TACLOBAN CITY – The Office of Civil Defense(OCD) recognized 31 local government units in the region for their hard work in the disaster risk reduction and mitigation bestowing them the Gawad Kalasag Award, now on its 23rd year.

The awarding, held at the Oriental Hotel de Leyte Thursday(Dec.21), was led by OCD-8 Regional Director Lord Byron Torrecarion and partner agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and Ormoc City Councilor Lalaine Marcos, representing Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez.

This year’s awardees were the municipalities of Can-avid in Eastern Samar; Catarman in Northern Samar; and the province of Southern Leyte which received the “beyond complaint” award, the highest recognition given to the LGU.

Fully complaint awards were given to Arteche, Balangiga, General Macarthur, Guiuan, and Maydolong, all in Eastern Samar province; towns of Gamay, Laoang, Lope de Vega, Palapag, San Antonio, and San Roque in Northern Samar; Tabango, San Miguel, and Ormoc City in Leyte province; Tarangnan and Marabut, both in Samar; Bontoc, Liloan, Limasawa, Macrohon, Padre Burgos, Pintuyan, Silago, Sogod, Hinundayan, and Maasin City, all in Southern Leyte.

Also receiving the fully complaint award were the provinces of Samar and Northern Samar.
Torrecarion attributed the increase of Gawad Kalasag recipients this year to the conduct of caravan in every LGU to explain what the award is all about and its requirements.

Torrecarion said that the number of awardees this year is around 80% higher than the number of LGU awardees last year with only eight winners.

DILG Regional Director Arnel Agabe said that the increase of awardees this year is a good indicator that the LGUs are already capacitated to what are the necessary responses to do whenever there is an impending calamity or disaster.

“We know that the region is located along the Pacific Ring of fire, which means that our geographical location is prone to various natural hazards like typhoons and earthquakes. So with this, it is necessary that the LGUs are capacitated, they know what to do and the DILG is pushing for them to do a list of protocols which will guide them on what to do as preparatory actions and at the same time what they will do during typhoon,” he said.

Agabe added that the increase of Gawad Kalasag awardees is also a good indication because it also means that the recipient of the Seal Good Local Governance from the region will also increase as it is used as one of the basis or indicators to receive such an award, considered the highest recognition DILG bestow to the to LGUs.

Mayors present during the awarding shared that with the region’s geographical location facing the Pacific Ocean makes it imperative for them to be always ready to face challenges brought by natural disasters and calamities like typhoons.

“This award tells us that we are on the right track. That we are doing the correct response during times of calamities and emergency needed by the community from the government,” Mayor Roland Boie Evardone of Arteche said.

Guiuan Mayor Annaliza Kwan, for her part, said that they are thankful that their municipality received the highest recognition for disaster response and humanitarian effort from the OCD.

“Being on the location of the typhoon path, the LGU is always doing its best to be always prepared and respond to the needs of the community but capacitating, training, and educating the people on what to do as typhoon approaches,” she said.

Rep. Jude Acidre of the Tingog party-list group, in his message, highlighted the importance of coordination of all stakeholders in responding to the needs of the affected community and the importance of mitigating the risks and hazards brought by a disaster.

“As we commend your achievement we must also recognize that our work is far from over. The challenges posed by climate change, (and) rapid urbanization demand to remain vigilant and adaptive to disaster risk reduction and management,” he said.

He added that the government should continue to invest in capacity building, innovation, and cooperation at all levels to ensure preparedness for future challenges.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

ORMOC CITY – Continuing the tradition observed every Christmas season, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Leyte 4th District Engineering Office (DEO) conducts an outreach program with the theme: “Give the Gift of Love This Christmas”.

Contributions were made by the Leyte 4th DEO employees in an effort to support Rosemary’s Home of Hope and Hayag Charitable Association which are havens for abandoned children, the Ormoc Holy Family Foundation, which provides assistance to the elderly, and the City Social Welfare and Development Office, which targets the welfare of out-of-school youth.

OIC-District Engineer Rosita A. Tinawin and OIC-Assistant District Engineer Peter Scheler V. Soco spearheaded the donation of a range of essential items, including canned goods, medicines, sacks of rice, kitchen needs, hygiene kits, wheelchair for the elderly, and school supplies for the children.

The DPWH – Leyte 4th DEO aims to inspire through such acts of kindness and highlight the inherent value of reaching out to those less fortunate. The act of giving goes beyond meeting immediate material needs; it nurtures a sense of community, compassion, and goodwill. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY-Filipino environmental activists held another round of protest action in front of the Japanese Embassy to oppose Japan’s “dirty energy strategy ‘Green Transformation,’ that promotes gas and LNG projects in Asia.”

“Japan is the world’s largest provider of public finance for gas and LNG projects, at the cost of ASEAN’s energy security. Its ‘Green Transformation’ (GX) policy is a massive investment strategy that promotes LNG, hydrogen, ammonia, and other false solutions that exacerbate – rather than solve – the climate crisis,” said Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), on December 15, 2023.

APMDD, together with its partners from the Fossil Free Japan coalition, staged the rally as the ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation commemorated its 50th anniversary in Tokyo from December 16 to 18.

“The Tokyo Summit provides an opportunity for Japan to start meeting their historical obligations to their citizens and to the Global South. However, their current energy strategy only benefits the corporate interests and not the people and communities of ASEAN,” Nacpil said.

“This kind of energy strategy only causes more harm and dangers from the impacts of and the uncertain future of the climate crisis,” she added.

Chanting “Japan, Don’t Gas Asia!” the organizers denounced Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration “for continuing to be the world’s top public financier of fossil fuels.”

In a statement, APMMD maintained that “Japan’s harmful tactics and wrong policies that promote dirty energy are doing irreversible damage to a region that already suffers the effects of climate change.”

They also underscored that Japan’s influence in the Southeast Asian region means a possibility of Japan exporting more fossil fuel projects in their region.

Simultaneous rallies were held to for the climate campaigners to show “fierce resistance” to Japan’s “dirty energy strategy and the promotion of false solutions which it upholds under the guise of ‘decarbonizing Asia.’”

Sharif Jamil, coordinator of Waterkeepers Bangladesh, noted that “Japan is risking its reputation by continuing to fund dirty fossil fuels and being the top financier of LNG worldwide.

“It should make the crucial decision of phasing them all out and build an ambitious goal towards 100% renewable energy,” he said in a statement.

Rere Christanto, WALHI’s Campaign Manager on Mining and Energy, added that “Indonesia absolutely refuses to be a playground for Japan’s dirty technologies like fossil hydrogen and ammonia.

“The only future we see is one with renewable energy,” the campaign manager added.
According to APMDD, Japan “is the world’s second largest provider of public finance for fossil fuel projects, investing $9.7 billion into coal, gas and oil annually from 2017 to 2021.”
Citing a report from Center, Energy, Ecology and Development, APMDD said Japan “is the second-biggest financier of gas expansion in Southeast Asia, spending around $15 billion between 2016 and 2022.”
(RONALD O. REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Leyte Second District Engineering Office (L2DEO) of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has moved to its new office.
From its previous office in Carigara for many years, the district now hold office in MacArthur town.

“We would like to inform the public, especially the stakeholders of the second district of Leyte, that all transactions and operations of L2DEO are now in the new office location in Mac Arthur, Leyte,” said District Engineer Leo Edward Oppura.

L2DEO caters to the 14 municipalities of the second congressional district of the province, namely: Pastrana, Tabontabon, La Paz, Julita, Burauen, Dagami, Jaro, and Tunga that straddle the midsection of the province of Leyte, then Dulag, Mayorga, and Mac Arthur on the coastlines of Leyte Gulf, while Barugo, Carigara, and Capoocan hug the shoreline of Carigara Bay.

“The district office will always stay true to its commitment to providing infrastructure facilities and services to meet the needs of the people. And, as frontliners during calamities, our services will always be guaranteed at all costs to ease the burden on the communities,” Oppura added.

Oppura also challenge his fellow workers in the district to perform well or better especially that they are in their new office.

The Leyte 2nd DEO was created by virtue of Department Order No. 10 dated January 20, 1997, composed of detailed budgetary employees from the Leyte 1st, Leyte 5th, and Regional Offices.

Leyte 2nd DEO maintain a national equivalent road length of 206.985 kilometers, of which 93.848 kilometers were concreted and 110.554 kilometers were asphalted, and 55 bridges with a total length of 2.583 kilometers.

Furthermore, for consistently providing quality service standards to the general public, the district office was granted ISO 9001:2015 certification in April 2015. And was reclassified from a 2nd class to a 1st class engineering office by virtue of Department Order No. 17, Series of 2019, dated December 17, 2019.

The total construction cost of the building amounted to P52 million.

(LIZBETH ANN A ABELLA)