PH’s 1st peace, resiliency center opens in Tacloban City

TACLOBAN CITY, Oct. 24  -- The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has opened its peace and resiliency center in this city, the first of its kind in the country, which is designed to strengthen ties in fighting insurgency and disasters.

DILG Officer-in-Charge Eduardo Año led the center's inauguration on Wednesday, with governors and key regional officials of DILG-attached agencies present.

“This center must serve its purpose as the learning hub for coherence, collaboration, and interdependence among various stakeholders to bring about peaceful, progressive, and resilient communities in Eastern Visayas,” Año said.

The PHP5 million two-story center constructed within the DILG regional office compound here will serve as a model in peace and resilience effort nationwide.

“I will impose that all regions must have peace and resiliency center. It should be the rallying point for us to be prepared to combat various conflict situations and disaster scenarios. This will eventually inspire us more to live with nature with resiliency,” Año added.

The facility will be the venue for meetings of the Regional Disaster and Risk Reduction Management. In normal situations, the building will be used for various gatherings of government agencies.

The center has priorities, which include setting up of localized peace dialogues in conflict areas, creation of peace and prosperity zones and organization of peace tables, implementation of development projects, and implementation of tourism activities.

Other thrusts are construction of access road in Samar Island, construction of renewable energy sources in Northern Samar and Leyte provinces, enhancing connectivity of Eastern Visayas to Luzon and Mindanao for easier response after disasters, redeployment of soldiers from Mindanao to Samar.

The center will also strengthen the DILG’s Operation Listo (alert) meant to institutionalize disaster protocols for local governments to observe before, during, and after disaster.

DILG, as the vice-chair for preparedness, conceptualized Operation Listo to strengthen preparedness of LGUs during disaster.

The advocacy program entails three components: Listong Pamahalaang Lokal, Listong Pamayanan and Listong Pamilyang Pilipino, which seek to strengthen disaster preparedness at the city, municipal, village, and household levels. (SQM/PNA)

Eastern Visayas to stage best coco wine in ‘Oktubafest’

TACLOBAN CITY, Oct. 24 -- The showcase of best local wine, dubbed as "Oktubafest”, will again take center stage in this city on Friday.

The festival, the local version of the German beer fiesta known as the “Octoberfest”, will be held at the City’s Astrodome here on Oct. 26.

An Waray Partylist Rep. Victoria Noel said in an interview Tuesday the event is the biggest gathering of tuba (coconut wine) producers in the region.

This year’s competition has three categories -- the local government unit category best “bahal” (old) and “bahalina” (aged); best “kutil” (special wine mixture); and best tuba-infused dish cooking for hotels and restaurants.

For the open category, there is an on-the-spot “kawit” painting, on the spot photo contest, and on the spot Vlogging contest.

“Kawit” is made of bamboo pole that is used by tuba harvesters. It is attached to the shoulders by a wooden hook and serves as a container of the freshly harvested juice.

Now on its 10th year, the party-list vowed to continue the festival to show support to the coconut industry, which is the main source of livelihood in the region.

“This is synonymous to gaiety and merrymaking and has always been the center of every local festivity, both of the humble and of the grandiose in form,” Noel said.

The event also aims to promote the cultural heritage and the tuba industry of Leyte and Samar provinces.

Tuba wine is an alcoholic beverage generated from the sap of coconut palms. In Leyte, the wine is matured up to two years. (LAAA/PNA)

PNP, Army map out 2019 polls security plan for E. Visayas

PALO, LeyteOct. 23 -- The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Army here in Eastern Visayas have started crafting security plans for next year’s mid-term elections.

Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) director Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos and Army’s 8th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Raul Farnacio formally met on Tuesday to discuss security measures for the 2019 polls.

The two officials said they will immediately recall detailed unformed personnel assigned to politicians running in the May 2019 election once the election period starts.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) had set Jan. 13, 2019 to June 12, 2019 as election period and gun ban.

Those who are facing security threats will be validated before they can be granted with police or military escorts.

“Depending on the result of validation, that is the only time we will assign security escorts to them. They are only entitled to have two police security escorts,” Carlos said.

Carlos added that those who have threats are strongly advised to hire guards from private security agencies.

Carlos added that policemen who have relatives as candidates will be re-assigned to other units for six months. They will return to their previous units after the election period.

Key police and army officials still need to finalize the list of areas in the region that will be put under election hot spots for the 2019 polls.

Towns in Samar province had been consistently listed as election hotspot and included on the election watchlist due to intense political rivalries and use of private armed groups (PAGs), while other areas are affected by insurgency issues.

“I know some of them are identified with political dynasties,” Farnacio said referring to PAGs and rebel groups supporting candidates.

“I hope that we can formulate here what to do, so we can address this issue and make the coming elections safe and peaceful,” Farnacio added.

The army official added that some politicians supporting communist rebels have filed their certificates of candidacy last week.

In the 2016 national and local elections, a total of 44 towns in the region were included on the election watchlist due to intense political rivalries, threats of armed rebels, and violence committed by criminal groups.

On the list were several towns in Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, and in Biliran.

In the recent 2018 village polls, 284 villages in the region were identified as election hot spots. (RTA/PNA)

Leyte power coop welcomes power plant construction

ORMOC CITY, Leyte, Oct. 23  -- The Leyte V Electric Cooperative (Leyeco V) has welcomed plans to develop a power plant in an economic zone within its franchise area that is seen to further attract investments that will generate more jobs.

The 70-megawatt diesel power plant being constructed will provide energy directly to locators of Leyte Industrial Development Estate (LIDE) in Isabel town, 47 kilometers west from here.

Leyeco V general manager Juanito Jorda Jr. said on Tuesday that as a policy, the electric cooperative encourages economic activities to promote progress in its franchise area.

He believes that the power plant developed by Japanese company Marubeni Corp. will stir economic movement in Isabel. The plant will be operational within the year.

Jorda’s stance is opposite to that of his predecessors who discouraged competition in Leyeco V’s franchise area in northwest Leyte. More than 10 years ago, the electric cooperative complained about LIDE’s direct connection to the geothermal plants in Tongonan, this city operated then by National Power Corp.

Jorda said providing preferential rates would entice new locators to LIDE and generate more jobs. This will allow people to buy homes and appliances that will push the demand for electricity to the benefit of Leyeco V.

The electric cooperative serves 83,490 member-consumers with 88,805 households and establishments connections in 414 villages in the western of Leyte Island.

“We’re focusing more on medium load customers than the large ones that may cause conflicts and headaches for us,” he quipped.

LIDE is a 425-hectare special economic zone, which was established in 1978 through Letter of Instruction 962, is located in Isabel, Leyte. It is home to two major industries: the Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. and the Philppine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp. (FNC/PNA)

Eastern Visayas LGUs get new police patrol cars

PALO, Leyte, Oct. 23  -- The regional office of the Philippine National Police (PNP) has turned over an initial 31 patrol cars to local government units in Eastern Visayas to boost police internal security operations.

Philippine National Police (PNP) regional director Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos led the turnover of the PHP70.5 million worth of patrol cars, firearms, and other gears to mayors and chiefs of police on Monday in a ceremony at the PNP regional command here.

These include 15 units of light machine gun, 224 units of enhanced helmets, and 329 pieces of undershirt vest for the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 8 and to the provincial mobile forces battalion.

Thirty-one of the 59 police patrol car single cab 4x2 (Toyota Hilux) were handed over to local government units in the provinces of Eastern Samar, Leyte, and Southern Leyte. Other recipients are Ormoc City and Tacloban City. Each car is worth PHP1.1 million.

The remaining number of vehicles will be shipped to the region before the end of the year.

The patrol cars are meant to strengthen police operations intelligence gathering and administrative function of the policemen, according to Carlos.

“The PNP is doing all we can to provide all the needs of our police force especially in towns to help in improving their performance and reinforce their capabilities,” Carlos said.

“We are thankful to all top officials of the PNP headed by Director General Oscar Albayalde for their relentless support and their hard work to procure all the equipment needed by our police force,” he added.

The new patrol cars are replacements of old PNP patrol cars issued to police stations in the region because some of them are no longer functional.

The road condition in some places of Eastern Visayas is one of the reasons why some police stations had broken vehicles.

Although the maintenance of the vehicles is part of the PNP’s regular funds, the budget is not enough, thus, they have been asking financial support of local chief executives. (RTA/PNA)