Video: Dinagat Island

Backpacker paradise. Get it before it is gone! Simple accommodation from as little as usd $2 per night. This video features Dinagat Island situated between the islands of Leyte and Mindanao. A very laid back place to be! The video shows, a journey on a bangka boat from Surigao City to San Jose Island, a fishing village on San Jose Island and our accommodation on Dinagat Island. By Jim S. (LibjoLive.Com)

News: Spain Gives 5 Schools to Caraga

Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Jesli A. Lapus flew here recently to receive the ceremonial key for five newly-constructed two-room school buildings donated to the Caraga Region office of DepEd by the Spanish government through its Improvement of the Quality of Primary Education (IQPE) program.

The other donated school buildings, Lapus said, are located in Siargao and Dinagat Islands. (More) (LibjoLive.Com)

News: Libjo Town Completes 9 Sub-projects Under KALAHI-CIDSS

Hundreds of residents in Libjo, a coastal town in the province of Dinagat Islands rejoiced as nine of its community projects funded last year by the KALAHI-CIDSS Project were inaugurated on April 1, 2 and 3, 2009.

Said infrastructures consist of water system, high school buildings, drainage, health facilities, day care and some hundreds of linear meters of seawall which the residents claimed to be of utmost need in their barangays.

In all of his inauguration speeches delivered in the different recipient barangays, town mayor Lamberto Llamera, Jr. emphasized the stringent but effective processes of KALAHI-CIDSS. He said that through this "tedious" processes, residents who volunteered to work for the project learn and understand how the government worked for its development efforts.

"We have been used to the old system of implementing projects, we love to cut corners to make our projects quick," says Mayor Llamera in Surigaonon dialect. More...

News: ‘Super Region’ Projects to be Completed

Public works officials handling “super region" projects have been given orders to complete their projects by the end of the first quarter of next year.

....link to the complete report....

Mindanao Super Region, which includes the 89.80-km Dinagat Island Road Network (22.41% complete); 10.518-km Iligan City Circumferential Road 3 (1.43% complete); 10.766-km Dapitan-Dakak Road (45.58%); 172.72-km Zamboanga West Coast Road (22.25%); 2.36-km Panguil Bay Bridge (contract for the geotechnical investigation works is under process); 104.93-km Junction Awang-Upi-Lebak-Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao (civil works for contract packages 1 and 3 has just commenced and accomplishment is at 4.955 and 0.38%, respectively); 151.88-km Kapalong-Talaingod-Valencia Road, Bukidnon (48.85% complete), and the 89.27-km Hawilian-Salug-Sinakungan Road (80.77%).

News: New Mountain Rat Found

A NEW species of rat has been found on a mountain in the southern Philippines, the environment department said on Wednesday.

The Hamiguitan batomys, or hairy-tailed rat, is a yellow-brown rodent with a long furry tail. Weighing about 175 grams, it lives 950 metres above sea level in the dwarf mossy forests of Mount Hamiguitan on Mindanao island.

It was discovered in a joint US-Filipino expedition in 2006 that involved experts from the Chicago-based Field Museum of Natural History, the Filipino government agency said in a statement.

The Hamiguitan batomys is related to several other species found in central Mindanao, neighbouring Dinagat island and the main Philippine island of Luzon. But its natural habitat is an area of less than 10 square kilometres, the agency said. More ...

News: DPWH offers 1,424 jobs in Caraga

The Regional 13 office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH 13) in Northeastern Mindanao (Caraga Region) is set to open initial 1,424 job openings today, it was learned yesterday.

The job fair will be opened at the DPWH regional office here at 8 a.m. today and those applicants that will pass the criteria will be deployed in Agusan del Norte, Butuan City, Surigao del Sur and Dinagat Islands, it was also learned.

The DPWH 13 needs civil engineers, foremen, laboratory technicians, heavy equipment operators, masons, steelmen, welders, drivers, auto electricians, carpenters, surveyors and construction workers, it was gathered.

In the initial recruitment, at least 898 job openings are available for Agusan del Norte; 341 in Butuan City; 47 in Surigao del Sur and 138 in Dinagat Islands.

The next batch of job openings will be announced by the DPWH regional office soon.

The DPWH is fast-tracking this month the bidding of P60 billion worth of projects set for implementation during the first half of this year to accommodate more job openings, it was also learned. Read more...

News: Floods Damage P117 Million in Crops

Disaster officials estimated the damage on infrastructure in Libjo town in Dinagat Island at P2.1 million.

Figures from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional office here said at least 68,696 people were forced out of their homes when flashfloods hit 341 barangays in 34 towns and four cities in the region last week. More...

News: 106 Houses Swept Away by Landslides

Some 106 houses were totally destroyed in four provinces in Caraga Region after almost a week of continuous rains that caused swelling of rivers and loosening of the soil in mountainous areas all over the region.

A report from the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) at 9 a.m. today said the 106 houses were totally damaged while another 531 were partially destroyed in the municipalities of Cagdianao, Libjo, San Jose and Tubajon in Dinagat Islands province, Carmen, Jabonga, Nasipit, in the province of Agusan del Norte; Esperanza, Trento, Veruela, in Agusan del Sur; and Alegria and Surigao City, in Surigao del Norte. More...

News: One dead as Motorboat Capsizes

A woman died while her husband was successfully rescued when their motorboat capsized off the shores of Dinagat Islands early Monday morning, a police official said on Tuesday.

Veronica Pepoy, 52, drowned after big waves tipped off their motorboat off Sitio (sub-village) Janus, Barangay (village) Poblacion in Cagdianao town, said Chief Superintendent Jaime Milla, director of police regional office 13. More...

News: Caraga has Least Corrupt Officials

Sandiganbayan records showed public officials from the Caraga Region and the Western Visayas are the least corrupt in the country.

From 1979 to 2008 or a period of almost 30 years, only 41 cases were filed before the Sandiganbayan special anti-graft court against government officials from Caraga administrative region, which is composed of the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur; and the cities of Cabadbaran, Bayugan, Butuan, Surigao and Bislig. Read more...

News: Dinagat roads to development

Passing through the road of Dinagat Island from Cagdianao to Loreto gives Dinagatnons clues of the island's past and a vivid picture of its current status. It also gives us a glimpse of our future towards development, or perdition.

From the picturesque road of Cagdianao, to the welcome road of Dinagat, to the hilly road of San Jose, to the scenic road of Basilisa, to the Libjo road that dissect Paragua Forest, to the rustic road of Tubajon, and to the historic road of Loreto, Dinagatnons could see indicators of current endeavors towards local development.

New bridges, concreting & repairing of roads, and sprouting of public signboards are almost everywhere. Old roads are having a facelift, while new ones cut across uncharted terrains. It is just a matter of time when these roads will be totally paved with concrete. Read more...

Christmas Greetings from Here and Abroad!

To all Dinagat-non and Libjo-anon from Here and around the world Merry Christmas and Happy New year to all!

Throughout this year and next year and on these difficult times we wish you all safe and healthy.

We lost connection in Libjo :-( - that is the other thing we want to say. To all our local customers in Libjo we apologies we are temporarily closing our internet service until further notice. Though we will try to make you (LibjoLive! visitors) informed about what's happening in Libjo and around the Island. We hope you will still find this site informative and consider it our community online.

Thank you very much for all your continued support.

Nico


Please leave your greetings here.

KALAHI-CIDSS Bring Development to Libjo

Development has practically reached the barangay's of Libjo, Dinagat Island as the government through the Department of Social Welfare and Development's KALAHI-CIDSS Project has made all these possible.

Last September 2-3, 2008, DSWD Caraga Chief Mercedita P. Jabagat, Libjo Mayor Lamberto T. Llamera Jr. and the Barangay Officials together with Msgr. Ramon S. Cafe, conducted a series of Sub-Project Inauguration in four barangay's of Libjo.

KALAHI-CIDSS is the flagship anti-poverty project of the office of the President which has been implemented since 2003 and is said to culminate on June 2009.







DSWD Caraga Chief Mercedita P Jabagat, Libjo Mayor Lamberto T. Llamera Jr. and Reverend Cafe in one of the ceremony.










Sea Wall - Barangay Osmena

Water System - Barangay Dona Helen

Two Classroom Elementary Building

- Barangay Bayanihan

Day Care Center - Barangay Kanihaan

News: Dinagat Islands Gov Delivers Second State-of-Province Address

San Jose, Dinagat Islands (October 9) -- In her one hour and thirty minutes State of the Province Address (SOPA) yesterday, October 8 at the Aurelio Gym here, Gov. Jade B. Ecleo shared her story a year ago when she left Manila to accept the mandate given to her by the Dinagatnons to lead them to a better future.

"Our story is about obstacles hurdled, fears overcome, weaknesses converted into strengths, and confusion cleared by a common direction. It is a story of faith, and confusion cleared by a common direction. It is a story of faith, courage, commitment, and partnership. A story of people helping each other to transform current adversities to windows of opportunities."

She further added that with the birth of the youngest province of the country, the expectations of the people were mountain high. "But instead of cowering from fear of not able to deliver it, we dissected these expectations, set parameters, and placed the parts within a time frame. We built hopes and encourage community participation. We purposively placed key stakeholders on board, and created our vision." More...

News: Libjo mayor "loses" P2-M a year

Libjo Mayor Lamberto Llamera claimed that his administration is losing a sizable amount of P2 million a year as local cash counterpart for the KALAHI-CIDSS Project, a flagship anti-poverty project from the government implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

However, he affirmed that every amount is worth it since development is felt as various facilities are in the works at the different barangays in this mineral-rich town of the Province of Dinagat Islands.

"With the present economic problem which is widely felt even in other parts of the world, I think it is just wise to invest with projects like the KALAHI- CIDSS. If we only rely with our municipal IRA (internal revenue allotment), these sub-projects now would not have been possible," the town mayor said in during an inauguration ceremony conducted early this week. More ...

PPPP in Libjo

DSWD in collaboration with the Libjo Local Government Unit, launch and implements the Pangtawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (PPPP) which other countries may call the Conditional Cash Transfer. This program is headed by Caraga Regional Director Mercedita P. Jabagat as Chairman and Regional Coordinator Angelita P. Amista and is being represented by their Focal Person Ms. Wilma B. Geralla.
It is a Philippine Government funded program that provides the identified and selected poor family who meet certain conditions with a P500 pesos monthly cash grant with health and educational benefits to pursue the governments aim in reducing poverty.

It focuses on the children sector aged 0 to 14 , including pregnant women and also provides parents education and livelihood programs for them to be able to rear their kids to the right direction. You can visit www.dswd.gov.ph for more information.

Libjo Mayor's 53rd Birthday Celebration

The 53rd birthday celebration of Libjo's town mayor this August 1 was extended until the next day. Honored guests includes the executives of mining companies in Libjo, Board Member Ukem Ecleo, Vice Mayor Romeo Villarosa, Tubajon's Mayor Ronald Luib with his better half, SB Members and the Barangay Officials. The ANHS Dance Troupe , launching of the hot air balloon and a disco that ends around 4am graced the said occasion.




Libjo's Mayor Lamberto Llamera and Tubajon's Mayor Ronald Luib together with their first ladies Dr. Ma. Fe Borja Llamera and Mrs. Velia Arreza Luib during the extended day.









At the mayor's residence.

Voyage to Paradise

Armed with good food, good company and an indomitable sense of adventure, we sailed off the beaten track and found the joys of frontier diving.

We hope the pictures speak adequately of Napantaw's mind-boggling fish-clouded, candy-colored, coral-laden wall; or do justice to remote, paradisaical Dinagat Island, an undiscovered gem tucked away in a time-forgotten corner of the archipelago; or perhaps convey the sense of living la dolce vita at The Surf Camp on Calicoan Island.

Link to Kevin and Joy's Site and to more photos.

Waterworld by Sight

The horizon at sunrise











Wave makers













Libjo Bay at sunset










Playing with the sunset

Libjo at First Rally

“Libjo? Nasa Pilipinas pa ba yan?” Those were my exact words the first time I heard of the town. For the past eight months I dreaded the idea of going to the islands, yet I know like the air that I breath, it is inevitable.

So, as a loyal subject, I decided to go and get it over and done with. With the smug smile on my face and all the positivism I could master, I go aboard on a journey to Libjo and mentally labeled it as “MY JUNE ADVENTURE”.

I was totally captivated by the serene view of twilight, and the chill of dawn that greeted me.

I thought I had my share of the trimmings during fiestas, because I’ve been to different places, yet nothing cautioned me for the assault of colors when I first saw the bandiritas…. all lined up on the streets of Albor…streets after streets.. corner after corners… as far as the eyes can see… giving one an ambiance of nobility and welcome.

Everybody is so warm and friendly, treating me like their long lost bestfriend…and telling me.. that I must stay for the Fiesta and got the chance to dance “kuratcha”…( I do not have any idea how that is being done,until i asked someone to explain)

How I wish I could…but pressing matters need to be attended to.. and since my work has been done, (although with some bumps and hallows along the way), I need to say goodbye to Libjo.

Never again though, will I ever look at the map, and see it as an insignificant island, because seven days ago, in this historic land mass, I embarked on a job and an adventure… where I had BOTH and something more. A lagniappe I call it. Story by Illusion