RDC okays proposed PHP190.72B 2018 budget for Eastern Visayas

PALO, Leyte, March 23 (PNA) -The Regional Development Council (RDC) has endorsed the proposed PHP190.72 billion budget for 2018 of various government agencies in Eastern Visayas in a bid to attain economic growth, reduced poverty and recovery from devastating typhoons.

The members of the region’s highest policy-making body unanimously approved the proposal during its 1st quarter meeting here that concluded late Wednesday afternoon after two months of preparation and evaluation.

The approved outlay will be checked by the respective main offices of national government agencies prior to the budget deliberation by Congress. The target is to complete the budget preparation process before President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nation Address on July 24, 2017.

Of the PHP190.72 RDC-endorsed funds, PHP106.76 billion will be for social services sector, PHP68.91 billion for infrastructure and utilities sectors, PHP9.07 billion for economic sectors and PHP5.97 billion for development administration sectors.

Among the agencies with huge budget request next year are the Department of Education (PHP83.23 billion), Department of Public Works and Highways (PHP66.96 billion), Department of Social Welfare and Development (PHP10.36 billion), Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (PHP4.82 billion), Department of Agriculture (PHP1.92 billion), and Department of Health (PHP1.33 billion).

Tacloban City Mayor Cristina Gonzalez-Romualdez, RDC Eastern Visayas chairperson, said the council formed an advisory committee composed of 13 members of the House of Representatives in the region who will lobby for the approval of the budget requirement.

“We are counting on the help of our congressmen because we want all programs to be materialized,” Romualdez said.

Department of Trade and Industry Regional director Cynthia Nierras, chair of the RDC Economic Development Committee, said all RDC members, including private sector representatives, carefully scrutinized all the proposed funds for next year.

“The RDC members have not asked for deduction of the proposed 2018 budget of agencies, but rather requested agencies to seek more funds to finance some activities to really attain economic growth,” Nierras said.

The recently concluded budget scrutiny in the regional level was centered on new and scale-up programs and projects for next year.

Earlier, the RDC asked national government agencies to align their proposed 2018 budget to priorities under the 2017 -2022 Regional Development Plan (RDP).

“RDC inputs, recommendation and endorsement will ensure that there are fund allocations for regional development priorities along human, economic and infrastructure development, including that of the post-disaster rehabilitation and recovery needs,” the council said in a statement.

Aside from national priorities, the RDC asked agencies to highly consider programs and projects outlined as priorities in the new RDP.

The plan aims to promote inclusive economic growth, poverty reduction, income equality and recovery from devastating typhoons Yolanda and Nona, among others. (PNA)
SARWELL Q. MENIANO

PHP17.87M initial damage reported in Samar rice pest, disease infestation

TACLOBAN CITY, March 23 (PNA) – At least PHP17.87 million worth of damages have been incurred from widespread pest and disease infestation in Northern Samar and Eastern Samar provinces, the Department of Agriculture said, citing preliminary reports.

DA Regional Executive Director U-Nichols Manalo said there is ongoing validation within the 4,000-hectare rice farms reportedly plagued by the destructive bacterial leaf blight (BLB) brown plant hoppers.

“Out of the estimated PHP140 million damages as reported by local government units (LGUs), only PHP17 million have been validated by our team in both provinces. We have been asking the LGUs to help us so that the national government will immediately mobilize resources to stop the infestation,” Manalo said on Thursday.

As of this week, the quick response team has validated 648.36 hectares affecting 745 farmers.

BLB have been causing havoc in nine Northern Samar towns while plant hoppers have been attacking seven Eastern Samar towns.

The affected towns are Palapag, Las Navas, Lao-ang, Victoria, Allen, Lavezares, Rosario, San Jose and Catarman in Northern Samar and San Julian, Sulat, Taft, Dolores, Oras, Arteche and Jipapad in Eastern Samar.

“The DA is now seeking the help of the municipal agriculture officers as well as the farmers themselves to adopt some mitigating measures or pest management practices,” the DA regional chief said.

The infestation, however, will not significantly bring down the projected production of 537,954 metric tons in the first semester of 2017 considering that the two provinces are not top staple food producers in the region, according to Manalo.

Northern Samar's rice output accounts for 11.63 percent of the 954,844 metric tons produced in Eastern Visayas last year. Eastern Samar’s yield, on the other hand, only contributed 6.48 percent to the 2016 regional volume.

The two provinces have combined planted areas of 61,725 hectares.

BLB is caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. Oryzicola bacterium, which turns rice plants into brown. Under severe conditions, this could lead to reduced grain weight due to loss of photosynthetic area, according to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

IRRI explained that high population of plant hoppers cause leaves to initially turn orange-yellow before becoming brown and drying. This condition kills the plant. The hopper is capable of transmitting incurable Rice Ragged Stunt and Rice Grassy Stunt diseases.

Pest infestations have been recorded in Northern Samar since early of January this year. Eastern Samar farmers noticed the abnormal hoppers population in the last week of February.

Plant pest and disease experts from the Agriculture department were deployed last week to check the situation and launch an information drive on how to manage the infestation.

The government also provides farmers any possible assistance, including the conduct of capability enhancement training of technicians on pest management as reports of crop diseases and pest infestations keep coming.

The DA advised affected farmers to continue monitoring rice fields, immediate harvesting of the remaining unaffected matured crops, light trapping, metarhizium spray and judicious use of nitrogen fertilizers, among others.

The DA believes that pests and diseases thrived in Samar provinces due to high humidity, excessive use of nitrogenous fertilizer, closer crop canopy, and indiscriminate use of pesticide that kills their natural enemies. (PNA)
SARWELL Q. MENIANO

DPWH checks damaged portions of US-funded Samar road completed last year

TACLOBAN CITY, March 22 (PNA) – A team from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has been deployed to check the reported damage on a road linking Samar and Eastern Samar funded by the United States, which was completed early last year.

Edgar Tabacon, DPWH regional director, said on Wednesday that there is an ongoing inspection of the newly-completed road to determine the cost of repair.

“A team from the central office has been checking specific road sections because we need to know how much budget is needed to maintain the road network,” Tabacon told officials during the 1st quarter Regional Development Council (RDC) meeting.

The initiative, according to Tabacon, is part of the Philippine government’s commitment to take care of infrastructure projects.

RDC private sector representative Oliver Cam said adverse weather and geological conditions had caused damages to the road.

The US-funded USD214 million road upgrading project linking impoverished towns in Samar provinces was completed after 44 months of construction.

The grant from the US government covered road widening, rehabilitation, drainage and other safety measures, bridge construction and engineering interventions on road slips and landslides. The project, which has four contract packages, was awarded to seven contractors.

Of the 222 kilometers, 112 are asphalt and 110 are concrete. The road network has 62 bridges with 60 constructed by the Secondary National Road Development Project and two by the DPWH.

The Samar rehabilitation project, which started in 2012, is a major component of the USD434 million grant from the US government to address poverty.

The road traverses the town of Paranas in Samar, Taft, Sulat, San Julian, Borongan, Maydolong, Llorente, Hernani, Gen. Macarthur, Quinapondan, Salcedo, Mercedes and Guiuan in Eastern Samar. (PNA)
SARWELL Q. MENIANO

Eastern Visayas RDC backs Asia-Pacific mayors’ meet in Samar

PALO, Leyte, March 22 (PNA) – The Regional Development Council (RDC) has expressed support to the hosting of Catbalogan City in Samar of the United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific (UCLG-ASPAC) meeting on April 5-7, 2017.

The region’s highest policy-making body has endorsed on Wednesday afternoon a resolution supporting the event and urge local chief executives to join the discussion of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, one of the highlights of the international gathering.

“It will greatly contribute not only to our disaster risk reduction and management programs, but to our tourism promotion initiatives as well,” said Tacloban City Mayor Cristina Gonzalez-Romualdez, the new RDC chairperson.

Catbalogan City Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan asked the RDC to help them in welcoming the foreign guests and ensure the safety of visitors.

“We want Eastern Visayas region to benefit from this event. Let’s make this an important event by attending, especially that we are vulnerable to natural disasters,” Uy-Tan said.

As of this week, there are already 114 foreign delegations composed of governors, mayors and key officials from 19 member countries who have confirmed their attendance in the event, according to the mayor.

“We will maximize the presence of these leaders by holding side events such as gathering of village officials to help in the localization of Sustainable Development Goals,” she added.

The Catbalogan local government also asked officials of state universities and colleges present to send their representatives to the youth conference, another side event of the international meeting.

UCLG, the only local government organization recognized by the United Nations, enlists Catbalogan as its lone local government unit (LGU) member in Eastern Visayas region. It became a member in 2015.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 outlines seven clear targets and four priorities for action to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks. These include understanding disaster risk; strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk; investing in disaster reduction for resilience; enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response; and to "build back better" in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

The Framework was adopted at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan on March 18, 2015.

The Asia-Pacific region has 19 member countries and they will send three representatives each country.

The UCLG ASPAC is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia with its secretariat headed by Bernardia Tjandradewi.

Catbalogan can be reached from the country’s capital through flights from Manila to Tacloban Airport. The city is a two-hour drive from the regional capital.

The small city, which is 750 kilometers south of Manila, is the provincial capital of Samar province, which is connected to the island province of Leyte via the picturesque San Juanico Bridge, crossing the San Juanico Strait, the narrowest strait in the country. (PNA)
SARWELL Q. MENIANO

DPWH checks damaged portions of US-funded Samar road completed last year

TACLOBAN CITY, March 22 (PNA) – A team from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has been deployed to check the reported damage on a road linking Samar and Eastern Samar funded by the United States, which was completed early last year.

Edgar Tabacon, DPWH regional director, said on Wednesday that there is an ongoing inspection of the newly-completed road to determine the cost of repair.

“A team from the central office has been checking specific road sections because we need to know how much budget is needed to maintain the road network,” Tabacon told officials during the 1st quarter Regional Development Council (RDC) meeting.

The initiative, according to Tabacon, is part of the Philippine government’s commitment to take care of infrastructure projects.

RDC private sector representative Oliver Cam said adverse weather and geological conditions had caused damages to the road.

The US-funded USD214 million road upgrading project linking impoverished towns in Samar provinces was completed after 44 months of construction.

The grant from the US government covered road widening, rehabilitation, drainage and other safety measures, bridge construction and engineering interventions on road slips and landslides. The project, which has four contract packages, was awarded to seven contractors.

Of the 222 kilometers, 112 are asphalt and 110 are concrete. The road network has 62 bridges with 60 constructed by the Secondary National Road Development Project and two by the DPWH.

The Samar rehabilitation project, which started in 2012, is a major component of the USD434 million grant from the US government to address poverty.

The road traverses the town of Paranas in Samar, Taft, Sulat, San Julian, Borongan, Maydolong, Llorente, Hernani, Gen. Macarthur, Quinapondan, Salcedo, Mercedes and Guiuan in Eastern Samar. (PNA)

SARWELL Q. MENIANO