all people through her “City Hall at your Doorstep” program.

(Photos by Roldz Larios; Article by Ador Hurtado)

#catbalogancity #NWMC #womensmonth #gad #stepforwardcatbalogan#captivatingcatbalogan #kasugbongkatbalogan

Before giving out buntis kits that contained essential items for mothers, Mayor Step strongly encouraged the mothers to avail of the free maternal services being offered at the City Health Office, which banners one of her pillars of development dubbed as “Serbisyo panlawas papakusgon”.

Attendees of the said congress were also able to avail of free manicure, pedicure, massage and haircut courtesy of TESDA Samar; free seedlings were also distributed by the City Agriculture’s Office; free negosyo assistance service courtesy of DTI.Samar; live birth registration through the City Civil Registrar’s Office; orientation on prenatal services, expanded program on immunization and postnatal services by the City Health Office; and an orientation on responsible parenthood and family planning courtesy of the City Population Office.

Anchored on this year’s Women’s Month celebration, the theme “We Make Change Work for Women” highlights the empowerment of women as active contributors to and claimholders of development as well as anchored on the commitment of “Malasakit at Pagbabago” or True Compassion and Real Change.

(Photos by Roldan John Larios and Bambie Espino; Article by Ador Hurtado)

#catbalogancity #NWMC #womensmonth #GAD #captivatingcatbalogan#kasugbongkalibutan #stepforwardcatbalogan

Presidential Proclamation No. 227 series of 1988 provides for the observance of the month of March as Women’s Role in History Month; RA 6949 series of 1990 declares March 8 of every year as National Women’s Day; and Presidential Proclamation No. 224 series of 1988 declares the first week of March of each year as Women’s Week.

#catbalogancity #NWMC #womensmonth #gad #captivatingcatbalogan#kasugbongkatbalogan #stepforwardcatbalogan

This also form part of the thrust of City Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan of bringing the government services to the people through her “City Hall at your Doorstep” program, a more accessible and available local government.

(Photo and Article by Ador Hurtado)

#catbalogancity #gad #gadfps #buntiscongress #women#womenmakechange #stepforwardcatbalogan #captivatingcatbalogan#kasugbongkatbalogan #womensmonth2018 #womensmonth

Usec Cui revealed that in order for Catbalogan airport to be able to accommodate bigger airplanes and more destinations, it must be able to extend its existing 1.2 km airstrip length to 1.5 km and for this, the national government is ready to fund this infrastructure project.

Air Juan’s President, Mr. John Gutierrez further assured their commitment of bringing in more flights and other destinations within their coverage in order to create new and memorable leisure experiences for Filipinos and visitors to our country believing that Catbalogan has the great potential being Samar island’s main capital.

Catbalogan City is their first destination in the island of Samar, following after the opening of Biliran and Maasin routes in 2017 and now also connecting to Ormoc City all bound for Cebu.

The Provincial Government of Samar represented by Board Member Nancy Rosales extended its full support of Governor Sharee Ann Tan to the airport’s operationalization, which complements its recently-held national lunching of Spark Samar tourism campaign that is geared towards bringing in more tourists and investors to our beautiful island thereby contributing to socio-economic development.

Catbalogan Buri Airport is situated at Buri Island, some 6km away from the downtown area and is home to 3 barangays, namely: Barangays Estaka, Cabugawan and San Roque comprising roughly more than 2,000 population total.

Buri Island is positioned as an ecotourism destination of Catbalogan City under its Sustainable Tourism and Ecological Protection program of both the Offices of City Tourism, Culture, Arts and Information Office and the Environment and Natural Resources.

(Photos by Paulus Aragon; Article by Ador Hurtado)

#catbalogancity #airjuan #maidenflight #buriairport #buriisland #teamtourism#captivatingcatbalogan #kauswagkatbalogan #kasugbongkatbalogan

(Photos by Oscar delos Reyes, Article by Roldan Jon Larios)

#HealthyCatbalogan #BloodDonationDrive #SerbisyoPanlawas

Ms. Libres who won as 1st Runner-Up in the 2018 Sinulog Festival Queen Competition also bagged the “Best in Solo Performance” and the “Best in Group Presentation” awards.

Mr. dela Cruz who personally handed the trophy, sash and an additional cash prize to Ms. Libres extended its sincerest apology on behalf of Sinulog Foundation Inc. to Catbalogan City for the mishap and even brought the actual tabulation sheets of the said competition as proof of the final results.

It was also revealed that a separate press release will be published by the Foundation to rectify the said mistake.

City Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan warmly welcomed the gesture of the Foundation to correct the mistake and somehow eliminate all doubts regarding the said competition and further assured the support of Catbalogan City through Tribu Katbalaugan in future competitions.

City Tourism, Culture, Arts and Information Officer, Mr. Ador Hurtado who was the Contingent Coordinator during this year’s participation to Sinulog Festival shared that Tribu Katbalaugan may not be joining in 2019 not because of the recent mishap but due to its plan of participating an international cultural festival happening soon.

Catbalogan City won 1st Runner-Up in the Street Dancing competition and a 2nd Runner-Up finish in the Ritual Dance competition under the Free Interpretation (FI) category during this year’s Sinulog Festival, which was its fourth year in-a-row participation to one of the country’s grandest festival.

It was earlier announced that Catbalogan will be taking a hiatus in the forthcoming Sinulog in order to reflect, rediscover and perhaps to rebrand Tribu Katbalaugan — Catbalogan’s official festival contingent.

(Photos by Blendz Tuazon; Article by Ador Hurtado)

#catbalogancity #sinulog2018 #festivalqueen #festivalcostume#captivatingcatbalogan #stepforwardcatbalogan #aatocatbalogan

The purpose of the two-day travel fair was to generate more awareness of Samar Province and in turn generate more tourist arrivals and investments while protecting the natural resources of the island.

Catbalogan City being the provincial capital of Samar, positions as the jump-off point of all destinations of the program having the most number of tourism establishments like hotels and restaurants while serving as the economic center with the most number of banks, money remittances and others.

Because the spark was ignited, you will indeed experience the captivating fun that can only be found in Catbalogan!

(Photos by Ador Hurtado, Roldan Larios, Blendz Tuazon & Dennis Cosmod; Article by Ador Hurtado)

#sparksamar #summersasamar #samanasasamar #sparksamarlaunch#smmegamall #catbalogancity #captivatingcatbalogan