Dr. Stella Guartero-Fernandez, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Mr. Prim Vergara III, Occupational Safety and Health Officer, and Pollution Control Officer during the Communities for Resilience Modular Training Program.

Central Philippine University sent Dr. Stella Guartero-Fernandez, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Mr. Prim Vergara III, Occupational Safety and Health Officer and Pollution Control Officer, to the Climate Change Commission (CCC) Communities for Resilience (CORE) Modular 2 Trainer’s Training at Kew Hotel, Tagbilaran, Bohol on August 14-17, 2018. Both delegates are members of the Sustainable Campus Committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Vergara.

The training covered Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from Central, Eastern, and Western Visayas. It was an intensive training scheduled for four days. The aim of the training was for the CCC to instruct personnel from HEIs to become trainers and assist Local Government Units (LGUs) in coming up with their local Climate Change Adaptation-Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (CCA-DRRM) Plans. This partnership is strengthened by a MOA between the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and CCC.

Dr. Stella Guartero-Fernandez in a group discussion during the seminar.

Dr. Fernandez and Mr. Vergara with Mr. Dean Laguna (right), Municipal Social Work Officer of Maribojoc, and Social Work Batch 2007, CPU.

The training covered the preparation of a Local Climate Change Adaptation Program (LCCAP), Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) by conducting Calamity Disaster Risk Assessment (CDRA). There were 70 delegates from the HEIs and they were joined by the representatives from Maribojoc, Bohol, whose CCA-DRRM Plan and CLU Plan were reviewed and used as a tool for the training. The training output will be used by the Maribojoc LGU for their CCA-DRRM Plan and CLU Plan revisions for the year 2018 to 2020. Part of the training was also the conduct of GHGI or Greenhouse Gas Inventory.

While in the training, Mr. Vergara and Dr. Fernandez were blest to meet Mr. Dean Laguna, an alumnus of the CPU Social Work Department, and was a working student during his time in the campus. Mr. Laguna is currently the Municipal Social Work Officer of Maribojoc, Bohol. He was a participant in the training.