The Inflation Rate (IR) in Eastern Visayas eased to 4.0 percent in October 2023 from 4.9 percent in September 2023. This makes the region’s average IR from January to October 2023 at 4.5 percent.

The regional IR was lower than the 4.9 percent national IR in October 2023. In October 2022, the regional IR was higher at 7.4 percent.

The downtrend in the regional IR in October 2023 was primarily brought about by the faster negative inflation in the housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels commodity group at -5.5 percent during the month from -3.4 percent in September 2023.

The heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages commodity group, which registered an IR of 8.5 percent in October 2023 from 9.3 percent IR in the previous month, also contributed to the downtrend.

In addition, decreased IRs were also recorded in the following commodity groups during the month: Transport, 0.5 percent from 1.4 percent;alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 8.1 percent from 8.5 percent;clothing and footwear, 1.1 percent from 1.3 percent; Restaurants and accommodation services, 5.0 percent from 5.1 percent; personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services, 3.6 percent from3.7 percent; and health, 2.8 percent from 2.9 percent

In contrast, the following commodity groups registered higher IRs during the month:
a. Furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance, 5.7 percent from 5.5 percent; and b. Recreation, sport, and culture, 2.2 percent from 2.1 percent
Relative to their IRs in September 2023, all provinces recorded lower IRs in October 2023, except Eastern Samar, which registered higher IR.

Among the provinces, Eastern Samar still posted the highest IR at 7.5 percent in October 2023. Samar’s IR came next at 4.6 percent, followed by Leyte at 4.1 percent; and Northern Samar at 2.9 percent. The lowest IR was noted in Biliran and Southern Leyte both at 2.2 percent.

Meanwhile, IR for Tacloban City, the lone Highly Urbanized City (HUC) in the region, was recorded at 3.0 percent in October 2023, lower than its 3.5 percent IR last month (Figure 3 and Table 5).(PR)

10 years after Yolanda’s devastation

TACLOBAN CITY – The tourism sector in Eastern Visayas which was greatly affected by Super Typhoon ‘Yolanda’ a decade ago is now slowly recovering, according to the region’s tourism department.

Karina Rosa Tiopes, regional director of the Department of Tourism (DOT), said that due to Yolanda, people became curious about Eastern Visayas and what destinations they could visit.

The super typhoon, she added, was also instrumental in knowing how resilient the region’s tourism industry was despite the massive destruction it caused to the tourism establishments and facilities.

Based on the record of the DOT-8, of the 101 tourist accommodation facilities in 2013 that were destroyed due to Yolanda, only 43 had opened after the devastation of the super typhoon to cater to the needs of people working in non-government organizations that came to the region to help in the recovery and rebuilding efforts.

But 10 years after Yolanda, from 101 tourist accommodations, the number surged to 693 accommodation facilities operating in towns and cities affected by the super typhoon.
The number of travel and tour operators also increased- from 36 in previous years, the region also now has 22 regional tour guides, and 104 community tour guides.

Despite the devastation of Yolanda in the last quarter of 2013, the region managed to attract a positive gain of visitors’ arrival in 2014 with 964,000 or 31.7 percent higher than their record in 2013.

The number of tourist arrivals continued to increase every year, according to the regional tourism chief.

From 1.73 million tourist arrivals in 2019, it went down to 313,930 arrivals in 2020 mainly due to the pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

But the number increased in 2021 with tourist arrivals recorded at 1.07 million in 2022.
The DOT expects higher tourist arrivals this year.

Tiopes, however, said that there is still much to be done for the total recovery of the region’s tourism sector and surpass its gains, and meet the goal of making Eastern Visayas one of the top tourist destinations in the country.

“I’m not afraid to say that we are still weak in terms of marketing because marketing is not only a task of a certain tourism enterprise, it’s not only the task of DOT, it’s not only a task of the local government unit,” she said.

“We should have a concerted effort. We should have one brand that speaks about us and identifies us, makes us unique from other destinations and we have to communicate this properly to our target market,” Tiopes emphasizes.

She added that aside from marketing, local government units in the region must also learn how to focus their marketing strategy to capture their target audience or tourists.
Local government units must also develop their tourism master plans to guide them in their development directions.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY– A leading humanitarian and development organization has urged local governments in the country “to shift from reactive spending to a proactive approach by utilizing local calamity funds, also known as the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Funds (LDRRMF) effectively.”

“We cannot afford another Yolanda devastating people’s lives. We learned the hard way that the best way to reduce the impacts of a climate crisis is by preparing early for an imminent disaster,” Oxfam Pilipinas Executive Director Erika Geronimo said.

The group’s call came as the country commemorated the 10th year of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), which affected more than 14 million people across 46 provinces on November 8, 2013.

Citing their new study entitled “Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund Utilization Patterns and Opportunities for Improvement,” it said that local government units (LGUs) “tend to spend their 30 percent quick response funds (QRF) in response to actual disasters but are less likely to spend a significant portion of the 70 percent disaster preparedness and mitigation fund.”

It will be better if local governments proactively utilize their 70 percent mitigation/preparedness funds that do not require a declaration of State of Calamity instead of merely expending their 30 percent QRF when disaster strikes, it said.
The report cited the annual audit reports of the Commission on Audit, which pointed out a chain of delays from plan submission to liquidation of funds, resulting in the annual accumulation of unspent funds.”

“It added that this bureaucratic inefficiency means that a substantial portion of funds that could have been spent on enhancing community disaster preparedness remains unspent, resulting in fewer investments to address the disproportional impacts of disasters on vulnerable groups,” the humanitarian group said in a statement.

Oxfam Pilipinas reminded LGUs that they “must listen to the voices of communities and co-create solutions to reduce risks and impacts of disasters before they even happen.”
“We should ensure that our humanitarian response helps communities prepare for the next disaster,” Geronimo said.

Meanwhile, the group encouraged local officials to also “prioritize the nuanced and differentiated needs of women, girls, persons with disabilities, indigenous people, the elderly, the youth, and people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, expressions, and characteristics (SOGIESC).”

“Their active participation in all stages of decision-making ensures that any humanitarian response is appropriate and builds more resilient communities,” it said.

“Inclusive and community-based disaster preparedness, along with anticipatory actions such as pre-disaster cash assistance, are effective strategies to reduce the devastating effects of the climate crisis,” added People’s Disaster Risk Reduction Network Executive Director Esteban Masagca.

Oxfam Pilipinas and its partners maintained that anticipatory action programs “have influenced government policies and actions to act preemptively when predetermined triggers are met.”
(RONALD O. REYES)