TACLOBAN CITY– After 112 days in office, Ormoc City Mayor Lucy Marie Torres-Gomez delivered her State of City Address (Soca) last October 18 wherein she enumerated the accomplishments of her administration.

In her speech, Mayor Gomez emphasized her ‘Tree of Dream’ for Ormoc which consist of her vision for health, wellness, abundance, and prosperity.

The mayor said that once her dreams will be realized, Ormoc City will have happiness as the main indicator for success adding that it will become a blue zone city where people will have low rates of chronic disease and live longer than anywhere else.

She, however, acknowledges that whatever development that Ormoc and its people are enjoying at present was due to the efforts of former mayor and now congressman, Richard Gomez.

“We expand the attainment of peace from winning the war against the drug trade and controlling the volume of crime, to becoming the first truly disaster-resilient city in the country,” Gomez said, referring to the intensified campaign against illegal drugs of her husband during his term as mayor.

Mayor Gomez also recognized her ‘support units’ who help her in implementing her projects and programs for the city.

She also cited, in her Soca, the successful holding of the plebiscite merging several barangays whose purpose is for easy management for the city government.

“One of the best examples of positive, and in fact revolutionary change in the area of governance and public administration is the successful barangay merger,” Gomez said.
”I thank and applaud the congressman for the courage to take on the hardest parts of the job, which paved the way for me to do the softer, gentler ones. And it could not be more providential, that the historic barangay merger victory happened exactly on my 100th day in office,” Mayor Gomez said.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY – The high electricity rate in Eastern Visayas is a huge setback in attracting new investments in the region, an official of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) regional office here said.

NEDA Regional Director Meylene Rosales said that the high power cost has been hurting businesses and may discourage potential investors to start their businesses in the region.
“That would mean increasing our overhead expenses for business operations. A big chunk of profits of our small business will be spent to pay for electricity bills. How can you attract a business if the power rate is high?” Rosales said in an interview Friday (Oct. 21).
In the September 2022 billing, the Biliran Electric Cooperative (Bileco) charged the highest power rate among the 11 electric cooperatives in the Eastern Visayas region at P20.9563 per kilowatt hour (kWh).

The rate is way up than the P9.9365 per kWh by the Manila Electric Company (Meralco).
Earlier, Bileco said the power rate went up by P1.6268 per kWh for residential power consumers largely due to the rising cost of coal fuel used by its power source, GN Power Dinginin Ltd. Co. based in Mariveles, Bataan.

All electric cooperatives in the region also charged higher in the September bills compared to Meralco.

These are the Leyte IV Electric Cooperative (Leyeco) at P20.8455 per kWh, Samar II Electric Cooperative (Samelco) at P19.6569 per kWh, Southern Leyte Electric Cooperative at P19.5536 per kWh, Don Orestes Romualdez Electric Cooperative at P19.2700 per kWh, Samelco I at P18.2287 per kWh, Northern Samar Electric Cooperative at P18.1588 per kWh, Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative at P17.4085 per kWh, Leyeco III at P17.1556 per kWh, Leyeco V at P17.0340 per kWh, and Leyeco II at P12.4426 per kWh.

Evangeline Dinglasa, 53, from Burauen, Leyte who has been in the business of selling fried hotdogs for three years, said her electricity bill last month increased to P2,800 from P2,000 in August.

She has been using a large freezer and a refrigerator to store their product.
“Our monthly net sales is P15,000 and some 18 percent goes to the electricity bill. That’s a big expense for a small business,” Dinglasa said in a text message.

Earlier, the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) said the high power rate in Leyte is caused by their failure to participate in the competitive selection process (CSP) of local electric cooperatives in the region.

EDC is the operator of the Leyte Geothermal Power Field in the northwestern part of Leyte province.

The EDC was disqualified to participate in the CSP in 2015 in which the Federation of Rural Electric Cooperatives in Eastern Visayas required a power generator to possess a “new power plant or a power plant expansion to supply its power requirements.”
The EDC’s power plants have already been existing for years.

The EDC is First Gen’s 100 percent renewable energy subsidiary and has more than 1,480 MW total installed capacity accounting for 20 percent of the country’s total installed renewable capacity.

Unified Leyte and Green Core Geothermal, Inc. are EDC’s power supply subsidiaries. (PNA)

TACLOBAN CITY– Social pensioners who qualified for the unconditional cash transfer (UCT) program of the national government trooped to the CEO Gym, here in the city, to get their cash cards on Wednesday(Oct. 19).

Per the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), there are 6,002 UCT beneficiaries from the different city barangays.

Beneficiaries will receive from P3,600 to P4,600, depending on the number of years they have been members of the SOCPEN Program.

The amount represents the accumulated P300 of monthly cash assistance from the government for the year 2020.

But the CSWDO clarifies that only regular SOCPEN members who were included in the roster of beneficiaries from 2018 until 2020 will be included in the cash card distribution.
For the first day of cash card distribution last Wednesday(Oct.19), Area 9B Barangay, namely 108, 107, 106, 105, 101, 98, 97, and 93, will get the cash card in the morning. The barangays scheduled to get the cash cards in the afternoon are 11, 37-A, 103, 103-A, 104, 100, 99, 94, and 95-A.

Before they can withdraw the cash assistance, the cash card will need to be activated first by the beneficiary at their assigned Landbank ATM. Cash card activation assignments are announced at the cash card distribution venue.

Last Friday (Oct. 21), recipients from Area 1 and Area 4 barangays have their distribution in the morning and afternoon, respectively.

For the Saturday (Oct. 22) schedule, Areas 2, 6, and 8 barangays will have their distribution in the morning, while Areas 5 and 10 barangays will be held in the afternoon.
Cash card distribution will be held at the CEO Gym from 8 AM to 5 PM until Saturday.
(HJROCA/CIO)

TACLOBAN CITY – At least 100 individuals from San Policarpo in Eastern Samar received livelihood assistance from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The beneficiaries were identified for this livelihood assistance through the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) and the local government unit.

Mayor Conrado Nicart hopes that the livelihood assistance could help improve the living condition of the beneficiaries and their families.

The livelihood assistance comprises of barbeque and food vending, salon, selling dressed chicken, rice retailing, among others.

The successful beneficiaries are to receive an additional P30,000 worth of equipment after a year since they received the assistance.

Among those present during the distribution were local officials led by Vice Mayor Thelma Nicart, and representatives from the DOLE headed by provincial officer Fe Norma Valuis.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)