Cluster 1 festival queen and dancers during the street dancing of Matag-ob town’s first Himorasak Festival. Eight contingents vied for top prize won by Cluster 1 and 4 winning P40,000 each. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)
MATAG-OB,Leyte- The first ever Himurasak Festival of this town has finally culminated with the street dance and ritual presentation of eight contingents representing the 21 villages of the municipality.
The festival competition was held in September in time for the rice harvest season in the municipality.
Thousands of Matag-ob residents watched the street dancing that was followed by the ritual presentation at the town plaza which Mayor Bernandino Tacoy was very thankful for their support.
“This is just a beginning and many more activities will be organized by our local government for the people to enjoy, showcase their talents, and encourage people, visitors to come and visit our town,” Tacoy said.
Winners received cash prizes.
‘Himurasak’ is a Visayan term for abundance. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) holds writeshop to revise operations manual of the Support to Parcelization of Landholdings for Individual Titling (SPLIT) Project as required by the World Bank. (JOSE ALSMITH L. SORIA)
PALO, Leyte – A three-day writeshop was conducted by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to revise its operations manual for the project Support to Parcelization of Landholdings for Individual Titling (SPLIT) in compliance to a requirement by the World Bank.
Selected DAR officials and technical support staff from the central office and from the different regions converge from September 21 to 23 at the Oriental Hotel here in this historical Leyte town to come up with a draft of the required project operations manual.
SPLIT Project’s Capability Building and Technical Assistance coordinator, Ma. Elena Cabañes, emphasized that the World Bank, which provides the funding requirements in the implementation of the said project, requires the revision or updating of the project operations manual on its second year of implementation reflecting the adjustments and policies issued to address problems encountered in the field during the first year of implementation.
This project was launched in 2021 with Regions I, VIII and IX as pilot areas.
Undersecretary for Foreign Assisted and Special Projects Office (FASPO) Jesry Palmares said as he joined the said activity online, “We can set up the direction for our operations manual and hopefully this will bear fruits for our catch-up plan that is required by the World Bank, and of course by the Senators.”
Palmares added, “There is always a solution as we work hand in hand, and just have to replan things and change the things that we believe that is not effective and not applicable.”
Meanwhile, SPLIT’s Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, Ma. Cristina Dagdag, presented the findings as well as recommendations of the World Bank during its field monitoring visits in July this year.
According to Dagdag, DAR should take into consideration the recommendations of the World Bank for a successful implementation of the project.
The SPLIT project seeks to subdivide a total area of 1,368,883 hectares of landholdings nationwide covered by collective Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) and eventually issue individual titles to about 1,140,735 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) until year 2023.
For Eastern Visayas, OIC-Regional Director Ismael Aya-ay disclosed that this region has a target of 88,785 hectares. At the moment, about 63,676 hectares or 72 percent had already been validated, he added. (JOSE ALSMITH L. SORIA/PR)
TACLOBAN CITY – Non-government organization Hellen Keller International (HKI) and the local government unit of San Roque in Northern Samar province have forged ties to study the vitamin A status of children in the 4th-class coastal town.
HKI Philippines Country Office Representative Maria Fatima Dolly Reario said in a statement on Friday the study seeks to come up with data-driven policies and interventions on health and nutrition in San Roque town.
“Through a screening study, we want to know if schoolchildren (from six to nine years old) in San Roque are sufficient in vitamin A to support good health. Vitamin A is found in supplements and foods like eggs, milk, liver, and some fruits and vegetables. It is important to help the body fight infections and maintain good eyesight,” Reario said. The project is a partnership of HKI, San Roque local government, Department of Education, Department of Health, and the Northern Samar provincial government.
It aims to promote data-driven policies and interventions on health and nutrition at the local level, initially through a screening study on the vitamin A status of school children.
Reario visited the town of San Roque on Sept. 20 for the signing of the pledge of commitment for the nutrition research collaboration with senior Board Member Don Abalon representing the provincial government of Northern Samar, and San Roque Mayor Maria Ana Abalon.
The study is a systematic process of collecting and analyzing data from a sample population of children from Kindergarten to Grade 3, designed to see the scale of vitamin A deficiency and inform policy interventions at the local level.
Northern Samar provincial information officer John Allen Berbon said in a text message that San Roque town has been picked as priority due to high incidence of vitamin A deficiency and the commitment of the local government to participate in the study.
The provincial government has no available data on the vitamin A status of children in the province.
Northern Samar along with Antique are among the provinces with the highest vitamin A deficiency prevalence among school-age children in the Philippines based on proxy indicators, such as the prevalence of stunting, wasting, poverty, and food insecurity, according to HKI. (PNA)
The province of Eastern Samar may yet have two congressional seats if a proposed measure at the House of Representatives splitting the current lone congressional district into two will be approved. Photo shows the provincial capital of Borongan City.
As proposed by Rep. Libanan
The province of Eastern Samar may yet have two congressional seats if a proposed measure at the House of Representatives splitting the current lone congressional district into two will be approved. Photo shows the provincial capital of Borongan City.
TACLOBAN CITY- A bill seeking to split into two the lone congressional district in Eastern Samar is now pending in the House of Representatives.
Having two congressional districts would mean better service and more projects for the province, says measure proponent Rep. Marcelino Libanan of the 4Ps party-list group.
Libanan, who served the province as its lone congressional representative from 1998 to 2007, said that by having two congressional districts which means having two representatives at the Lower House, development in the two areas will be faster and will result to an ‘improved services’ for the constituents.
Libanan, who is the House’ minority floor leader, also said that of the three Samar provinces, only Eastern Samar has a lone congressional representative.
At present, the province is represented in Congress by Rep. Maria Fe Abunda who is now on her second term.
“The continuous rise in its population has placed an enormous strain on the lone congressional district office’s capacity and capability to serve the needs of its constituents,” Libanan, in his explanatory note said.
“Thus, the need for an additional representation must be addressed,” the congressman added.
Based on his proposed measure as contained under House Bill 3647, Eastern Samar will be apportioned into two congressional districts.
The first congressional district will be composed of the provincial capital of Borongan City and the municipalities of Arteche, Can-avid, Dolores, Jipapad, Maslog, Oras, San Julian, San Policarpo, Sulat, and Taft with a total population of 270,691.
Meantime, the second congressional district will include the towns of Balangiga, Balangkayan, Gen. MacArthur, Giporlos, Guiuan, Hernani, Lawaan, Llorente, Maydolong, Mercedes, Quinapondan and Salcedo which has a combined population of about 206,477.
Also under the proposed measure of Libanan, who was once the vice governor of the province, the election for the two new congressmen of the province will take place on the next national and local elections after the measure become effective.
The incumbent congressional representative will serve on a ‘holdover capacity’ until the new two congressional representatives are elected.
At present, Eastern Visayas of which Eastern Samar is part has 13 congressional representatives led by Leyte Rep. and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and four party-list congressmen, two from Tingog Sinirangan, and one each from An Waray and 4Ps of Libanan.
The province of Eastern Samar may yet have two congressional seats if a proposed measure at the House of Representatives splitting the current lone congressional district into two will be approved. Photo shows the provincial capital of Borongan City.
As proposed by Rep. Libanan
The province of Eastern Samar may yet have two congressional seats if a proposed measure at the House of Representatives splitting the current lone congressional district into two will be approved. Photo shows the provincial capital of Borongan City.
TACLOBAN CITY- A bill seeking to split into two the lone congressional district in Eastern Samar is now pending in the House of Representatives.
Having two congressional districts would mean better service and more projects for the province, says measure proponent Rep. Marcelino Libanan of the 4Ps party-list group.
Libanan, who served the province as its lone congressional representative from 1998 to 2007, said that by having two congressional districts which means having two representatives at the Lower House, development in the two areas will be faster and will result to an ‘improved services’ for the constituents.
Libanan, who is the House’ minority floor leader, also said that of the three Samar provinces, only Eastern Samar has a lone congressional representative.
At present, the province is represented in Congress by Rep. Maria Fe Abunda who is now on her second term.
“The continuous rise in its population has placed an enormous strain on the lone congressional district office’s capacity and capability to serve the needs of its constituents,” Libanan, in his explanatory note said.
“Thus, the need for an additional representation must be addressed,” the congressman added.
Based on his proposed measure as contained under House Bill 3647, Eastern Samar will be apportioned into two congressional districts.
The first congressional district will be composed of the provincial capital of Borongan City and the municipalities of Arteche, Can-avid, Dolores, Jipapad, Maslog, Oras, San Julian, San Policarpo, Sulat, and Taft with a total population of 270,691.
Meantime, the second congressional district will include the towns of Balangiga, Balangkayan, Gen. MacArthur, Giporlos, Guiuan, Hernani, Lawaan, Llorente, Maydolong, Mercedes, Quinapondan and Salcedo which has a combined population of about 206,477.
Also under the proposed measure of Libanan, who was once the vice governor of the province, the election for the two new congressmen of the province will take place on the next national and local elections after the measure become effective.
The incumbent congressional representative will serve on a ‘holdover capacity’ until the new two congressional representatives are elected.
At present, Eastern Visayas of which Eastern Samar is part has 13 congressional representatives led by Leyte Rep. and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and four party-list congressmen, two from Tingog Sinirangan, and one each from An Waray and 4Ps of Libanan.
TACLOBAN CITY – The city government of Ormoc is conducting a survey on what courses that will be offered for the proposed community college to be run by the local government.
This was disclosed by Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez who explained that by doing a survey, particularly among businessmen in the city, graduates from the planned community college will easily lands a job.
“We are not just picking courses. We are running a survey para we will know what are the gaps and to know what skills and courses the business community needs,” she said.
“We are looking at offering not too many courses. We just want to start with the first three to five in demand courses because we want to make a difference in the employment,” Gomez added.
Gomez further said that they also want that all graduates of the community college will no longer look for jobs outside the city.
Students from Ormoc City who are qualified will have a full scholarship, it was learned.
As part of this preparation, Ormoc officials led by Mayor Gomez and Leyte Rep. Richard Gomez, a former mayor of the city, visited Valenzuela last August 2.
The city of Valenzuela, which has a sisterhood agreement with Ormoc, runs its own college school.
“We are very delighted to become a sister city of Valenzuela because this is the place which sparked our goal of creating a beautiful community college in Ormoc. When we first came here last July, we saw your college and we were very impressed, it was so beautiful and we realized it was something we needed in Ormoc,” Mayor Gomez said during the signing of the sisterhood agreement last August 2.
Prior to having a sisterhood agreement with Valenzuela, the city government also had a benchmarking in Burauen town that has its own community college established in 2019 with only 549 students and now has more than 4,000 enrolled students not only from the municipality but also from its neighboring towns. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)
