Ombudsman dismisses Eastern Samar mayor

TACLOBAN CITY- Taft, Eastern Samar Mayor Francisco C. Adalim has stepped down from office Monday morning following the recent Office of the Ombudsman ruling dismissing him from service due to grave misconduct, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) regional office here said.

DILG Regional Director Pedro A. Noval, Jr. has sworn Vice Mayor Diego T. Lim into office as the new local chief executive after the DILG team served the Ombudsman ruling. Mr. Adalim is the first local chief executive in Eastern Visayas dismissed from the post.

“Adalim personally accepted the dismissal order coming from the Ombudsman but refused to sign the proof of receipt. His refusal thus prompted the Team to resort to a constructive service by posting a copy in his office, and by sending a third copy via registered mail,” Mr. Noval told BusinessWorld.

The Office of the Ombudsman ruling issued on March 6, 2012 and signed by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales found Adalim guilty of administrative office of grave misconduct.

“Accordingly, he is meted the penalty of dismissal from the service with the accessory penalties of forfeiture of retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification for reemployment in the government service,” the decision asserted.

Mr. Adalim, who is now on his third term as the mayor of Taft has been facing administrative charges after he dismissed 25 local government employees on August 2005 reportedly taking their absence without his approval.

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) earlier directed Adalim to reinstate the workers and pay them salaries covering the period from the time of their termination until their reinstatement.

The mayor’s negligence of the CSC order prompted the agency to file an administrative case before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Mr. Adalim just reassumed his office on Dec. 21, 2011, after heeding the Ombudsman order suspending him for six months since June 24, 2011 due to the same case.

When reached for comment, Mr. Adalim refused to accept several mobile phone calls. Mr. Noval said that the dismissed official can avail of all existing legal remedies and seek relief from the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court.

“In the absence of temporary restraining order, the order stays and he should stop discharging the functions of the office,” Mr. Noval added.

The DILG regional chief said that the town is generally peaceful but the provincial office of the Philippine National Police in Eastern Samar has deployed a team in the area to assist the local police if in the case there will be problems.

He stressed that Mr. Adalim’s dismissal will serve a signal to all other elected officials that they should follow the law because of the Ombudsman will really decide based on the merits of the case all those related to public administration

Taft, located 156 kilometers northeast of Tacloban City is a fourth class municipality. It has been known as election hotspots in the past polls due to occurrence of election-related violence. (Sarwell Q. Meniano)

Cash subsidy in E. Visayas to be expanded

published April 18, 2012 in BusinessWorld

MAASIN CITY -- The government plans to expand the cash subsidy to the poor program to cover all municipalities in Eastern Visayas and at the same time raise the number of beneficiary households by next year, an official said.

Letecia T. Diokno, regional director of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), said only eight municipalities in the region are not covered by the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

The towns of Guiuan, Sulat Mercedes, and Lawaan in Eastern Samar; Tunga and Isabel, Leyte; Anahawan and Padre Burgos in Southern Leyte will be considered in the planned expansion next year.

“We will have around 300,000 beneficiaries next year from the current 240,000 households... all areas will be included with the pronouncement of President Aquino to cover all poor families with zero to 14 years old children,” Ms. Diokno toldBusinessWorld.

More than 55,000 poor families in Eastern Visayas were listed this year as new beneficiaries of the program, bringing the total number of beneficiaries in the region to 240,909 households. -- Sarwell Q. Meniano

Eastern Visayas to achieve goal on malnutrition rate by 2015

published April 16, 2012 in BusinessWorld

PALO, LEYTE -- Achieving the goal to reduce the malnutrition rate for Eastern Visayas can be achieved within the period set under a United Nations-led program, an official said.

As of last year, 79,287 children, or 15% of the children in Eastern Visayas, were still considered malnourished, said Carina Z. Santiago, National Nutrition Council regional coordinator.

Under the Millennium Development Goals, the target is to reduce malnutrition prevalence to 10% by 2015.

The malnutrition rate in the region has consistently declined, Ms. Santiago said, from 22% in 2002 to 20.15% in 2007 and further to 15% last year, with the goal expected to be met by improving capacities at the local level.

“That is still possible [decrease the rate of malnourished children to 10% by 2015] with all the efforts done by the national government to build the capability of local government units to curb the problem,” Ms. Santiago said.

Of the 528,593 preschool children weighed last year, 60,960 were identified as underweight and 18,327 were classified as severely underweight. The region posted a 15% malnutrition prevalence, a little lower than the 15.73% rate recorded in 2010.

Ms. Santiago said municipalities in Samar and Northern Samar were still in the list of top 10 nutritionally poor municipalities in the region as of last year.

Catbalogan City in Samar ranked first in terms of high percentage of underweight children with 27.75%
followed by Samar province (21.54%), Northern Samar (17.69%), Leyte (15.73%), Borongan City in Eastern Samar (14.05%), Biliran (13.11), Ormoc City in Leyte (12.57%), Eastern Samar (11.83%), Calbayog City in Samar (11.76%), Tacloban City in Leyte (9.88%), Southern Leyte (7.95%), and Maasin City in Southern Leyte (5.03%).

“Majority of municipalities in the region have shown an improvement, which contributed to the better regional performance last year,” Ms. Santiago said.

Top performers were Limasawa, Southern Leyte; Anahawan, Southern Leyte; Llorente, Eastern Samar; San Juan, Southern Leyte; Tomas Oppus, Southern Leyte; Silago, Southern Leyte; Liloan, Southern Leyte; Hinunangan, Southern Leyte; Taft, Eastern Samar; and Balangiga, Eastern Samar.

Listed as top 10 nutritionally poor towns were San Jorge, Samar; Silvino Lobos, Northern Samar; San Jose de Buan, Samar; San Sebastian, Samar; Jipapad, Eastern Samar; Matuguinao, Samar; Pagsanghan, Samar; Sto. Niño, Samar; Paranas, Samar; and Zumarraga, Samar.

Among the initiatives to combat malnutrition are the organization of breastfeeding support group, Pabasa sa Nutrisyon, feeding for day care children, monitoring of pregnant women, proper complementary feeding for babies six months and older, and vegetables production. -- Sarwell Q. Meniano

Military vows to keep Visayas insurgent-free

published April 14, 2012 in BusinessWorld

LIMASAWA, SOUTHERN LEYTE -- A military official vowed to block rebels’ efforts to retake insurgent-free Visayas provinces as they shift their thrust to implementation of development projects from counter-insurgency efforts.

Col. John S. Bonafos, commander of 802nd brigade of the Philippine Army based in Camp Downes, Ormoc City, said they are stepping up efforts to coordinate with local government units and other government agencies in undertaking development projects.

"We will continue our support operations particularly in the development aspects needed by people. After we have attained peace, we will move to development phase like construction of classrooms, road repair and road widening," Mr. Bonafos toldBusinessWorld.

The brigade covers the insurgent-free provinces of Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Southern Leyte, and Biliran. It is the only Philippine Army headquarters in the entire country with all covered areas officially declared as rebel-cleared.

Among the five provinces, Biliran was the first to gain the insurgent-free status as jointly declared by the army and local government unit in December 2008. Cebu and Bohol were declared free of rebel activities in March 2010 while Southern Leyte and Leyte attained the same status in September 2011 and December 2011, respectively.

"The situation of these Visayas provinces exemplifies that we can attain the insurgent-free status through multi-stakeholders participation," Mr. Bonafos said.

For insurgent-free areas, the military turned over the lead role in maintaining the internal security to its local executives and police.

A province is categorized as insurgency-free when the threat posed by the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) is successfully downgraded into a mere law and order problem. -- Sarwell Q. Meniano

Disputes resolved as Eastern Visayas records ninth year of ‘zero strike’

published April 12, 2012 in BusinessWorld

TACLOBAN CITY -- Two strikes were averted as the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) here marked the ninth consecutive year of “zero strike” for Eastern Visayas.

Records at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) showed that the labor unions of the Leyte II Electric Cooperative (Leyeco II) based in this city and the Specialty Pulp Manufacturing, Inc. (SPMI) in Baybay City filed notices of strike in February.

Tomas B. Biboso, NCMB’s regional conciliator-mediator, said both were resolved last month.

“We have done our best to resolve their concerns in order to prevent a strike. We want to maintain the status of the region as labor strike-free for nine years already,” Mr. Biboso toldBusinessWorld.

Based on the notice filed on Feb. 15, the Leyeco II employees union which has 107 members sought an across-the-board wage increase and grocery allowance. The complaint was settled within 28 days.

Leyeco II, which has around 60,000 member-consumers, is the sole power distributor in Tacloban City and the towns of Babatngon and Palo in Leyte.

The NCMB declined to disclose the amount demanded by the worker’s group but Mr. iboso said both parties agreed through conciliation that the management would set aside P3.017 million for wage increases and allowances for this year alone.

In the case of SPMI, among the demands of the 63 union members were salary increases for 2011 to 2013, pay increase for senior employees, leave credits, sick leaves, vacation leaves, rice allowance, transportation allowance, and a signing bonus.

“Last month, both parties agreed on the benefits, after more than just three hours of conciliation-mediation proceeding,” Mr. Biboso said.

The SPMI management agreed to provide salary increases ranging from P11.50 to P14 daily and seniority increase of P1.00 per day. These amounted to P5.6 million worth of benefits, reached through amicable settlement.

The company is engaged in the manufacture, sale, and export of food grade and non-food grade bleached and unbleached specialty pulp, mainly from abaca or Manila hemp as well as other natural long fibers and jute.

DoLE Regional Director Exequiel R. Sarcauga said the nine successive years of zero strike can be attributed to the establishment of industrial peace councils, the promotion of a “social accord,” labor education, litigation of cases, and enforcement of labor standards.

“With our continuing education drive for both workers and employers, they are more capable of resolving concerns within the workplace.

Some companies adopted the code of good practices, which means that they are one with us in ensuring compliance of labor standards,” Mr. Sarcauga said.


The last strike in Eastern Visayas recorded by the NCMB was on Feb.24, 2003, by mployees of the Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative in Borongan, Eastern Samar. Utility workers struck after a deadlock in collective bargaining agreement negotiations. -- Sarwell Q. Meniano