Army to secure major Samar road project

TACLOBAN CITY, June 25  – The Philippine Army will secure the construction of nearly PHP1 billion Samar Pacific Coastal Road project, in a bid to stop armed rebels from hampering the road works, a military official said Monday.

Major Gen. Raul Farnacio, commanding general of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division, said members of the New People’s Army may try to sabotage the PHP997.50-million road project, funded through a loan from the South Korean government

The 11.6-kilometer road works, which was awarded to a Korean contractor, will connect the island towns of Laoang, Palapag, Mapanas, Gamay, and Lapinig to the provincial capital of Catarman and to Arteche and San Policarpo, both in Eastern Samar. It is up for completion in March 2020.

“We need to have a unique approach together with the local government units and the community to ensure the safety of equipment and unhampered implementation of the infrastructure project. We will need their help because we cannot guarantee the safety without the cooperation of other stakeholders,” Farnacio said.

Three military battalions in the area -- the 20th Infantry Battalion in Catubig town, the Civil Military Operation Battalion and the 543rdEngineering Battalion in Laoang-- will help secure the project.

Aside from the communist group, the military is also considering threats from criminal elements that would affect the implementation of the government project.

“That is why we need the support of the people to make sure that this project will be completed on time,” Farnacio added.

The road project will also help promote the tourism potentials of the four Pacific Coastal towns blessed with beaches, rock formations, waterfalls and caves, he said.

On May 31, the Department of Public Works and Highways and the South Korean government held a groundbreaking for the project that will open an 11.6-kilometer, two-lane road and build three bridges. (RTA/PNA)

Leyte guv asks village officials to help create jobs

PALO, Leyte, June 25  – Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla on Saturday asked newly-elected village officials to become partner for change by initiating development programs that will create jobs in their communities.

During the mass oath-taking ceremony here, the governor urged village officials to replicate the initiatives of the municipal government that attracted several businesses after the 2013 super typhoon Yolanda.

“Many investors are now coming in to Palo and we need to sustain this. This has become an attractive investment destination not only for small businesses, but even for multi-national firms,” Petilla said.

Among the new business are McDonalds, Shakey’s Pizza, Jollibee, Mercury Drug, Dunkin Donuts, and Metrobank. Under construction is CityMall, a chain of community shopping malls operated by Double Dragon Properties.

“As village officials, we need to prepare our constituents for this change. The investment coming in means more jobs that we need to fill-in,” Petilla added.

The governor noted that economic development not only happens in the town but even in neighboring towns like Alangalang, where giant fast food chain Jollibee will open its newest branch.

Petilla also challenged newly-elected youth officials, who will assume their posts on June 30, saying they “need to create and push programs that provide and create better education to the youth.”

Almost 600 newly-elected village and youth officials from Palo attended the mass-oath taking ceremony held at the Oriental Hotel Leyte. After the oath-taking, the Department of Interior and Local Government Leyte provincial office briefed them on parliamentary procedures. (RTA/PNA)

Malnutirition among kids from 'not poor' Leyte families alarming

CARIGARA, Leyte, June 25  -- Malnutrition is directly linked to poverty, but not the case in this town, where children from high income families are on the list of the town’s most underweight.

Rosalyn Securata, 29, was not surprised to hear that her three-year-old son Chris Lawrence only gained a weight of 9.6 kilograms, way below than the ideal 13 to 15 kilograms for his age.

Her common-law husband, Almar Dabon, is not a poor man in the town's populated West Visoria village dotted with makeshift houses. The fisherman earns PHP300 to PHP1,500 daily, more than the PHP200 average daily income of pedicab drivers in their community.

Rosalyn, a high school dropout, admitted that their small family is capable of buying nutritious food, but her son’s taste bud limits their food choices.

“What can I do if my son has no appetite to eat any fish and vegetables? I don’t want him to go hungry that’s why I always prepare his favorite food -- instant noodles, fried chicken, and hotdogs,” Rosalyn shared.

The mother practiced exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of her baby, but the child was not provided with proper supplemental foods, nutrition workers concluded.

Maria Belinda Alberca, head of the local nutrition office in Carigara town, said on Monday the child already missed the so-called “golden window of opportunity” of children.

The first 1,000 days, which starts from conception until the child reaches his or her second birthday, is considered globally as the “golden window of opportunity” to build a person’s foundation for physical growth, mental development, health and economic productivity, according to experts.

In Libo village, one of the most malnourished children is nine-year-old Akisha Veronica Louisse, raised by well-educated Rina Rhea, a single mother from a well-to-do family.

Her mother, a local government employee, is unfazed to learn that her kid only weighs 17 kilograms, just a little over half of the ideal weight of 30 kilograms for a Grade 4 learner. “I’m not worried because I was also tiny when I was a kid.”

In contrast, Akisha’s teacher, Sonia Rendora of Cassidy Elementary School was bothered by the child’s performance inside the classroom. “This child is bright, but her attention span is very short and sometimes she fell asleep even before the end of the first subject,” the teacher shared.

Catalino Dotollo, National Nutrition Council (NNC) regional program coordinator, has expressed concern that some children not from poor families suffer food insecurity, citing that consequences of improper feeding are irreversible.

“Their caretakers are primarily responsible to make sure that they’re getting the right food after exclusive breastfeeding,” Dotollo told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Monday.

The official is worried of the consequence of malnutrition to education. “In the first two years of life, a child’s brain forms 1,000 new neural connections per second. This pace of development is never repeated again in life. Reduced cognitive development is largely irreversible,” he said.

The two children are among the 366 underweight children, representing 18.10 percent of all children covered by weighing activities.

Alberca is not convinced about the two mothers’ justification as she believes that feeding children requires discipline and determination.

“If the child is used to eating nutritious food six months after birth, it’s not hard to continue proper feeding practices in the first 1,000 days of life and beyond,” Alberca said.

With its limited resources, the local nutrition office, which shares a room with the town’s population office, has been conducting information drive among mothers in 49 villages.

One main activity is the “Pabasa sa Nutrisyon” an information-sharing type of activity that targets breastfeeding mothers, pregnant women and mothers of malnourished children to teach them the proper selection and preparation of affordable and nutritious food.

This activity is being led by barangay (village) nutrition scholars, among the low-paying community workers, receiving only PHP300 to PHP500 monthly.

Carigara, the oldest settlement in Leyte province, is a second-class town in central Leyte. In 2016, the town generated PHP125.32-million income with PHP102.68 million as share from the national government’s internal revenue allotment.

Alberca said that although the budget for nutrition program is very minimal, they have been linking with other agencies with activities that could help improve nutrition status of children such as agriculture, upgraded infrastructure, employment, and education. (SQM/PNA)

Zamboanga stakeholders benchmark Eastern Visayas tourism

INOPACAN, Leyte, June 23  -- A delegation from Zamboanga Peninsula has visited Eastern Visayas for a benchmarking mission on tourism practices in the region.

The team of 17 tourism and local government officials was headed by Department of Tourism 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) director Karina Rosa Tiopes.

On Friday, the group observed how the region handles cruise, farm and community-based tourism, which it could adopt.

Zamboanga Peninsula is like Eastern Visayas when it comes to what it can offer to tourists, however, the problems on security and armed conflict affect tourism promotion efforts.

Tiopes used to be the DOT regional chief in Eastern Visayas.

Among the famous places in Zamboanga Peninsula are Dapitan City, where the Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal was exiled for four years; the Fort Pilar Shrine and Museum, a Spanish garrison built in year 1635; and Sta. Cruz Beach, also known as the Pink Beach of Zamboanga City.

“There were lots of tourists who visited our region, but the number declined due to Martial Law and the Marawi siege,” said Dapitan City Councilor Danny Estacio.

“But now, it is recuperating slowly and we just have to come up with a new strategy. We are here to learn what the DOT in Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) has done so we can duplicate the practice in our place,” Estacio added.

The visit in some popular tourist destinations in Eastern Visayas gave them an idea on how to market Zamboanga as a tourist destination.

“Tourism is a never-ending learning process and it is now a big industry that could give income to our local constituents, economic activity that could spur and improve their standard of living,” Estacio said.

“Hopefully, we can implement the things that we learned from our visit here,” he added.

Estacio noted that they have already learned many things on their first day of benchmarking, including how to project their region as a safe place to visit.

“Our city is a safe place. However, people think that there is a security and peace and order problem, which we need to clarify. Our city and our region is a beautiful and safe place to visit,” he said.

Unlike Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula has a distinct characteristic of hosting diverse communities of ethnic people, both Muslims and Christians.

“We have groups of people who are living harmoniously. I said harmoniously because the conflicts there are just pocket conflict. We tend to look at the conflict more than the actual situation,” Tiopes explained.

She said this distinct characteristic of Zamboanga Peninsula would make a good marketing strategy for cruise tourism because of its rich historical, heritage and cultural diversity that tourists would truly love and enjoy.

The delegation from Zamboanga toured Cuatro Islas and observed how DOT handles cruise tourism.

The group watched how the locals presented to foreign tourists their local songs and dances, their way of life, their source of income, their local cuisine and their local wine.

“We always thought that it is possible, but to see it in action is so empowering because it doesn’t take so much but just imagination and of course, cooperation between the local government, the DOT, and the private sector. This is, I think, the perfect mix where we see it work hand in hand in a successful form,” said Svetlana Jalosjos, general manager of Dakak Resort and Properties based in Dapitan.

“This is something that we envisioned for our place and aspire for and now we see it is so much doable,” Jalosjos added.

After witnessing how cruise tourism works, the group visited the famous tourist destination in Baybay City, the 16,000 Blossoms at Linta-on Peak, and Ormoc City to meet Mayor Richard Gomez to discuss post-disaster tourism industry recovery.

This weekend, the group will also visit the province of Biliran for benchmarking on farm tourism and the province of Samar where they will visit the town of Paranas for the Olot Torpedo Boat Ride and the Sohoton Cave in Basey town.  These areas are models for community-based tourism in Eastern Visayas. (RTA/PNA)

Summit Hotel Tacloban opening to draw big events

TACLOBAN CITY, June 23 -- The opening of the Robinsons-owned Summit Hotel in this city will attract big gatherings to the regional capital, key local tourism officials said on Wednesday.

Department of Tourism - Eastern Visayas officer-in-charge, Trina Dacuycuy, said the presence of the 138-room hotel, with function rooms that could accommodate up to 650 people, would boost the region’s bid to become a destination for meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE).

“In the past, we always failed in our bid to host bigger events because of the absence of hotels with large function halls in the city. With the opening of Summit Hotel, we are more confident of hosting MICE, which we see as one of the most effective tourism campaigns,” said Dacuycuy during the hotel’s grand opening on Thursday.

MICE visitor arrivals in the Philippines were unavailable but estimates showed an 8-percent share in total tourist arrivals.

City tourism officer Malou Tabao said the operation of a big hotel here would not only boost tourism activities in Tacloban City, but in the six provinces of the region as well.

“Since we are the gateway of Eastern Visayas, about 80 percent of the region’s tourists come to the city for a tour or an overnight stay. This hotel will give them more reasons to stay in Tacloban,” Tabao told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

“Event organizers and participants want to stay in the same hotel with large function rooms for major gatherings and break-in sessions. We did not have a place like this before,” she added.

Before the opening of the Summit Hotel, the city had 54 hotels and lodging houses with 1,859 rooms.

Summit Hotel Tacloban is the fifth property of the Gokongwei-led Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) under the Summit brand. The 138-room hotel, the largest in the city, is considered to be the first shopping hotel built next to Robinsons Place Tacloban on the RLC-owned five-hectare complex in Marasbaras district.

“We are looking forward to doing our share to capture the MICE market for Tacloban and Leyte. Conventions bring in much-needed tourist traffic to a destination and we hope we can build this market with the brand new facilities,” said Elizabeth Gregorio, Summit Hotels and Go Hotels general manager.

Summit Hotel is the second hotel of RLC in the city after Go Hotels, which opened in April 2012 in the same complex - where RLC opened its first mall in Eastern Visayas in 2009.

RLC operates five Summit hotels -- Summit Ridge Tagaytay, Summit Hotel Magnolia in Quezon City, Summit Galleria Cebu, Summit Circle Cebu, and Summit Hotel Tacloban. (SQM/PNA)