10 E. Visayas local governments join health leadership study

TACLOBAN CITY, Aug. 2 -- At least 10 local government units in Eastern Visayas joined the 18-month Municipal Leadership and Governance Program (MLGP) of the Department of Health (DOH) where mayors and municipal doctors learn and work to transform local health programs.

The DOH began on Wednesday the first of the three modules of MLGP for the 6th batch of mayors and local health officers in Eastern Visayas to undergo the leadership program.

“Our goal is that at least 50 percent of mayors in the region will be involved in the program because I do believe when you are a graduate of MLGP, you become a health agent for change,” said DOH Regional Director Minerva Molon.

Currently, Eastern Visayas has 44 MLGP graduates. Another 12 areas joined the Fifth batch last June, according to DOH. The region has 143 cities and towns in six provinces. 

MLGP is a one-year leadership program for local chief executives and municipal health officers, which is supplemented by coaching and mentoring sessions from the DOH development management officer during the practicum. 

It aims to develop and transform local officials to become bridging leaders and to create an immediate impact on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by improving the local health systems of their municipalities. 

This program requires the participants to complete the four-day module 1 sessions, six-month practicum, four-day module 2 sessions and 12-month practicum before they can graduate.

Joining the latest batch are mayors and local health officials of Barugo, Pastrana, Tabontabon, Julita, Jaro, and Mahaplag in Leyte; Culaba, Biliran; San Isidro, Northern Samar; Dolores and Oras, Eastern Samar.

“This program will help us implement our local health agenda and improve the delivery of health services. Despite limited budget, we can always think out of the box to achieve health targets,” said Tabontabon Mayor Rustico Balderian.

The town, with a population of 12,000, gets an annual budget of PHP47 million from the central government. About 10 percent goes to health programs. 

Launched in 2013, MLGP aims to foster transformative changes to local health leaders for better health outcomes of their respective towns. This is in support of the Millennium Development Goals, by applying the knowledge and skills gained in two health leadership modules.

The program is a joint undertaking of the DOH, Zuellig Family Foundation, and University of the Philippines-Manila. (Sarwell Q. Meniano with reports from Angelica N. Royo, OJT/PNA)

Army seeks local gov't’s help vs insurgency

CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar, Aug. 2 -- A top official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Tuesday asked local government units to take an active role in fighting insurgency in the country.

Speaking to local government executives, military personnel, and regional directors during the 29th anniversary of the Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Division, AFP Vice Commander Major Gen. Harold Cabreros stressed the need for local officials to assist in the anti-insurgency drive.

Cabreros said the military alone cannot solve the insurgency problem.

“Local government officials is of great help in fighting insurgency because we are pushing for holistic approach. When we say holistic, this means that it is not only the military, but this also needs the help from our local leaders, the non-government organizations, national government agencies and other sectors of the government,” he explained.

The official lauded the Samar provincial government headed by Governor Sharee Ann Tan-de los Santos for pushing the provincial development roadmap to help end insurgency in the province.

While the provinces of Southern Leyte and Biliran are already declared as insurgency-free and the province of Leyte as conflict-manageable affected areas, Samar province remains to be one of the hotbeds of insurgency in the region along with nearby Northern and Eastern Samar provinces.

The three provinces are recipients of government infrastructure projects meant for conflict-affected areas.

Cabreros added that the interventions of the Philippine Army in Eastern Visayas to help government agencies deliver basic services, has greatly helped in reducing the number of rebel groups in Samar Island.

Meanwhile, the official believed that recent attacks by the New People’s Army against government forces has no significant effects to the peace and order situation in the region.

The attacks are “NPA’s tactics to conduct terroristic activities just to give a message that they are there,” Cabreros said. 

“But then, they are attacking soft targets like the Philippine National Police who are there to fulfill their mandate to enforce the law, our policemen are not there to fight insurgency, but to enforce our law,” Cabreros added.

The official is optimistic that the military in the region will be able to neutralize insurgency despite recent deployment of four battalions to Mindanao. (Roel T. Amazona/PNA)

Prov'l board to probe power outages in Leyte

TACLOBAN CITY, Aug. 2-- The Leyte provincial board will conduct hearings on the power supply status in Eastern Visayas after the 6.5 magnitude earthquake last July 6.

Leyte Vice-Governor Carlo Loreto said the hearing is for local legislators to know the real situation of power industry in the province.

The official noted that although power was fully restored on July 28 per report of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the province continues to experience power interruptions daily. 

“We have been receiving feedback why the power situation in Leyte is facing this kind of problem. Investors are also concerned on the feasibility of doing business in Leyte,” Loreto said.

After the tremor, Leyte, Samar, and Bohol provinces suffered total blackout for a week and rotational brownouts for two weeks. 

“It is just electricity, but it is a major concern now for every household and in businesses,” Loreto said.

Board members will have to agree on the date of hearing that will be attended by all provincial board members, general managers from five electric cooperatives in Leyte, and NGCP officials.

The Department of Energy announced that power was fully restored on July 28 in Leyte, Samar, and Bohol Island ahead of their July 30 schedule.

The NGCP in a separate statement also announced that they were able to energize its replacement transformer in Ormoc Substation on July 28, ahead of the July 31 deadline.

“Our plans proceeded earlier than scheduled because of the passion and dedication of our people. 

Our engineers, linemen, and staff worked tirelessly to set all our restoration plans into motion until we restored the reliability of services which we provide our stakeholders. They can be assured that NGCP will continue its work to completely restore all affected facilities,” the NGCP stated.

Even with the power restoration, the region continues to experience power outages until Tuesday night due to what the NGCP calls as “generation deficiency”.

“Visayas grid is on red alert due to generation deficiency resulting from temporary unavailability of one generating unit from Palm Concepcion Power Plant and some units from geothermal plants in Leyte. In addition, no generation can be imported from Luzon as NGCP is still working on repairing the earthquake-damaged converter station in Ormoc,” the NGCP said on its advisory issued on Tuesday.

The available capacity was 1,742 megawatts (MW), but the peak demand was 1,868 MW, according to power transmission system provider. 

NGCP is simultaneously conducting repair on the two remaining Transformers 1 and 6 in Ormoc Substation, as well as the Luzon-Visayas High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC).

NGCP exerted all efforts to expedite the delivery of needed parts for the repair of HVDC, reducing the delivery time from the usual months to just 20 days, the statement added.(Roel T. Amazona & Lizbeth Ann A. Abella/PNA)

Tourism sector welcomes full power restoration in quake-hit areas

TACLOBAN CITY, Aug. 1 -- The Department of Tourism has welcomed the full restoration of power in areas hit by magnitude 6.5 earthquake on July 6, citing the need for tourism establishments to enjoy uninterrupted power supply. 

DOT Eastern Visayas Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes said the normal supply of power was a positive development for the hotels, restaurants and other tourism-related businesses, which were hard-hit by the one-week total blackout and two weeks or rotational brownouts. 

“When power supply was cut due to the quake, our stakeholders had to contend with the expenses they incurred to operate using power generators,” Tiopes said Tuesday in a message sent to PNA. 

“For accommodation facilities that had no power generators, business operations were temporarily stopped. For some entities, the rotational brownouts and power fluctuations also damaged some of their air-conditioning units and spoiled perishable food supplies.” 

The official noted that hotels without 24-hours power supply suffered income losses as some guests cancelled their booking or transfer to another accommodation facilities. 

“With the restoration of the normal power supply, tourism-related enterprises will be back to their normal business operations,” Tiopes added. 

The official made the statement days after transmission service provider National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) fully restored the power supply in Eastern Visayas and Bohol Island on July 28 or three days ahead of the target set by the Department of Energy. 

The Leyte II Electric Cooperative (Leyeco) II, which distributes power to the regional capital and nearby towns, lauded the NGCP for fully restoring power in quake-hit provinces ahead of July 31 schedule. 

“For one, Leyeco II likewise appreciates NGCP's unwavering commitment to better serve the electric cooperatives in the region,” the cooperative said in a statement on Monday. 

Leyeco II, tagged as mega large electric cooperative, has 61,625 connections in this city and nearby towns of Palo and Babatngon. Tacloban, the regional capital, is the host of the region’s biggest shops and hotels. 

NGCP said that the islands of Leyte, Samar Bohol has been energized ahead of the schedule set by the energy department on July 30, according to NGCP statement. 

The projected demand is 291 megawatts (MW) is broken down as follows: 210 MW for Leyte and Samar and 81 MW for Bohol. 

The total potential of 330 MW in the three islands to address its projected peak demand of 291 MW is broken down as follows: 135 MW traversing the Ormoc Substation; 40 MW from Tongonan Geothermal Power Plant; around 20 MW from various embedded generation sources; and additional 135 MW through the Ormoc Substation. 

Since the earthquake struck Leyte last July 6, the NGCP has been working 24 hours daily in order to normalize the transmission of power.(Sarwell Q. Meniano & Vicky C. Arnaiz/PNA)

EPIRA Law remains a top concern of Region 8 power coops

TACLOBAN CITY, Aug. 1 -- A top official of the Leyte II Electric Cooperative (Leyeco II) said the implementation of Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001 remains a top concern among electric cooperatives in the region. 

Leyeco II General Manager Fernan Paul Tan said some reforms under the law are unclear to them.

“The implementation of this law is like a trial and error for all of us. This is really a big challenge,” said Tan, recently appointed as Leyeco II general manager. 

Enacted in 2001, EPIRA or Republic Act 9136 aims to reform the power sector by restructuring of the entire power industry and to privatize most state-owned power generation and transmission assets to foster competition among power players and bring down electricity prices. 

Among other benefits, RA 9136 is designed to bring down electricity rates and to improve the delivery of power supply to end-users by encouraging greater competition and efficiency in the electricity industry. 

The reform seeks to give stakeholders consumer empowerment, higher efficiency, open access, industry accountability, competition in generation and supply, and electricity tariff unbundling. 

“With the recent situation wherein power shortage was experienced, the cooperatives which are dependent in the distribution charges will not earn, if no electricity is consumed,” Tan added. 

The official noted that cost of electricity remained high even with the implementation of EPIRA LAW. 

Records show that out of the PHP378.92 million operating cost of Leyeco II last year, about PHP343.5 were spent for power cost. 

The electric cooperative sells electricity to consumers at PHP6.60 per kilowatt hour. Leyeco II, which serves this city and nearby towns, has 61,625 connections as of end of first quarter.(Lizbeth Ann A. Abella/PNA)