TACLOBAN CITY- MELFO Bitor, 28, starts selling fish ball and ‘kikiam’ with a capital of P150 only.
Bitor’s determination pushes her to continue in her street food business until she received a livelihood starter kit from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) through the Southern Leyte Field Office (SLFO) in February 2021.
She received P12,310 worth of livelihood assistance, which slowly helped her business gain momentum in her hometown in Sogod.
From one vending cart at the Sogod Terminal, Bitor was able to buy another one situated inside a department store.
“Hindi ko po inakala na magiging ganito kami. Ang hirap talaga nung una, dahil maliit lang ang kita naming mag-asawa. Yung bahay namin noon halos napagkakamalan po na bahay ng baboy,” said Bitor, as she looked back on how she started her business.
“Pero dahil po sa tulong ng DOLE, nag-iba at gumaan ang buhay naming,” she added.
According to DOLE-Eastern Visayas, the assistance paved the way for the family of have an improved life, earning P2,500 a day.
Despite the challenges brought by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the devastation from Typhoon ‘Odette’ in December 2021, which drained her savings, Bitor did not lose sight of her goal.
“She managed to rise above the problems,” the labor department said.
Through its Integrated Livelihood Program, DOLE provided livelihood to the needy and deserving informal workers throughout the years.
At present, Bitor already opened her third business in front of another department store in Sogod, this time as a snack house where people can dine in and enjoy their favorite fish ball, kikiam, and variety of snacks such as potato fries, ‘kwek-kwek’, ‘siomai’, and some refreshments.
Bitor’s successful livelihood is just one of the many testimonies that DOLE’s livelihood program “is indeed instrumental in improving the lives of the workers that the department ought to serve,” according to the labor department.
“Natutugunan na namin ang aming mga pangangailangan at nakakatulong pa kami SA iba,” Bitor said. (RONALD O. REYES)
While Leyte Normal University in Tacloban City has been posting a 100% passers for social workers board examination, it never logged multiple top 10 passers until as it occupied eight among the top 10 passers during the September 19-21,2021 licensure examination for social workers.
TACLOBAN CITY-For the first time since its inception as a degree course 27 years ago, the Leyte Normal University (LNU), based this city, has not only produced 67 new social workers but eight of them made to the top 10 board passers.
Two of them were Eduard Canares and Pamela Jane Pido, who landed seventh and ninth respectively.
Both admitted that all they have wished for was just to pass the board examination which took place last September 19 to 21 last year.
Canares, 22, the batch’ magna cum laude, said that he was overwhelmed when he learned that he garnered 87%, enough for him to place 7th among the 2,955 passers of the social worker licensure examination.
“I learned about the result from my uncle. All I prayed for was to pass the examination but God was so good that I made it as number seven,” the Carigara, Leyte native said in a phone interview.
He said that at that time, he was asleep and could not immediately process the good news. “But my family were happy me acing the examination,” Canares said.
He is the second among the brood of five whose mother, Lydia, 46, is a simple housewife and father, Edmundo, 47, works as a farmer.
Canares said that what made him ‘proud’ was all of them who took the examination passed. ‘We are all fresh graduates,” he said.
Of their batch, Fionna Yvanne Murillo, got the highest placing at third with a rating of 87.80%
Like Canares, Pido, 25, who is from Alangalang town, also in Leyte, also did not expect that she would land at number nine with a rating of 86.40%
“I was browsing the internet on the result of the examination at our neighbor’s house for we have no internet connection of our own. I was shocked when I saw my name among the top 10,” she said.
Pido said she immediately went home to convey to her mother the good news. “We all cried profusely,” she said.
It was learned from her that her mother, Amalia, had just took a leave from her work as a saleslady in a business establishment in Cavite.
“Now, my promise to help my family will now be realized. I promised to my mother that she will stop working and I will help send our youngest sister, who is on her Grade 11, to school,” she said.
Pido, who failed to finish her education course in 2013 due to financial problems, said that part of her honorarium as a Sangguniang Kabataan at their village of Astorga helped her through her studies aside from the money being sent by her widowed mother.
Lilibeth Fallorina, the department head for social workers of the 102-year university, said that she was overwhelmed on the result of this year’s board.
“I was speechless considering that we are still in the pandemic,” she said.
The department has produced placers in the past but it is only now that eight of the 100% passers made it to the top 10.
The unprecedented performance of the school was attributed by Fallorina to their rigid training and review conducted before the actual examination.
“I want to congratulate them for a very commendable performance. I witnessed how they worked so hard to achieve their goals. They all deserve it. However, passing the board, topping the examination is just the beginning. What is really important is when they are already working, they must have the dedication to help specifically unprivileged clients,” she said.
And this call of Fallorina may not fall to deaf ears as both Canares and Pido vowed to serve the ‘helpless and the poor’ as social workers.
Other top 10 passers of the school were Geralene Terceno who ranked sixth with a rating of 87.20%; Mary Guen Sablayan, Christelle Toring, and Erika Setosta, who landed eight with a rating of 86.60%; and Nicu Bernard Baylon who got a 86.20% who finished at number 10. All of them graduated with Latin honors as cum laude.The school promised to give them cash incentives for making it to the top 10.
COOPERATION. Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez met executives of BPI Foundation, the social development arm of the Bank of the Philippines Island(BPI) who paid him a visit last October 27 to discuss the city government’s technical-vocational program and help those in the sector for employment and skills training enhancement. (ALFRED ROMUALDEZ FACEBOOK)
TACLOBAN CITY- This city is slowly recovering amid the continuing threat of the pandemic caused by coronavirus disease that affected its economy.
Thus asserted city treasurer Zosima ‘Susan” Cordaño who said that they now just need 29% for them to achieve their target collection for this fiscal year.
From January up to August of this year, her office was able to collect P449.38 million, up by about 4 percent compared to last year for the same period or P431.25 million.
“We are glad that despite of the pandemic, the city is coping up as we saw an increase of our collection compared to last year of the same period,” she said.
“This is a good sign towards recovery,” Cordaño added.
According to her, the money generated by her office helps the city government for it to fund the projects and programs, and services for the city residents.
The city’s financial manager said that she is confident that for the next remaining four months of the year, they could reach their target collection of about P644.3 million.
In 2020, the period when the health pandemic was at its peak that resulted in the closure of business establishments, the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) only managed to collect income for the city government of P491.9 million.
The income collected by the CTO came from business taxes and fees; real property tax; and income from its various economic enterprises like markets.
Cordaño also said that as another sign of the city’s slowly recovering from the pandemic, 863 new business establishments, most of them are into general merchandise, have operated for the past eight months of the year.
The opening of these new establishments, she added,result in job opportunities.
She said that with the health protocols due to COVID-19 now being relaxed, more business establishments will operate.
The move to have classes conducted in in-person, Cordaño said, will also help in the recovery effort noting that several boarding houses in the city shut down and failed to pay their taxes for the last two years due to the absence of face-to-face classes.
Meantime, the treasurer said that under the leadership of Mayor Alfred Romualdez, the goal of the city government is to ensure that Tacloban will recover from the economic slump caused by the pandemic.
This includes inviting more investors to come to the city, especially with the rehabilitation and modernization of its airport, Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport, is projected to be in the full swing as the national government has earmarked more than P1.4 billion for this purpose.
TACLOBAN CITY- The city government here has received awards after it topped in the vaccination program to combat the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
In a ceremony spearheaded by the Department of Health (DOH)-Eastern Visayas, Tacloban was cited for garnering 89% inoculation coverage against the disease.
City Health Officer Danilo Ecarma, who received the accolades during the Regional Awarding of Health Achievers on September 15, lauded the “widespread information drive” of the city government that resulted in the “significant success” of the city-led vaccination drive.
Ecarma maintained that “having only the primary vaccination series (first and second doses) will never be enough, as vaccine efficacy wanes to about 50 percent after four months.”
He then urged the residents to take their booster shots.
“For this purpose, the city government has moved the vaccination drive to the district health centers for easy accessibility,” said the City Information Office.
Meanwhile, Tacloban bagged the bronze award for the TB Preventive Treatment Rate (TPT) Category.
According to Ecarma, tuberculosis “remains a public health concern in the city as it records 1,200 cases annually.”
As this developed, the health official said Tacloban “has been proactive in this area by providing free services such as consultations and free medicines.” (RONALD O. REYES)
BORONGAN CITY-The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Region VIII presented two awards to the Department of Public Works and Highways Eastern Samar District Engineering Office (DPWH ESDEO) during the online meeting for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Mid-Year Agency Performance Review (APR) Consultation Cum Full-Time Delivery Unit Meeting (FDU) on September 6, 2022.
The DPWH Eastern Samar received physical accomplishment award in recognition for its commendable overall physical performance in fiscal year 2021 garnering average Physical Accomplishment Rate of 98.61% and ranked 3rd among the fourteen DPWH Operating Units in Region VIII.
Another award received by Eastern Samar DEO is the Obligation BUR Performer of 2021 in recognition for its commendable utilization of allotments in fiscal year 2021, garnering a 99.92% Obligation Budget utilization Rate (BUR) and ranked 1st among the fourteen DPWH Operating Units in Region VIII.
DPWH Eastern Samar District Engineer Ma. Margarita C. Junia said that the awards received are the fruits of the great teamwork of DPWH ESDEO.
“I also commend my hardworking staff and the teamwork we had. These recognitions are only a bonus in our main goal which is to serve the public the best we could,” said DE Junia.
The district engineer also disclosed that in relation to the awards received from the DBM, the office was also recognized by the DPWH early this year as Ranked no. 4 District Engineering Office Nationwide in highest of absorptive capacity for the year 2021.(PR)
From time to time, the media should revisit its role in society, especially in relation to the government. This is important and timely, more so now that we are in a crucial stage of heightened and endless political bickering.
Ideally, media should be non-partisan, taking no sides in relation to society’s various sectors and issues. It should report all sides of issues and events without bias. It should take a neutral stand in presenting controversial topics that involve power, wealth, influence, religion, and other forces that are engaged in a power struggle.
But the way things go, mainstream media had become too biased in the treatment and dissemination of issues, clearly siding with their favored political parties and groups. On the other hand, they are so mean and critical of their political enemies, using the power of the press to malign and even demonize the same. In particular, they endlessly attack the government because their perceived enemies are running it.
Of course, it is not the media’s job to uphold and promote the government, and to patronize its undertakings by praising and embellishing it with nice descriptions and commendations. But it is not also the media’s job to work for the collapse and destruction of the government and its programs. These are two extremes to which media does not befit, hence the necessity for it to just play its role as a neutral entity.
Perhaps media companies forget that the collapse of the government is tantamount to the collapse of the nation, to which they belong. It is suicidal on their part, just as it is to most sectors, though they have opposition leaders that they hope could take over in case it happens. We are still in a democratic country where the media should respect the choice of the majority as to who should govern the nation.
