French cruise ship visits Leyte’s Cuatro Islas

INOPACAN, Leyte, June 23 -- The French cruise ship, L'Austral, again made a port call in picturesque Cuatro Islas here Friday, bringing 200 tourists.

Justin Friend, tour handler of L'Austral, said this is the cruise ship’s second and last visit to Leyte this year, but the French firm operating the ship, the Compagnie Du Ponant, is already preparing its itinerary for 2020, which may include Cuatro Islas, and is likely to add more island destinations in Eastern Visayas in the future.

As in its previous visit, L'Austral docked at the Himukilan Island in Hindang town and Mahaba Island in Inopacan town.

In Hindang, locals and schoolchildren queued up at the entrance of the Himukilan Elementary School for a cultural presentation. Residents presented a traditional dance while children serenaded visitors with Visayan songs.

A performance of the traditional tinikling and kuracha enticed tourists to dance, which was one of the highlights of the cultural presentation.

Visitors also tasted local dishes prepared for them by residents of Himukilan, bought souvenir items made in Romblon, and also played palo sebo, a traditional Filipino game that requires players to climb a greasy bamboo pole.

Tourists took a sip of tuba, a local wine made from coconut juice, and observed how tuba is gathered and processed into wine. They also learned the process of making mats and bags out of dried Romblon grass.

Cuatro Islas, composed of four islands, is surrounded by crystalline waters that change color from deep blue to turquoise green and teem with marine life.

The islands of Digyo, Mahaba and Apid belong to Inopacan town, while Himukilan Island is part of Hindang.
On April 23, 2000, the environment department declared Cuatro Islas as a Protected Seascape and Landscape.

In Mahaba Island, tourists swam in the turquoise-colored sea water for about three hours. Some just relaxed at the white sand and basked under the sun while others tried snorkeling.

Rina Apostol, the Department of Tourism’s accreditation officer and tourism development area manager for Leyte, Biliran and Southern Leyte, said two more cruise ships are expected to visit the region this year. The next cruise ship is scheduled to visit in October. (RTA/PNA)

RDC to monitor 188 Eastern Visayas projects

TACLOBAN CITY, June 22 – At least 188 major projects have been listed by the Regional Development Council (RDC) as priority for monitoring this year in Eastern Visayas, citing its importance to the attainment of regional development goals and targets.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Director Bonifacio Uy, chair of the RDC’s Regional Project Monitoring Committee (RPMC), said there are only 188 projects picked by the body for monitoring given the “limited technical and logistical resources.”

“We prioritize programs and projects to be monitored by RPMC based on the reports submitted by the implementing agencies,” Uy said on Friday.

These projects include post-“Yolanda” reconstruction activities; resettlement sites in Tacloban City, Eastern Samar, Leyte, and Biliran; livelihood projects; irrigations; social infrastructure; agriculture and fishery; road and bridges; roads leading to tourism destinations; roads in conflict-stricken areas; seaports; and airports.

Uy said the project monitoring initiative by RDC members both from government and private sector will help ensure timely implementation of programs and projects critical to the attainment of goals in the 2017-2022 Regional Development Plan.

The official said programs and projects with substantial negative slippage and problems in implementation have been the priority for field monitoring and problem solving sessions.

RDC Co-Chair Roy Bernard Fiel urged RPMC to link the NEDA Region 8 monitoring system with similar existing tools of implementing government agencies.

“Our proposal was to create a technical working group to study the possibility of harmonizing all monitoring systems of all agencies,” Fiel said in a separate interview.

The RPMC is RDC’s project monitoring arm responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of priority programs and projects implemented in the region, particularly those that are encountering implementation bottlenecks and projects that are worthy for replication.

The body forwards monitoring reports and recommendations generated during the problem-solving sessions to the council for information and appropriate action. (SQM/PNA)

More Leyte residents complete farm training

MAHAPLAG, Leyte, June 21 -- Nearly 100 residents in this town completed the season-long training on high-value crops production, a priority project of Leyte’s provincial government.

At least 63 residents in Palanogan village and 31 in Polahongon village became the new recipients of the local government’s “More Income in the Countryside Program (MIC-P)”.

MIC-P is a training course for compact farming of high-value vegetables and fruits intended for conflict-affected, poverty-stricken, and remote villages of the province.

The training course, which concluded Wednesday, lasted three months.

Selected participants learned the process of farming high-value crops and how to organize a farmers’ group, the first step for them to receive additional assistance from the local government.

Diego Domanging, president of the farmers’ association in Palanogan, expressed their gratitude to those who helped them gain new farming knowledge.

“This is a big opportunity for us to improve our living conditions as we were trained to produce high-value crops not for our neighborhood, but for big businesses,” Domanging said.

The group uses the vacant lot inside the Palanogan Elementary School to plant bottle gourd, eggplant, bitter gourd, squash, and watermelon, among others.

“We hope that this is not the last assistance that the government would give to us. The farming technique taught to us was very different from the farming practice that we were used to,” said Lito Tobise, Polahongon farmers’ association president.

The two organizations each received PHP5,000 as seed capital from the provincial government for starting a farmers cooperative, not to include other inputs such as seeds, fertilizer, and feeds for poultry and livestock.

“The assistance that we provided is not for us, but for the improvement of your family. You must continue to enrich your skills in farming by practicing what you have learned,” said Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla.

“We are here to guide you to ensure that your organization becomes successful, that your family condition would improve, and for you to be able to send your children to school,” Petilla added.

“But the most important, maintain the good and high quality of your harvest so that big stores would buy your products.”

After training on high-value crops, the farmers’ group will undergo training on livestock, honey, egg, oyster, and fish production.

As of this week, about 180 villages in Leyte are already part of the MIC-P and the provincial government is targeting to enroll 250 villages, with PHP2.5 billion in estimated earnings.

This target income, according to Petilla, will have a direct impact on the villages through improved economic

conditions and will also solve social problems, among them insurgency, criminality, and malnutrition.

Among the top performing barangays of MIC-P are Villaconzoilo in Jaro town, New Taligue in Abuyog, Hipusngo in Baybay City, and Villa Corazon in Burauen.

Petilla added that aside from training residents in Leyte, the MIC-P pool of trainers also extended technical assistance to farmers’ groups in Samar and Eastern Samar at the request of their respective local government units. (RTA/PNA)

Tacloban’s ‘Sangyaw’ lines up more festivities

TACLOBAN CITY, June 21 -- The city government here has lined up several activities this month to position the city as the place for festivities in the country.

Actress-turned-politician Mayor Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez said fiesta-related events this year are fun-filled and merrier with cultural activities, sports competitions, concerts, beauty pageants, and Parade of Lights.

“We really try our best to make all the events special because people here are fun-loving. We want our fiesta to stand out as one of the country’s happiest celebrations,” Romualdez said on Wednesday.

Among the main events of this year’s festivities themed "Happyesta Tacloban 2018" is the Sangyaw Parade of Lights. The parade features creatively decorated and brightly-lighted floats and dance contingents against the backdrop of the upbeat “Sangyaw Theme."

Sangyaw, which means “to announce” is the name of the city’s festival. Then first lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos, introduced the event in the late ’70s or early ’80s as a highlight of the city’s fiesta celebration. It was stopped after the People Power Revolution in 1986, which ended the Marcos regime.

In 2008, Imelda’s nephew, then Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez revived Sangyaw Festival as the highlight of fiesta celebrations.

At least 15 dance contingents comprising participants from schools and villages will join the festival parade on June 29, along with 15 float contingents that include entries from Catbalogan City and Pinabacdao, Western Samar.

Keeping up with this year’s theme, each contingent will interpret the happy and colorful scenes of fiestas in their ritual dance and float designs, said city tourism officer Malou Tabao.

“That is the challenge given to contingents. We expect them to awe spectators by interpreting the happy theme through street dances and ritual presentations,” Tabao told reporters.

On June 8, the city government kicked off various activities that will run until fiesta day on June 30. The main event is the Sangyaw Parade of Lights on June 29.

Other events are the Miss Tacloban Coronation Night on June 22, Sangyaw Queen at the Robinsons North on June 24, Ginoong Sangyaw Tacloban on June 25 at the Robinsons North, the Sangyaw Foundation Ball and Balik Tacloban Night at Patio Victoria on June 27, among others.

Also lined up are nightly performances at the Sangyawan Music Festival featuring local and Manila-based performers like Siakol, Basti Artadi, Letter Days Story Band, Shamrock, Tanya Markova, iPOTS, Franco, Itchy Worms, Better Days, Ex-Batallion, Jason Fernandez, Osang, Jovit Baldivino, Day Break, Mayonnaise, Kjwan, Sofia Romualdez, I Love Tacloban Band, Cueshe, Mulatto Band, TJ Monterde, and Freestyle.

Cultural Shows and a Fiesta Fair are being held at Plaza Rizal since June 14.

Religious activities for the 129th Tacloban Fiesta include the Pre-Balyuan Rites, Balyuan Rites, and the traditional Fluvial and Land Processions, and Pontifical Mass on Fiesta Day. Balyuan Rites reenacts the historical swapping of Sto. Niño images between Tacloban and Basey town in Samar. (SQM/PNA)

DOE warns anew against use of refilled butane gas cylinders

NAVAL, Biliran, June 21  -- An official of the Department of Energy (DOE) Visayas has repeated its warning against the use of refilled butane gas cylinders now being widely used in households particularly outside Metro Manila.

Rey Maleza, DOE Visayas chief science research specialist, said they will soon launch a massive information campaign in Eastern Visayas region warning people that portable camping stoves should only be used outdoors and not indoors.

He noted that although butane gas is cheaper and handy to consumers, it is hazardous because its cylinder has more tendency to bulge than that of liquefied petroleum gas that uses heavy metal valve.

"It is very dangerous because when there is too much pressure due to reusing, the tendency is to expand, which causes leak in the canister that will lead to fire," he told reporters in a forum here on Wednesday.

Maleza said that they will not run after the retailers selling refilled cylinders, but will apprehend the users and illegal refilling stations.

DOE encourages consumers to report to the Bureau of Fire Protection the existence of illegal refilling stations and households patronizing refilled butane gas.

Maleza was in Biliran as one of the panelist during the information stakeholders’ conference held in Naval Gymnasium in Naval Biliran.

Aside from the warning in the use of refilled butane gas cylinder, Maleza also explained to participants the agency’s future plans and programs.

The energy department will continue to strive to improve the quality of life of Filipinos by formulating and implementing policies and programs to ensure sustainable, stable, secure, sufficient, and accessible energy. (LAAA/PNA)