Calbayog stakeholders push for higher tax collection to back K to 12 program

CALBAYOG CITY, Samar, Jan. 21 (PNA)--Various stakeholders in this city have vowed to support the campaign for higher real property tax (RPT) collection that could help in the implementation of Senior High School (SHS) program.

City government officials, Department of Education (DepEd), principals, village officials, student leaders, businessmen, and members of media gathered to formulate an action plan towards an increased tax collection and utilization in support to the implementation of Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education (K to 12) program.

The Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 establishes a universal kindergarten and introduces Grades 11 and 12 to high school education in public and private schools called senior high school.

Merla Rosalado, the city DepEd division parents and teachers association federation president, vowed to support the local government move to increase RPT collection.

Roberto Roño, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, promised to back the campaign with the presence of the businessmen in the event as proof to their commitment.

Jennifer Sumagang, representative from the local media, committed to bridge between the education department and the people of Calbayog by presenting the correct information regarding the program.

Raul Agban, DepEd schools division superintendent, was grateful for the commitment of the different stakeholders present in the event.

He believes that in working together, they can achieve more in K to 12 program.

School principals have raised concerns on the limitations such as classrooms shortage, lack of furnitures and other facilities, and inadequate number of teachers as well their specialization.

School officials said they will maximize the remaining months from January until May to be ready for the June 2016 opening of classes.

Calbayog City has 15 national high schools ready to offer senior high school with their respective tracks of science technology, engineering and mathematics; accountancy, business and management; humanities and social sciences; general academic strand; and technical-vocational and livelihood.

(PNA)

ZST/SQM/LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA/EGR

Calbayog steps up property taxes collection to support education program

CALBAYOG CITY, Samar, Jan. 19 (PNA) -- The city government here will intensify tax collection on real properties to generate more funds for local education program.

Department of Education (DepEd) Calbayog City division and the local government, with the support from the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) hosted Monday the Education Summit.

The gathering has focused on real property tax collection efficiency, stakeholders' role on tax collection and increasing the budget for education.

Assistant city treasurer Evelyn Obong said the local government and DepEd’s goal to increase the budget for education would also mean in increasing the collection of taxes.

Obong said that one percent of the assessed value of a real property automatically goes to the Special Education Fund (SEF) of a locality.

She also shared that ever since the City Treasurer's Office has not reached the target set by the Department of Finance on the collection of real property taxes.

“In 2015, we were given a target of PhP15 million, but our actual collection was only PhP5.25 million basic and SEF or 35 percent of the total target,” Obong said.

But, Obong clarified that despite said turn-out on the collection, they were able met the target on the SEF fund of around PhP7 million last year.

She said, however, that it would be different and would be much higher if only they have collected bigger amount of the total tax collection target.

Mayor Ronaldo Aquino, in his message, expressed optimism that starting this year, the city’s tax collection will increase.

Aquino said that in the future, new businesses will operate.

With the constructed structures at previous idle lands in the city, he said owners will eventually pay real property taxes.

The mayor pointed out that Section 235 of the Local Government Code states that provinces and cities nationwide as well as cities and municipalities within Metro Manila are mandated to impose levy for the Special Education Fund.

Stressing the importance of education to the country’s future, Aquino assured that the city will exert effort for an efficient collection on real property taxes to support programs on education.

“Public education is an investment for our future,” Aquino said, adding that, “we will answer the call for an efficient collection of real property taxes to better finance our public education program.”

“Payment of taxes is our civic obligation. The improved collection of our taxes for public education should be our commitment and not only the local government unit’s responsibility but also everyone’s responsibility,” he stressed.

When the mayor assumed office, he asked the support of the officials from the 157 villages to allocate funds from their Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) as their counterpart to support the local education program, particularly on the salaries of the local school board (LSB) teachers.

But since LSB teachers was abolished by DepEd, SEF is now utilized for the improvement of schools and other expenditures.

This school year, the LGU released almost PhP1 million from the SEF as an augmentation, amounting to PhP5,000 each to at least 182 elementary and secondary public schools for the Brigada Eskwala. (PNA)
ZST/SQM/JENNIFER S. ALLEGADO/EGR

New Calbayog police chief asks public support to combat crime

CALBAYOG CITY, Samar, Jan. 13 (PNA) -The newly-installed city chief of police here asked the support of residents to fight crime.

Chief Insp. Elmer T. Vergara assumed office on Tuesday in a simple turnover of command held at city police headquarters.

Vergara said that it is a privilege to lead the Calbayog police force, though he admitted that his new assignment is challenging.

“I heard about tagging Calbayog as killbayog, but I don’t believe that. It’s just a matter of words for some people.” Vergara said. “We are here to help the people from all levels, we are not favoring any group considering that we are peacekeepers here,” he added.

This city has been in the limelight for the past months due to the series of killings allegedly perpetrated by private armed groups.

PNP record shows that 43 shooting incidents happened in the city in 2015.

Vergara said that he will reach out to the people of Calbayog and lobby for their support to attain peace in the city. He assured locals that he will perform his functions, duties and responsibilities as head of the city’s police force.

“Please help me, and I will help you. Let’s join hands to solve the criminalities here in Calbayog. Let us help this city,” he added.

Vergara, a native of Cotabato City, was the deputy station commander of Manila Police District’s station 1 and at the same time he is the Smokey Mountain police community precinct commander prior to his new assignment

Meanwhile, former city police chief Supt. Salvador Tagle thanked the locals for extending their support during his stint.

Tagle said that during his leadership, the city was generally peaceful. The local has recorded a total of 284 crime incidents from January to December 2015, which is lower compared to the 436 incidents a year ago.

Tagle will be assigned to the Eastern Visayas police regional office. (PNA)
PGL/SQM/JENNIFER SUMAGANG – ALLEGADO

DILG chief hurt by hometown’s ‘killbayog’ tag

CALBAYOG CITY, Samar, Dec. 30 (PNA) – Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento admitted that he is personally affected by the recent killings in his hometown, leading others to tag the city as "killbayog."

In an assembly with civil society organizations on Tuesday, Sarmiento emotionally admitted that he was deeply hurt, for he has worked hard to make Calbayog a better city.

Recently, a high ranking official of the province on a national news broadcast tagged Calbayog as "killbayog" due to recent shooting incidents in the city.

“It really hurts thinking that we worked hard to develop and make this place a better place to live in, but it will be tagged with terms that really hurt me, that Calbayog became killbayog,” Sarmiento said.

“For so many years you’ve delivered sales speeches to encourage people to invest in the city, but incidents like this happened,” he lamented.

Sarmiento served as mayor of Calbayog City for nine years, turning it as one of the top performing cities in the country.

He then served as representative for the first district of Samar before he was appointed by President Benigno Aquino III as DILG chief.

According to Sarmiento, from the time he assumed the highest post in DILG, he immediately talked with national top police officials about the peace and order situation of the city and the entire province of Samar.

Sarmiento said he is now in a better position to address the peace and order in the province.

On Tuesday, Philippine National Police Director General Ricardo Marquez joined Sarmiento in visiting the city and attended the PNP Regional Conference, focusing on the peace and order situation in the entire Samar province.

Sarmiento asked the support of his townmates to make Calbayog a peaceful place.

“Let us help one another to bring back peace in our city,” Sarmiento appealed.

“The main reason why we are here with the PNP chief is to address the problem in Calbayog. I know others are already impatient, but we are here to assure you that the PNP and AFP are doing their primordial mission to bring the Calbayog that we know of before without these incidents,” Sarmiento stressed.

Data from Calbayog police office showed that 43 shooting incidents have been recorded from January until mid-December. (PNA)
SCS/JFM/SQM/JENNIFER SUMAGANG–ALLEGADO

Samar fishermen survive from capsized boat incident

CALBAYOG CITY, Samar, Dec. 15 (PNA) – A father and his son-in-law survived a sea tragedy when typhoon “Nona” ravaged Samar Island on Monday.

Rogelio Galecio, 45 and Japeth Picorro, 22, both residents of Bacjao village Almagro, Samar, ventured to sea despite typhoon threats. Almagro is around three hours boat travel from this city.

In an interview, Galecio said that they left Calbayog around 8:30 a.m. on Monday aboard a motorized banca. Samar was already under public storm warning signal no. 3 when they left, but they just ignored the advisory because the weather was normal, according to Galecio.

But when they get to the middle of the sea, they were met by big and rough waves and strong winds that turned their boat upside down. Galecio said the big waves and strong sea current separated them.

“I was at sea floating for almost 12 hours, I used a plastic container as my lifesaving device and tried my best to swim and survive. It was already around 9:30 in the evening on Monday when I reached the seashore of Rawis village in Calbayog City,” Galecio recalled.

Galicio sustained minor injuries and now confined at the Calbayog General Hospital.

Meanwhile, his son-in-law Japeth Picorro, who was first declared missing, was seen floating and tied to the capsized boat around 10 a.m. Tuesday near the shoreline of Tomaligues village, Tinambacan District Calbayog.

Japeth was also brought to the hospital for check-up but was not confined.

Meanwhile, Samar provincial disaster risk reduction and management officer Van Torrevillas said that no reported casualty or major damage in the entire province due to “Nona.”

Power for the entire first district of Samar was normally restored noontime Tuesday. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines and Samar Electric Cooperative said that power lines were not heavily affected by the typhoon. (PNA)
RMA/SQM/JENNIFER SUMAGANG – ALLEGADO

Calbayog tourism, business stable despite killings - official

CALBAYOG CITY, Samar, Dec. 10 (PNA) – Tourism and business flow in this city are stable despite the reported election-related killings in the past months.

Data from the city tourism office shows that tourist arrival from January to October 2015 has reached 73,983, higher than the 72,890 visitors recorded a year ago.

Of the total number, 71,213 are local tourists while 2,770 are foreigners. The data further shows that most foreign visitors in Calbayog City are American nationals at 2,106, followed by Australian, Korean, Japanese and Chinese at 411, 126,107 and 99, respectively.

City tourism officer Ronald Ricafort said that the data is based on the record from hotels and lodging houses in the city, not including tourists who opted to stay at their relatives and friends’ homes.

According to Ricafort, tourist arrival for next year will possibly increase with the continued tourism promotions spearheaded by their office. Tourism development is among the top priority of the present administration.

For 2016, four tourism development projects are included in the city’s Local Poverty Reduction Action Plan (LPRAP) under the Bottom-Up-Budgeting (BUB) approach amounting to PHP13.3 million.

These are the development of Malajog Eco-Tourism Loop (PHP5.5 million), development of Danao and Guinogo-an Cave (PHP3.3 million), improvement of Isla Pawikan (PHP2.7 million) and marketing and promotion of Calbayog City: Participation in Travel Fairs (PHP1.8 million).

Meanwhile, Roberto Billate of the Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO) said that business in the city continues to grow. The city government issued 2,135 business permits to local establishments.

The city government is targeting to issue 2,500 business permits next year. (PNA)
JMC/SQM/JENNIFER SUMAGANG-ALLEGADO

Calbayog civil engineers steps up support to students

CALBAYOG CITY, Samar, Nov 26 (PNA) – The Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE) Calbayog City Chapter has strengthened its support to future civil engineers in the city. The group launched its scholarship program to help poor but deserving students finish their education.

PICE Calbayog City Chapter president Virgilio Eduarte said the scholarship program is the biggest project ever implemented by the chapter so far.

Eduarte added that as of now they have three scholars. They are all residents of the city and currently enrolled as freshmen students at the Northwest Samar State University (NwSSU).

He added that the chapter pays the full tuition of the students and they also receive a substantial monthly allowance to support their other school requirements like projects.

“The chapter will fully support the students until their graduation, exams and become civil engineers,” the official said.

If the chapter will have enough funds to support the scholarship program, they want to expand it and add more recipients.

Wengie Cateis, president of Junior PICE NwSSU Chapter shared that civil engineering students in the city are very lucky for the support extended by PICE members.

“PICE Calbayog members are always available if in case they need resource speakers in their seminars and other activities that need the expertise of a professional engineer,” Cateis said.

According to Eduarte, the chapter also assists students in their on-the-job-training (OJT) with free use of facilities through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) office and the city engineering office. (PNA)
CTB/SQM/JSA/EGR