Samar and Southern Leyte as pilot areas

TACLOBAN CITY– ‘Glenda,’ 22 got pregnant five years ago to an equally young man she met here in the city during its fiesta.

Now, aside from not getting any financial support from the father of their five-year-old daughter, she is also out of work since 2021 as the laundry shop she was working closed shop due to the pandemic.

The case of Glenda, who is from this city, is the problem involving teenagers getting pregnant at their young age.

On Monday (Fev.20), a program which aims to address the high teenage pregnancy problem in Eastern Visayas was launched here in the city.

In particular, the mainly South Korean government-funded program, at P490 million, will be implemented in the provinces of Samar and Southern Leyte for the next four years.
The regional office of the Population Commission and Development (Popcom) had earlier reported that teenage pregnancy cases in Eastern Visayas with all of its six provinces posting ‘alarming cases.’

For 2020 period, for instance, there were 1,093 cases of teenage pregnancies recorded in Samar province and 483 cases for Southern Leyte. These involved 15 to 19 years of young mothers.

The two provinces of Samar and Southern Leyte were selected as the pilot areas for the program which aims to ‘accelerate the reduction of adolescent pregnancies’ to a ‘significant level if not to zero cases’ says Health Sec. Maria Rosario Vergeire.

The two provinces were also selected due to poor access to health services; perennial occurrence of natural calamities like typhoons and the cooperation of their local leaders to implement the program.

The representatives of the two provinces expressed their gratitude to the KOICA and its partners saying this will help boost their campaign against teenage pregnancy as they cited peer pressure and mental health problems and lack of sex education, among others.
Initially, 20 areas in both provinces were selected under the program which will conduct improved adolescent access and services and information drive on teenage pregnancy and extend health benefits for pregnant teenagers; provide a ‘standardized’ peer education program and accelerate the integration of the comprehensive sexuality education program in school and even out of school; and work closely with local government units to enhance their programs on the prevention of adolescent pregnancy, among others.

Vergeire was joined during the launching of the joint program by Gustavo Gonzales, the United Nations resident coordinator; Dr. Leila Joudne, United Nations Population Fund (UNFP); Dr. Graham Harrison, World Health Organization representative; and Eunsub Kim, country director of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), among others.
Vergeire said that adolescent pregnancy is not just a health issue as it poses risks to teenagers like death but even a social issue.

“It often results in poor lifelong and economic outcomes for both the adolescent mothers and her child,” she said.

Citing a study from the UNFPA, Vergeire said that teenage mothers fail to finish their studies, unemployed and poor.

“More importantly, the poor outcomes also extend to her children, who are more likely to have poor nutrition and education outcomes,” Vergeire added.

Joudne said that based on their studies, the country losses P33 billion due adolescent pregnancy due to lost opportunities and potential earnings.

Gonzales described the teenage pregnancy problem as a ‘development challenge’ among countries with high such cases like the Philippines, the second in ASEAN Region next to Laos.

It was learned that the Philippines has 56 such cases out of 1,000 population. Laos has 64 adolescent cases out of 1,000 population.

Kim said that they hope that with the implementation of the program in Southern Leyte and Samar provinces, in particular, the program of teenage pregnancies could be now properly addressed.

“This project will hopefully display South Korea’s commitment to contribute to achieving of a healthy life,” he said, adding that they are committed to make the project a success.

“KOICA assure you of our deep commitment and strong support of this project,” Kim added.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

DAGAMI, Leyte – In preparation for the upcoming project implementation of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Leyte Second District Engineering Office (L2DEO) held a pre-construction meeting with the residents of Barangay Plaridel, this town.

The P30 million project involved the construction of drainage canals stretching the road section of Plaridel.

The purpose of the meeting was to give the community a general overview and design of the project, district engineer Edward Oppura said.

“These pre-construction activities will be the ideal opportunity for the community to voice their worries and difficulties in order to prevent future issues that may develop during the project implementation and, in some way, to have a smooth flow in all of the project’s plan,” he said.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

ORMOC CITY– A revenue collection clerk of the municipality of Can-avid in Eastern Samar was arrested in a buy-bust operation Monday (Feb.13).

Report from the local police identified the suspect as Michael Leguarda who was also described to be the number 3 in the drug watch list in the province.

During the buy-bust operation conducted in Barangay 3 at about 7:45 am, the police were able to recover from the suspect five sachets of alleged shabu with a commercial value of P20,400.

Leguarda, who denied that the recovered prohibited items were from him, is now detained at the Can-avid municipal police station and charged under RA 6425.
(ROBERT DEJON)

CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, PALO, Leyte– Eighteen former rebels surrendered before police authorities on Friday (Feb.17) who were presented before members of the local media in a presser.

All former members of the New People’s Army (NPA) said that they have decided to abandon their former comrades and the communist armed group due to hardships in the mountains and avail the government program for returning rebels.

Of the 18 surrenderees, seven were from Eastern Samar; six from Samar, and five from Northern Samar. They also surrendered several firearms and a grenade.

Alias ‘Ka James’ said that he went to the mountains and joined the communist armed group after he suffered military abuse during the tenure of the controversial former Major Gen. Jovito Palparan.

Palparan was the region’s top military official in 2015 and was credited for the ‘significant reduction’ of the number of rebels in the region.

He is now detained after a court found him guilty of kidnapping and serious illegal detention in connection to the abduction and disappearance of two University of the Philippines (UP) students, Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, in 2006.

The three Samar provinces are considered by the military where the insurgency problem of the region remains to be active and skirmishes between government troops and NPA rebels sometimes occur.

B/ Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, the police regional director, said that he was glad that these former rebels decided to return to the folds of the law and want to live a normal life.
“And to those who are still in doubt of the government, please, this is your time to live anew. Make your children proud of you for choosing the right path,” he said.

“Indeed, their reintegration into the government is the best decision they have made to welcome genuine development for peace and progress. Hand-in-hand, we will attain the true peace we have long been waiting for,” he added.

It was learned that since the start of the year, 93 former NPA members have surrendered to government forces, particularly to the police in the region.

Marbil commended the efforts of his personnel who have been relentless in the campaign against insurgency and other lawless elements.

“It is through your dedication and commitment to public safety and orderliness that our brothers and sisters in the armed struggle have realized to come back to our one government,” the police regional director said.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)