ORMOC CITY-The Energy Development Corporation (EDC) Leyte geothermal field launches its coffee and cacao processing facility and the BINHI vegetative materials reproduction nursery to help provide a sustainable income to its partner community and to elevate the environment condition in the area, respectively.

Recognizing the high demand of chocolate made from cacao products and also coffee not just in the province but in the entire country, EDC initiated of encouraging the new generation of farmers from the Tongonan Farmers Association (TOFA) to venture out in the cacao and coffee business.

The idea was realized in 2020 with high support from the city government of Ormoc, the Department of Science and Technology Region VIII, and the officials and residents of Tongonan.

After two years, a processing plant was launched which was held last Tuesday graced by Ormoc City councilor Nolito Quilang, representing Mayor Lucy Torre Gomez; DOST Regional Office VIII Regional Director Engr. Ernesto Granada and his Leyte counterpart, John Glenn Ocaña, and Tongonan officials led by chairperson, Wilma Taneo.

EDC was represented by its vice president and corporate support functions head Regina Victoria Pascual; assistant vice president and corporate relations and communications head, Atty. Allan Barcena; officer-in-charge head of Leyte geothermal facility, Andy Durog; Leyte corporate relations head Erwin Magallanes; corporate communications head Frances Ariola; and other key officials and employees of the company.

In this project, EDC poured P1.5 million worth of contributions which covers the facility renovation, plantation expansion, and capacity development programs for TOFA members.
The DOST provided the processing equipment and the city government of Ormoc through its livelihood council provided training support and technical assistance.

As a counterpart, village officials offered for the use of the building to house the machines granted by the DOST and EDC.

With this initiative, the EDC hopes that TOFA, founded by the EDC and barangay farmers in 1989, is provided with a steady source of income with this livelihood and eventually become self-sustaining community.

The association has been EDC’s partner for over 30 years now in protecting forests within its geothermal facility.

“We are thankful to TOFA for being guardians of our reforestation areas here in Leyte all these years,” said Erwin Magallanes, head of EDC’s corporate relations in Leyte.
EDC’s BINHI vegetative materials reproduction (VMR) nursery was also launched on that day.

BINHI is an EDC landmark, a 15-year old greening legacy program that has bridged and propagated 96 flagship Philippine native tree species, a number of which have already been classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global authority on nature conservation.
Under the BINHI program, EDC has planted around 6.4 million native trees across the country.

VMR nursery helps EDC’s BINHI team propagate the Philippine threatened native tree species that are endemic to the region such as Katmon Bayani, Mapilig, Almaciga and other dipterocarp classes.

This facility is critical to the company’s thrust of mainstreaming native trees as it addresses the non-availability of planting materials or the rarity of tree species due to their threatened status.

The nursery accommodates up to 100,000 seedlings of native trees. EDC aims to provide native tree species to its partners in the region and spread the awareness on reforestation as a vital solution to our warming planet.
(ELVIE ROMAN ROA)

ORMOC CITY-A fisherman using electric current as his method of fishing, was found dead in the middle of a creek on Jan. 20 in Sitio Roño, Brgy. Old San, Basey, Samar.

Based on the report, the victim, Rogelio Cajefe, 59, while fishing in the creek was allegedly electrocuted by his own improvised electric fishing gear locally known as “panguryente” that resulted in his untimely death.

The police disclosed that the victim left their residence at around 12 pm of January 19, 2023 to catch fish but did not return home prompting his relatives to conduct a search for the victim.

The police continued that victim was seen lifeless at the middle of the creek by Dino Cajes.
The police went on that during the retrieval, Cajes was nearly electrocuted by the solid electric current produced by the improvised electric gear which was attached at the back of the cadaver.

The cadaver was immediately brought to a local funeral parlor for a post-mortem examination.

Accordingly, the victim was already dead for over eight hours due to electrocution with blisters noted from his upper and lower extremities based on the findings conducted by the town’s rural health unit. (ROBERT DEJON)

ORMOC CITY-Operatives of the Maasin City Police Station recovered one .38 caliber revolver and four sachets containing white crystalline substances suspected to be shabu from the suspect.

Maasin City police chief Lt. Col Jason Balbarona identified the suspect as Joel Sibi Costillas, 45, jobless, separated, and a resident of Doña Remedios Subdivision, Purok Mangga, Barangay Panan-awan in the said city.

The police, in their report to the regional headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP), stated that they received a call from a concerned citizen informing about a male person, armed with an unknown type of firearm visible from his waistline, roaming around the subdivision.

The local police immediately arrested the suspect after he failed to present any document that allows him to carry a firearm outside his residence. A body search was conducted in the presence of village officials which resulted in the confiscation from the suspect’s possession money, and small sachets containing white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu.

The suspect was brought to Maasin city police station for documentation and proper disposition wherein charges of violations of RA 10591, the Comprehensive Law against Illegal Possession of Firearms, Ammunitions and Explosives and RA 9165, the Comprehensive Law against Illegal Drugs of 2002, were being readied by the arresting police against the suspect who is temporarily detained at the city police locked-up cell. (ROBERT DEJON)

TACLOBAN CITY– Despite the wet weather recently, the Leyte Second District Engineering Office (L2DEO) of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is proceeding as scheduled with the construction of a slope protection along a coastal road in Capoocan, Leyte.

The Capoocan coastal road covers the villages of Cabul-an, Talisay, Tolibao, Guinadiongan, Libertad, Potot, Gayad, and Talairan.

The DPWH through its Tourism Road Infrastructure Program (TRIP) has allocated P49.498 million for the project which entails the construction of 225 meters of crib walls for slope protection and their placement in areas prone to landslides along the coastal road section from Barangay Talisay to Tolibao in the said town.

Also included in the scope of work is the construction of a 350-meter lined canal with a cross drain that will serve as a waterway to allow extra water to flow into one channel, and to prevent road slips.

District Engineer Leo Edward Oppura said that these structures will ensure that local community will be protected from possible landslides and falling debris when heavy rains occurs causing the softening of the soil.

He added that faster mobility of basic and essential services will no longer be hampered once the project is fully completed, and the local community will have an opportunity to have livelihoods since this road network is leading to Calumpijan Island and the Capoocan diving spot a tourist destination.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

ORMOC CITY– A farmer from Naval, Biliran was arrested in a buy-bust operation Monday (Jan. 23).

Reports from the local police identified the arrested suspect as Julius Jorge,45, and a resident of sitio Lomboy, Barangay Calumpang where the operation took place at about 8:40 am, Major Chamberline Ludevise, Naval town police chief said.

Recovered from the possession of the suspect was one sachet containing a white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu procured by an operative in the amount of P500.

During a body search in the presence of barangay officials and a representative from the Department of Justice (DOJ), the searching cops recovered from the suspect one P50 bill and another P500 which is a court-subscribed money intended for the operation.

Charges of violation of RA 9165, the Comprehensive Law against illegal Drugs of 2002, was filed at the Provincial Prosecutors Office against the suspect who is presently detained at the locked-up cell of Naval police station.
(ROBERT DEJON)