TACLOBAN CITY-The house of the mayor of Can-avid town in Eastern Samar was hit by a fire incident on Monday (July 17) early morning with the said local leader unharmed.

Fire authorities in the town see ‘faulty electrical wiring’ as the possible cause of the fire.
FO3 Nico Balayanto, the fire investigator, said that the second floor of the house of Mayor Vilma Germino was engulfed by the fire that started at about 4:55 am.

“Based on our initial investigation, the fire started in the stock room which was located on the second floor of the house with the son-in-law of the mayor first to notice smoke emanating from the (stock)room,” Balayanto said in a phone interview Tuesday(July 17).

At that time, the fire officer said, Mayor Germino was already awake in her bedroom, which was also on the second floor, doing her early morning prayers.

Germino, together with other occupants of the house, located in Barangay 7, rushed outside the house, which was mostly made of concrete materials.

“Only the second floor of the house was affected by the fire which was declared fire out by 6 am. Right now, we see faulty electrical wiring as the possible cause of the fire as we see no other possible ignition source,” Balayanto said.

They placed the damage cost at P4.5 million mostly involving personal effects of Mayor Germino.

“The mayor was unhurt though she was shocked due to the fire incident that hit her house,” the fire investigator said.

He added that the ground floor of the house was not affected and the mayor is now staying in her other house in the town proper.

Mayor Germino could not be reached for her reaction to this incident.(ROBERT DEJON)

TACLOBAN CITY– Senator Imee Marcos welcomed the visit of former president Rodrigo Duterte to China saying it could lead to possible help on the current territorial dispute between the two countries.

The senator said that any speculations as to what really the purpose of the visit of her brother, immediate predecessor would not help the current relations between the Philippines and China over the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea row.

“I’m sure former President Duterte will be an invaluable asset to the dialogue…and has a great contribution to make,” Marcos said in a brief press conference on Wednesday(July 19) held at the City Hall attended by her cousin, Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez.
“And I hope he will pursue that dialogue and help us unravel the many troubles we had in recent past,” she added.

Marcos also cautioned the public not to make any speculations on the July 17 visit of Duterte, a close ally of the senator.

“Huwag tayong maging suspitsoso, mapra-praning lang tayo,” she said.
The senator also said that like Duterte, her mother, former first lady Imelda Marcos, is also close and a friend to the Chinese.

“Kaya hayaan na lang natin sila, baka makatulong. Malaking bagay yun,” she said.
Meantime, Marcos, who chairs the foreign relations committee at the Senate, lambasted the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) denying the appeal of the Philippine government on the brutal anti-drug war waged by the Duterte administration.

Sen. Marcos said that the ICC was gravely wrong in denying the appeal of the Philippine government considering that it is also addressing issues relative to the drug war, notably on the extrajudicial killings (EJKs).

She said that the local courts have already convicted police authorities due to the EJKs.
In 2018, a court convicted police officials who were involved in the killing of Kian de los Santos, one of the high-profile cases of the Duterte drug war.

The police accused the 17-year-old as a drug runner. The family denied the claim of the police.

“It’s very, very cleared that those guilty of EJKs have been punished,” she said, adding that our courts are functioning.

“Papasok kang dapat sila pag walang korte, walang umaandar na hidikatura.Pero dito sa Pilipinas, buhay na buhay ang ating judiciary. There is no reason for them to intervene in our internal affairs,” Marcos said.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY– Pope Francis on Tuesday appointed a Filipino priest among the two new officials of the Dicastery for Evangelization, the Vatican’s missionary arm.

Msgr. Erwin Jose Balagapo of the Archdiocese of Palo and Korean Msgr. Han Hyun-taek will serve their new roles in the dicastery for a period of five years.

Both priests have been working in the dicastery before their promotion.

Their tasks involve leading the office under the Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches, which is overseen by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as pro-prefect.

Born in Tacloban City, Balagapo was ordained priest in 1996.

As a canon lawyer, the priest has been working at the dicastery since 2015 after completing his further studies in Rome.

As part of the Curia’s reform, the dicastery merges the former Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

Under the leadership of Pope Francis, the dicastery consists of two sections: one that addresses fundamental questions of evangelization in the world, and another dedicated to first evangelization and the establishment of new particular Churches within its jurisdictional territories.
(CBCP News)