Leyte ‘narco’ mayor, trusted aides renew call for Kerwin Espinosa to surrender

ALBUERA, Leyte, Sept. 30 (PNA) –- Family and friends of alleged Eastern Visayas top drug lord Kerwin Espinosa renewed their call for him to stop hiding following the voluntary surrender of his trusted aides in the past days.

Beleaguered Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. led the call anew on Thursday afternoon. Joining him are Kerwin’s trusted men, the mayor’s staff, and other local government employees.

Specifically, the elder Espinosa asked his son to surrender to Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido, the town’s chief of police.

Members of the Espinosa group unveiled their faces on camera, hoping that Kerwin will heed their plea prior to the issuance of warrant of arrest for violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Act and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

The mayor assured his son that he would be safe under Espenido’s watch. Kerwin and his family reportedly flew to Malaysia days before President Rodrigo Duterte assumed the presidency. The Malaysian immigration has no proof that the alleged drug lord left their country.

The police regional office reported that the Espinosa group supplies 30 to 50 kilograms of shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride every month in Eastern Visayas and nearby regions during Kerwin’s "heyday".

Kerwin had been arrested several times, the last in 2015, but managed to get released each time with the alleged intervention of top police officials, government executives, and court judges. (PNA)

LAP/SQM/RAVEN LUNA/EGR

Historic Eastern Samar town needs PHP90M for road projects

BALANGIGA, Eastern Samar, Sept. 30 (PNA) -– The local government here has asked the Department of Agriculture to finance PHP90 million worth of farm-to-market road projects in this town.

The project will finance the pavement of nine kilometers road linking the poor villages in this historic town to the commercial district, said Mayor Randy Graza.

The local chief executive presented the proposal to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol during the latter’s recent surprise visit to this town as ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte.

“It was an opportunity for us to present the immediate concerns of our town like communal irrigation, farm-to-market roads that would connect several villages to the town center, among others,” Graza said.

Piñol made a stop in this town after attending the gathering of fishermen, farmers, church and government officials in the annual Samar Island Program for Peace and Development (SIPPAD) in Borongan City, the provincial capital.

“When President Duterte learned that I would be in Eastern Samar, he instructed me to pay a visit to Balangiga, a quaint coastal town whose brave men wrote history 115 years ago,” Piñol said on his Facebook post.

“The President said take some pictures and talk to the people there,” Piñol added.

The Agriculture chief instructed DA Region 8 Director Wilson Cerbito to undertake an engineering study of the proposal. Once validated, the proposal will be funded under the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP).

The bravery of the people of Balangiga on September 28, 1901 is part of the Philippine history when knives and bolo-wielding men dressed like women in baro’t saya (Filipina attire in that era) of the town made a surprise attack to the soldiers including officers of the Company C of the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment while they were having breakfast.

In the six weeks that US soldiers were in the town, they were manipulating and oppressing the townspeople. They apprehended them when they disregarded the soldiers’ order to clean the plaza and the whole town because officers were coming.

There were 54 American soldiers who were killed.

In reprisal General Jacob H. Smith ordered the town as “howling wilderness.” Boys ten years old and above capable of carrying firearms were ordered killed and the whole town burned.

They looted the three bells from the burned church as war booty.

Smith and his subordinate were later court-martialed for their vengeance against the civilian Filipinos.

Graza said that all the projects that would be implemented in Balangiga are a show of admiration by President Rodrigo Duterte of the brave residents. (PNA)
LAP/SQM/VICKY C. ARNAIZ/EGR

Leyte approves PHP7.1-B investment plan for 2017

TACLOBAN CITY, Sept. 30 (PNA) – Leyte province has approved its PHP7.1 billion annual investment plan for 2017 during the recent Provincial Development Council Meeting.

The AIP constitutes the indicative yearly expenditure requirements of the local government unit for programs, projects and activities, consisting of the annual capital expenditure and the regular operating requirements of the province for personal services, maintenance and other operating expenditure 

(MOOE), capital outlay, statutory and contractual obligations and other budgetary requirements.

The AIP also contains the programs, projects and activities that will be funded by the Special Education Fund (SEF) of Leyte province.

It was noted during the meeting that the AIP is no longer limited to programs, projects and activities that will be funded by the province’s local development fund which is 20 percent of the annual internal revenue allotment (IRA).

Hugging most of the cost for next year’s plan is on economic services which amount to PHP4.3 billion. Also, budgeted for social services is PHP1.5 billion; general public services PHP1.2 billion; and, special education fund PHP70 million.

Basic road infrastructure and village public facilities were among those allotted with the budget, while equipments and hospital upgrading, particularly the Leyte Provincial Hospital through the provincial health office was also funded.

Meanwhile, the Leyte Sports Academy, the grassroots sports development program of the province will have its own funds in 2017.

Also included in the plan are disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) programs, projects and activities that include engineering and infrastructure interventions on identified risk areas; conduct of trainings on disaster preparedness and search and retrieval operations; stockpiling of emergency supplies; rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure and evacuation centers, and quick response services

Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla said the DRRM programs and projects have been identified and are needed in the province’s continuing efforts of building a disaster-resilient and climate change-resilient province.

Funding for the AIP shall be sourced from the general fund of the province, 20 percent of the annual IRA, special education fund and other sources.

“It’s a big investment for next and we will work doubly hard to accomplish all that we have set for ourselves and hopefully these plans can work towards the upliftment of the lives of our people,” Petilla said.

Also approved during the meeting was the supplemental PHP6 billion annual investment program for this year. (PNA)
FPV/SQM/AHLETTE C. REYES/EGR

Eastern Visayas summit tackles business education

TACLOBAN CITY, Sept. 30 (PNA) – Business educators, entrepreneurs, and aspiring businessmen in Eastern Visayas gathered on Friday to discuss current issues and challenges hounding the region’s business education.

Joining the 6th Regional Business Summit are members of the council of Deans and Educators in Business-Region 8 (CODEB-8), Council of Economics Educators-Region 8 (CECON-8), Asian Development Foundation College (ADFC), and the Federation of Junior Marketing Association (FJMA).

At least 100 faculty members, students, and businessmen joined the annual event.

“The summit aims to provide avenue for industries, business educators and students from different higher educational institutions of the region to discuss current issues and challenges,” CODEB-8 president Edward Chua said.

For the past years, these organizations, participating business industries, and government agencies have tied up with major universities and colleges in Eastern Visayas in terms of academic collaborations and engagements specifically the conduct of the regional summit.

This year’s business summit is anchored on the theme “Strategic Responses in a Changing Business Environment.” (PNA)
FPV/SQM/LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA/EGR

Locals renew call for Balangiga bells return

BALANGIGA, Eastern Samar, Sept. 29 (PNA) – Residents in this town renewed their call for the return of the three church bells that American soldiers took from them as war booty 115 years ago.

Town Mayor Randy Graza and Eastern Samar Acting Governor Marcelo Picardal led the call during Wednesday’s Balangiga Encounter Day commemoration.

Graza recalled that in their previous attempt to recover the bells from the American government, there was a time that they almost succeeded when people in Wyoming agreed to it, but the governor refused.

 

The mayor is aware that there are also Americans lobbying for the return of Balangiga bells, but they all need help from other government agencies and individuals.

“I appreciate all their efforts. It is better if there are many who will join the plea,” Graza said.

In this renewed call for the bells’ return, the town and provincial government will come up again with a resolution for submission to Congress, according Picardal.

The governor is optimistic that members of House of Representatives in the region will join the call.

“We have to collaborate and unite for the United States government to listen to us,” Picardal said.

As historians said, at the break of dawn on Sept. 28, 1901, a group of men were parading at the town plaza going to the church. They were wearing women’s clothes so that the American soldiers would not detect there were no more real women in the town.

The “real” women together with the children, were already evacuated to the mountains.

The other men were carrying caskets and when asked they told the sentries “El Cholera”, as there was cholera epidemic and some children died of it.

Unknown to the soldiers, the other coffins contained sharp bolos and canes.

As the bells tolled, the Filipino revolutionaries attacked the American officers and soldiers at the convent and tents in the public plaza while they were eating their breakfast, leaving them helpless and unable to get their rifles.

They were overpowered by the feisty and aggrieved Filipinos using only native weapons the bolos, canes, bows and arrows.

The Filipinos that served the Americans made sure that they were given tuba (native wine extracted from coconut) and were drunk every night before the attack.

To think, these soldiers are well-trained and battle tested with three campaign medals earned in Cuba in 1898, in Luzon in 1900 and during the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900, according to historians.

As a reprisal, Gen. Jacob Smith ordered to turn the town as a howling wilderness. Any Filipino male above 10 years of age capable of bearing arms be shot dead. They burned and annihilate the town.

As a war trophy, the American soldiers took with them the church bells.

There were three church bells taken from the burned church after the reprisal on September 29, 1901.

One church bell is in the position of the 9th Infantry Regiment at Camp Cloud, South Korea.

The two bronze bells are on a former base of the 11th Infrantry Regiment at F. E. Warren Air Force 

Base in Cheyenee, Wyoming. A 400-year old British Falcon cannon in the plaza was also taken by the soldiers.

Since 1990s, there are several attempts to return the bells to the country by both Filipino and US lawmakers, but until this year, the bells are still with the US government’s control.

Today, a monument in the town’s public plaza immortalizes the Balangiga Encounter Day by National Artist Napoleon Abueva. The monument depicts the surprise attack by Filipino revolutionaries on American colonial forces. (PNA)

FPV/SQM/ROEL T. AMAZONA/EGR

9 Eastern Visayas mayors complete health leadership program

TACLOBAN CITY, Sept. 29 (PNA) -– Nine local government units in Eastern Visayas have joined the roster of Municipal Leadership and Governance Program (MLGP) completers, overcoming the six building blocks of the country’s health system.

On Thursday afternoon, the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila-School of Health Sciences in partnership with Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) and the Department of Health (DOH) held a colloquium at the Asian Institute of Management Conference Center in Makati City.

The colloquium is a final requirement to complete their MLGP. During the event, mayors shared how their personal and leadership transformations paved the way for much-needed reforms in their local health systems to help their poor constituents.

MLGP graduates were Mayors Loreto Yu of Alangalang, Leyte; Alden Avestruz of Barugo, Leyte; Fe Renomeron of Burauen, Leyte; Manuel Sia-Que of Dulag, Leyte; Kathleen Prudenciado of Almagro, 

Samar; Gemma Zosa of Sta. Margarita, Samar; Marilou Latorre of Villareal, Samar; Mark Biong of Giporlos, Eastern Samar; and Mario Madera of Mondragon, Northern Samar.

The local chief executives were accompanied by their respective municipal health officers who also graduated from the MLGP.

“It is our duty to implement health plans and programs, allocate the maximum resources available, and support health workers and staff to ensure the well being of our constituents,” said Salvador Isidro Destura, dean of the UP-Manila-School of Health Sciences.

The health department emphasized the value of building the capacities of local government units considering that they are front line service providers after the devolution of health programs.

“Our graduates this afternoon can now be truly called bridging leaders. We also look forward that through them, we will be able to sustain all health initiatives,” said DOH Eastern Visayas local health system development system section chief Exuperia Sabalberino.

ZFF vice president Arlene Gelia noted that the program enables transformation of mayors and local health leaders. “You have true commitment to improve health in your communities by greening your score cards.”

Score cards are tools used by the program to measure the local government’s performance before and after joining the program. Indicators with green colors show good performance while red signifies poor performance.

The program has training and leadership coaching on local health system development, with focus on the World Health Organization's 6 building blocks of health system.

These are good governance in the health sector, health service delivery, health workforce, health information, access to essential medicines, and healthcare financing.

The benefits of the program include personal development in health leadership and governance, improvement of municipal health outcomes, health outcomes translated into political gains, academic units leading to a Master’s Degree, networking and partnerships (building social capital), opportunity for health program grants and infrastructure development, and opportunity for Seal of Health Governance recognition.

In Eastern Visayas, there are already 49 mayors who completed the program, according to DOH. (PNA)

LAP/SARWELL Q. MENIANO

Viaduct to rise along new alternative road in Southern Leyte

MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte, Sept. 29 (PNA) – A viaduct will soon rise within the new San Ricardo-Liloan Road, adding up to the list of tourist attractions in the southernmost tip of the province.

Instead of blasting hard rock to clear the area for road opening, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will instead build a 200-meter viaduct snaking through the rock formation.

The infrastructure agency decided to build the viaduct after consultations with Congressman Roger Mercado and Governor Damian Mercado. The project is in line with Southern Leyte’s local development plan.

“We all agreed to keep the natural beauty of hard rock intact by constructing a viaduct. This is in support to the provincial development plan and local tourism program,” said District Engineer Ma. Margarita C. Junia.

Viaduct is a long elevated roadway usually consisting of a series of short spans supported on arches, piers, or columns. This is the first structure of its kind in the province.

The structure will rise within the boundary of Kinachawa and San Ramon villages in San Ricardo town.

The project is included in the PHP100 million funds next year, meant to build an alternative road connecting San Ricardo town to Liloan town. Another PHP175 million is being proposed for 2018 to complete the circumferential road.

This year, the DPWH – Southern Leyte District Engineering Office (SLDEO) is implementing a PHP40 million opening of the alternative road.

For the 2016 allocation, the project aims to open about two kilometers of gravel road. Other civil works include roadway excavation of hard rocks, installation of drainage system, and slope protection works.

The construction of the circumferential road will reduce the distance from Liloan port to another exit point to Mindanao in San Ricardo town from more than 40 kilometers to only 20 kilometers.

The project will convert an existing provincial road into a primary highway. Through the new road network, motorists can reach San Ricardo town from Liloan town without traversing the landslide-prone and accident-prone road sections in San Francisco and Pintuyan towns.

The DPWH pushed for safer alternative road to San Ricardo after noting that more buses and rolling cargoes use the Benit port in San Ricardo town instead of nearby Liloan port considering the former’s proximity to Surigao. (PNA)
FPV/SQM/DPWH-PR/EGR

(Features) Samar's Mamanwa tribe eyes better future from tourism

BASEY, Samar, Sept. 29 (PNA) -- The Mamanwa Tribe in this town sees a brighter future now that they are included in the tourism loop of Department of Tourism (DOT).

The tribe lives in a small community in Guirang village, one of the jump-off points to Sohoton Cave Natural Bridge National Park, a popular tourist destination in Eastern Visayas.

The site regained attention from local and foreign tourists since the provincial government of Samar launched the Spark Samar Campaign last year.

The provincial government of Samar and the DOT donated traditional musical instruments called “kimbang and agong” and traditional clothes for Mamanwa tribesmen.

Jennifer Cabadungga, 34, the Mamanwa tribe leader said they are happy to feel that they are being treated equally.

A total of 21 families or more than 70 individuals are under the watch of Jennifer. She has the highest educational attainment among tribe members after completing high school.

As a tribe, they always seek for peaceful place and community, whose dwellers are willing to accept them and help them grow, according to Cabadungga.

“We are thankful that there are now agencies helping us so we can be integrated with the community and assist us in our livelihood,” she added.

But this assistance should not only stop in providing them skills training, but also equipment, materials, marketing, and promotion of their products.

The Mamanwa tribe makes souvenir items for tourists in Sohoton Cave.

Among them is Shirley Calinawan, 35, a mother of five. She makes necklace made out of seeds they call “kabug-kabug” from the “salugay” vine that thrives in the thick forest, about 25 kilometers away from their community.

She also makes souvenir pens with body made out of bamboo. She sells the necklace for PHP50.00 while the pen is worth PHP20.00 at the tourism office of Basey.

Calinawan recalled that the idea came after she undergo training from Department of Trade and Industry of making garland made out of “tikog” leaves that is a known product of the town.

“The training did not only teach us now to make necklace, but it also opened our mind that we could make these things. That we are capable and we have talent to do this kind of products,” she said.

“I hope to have a regular buyer and to improve more the quality of my products for me to have better income to support the daily needs of my family.”

The acceptance of the Mamanwa tribe to be included in the tourism loop should be welcomed by the people of Basey and the residents of Guirang village as an opportunity to share and learn their culture and traditions, according to DOT.

“We are very happy that the Mamanwa tribe agrees when we asked them if we could include them in our tourism loop for as long as this will follow in accordance to their tribe traditions and culture,” said DOT Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes.

Tiopes urged locals to learn the culture, traditions and history of the tribe for better appreciation of Mamanwa’s presence.

“The tourist should learn who the Mamanwas are and know what their cultures are and traditions that need to be respected just like how we wanted to be treated and respected by others,” Tiopes said.

For tourism to prosper, one of the most important aspects is learn to mingle and understand the people in the community where tourist attractions are located.

“Big business is good but helping the community is more meaningful because this is part of tourism. This is where you see that you touch the lives of people, especially the marginalized communities,” Tiopes added.

The provincial government of Samar also hopes that tourism arrival in Basey town particularly at the Sohoton Cave will increase more this year with the inclusion of the Mamanwa tribe in the tourism loop.

Samar Vice-Governor Stephen James Tan said that based on records from the municipal tourism office, from more than 800 tourist arrivals in 2012, it increased to more than 3,400 in 2015 when the provincial government launched the Spark Samar campaign.

Tourism activities around Sohoton Cave have generated PHP1.4 million income last year.

Vice Governor Tan added that for this year, Sohoton arrival had already reached more than 4,000 for the first two quarter of this year. They expect to double this within before 2016 ends.

“This is a proof that there is change happening in this town and this will not happen without the help of people who believe that with tourism we can go further, achieve our goal of development that will improve condition of lives in every community,” Tan said.

The Mamanwa settlers in Basey town came from Surigao province in the late 1950s to avoid armed conflict in their area.

The tribe first stayed in Basey town. Later on, they moved to the interior town of San Jose de Buan, also in Samar province, due to armed conflict.

In early 2000, the tribe transferred to Dolores town in Eastern Samar to avoid harassment from military that suspects them as supporters of rebel groups. (PNA)
JMC/SQM/RTA/EGR

DPWH reopens reconstructed Leyte bridge

CARIGARA, Leyte, Sept. 29 (PNA) -- After a year of widening and reconstruction activities, a vital bridge connecting a road that links the two major cities in the province is now passable.

The Department of Public Works and Highways formally opened this week the two lanes of Hiagsam Bridge located within the highway that connects Tacloban City to Ormoc City and Biliran province.

“The bridge’s finishing touches is not yet done, but we just opened half of it to ensure smooth traffic flow,” said Carlos Veloso, district engineer of the DPWH Leyte 2nd engineering district.

The bridge costs PHP74 million funded through the 2015 calamity fund and regular budget of the DPWH this year.

The bridge was among those structured destroyed during the onslaught of typhoon Seniang in December 2014.

The reconstructed bridge is said to be resilient to flooding and earthquake.

The repair was delayed after the contractor asked for extension to rebuild the bridge, pushing the completion date until this month.

Veloso said that after the reconstruction of the bridge last June, a second bridge has been constructed just beside the old one, to complement the road widening project.

Key DPWH officials in the district led the reopening of the bridge.(PNA)
JMC/SQM/LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA/EGR

Undocumented logs seized in Tacloban

TACLOBAN CITY, Sept. 29 (PNA) -- Authorities confiscated several undocumented lumbers from a boat building area in this city in a raid Wednesday afternoon.

Joint operatives of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Tacloban City police, Philippine Navy, Philippine Air Force, Army engineering battalion, and Philippine Coast Guard caught carpenters constructing a boat made of undocumented yakal and lauan lumbers in a compound along the shores of this city’s Anibong district.

A total of 10,000 board feet of dipterocarp lumber worth PHP1.2 million, a band saw, and a chainsaw with no serial numbers were recovered from the area allegedly rented by Mario Rodriguez, owner of 'Decolores' fishing boats.

A carpenter claimed that three more boats have already been constructed in the area. They got their lumber supplies from Marabut, Samar, known as the region’s illegal logging hotspot.

DENR assistant regional director Carlito Tuballa said since a total log ban in being implemented nationwide, the owner of said lumber and equipment will be charged for violation of the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines.

The chainsaw and other pieces of lumber were brought to San Jose district for safekeeping, while the unfinished boat and other equipments were left under the custody of Anibong village councilor Rizaldo Eval.

According to Eval, they are not aware of the illegal activities inside the compound since gates are always closed.

"We only thought that they dock their fishing boats here, but we did not know that they are actually built here," he said. (PNA)
BNB/SQM/RAVEN LUNA/EGR

4Ps transforms gambler into responsible dad

TACLOBAN CITY, Sept. 28 (PNA) -– Nelson Gaña used to be a gambler, but after several years of being a Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiary, he and his family are now role models in the community.

The Gaña family from Cat-iwing village, Hinundayan, Southern Leyte and was named the 2016 Huwarang Pantawid Pamilya of Eastern Visayas.

“Believe me, I was a changed man after attending several Family Development Sessions (FDS). I used to be a gambling freak. My wife and my children left me when they transferred to Davao City. After almost a year, I pursued them and went back to Cat-iwing village together,” Gaña recalled.

“But then gambling has not left me, I am hooked on the vice. I remained a gambler when we were back in our hometown. That vice rocked our marriage again,” Gaña said.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Director Resty Macuto, the Gaña family will compete with other outstanding families all over the country.

“We hope our regional and provincial winners will serve as advocates in the many good programs of the government,” Macuto told PNA.

The family has been recipient of the poverty alleviation program since 2011 as Set 5 beneficiaries. Gaña and his wife didn’t expect that the program could transform their lives and mark a new journey for them.

It took two years before Nelson discovered he had many shortcomings as a husband when in 2013, all husbands of 4Ps members were required to attend the FDS.

The topic Family and Family Relationship had touched him and since then, he has accompanied his wife in attending the regular FDS session.

Even if Gaña is only a Grade I finisher, he was elected as head of Parents-Teachers and Community Association (PTCA) at Cat-iwing Elementary School. He never let his low educational background become a hindrance in being active and an instrument for a better community.

He is a member of a local council tasked to promote peace in the community. At the same time, he became a volunteer who helps in protecting marine life in the village.

He availed of the skills training on Massage Therapy Course provided by the local government unit in partnership with the Provincial Social Welfare and Development.

His earning as a therapist is a big help in his family. Sometimes, he gave free relieving massage to his neighbors who need one.

His wife Roselyn, is a homemaker and took care of their six children. The children are commended by their teachers as being neat and clean when in school.

"Even if we are poor, we give priority to the education of the children. We also made sure they go to school with food in their tummy and are neat and clean," she said.

Their eldest daughter, Maria Jesse graduated salutatorian in elementary and is pursuing secondary school. All the younger siblings are doing well in school as well as receiving recognitions.

“I learned a lot from FDS sessions. Now our family is happier and blessings keep pouring in,” Maria Jesse said.

Their children share household chores and help in tending to their growing hogs and vegetable garden. Aside from vegetables, they also grow papayas, bananas and pineapples in their backyard.

To the Gaña family, the 4Ps program is a big help to their family. They learn financial management with the little income they have.

They advise their fellow 4Ps members to help the government by not abusing this program but in making sure this works in their family and the community.

From being a gambler to a role model in the community is a long journey but a rewarding one for Nelson.

The criteria for the selection of the Huwarang Pantawid Pamilya includes following all the conditionalities as members. The children should have 85 percent attendance in school, regular participation in FDS, family involvement in community services and are an inspiration to other members of the community. (PNA)
LAP/SQM/VCA/EGR

Task Force to check poverty in Samar pushed

TACLOBAN CITY, Sept. 28 (PNA) – The Eastern Visayas Regional Development Council (RDC) is pushing for the creation of a Task Force to formulate a Marshall Plan to curb poverty in three Samar provinces.

Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla, former RDC chairman said that a task force is needed to “deeply understand the problem on poverty in Samar areas and formulate a Marshal Plan.”

“The region cannot push for economic growth if the challenge on poverty persists in Samar Island. 

The economic ranking of the region will never improve if areas in Samar remain poor,” said Petilla, who just concluded his term as RDC head on June 30.

In response to the proposal, the National Economic Development Authority has allocated funds for research development.

One of the studies approved for this year is to determine the socio cultural factors on the poverty situation in the region.

“NEDA Region 8 allotted PHP5 million funds to conduct the said study which will be bidded out to come up with scientific and objective study on the factors and root causes of poverty,” said NEDA Regional Director Bonifacio Uy. 

Aside from the NEDA initiative, the RDC is also counting on studies initiated through the implementation of Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan program, which downloaded PHP5 billion funds to Samar remote communities.

The RDC also urged national government agencies to step up support to Samar provinces under exisiting programs.

The Philippine Statistics Authority has identified Samar provinces as among the 10 areas with the highest poverty incidence in the country. Eastern Samar had 55.4 percent while both Samar and Northern Samar posted 43.5 percent poverty incidence. (PNA)
FPV/SARWELL Q. MENIANO

Tacloban to vacate all temporary shelters next month

TACLOBAN CITY, Sept. 28 (PNA) – The city government wanted to see all temporary shelters in this city vacant by October with the plan to transfer the remaining 339 families from makeshift houses to permanent housing units.

City housing and community development office head Maria Lagman said these families should be moved to concrete houses with the onset of the rainy season and availability of thousands of substantially completed permanent shelter.

“If we will transfer these families, there would be no additional effort on the part of the city government since we have been delivering water there over the past years,” Lagman said.

Only temporary houses in Cali transitional shelter site in Cabalawan village will be spared from demolition since shelters were built on higher grounds. There are more sturdy houses on site and the lot is owned by the city government.

“The plan is to convert the Cali shelters into evacuation centers,” Lagman added.

The city has 10 temporary shelter sites in five villages. Some of the properties are owned by the local government and some by private landowners.

The 339 families will join the more than 2,000 households now in permanent shelters constructed by the National Housing Authority (NHA) in the northern part of the city for super typhoon Yolanda survivors living in danger zones.

The city government is reluctant to bring more families from coastal communities to relocation sites given the water supply limitations and lack of facilities.

The local government has been delivering 80 tons or 21,521 gallons of water daily to resettlement sites.

Water supply has been tagged as the major setback to government’s effort to relocate more than 14,000 families to their new homes. As of this month, only 2,036 houses of the estimated 5,000 completed units have been occupied.

Of the 2,036 houses, 1,028 were funded by the NHA and 1,008 by non-government organizations.

Most of them were transferred last April. Due to water supply problem, only less than 200 families from danger zones were moved to resettlement sites between April to September this year.

The central government earlier approved the proposed PHP152 million for long-term water system, which will take years to complete.

“DBM agreed to release PHP90 million for the medium term solution so we could start the project using underground sources. We cannot transfer people without water,” she told reporters.

The local government is eyeing to relocate additional 3,000 families once the medium-term water supply project is completed. The target date is early next year.

The city government needs PHP9.8 billion to fully develop the northern relocation sites intended for thousands of families severely affected by super typhoon Yolanda in 2013.

The government and private sector are putting up PHP4.8 billion investments for the construction of permanent houses alone. (PNA)

FPV/SARWELL Q. MENIANO

DSWD says rescued children in Leyte deserves foster parents

BURAUEN, Leyte, Sept. 27 (PNA) – The Department of Social Welfare and Development is now looking for foster parents who will adopt the two children rescued last week from a toilet converted into a makeshift house in an upland village here.

DSWD Eastern Visayas Regional Director Restituto Macuto said they will never allow those children to go hungry again after years of suffering hunger under the watch of a mother believed to be suffering from mental retardation.

On Sept. 23, the Burauen municipal and social welfare and development office brought the children to the DSWD Reception and Study Center for Children (RSCC) in Palo, Leyte. They will stay there for three months while the government is still looking for foster parents.

“Their stay at the center is just temporary. The DSWD will look for foster families from the municipality first, but priority would be the relatives,” said DSWD Eastern Visayas Regional Director Restituto Macuto.

Foster care is a full-time ancillary care of children outside their own home by people other than their biological or adoptive parents or legal guardian. In foster care cases, the child’s biological or adoptive parents, or other legal guardians temporarily give up legal custody of the child, according to DSWD.

Macuto said their office will make sure that foster parents have the financial capacity to raise the children and send them to school.

Burauen municipal social welfare and development office (MSWDO) chief Vilma Abad that if within three months, no relatives of the children will act as foster parents, the local government will again ask permission or agreement from the center head to extend the children’s stay at the facility.

“If none will appear to act as custodians of the children, the center will ask for the relatives of the children to sign a deed of voluntary commitment. Once signed, the children will be under the custody of the center and they will decide as to what intervention is proper for them. They can be open for adoption,” Abad explains.

The RSCC is a temporary home for abandoned, neglected, orphaned, surrendered, abused and exploited children, aged seven years old and below.

On Sept. 19, the local government unit here rescued the mother and their children from a tiny toilet converted into a makeshift house in the upland Tambis village more than a day after their plight has been shared over social media.The toilet can be reached through 300 meters hike from the village center, crossing two rivers. The village is about five kilometers away from the commercial center of Burauen, a first class town in central leyte is an hour drive from Tacloban, the regional capital.

Abad recalled that the children were begging for food during the rescue operation.

“They’re really craving for rice, pancit and pork adobo. We fed and clothed them and took them to the rural health unit for check up,” Abad recalled.

The local government unit identified them as Cecillia, 34; Intoy, 7 ; and Erica, 5 (not their real names). Cecilia’s live-in partner and the children’s father abandoned them in Manila, forcing her and her children to return to Leyte back in 2012.

Eventually, the mother developed a mental illness and rejected by relatives, according to village officials.

For several years, they took shelter in a toilet built by a non-government organization for super typhoon Yolanda survivors last year. They don’t have lamps when it gets dark and no blanket to comfort them during cold nights.

The family survived from begging, eating bananas, and root crops. They were naked because all their clothes are completely worn out, according to Erica.

A Facebook post of a concern citizen showing their plight has drawn the attention of authorities and social media users. Some gathered donations for the children and others have pledged to help them. 

The post got more than 700 shares as of Tuesday morning.

Abad described the children as severely malnourished. The boy has been suffering Keratomalacia, an eye disorder that results from Vitamin A deficiency.

The DSWD regional office initially released Php 5,000 assistance for the food and clothing of children. “This is the first time that I’m wearing sandals and new clothes. Now I can eat rice three times a day,” said cheerful Intoy.

Since Sept. 20, the mother is now confined at the psychiatric ward of the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center. Village officials and relatives are taking in watching over here.

She will return to the community after two weeks. The DSWD assures support to the mother through her relatives.

The official asked netizens to use the social media to report about plight of abandoned children and others who are really in need. The official vowed to mobilize personnel to respond to complaints, utilizing funds from the department’s Protective Service Program.

Events leading to the rescue of a mentally retarded mother and her two starving children in the interior village in this town, have proven the power of social media to help those who are voiceless, said DSWD Secretary Judy Taguiwalo during his visit here on Saturday.

“We need that kind of information because we’re not always aware of what’s happening. The social media has proven to be an effective way of providing help to those who don’t have the voices,” Taguiwalo told reporters.

On Friday, the MSWDO brought the children to the DSWD Reception and Study Center for Children in Palo, Leyte. They will stay there for three months while the government is still looking for foster parents. (PNA)
SARWELL Q. MENIANO & ROEL T. AMAZONA/EGR