TACLOBAN CITY– More than 60 damaged houses in Southern Leyte and in some parts of Leyte due to Typhoon ‘Odette’ were helped rebuilt by government forces.
Soldiers from the 8th Infantry Division, together with the 53rd Engineering Brigade, 8th Regional Community Defense Group, and reservists under the Joint Task Force Bulig Leyte, assisted the typhoon victims in rebuilding their damaged houses.
Captain Ryan Layug, chief of the division’s public affairs office, said that at least 63 families from five towns and one city in Southern Leyte province, and one town in Leyte benefited their assistance to families who have lost their houses due to the massive typhoon that hit Southern Leyte and some parts of Leyte on December 16,2021.
Of the 63 houses rebuilt by soldiers, 46 were in Limasawa; six in San Ricardo; three in Maasin City; two in Bontoc and one each in Malitbog, and Sogod, all in Southern Leyte, while Hilongos, Leyte has four families whose houses were repaired by the soldiers.
The houses restored by the soldiers are those owned by families who have no financial capacity to reconstruct their houses.
To help more typhoon victims, the 8th ID has appealed for more donations of nails, GI sheets, lumber, and other construction materials.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
Soldiers help rebuild houses damaged by Typhoon ‘Odette’
Gov. Petilla not inclined to impose province-wide the ‘no vax, no entry policy’
Leaves the discretion to mayors
TACLOBAN CITY – Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla said that he is not keen on imposing the ‘no vaccination card – no entry’ or a ‘no vaccination card – no ride policy’ in the province.
However, he said that this policy could be enforced by the mayors in their respective areas.
“It has no effect. If you are vaccinated you are protected, you are protected from getting hospitalized,” Petilla said.
“Even when there is still no vaccine available, we allow them to enter establishments, and statistics shows that infection happens not in these establishments but inside the home,” the governor added.
Petilla further said that there is no need for the province to amend the provincial ordinance on policies that control the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the province.
The Leyte governor stressed that if the goal is to prevent the further spread of COVID-19, enforcing of the minimum health protocols such as the proper wearing of face masks, physical distancing, hand washing, and sanitizing must be strictly implemented and observed even at home.
He also said that the vaccination campaign must also be strengthened at the local level to allow more people to have access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Earlier, the Regional Inter-agency Task Force and the Regional Task Force for Emerging Diseases released a joint resolution urging local government units to craft a local law that will encourage more people to be vaccinated and for private establishments to adopt and enforce it.
This policy includes the no vaccination no entry policy which most establishments and local government units in the region and the rest of the country are now implementing.
Several local government units in the region are now imposing the no vax, no entry policy when doing transactions are government offices and in entering private establishments.
The provincial government of Samar, on the other hand, became the first province to enact an ordinance for the enforcement of the no vaccine, no entry policy.
Last month, Leyte experienced a surge of COVID-19 cases with 3,033 cases. A total of 2,314 of which are unvaccinated while 320 are vaccinated based on the data from the Provincial Health Office (PHO).
The PHO added that 2,196 of the confirmed cases are asymptomatic, 676 are mild, 350 are moderate, eight are severe, three are critical, with no recorded deaths.
Moreover, on the ongoing vaccination campaign in the province, of the 1,682,729 target population, at least 873,245 residents of Leyte had received at least one dose of vaccines while 809,304 remains to be vaccinated. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)
More troops to be deployed to Samar Island
(VISAYAS COMMAND)
To help quell NPA and ensure peaceful balloting
TACLOBAN CITY- Soldiers assigned on Samar Island will get another boost with the deployment of additional troops.
The soldiers to be deployed on the island, consisting of Samar, Eastern Samar, and Northern Samar, will come from the 3rd Infantry Battalion under the command of Col. Juvenal Mark Tayamen, the Visayas Command said in a statement.
The soldiers, who were assigned in the hinterlands of Davao City for the past six years, are expected to arrive this weekend in Samar, are not only to help in the fight against the members of the New People’s Army(NPA) but also to ensure peaceful conduct of elections this May 9.
Aside from the presence of rebels, several parts of Samar Island has been identified in past elections as among Eastern Visayas areas of concern.
The Commission on Elections(Comelec) in the region, however, has yet to release areas in the region it deems to be areas of concern or ‘hot spots’ relative to the forthcoming balloting.
Lieutenant General Robert Dauz, the commander of the Visayas Command based in Cebu City, said that the deployment of troops on the island will help quell its insurgency problem.
“The addition of this unit only manifests the sincerity of our government to eradicate the menace of the communist terrorists in this part of the country, and sustain the people’s democratic way of life,” he said in a statement.
In a media interview, Major Gen.Edgardo de Leon, the commanding general of the 8th Infantry Division based in Catbalogan City, said that the troops will arrive this Saturday and will temporarily be headquartered in Calbayog City.
He added that these soldiers will be deployed in other parts of Samar Island if there is a need.
It was learned that de Leon himself has requested for the augmentation of government troops to the region.
DOH turned over COVID-19 facility to Biliran province
TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Health has turned over a temporary treatment and monitoring facility (TTMF) for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients in Biliran.
In Biliran, the turnover ceremony was graced by DOH-8 Assistant Regional Director Dr. Rodolfo Antonio Albornoz, Provincial DOH headed by Dr. Carlo Nartea, Vice Governor Brigido Caneja III, Naval Mayor Gerard Roger Espina, Dr. Joyce Caneja, chief of hospital for Biliran Provincial Hospital, and Dr. Edgar Veloso, provincial health officer.
The TTMF, located at the Biliran Provincial Hospital, is a 15-bed capacity that can cater to possible, suspected, probable, and confirmed COVID-19 patients with mild and moderate symptoms.
The TTMF aims to help in decongesting hospitals from COVID-19 infected patients who has mild to moderate symptoms.
In the wake of COVID-19 surge in the region, the DOH-8 had called for the local government units to treat their mild to moderate cases in their respective TTMF to avoid congestion of the hospitals.
At present, the hospital bed utilization rate in Biliran stand at 36.59% or classified as ‘low’ by the DOH.
Biliran has been classified under Alert Level 2 by Malacanang for the entire month of February.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
NTF-ELCAC statement on the endorsement of Makabayan bloc to the presidential bid of Robredo
It says bloc is a front of the communist terror group
The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict(NTF-ELCAC) has been unstinting in telling the Filipino people the truth; the ironically named Makabayan Bloc/KABAG Bloc is made up of urban operatives of the Communist Party of the Philippine- New People’s Army-National Democratic Front(CPP-NPA- NDF) who have managed to weasel their way into the House of Representatives by deceiving the Filipino people by not telling them who it they truly are: members of the terrorist CPP NPA NDF whose overarching goal is the destruction of government through violent means and the supplanting of our democracy with a failed and obsolete ideology: communism.
That they have officially endorsed Vice President Leni Robredo as their presidential candidate means they are hoping to forge a strong alliance with the VP if she wins the Presidency to further their rotten agenda: the violent overthrow of government and the perpetuation of the sufferings of our people.
The CPP- NPA- NDF is now on its last throes of life – thanks to our government’s whole of nation approach via EO 70 and thanks even more to the Filipino people who have rallied behind government in ending this 53 year communist pestilence in our country.
If the VP accepts this endorsement, she is giving these communist terrorists the strength they badly and desperately need to once again sow grief and pain on our people.
And she would have conferred on this terrorist organization a veneer of legitimacy and respectability to continue and intensify their terrorist activities: the radicalization of our youth, their recruitment into the NPA fold, terrorist financing, kidnapping, human trafficking, the murder of innocent civilians, our indigenous peoples and of our men and women in uniform.
She does not even need to win as President.
It is enough that she accepts the endorsement of this terrorist organization.
Such is the power of the high office she holds.
If, however, she rejects the damnable endorsement of the communist terrorist CPP NPA NDF, she would have given the Filipino people a strong message that even though we may have differences in our political beliefs, the Vice President of the land will solidly stand in complete defense of the Filipino people- as she has sworn to do.
Either way, Leni Robredo will show very clearly to the Filipino people who it is she truly is: a faithful public servant worthy of our trust or a traitor to her own country and who must never get within striking distance of the presidency. (PR)