Holiday injuries drop in Eastern Visayas

TACLOBAN CITY, Jan. 1  -- Injuries from holiday revelries in Eastern Visayas dropped this year as less people used firecrackers and fireworks to celebrate Christmas and New Year.

As of Jan. 1, the region has 28 blast victims, lower by 36 percent than last year’s 44 injures. Most of the victims are male of ages 4 to 51.

The Department of Health (DOH) started its surveillance for holiday revelries on December 21.

Piccolo remains to be the top cause of firecracker-related injuries.

Of the 28 victims, 26 suffered minor burns while two had eye injuries, according to DOH regional information officer John Paul Roca in a phone interview.

Based on their record, 14 of the victims are from Leyte province, five from Eastern Samar, four from Northern Samar, four from Samar, one from Southern Leyte.

No one was hurt by firecrackers in Biliran province.

“The information drive on the dangers of firecracker use coupled with intensified monitoring by policemen and local government contributed to the decline in the number of victims,” Roca added.

Most of the victims were treated in rural health units and provincial hospitals while two of the victims were brought to the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center in Tacloban City.

In Tacloban City, residents celebrated New Year’s Eve with less firecrackers, but more fireworks display.

Some used air horns and car horns as they bade goodbye to 2018 and welcomed 2019.

In Palo town, residents welcomed the New Year through the lantaka competition.

Lantaka or bamboo cannon is an alternative for firecracker.

It is safer and more economical to use as it only needs alcohol, gas and a match or lighter to produce that booming sound.

The local government unit has been leading the competition for several years now to encourage residents to use the platform as an alternative to firecrackers.

Participants are discouraged to use improvised lantaka or those made from empty cans and plastic pipes.

Only lantaka made of bamboo are allowed in the competition. For this year, eight residents joined the contest held at the Palo municipal ground.

The winners received PHP5,000 for first prize, PHP3,000 for second prize and PHP2,000 for the third prize. (RTA/PNA)

Advocates step up blood donation drive in Tacloban

TACLOBAN CITY, Dec. 29 -- The Philippine Red Cross and the family of screen legend Rosa Rosal will continue with their blood donation advocacy in the country to answer the growing demand for blood.

On Saturday, officials of Red Cross Leyte chapter and Rosal’s grandnephew and PNA Newsroom anchor, William Thio, led the bloodletting activity dubbed “Be a Super Hero this Christmas! Give Blood. Be a Hero” at the Robinsons Place Tacloban.

“This is our pilot project under my supervision, but we hope to be able to do it in many provinces and in the National Capital Region. Rosa Rosal has been doing this for seven decades since a lot of people need blood, especially that dengue fever cases have been rising,” Thio said.

The news anchor lauded donors who came to the venue to “give a part of themselves that money cannot buy to help save the lives of others.”

Rosal joined the Philippine Red Cross as a volunteer-member of its blood program in 1950, and was later elected to its Board of Governors. She has become widely known and respected for her humanitarian work and effort to promote mass blood donation in the country.

Red Cross Leyte Chapter service representative for blood services Nilda Quiero said a single unit of donated blood can extend and save three lives.

“We organize mass donation activities this holiday season to have adequate supply of blood. While the rest of us are enjoying the holiday cheers, others spend theirs in hospitals because of the medical care they need, which mostly is blood transfusion,” Quiero said.

The Red Cross said they were able to collect 33 units. One unit is 450 cubic centimeter of whole blood. 

The chapter has an average stock of 100 to 150 units of blood in its facility. 

To guarantee that donating blood is safe, the Red Cross personnel made sure that each sterile needle was discarded immediately after single use.

Likewise, it is important that a blood donor is in good health, well-rested, and has eaten prior to the bloodletting. (SQM/PNA)

‘Usman’ strands thousands in ports, displaces families

TACLOBAN CITY, Dec. 28  -- At least 3,200 passengers have been stranded in various Eastern Visayas seaports as authorities suspended sea travel, while hundreds of families moved to safer grounds as Tropical Depression Usman dumped heavy rains Friday.

Based on reports received by the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, "Usman" has prevented 12 ships from leaving ports, stranding 328 vehicles.

Stranded passengers are in the ports of Ormoc and Bato in Leyte; Maasin, Liloan, and San Ricardo in Southern Leyte; San Isidro and Allen in Northern Samar; and Calbayog in Samar.

Local government units readied 571 evacuation centers in six provinces to accommodate families from communities vulnerable to flooding and landslides.

Since Thursday, pre-emptive evacuation has been done in the town of Naval, Biliran; some parts of Eastern Samar; and Tacloban City.

In Naval town, 11 families have been evacuated to the gymnasium, where each family from danger zones took shelter in evacuation tents waiting for the weather to improve, Raymundo Espina, Naval municipal administrator said.

“Aside from evacuation tents, the local government also provided play spaces for children to relieve stress and help them relax while staying at the evacuation center,” Espina said.

The Philippine National Police has deployed 120 policemen for search and rescue operations, while 1,167 others were on standby.

The Department of Public Works and Highways reported that the road in Lope de Vega has been flooded. The highway links Calbayog City in Samar and Catarman, the capital town of Northern Samar.

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 8 (Eastern Visayas) was ready to deliver prepositioned food packs to local government units if necessary.

The DSWD has a stockpile of relief items, both food and non-food, at the Regional Resource Operations Section, said Vina Aquino, DSWD-8 information officer, in a phone interview.

Currently, DSWD has 24,543 family food packs and additional food stock that includes 653 sacks of rice, 86,328 cans of corned beef, 126,496 cans of beef loaf, 2,140 cans of meatloaf, and 112,100 sachets of coffee.

Non-food relief items include 24,397 blankets, 594 mosquito nets, 14,914 malongs, 1,344 hygiene kits, 497 family kits, and 497 sleeping kits.

Aside from the food packs from the DSWD, some local government units have also prepared relief goods to be distributed among families affected by the weather disturbance. (RTA/PNA)

Flood warning raised in east Visayas due to ‘Usman’

TACLOBAN CITY, Dec. 28  -- The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) issued on Friday a flood warning over Eastern Visayas provinces as Tropical Depression Usman threatens to dump heavy rains.

In its flood advisory, Pagasa has identified several rivers in six provinces that would likely be affected by heavy downpour.

These water courses are in Sangputan, Palo, Solano, Daguitan, Marabong, Cadacan, Bongquirogon, Salug, Pagbanagaran, Pagsangahan, and Binahaan in Leyte; Catarman, Bugko, Pambujan, Catubig, Palapag, Mano, and Gamay in Northern Samar.

Other affected rivers are Oras, Dolores, Ulot, Taft, Borongan, Suribao, Llorento, Balangiga, and Sulat in Eastern Samar; Basey, Silaga, Calbiga and Jibatan in Samar; and Bisay, Himbangan, and Pandan in Southern Leyte; and all river systems in Biliran province.

People living in low-lying areas near these river systems are advised to be alert for possible flash floods. Those settled near mountain slopes are told to watch for signs of landslides.

The Leyte provincial disaster risk reduction and management has been on alert for potential overflow of Binahaan River in Pastrana town since it would affect highly-populated communities near the regional capital.

Binahaan watershed, which has its source in the upstream of Pastrana, flowing downstream to Dagami, Tanauan and Palo towns has been disrupting normal routines of 36,932 residents in Leyte during flooding, according to German Technical Cooperation Agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit.

In the region, public storm warning signal number one was hoisted since Thursday over Leyte, Southern Leyte, Biliran, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, and Samar provinces.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government has identified 2,433 villages in Region 8 as highly susceptible to flooding. The agency urged local governments to conduct appropriate preparedness and disaster risk reduction measures as needed.

As of Friday morning, the center of the tropical depression was estimated at 230 kilometers east of Guiuan, Eastern Samar with maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of up to 65 kph. It is moving west northwest at 10 kph. (SQM/PNA)

Group formed to check projects in rebel-infested areas

TACLOBAN CITY, Dec. 28  -- A technical working group (TWG) has been formed to find out concerns and recommend solutions on the delayed construction of government infrastructure projects in conflict-affected areas of Samar Island.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Director Bonifacio Uy, in a mobile phone interview on Friday, said the Regional Development Council (RDC) has already approved the resolution creating the TWG. The group will have its first meeting early next year.

Uy, the RDC vice chair, said the group is composed of officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), Philippine Army 8th Infantry Division, and concerned local government units.

“There is a need to create a group that will look into prevailing issues in the implementation of projects in conflict-affected areas, such as the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA), and identify recommended actions that have to be undertaken to avoid similar issues in the future,” Uy told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

PAMANA is the national government’s convergence program that extends development interventions to isolated, hard-to-reach and conflict-affected communities, ensuring that they are not left behind.

Early this month, the RDC has identified three terminated PAMANA infrastructure projects in Samar provinces funded under the 2016 budget of OPAPP.

These are the PHP71-million bridge construction in Motiong, Samar; PHP114.7-million box culvert construction in Las Navas, Northern Samar; and PHP192-million road construction also in Las Navas town.

Initially, the region’s highest policy-making body identified some major setbacks of project implementation such as threats from the New People’s Army, absence of access roads, subcontracting issues, unworkable ground conditions, and lack of manpower and equipment.

Top officials in Eastern Visayas have elevated to Cabinet secretaries the discussion on delayed and terminated infrastructure projects meant for impoverished and conflict-stricken areas on Samar Island.

The RDC’s discussions on delayed PAMANA projects have started in the second quarter of this year. Earlier, the body already passed two resolutions to help expedite the project and conduct problem solving sessions.

The council also passed a resolution endorsing the transfer of implementation of delayed PAMANA projects to the engineering brigade of the Philippine Army. The document also requested concerned agencies to expedite the execution of an agreement to facilitate the project construction turnover. (SQM/PNA)