TACLOBAN CITY – The City of Agriculturist Office recently conducted a four-day seminar on fisheries law enforcement aim to update the city’s fishery law enforcement team (FLET).

Remelo Anade, city agriculturist, said that the training served as a ‘refresher’ for the newly-hired fishery law enforcers, updating them on significant amendments in national laws that were not covered in their previous training sessions, and also to provide sufficient knowledge on basic apprehension procedures to handle situations effectively.

It was learned that the last training conducted in this regard was in 2014 and since then, several major amendments were made to the country’s fisheries code under Republic Act 10654.

Anade expects law enforcers after the training to have sufficient knowledge of basic apprehension procedures since he has noticed that many apprehensions occur, but often these cases are dismissed during the legal process due to technicalities.

“Gusto kasi naton i-capacitate an aton mga enforcers para maging aware hira kun ano an dapat nira buhaton during the time han ira enforcement han aton mga city ordinances and laws. We want to be equipped ha mga basic apprehension activities especially ha mga ilegalista nation ha coastal resources,” he stressed.

However, Ricardo Luna, FLET Investigator, said that cases are normally dismissed due to a lack of evidence and humanitarian considerations, as violations against the law have different levels of offenses, especially for first-time offenders or minor offenses.

Meanwhile, Luna is optimistic that the training will help them improve their work as law enforcers.

“Tungod hinin na training, ma-eenhance it amon enforcers, madedeputize, ngan normally mapadagat kami based han nakuha namon na know-how during training,” he said.

The training covered a comprehensive range of topics related to environmental law enforcement and conservation, fishing regulations, and basic apprehension knowledge, including but not limited to the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree 705), Wildlife Act (RA 9147), Chainsaw Act (RA 9175), BFAR’s role in fisheries management and conservation, amended RA 10654, guidelines on filing administrative cases, updates on Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) and other relevant fishery laws, rules, and regulations, as well as the mandates of various government agencies responsible for enforcing environmental laws.

Formerly known as fish warden, FLET operates under the City Agriculturist Office, as mandated by RA 7160 of the Local Government Code, having been initially an independent unit separate from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) but was later devolved and transferred to the local government unit.

As of now, there are 24 FLET members working in the city.
(DEAN MARK YU, LNU Student Intern)

ORMOC CITY-Nine sachets containing of suspected shabu were recovered by the local police in Matag-ob, Leyte as a result of a buy-bust operation last April 13.

The seized suspected shabu were recovered from Brian Orias,38 in a sting operation in Barangay Riverside in the said town at about 5:08 pm.

Orias is listed as a street-level individual on the drug watch list of the local police.

Shabu worth P9,000 were recovered from the suspect who is a construction worker.

Charges of violations of sections 5 & 11 of Ar.t II of RA 9165, the Comprehensive Law against Illegal Drugs, were filed at the Provincial Prosecutors Office in Ormoc City against the suspect who is temporarily detained at the Matag-ob municipal police office.

(ROBERT DEJON)

ORMOC CITY-Five persons were arrested during a buy-bust operation conducted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that resulted in the dismantling of a drug den in Catbalogan City on Sunday.

PDEA 8 Regional Director Atty. Gil Pabilona identified the suspects as Jonas Justimbaste,47, and alleged drug den maintainer; Jonny Gacelos, 24, student; Kienard Joseph Gacelos, 34; John Justimbaste, 26, student; and Marie Vicky Montero, 24, all residents of and a resident of Purok 2, Brgy. Canlapwas, where the operation was conducted at about 2 pm.

The suspects are listed as high valued individuals (city level) in the drug watch list of PDEA and Justimbaste who was arrested in possession of suspected sachets of shabu weighing 15 grams with total commercial value of P102,000.

Inside the alleged drug den, the PDEA agents also recovered one glass water pipe, one folded foil, one black weighing scale one plastic eyeglass case used as a container of drug paraphernalia, two foil strips, several pieces of empty plastic sachet with residue of suspected to be shabu one rolled foil flame reducer, one ballpen used as improvised roller eight lighters, one color black android cellular phone marked Samsung, and one blue android cellular phone marked Vivo.

Charges of violations of RA 9165 were filed against the suspects who are temporarily detained at the locked-up cell of Catbalogan City police office. (ROBERT DEJON)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) is now accepting applicants to fill up the required quota for this year.

While they expect to be swamped with thousands of applicants, they will only be accepting 109 as it was the given quota for this year for Eastern Visayas, Maridel Abellar, the BFP chief human resource officer, said.

Interested to pass their application has only until April 21 to do so.

Furthermore, in order to be enlisted, qualifications should be met through screening the applicants’ age, height, requirements, documentary folders, and more.

“Upon application, siguraduhon nira nga healthy hira. Physically healthy and mentally healthy. Tapos mayda nira baga dedication or passion as a firefighter. Kailangan mayda man gud love of work ka kay kun baga diri mo love tim trabaho, madali ka madiscourage,” Abellar said.

Firefighters are not only in fire suppression but they are trained in emergency response as well, she added.
(JEIZEL C. JUSAYAN, LNU Student Intern)

TACLOBAN CITY – The ‘BDO Alliance’ in the fourth district of Leyte has now expanded from three local government units to five with the addition of Merida and Albuera towns to the tourism circuit partnership.

Matag-ob Mayor Bernandino Tacoy said that this is a positive development considering that their main goal of creating an alliance is to promote the tourism potential of the local governments within the 4th district of Leyte.

The alliance was first initiated by Matag-ob, Palompon, and Isabel last year to drumbeat and strengthen the tourism linkages of the town.

From BDO, the alliance is now called BDO-LS which stands for Bernie, Dodo, Oňate, Lando, and Sixto, referring to the first names of the mayors of the concerned municipalities.
Only Kananga and Ormoc City remain none members of the partnership.

The alliance showcases various tourist destinations in the locality like the Kalanggaman Island of Palompon, the Bondari Peak in Matag-ob, different beaches and mountain resorts in Merida and Albuera, and educational tourism at the PASAR and the Badjao eco-village in Isabel.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)