TACLOBAN CITY- Holiday getaways have remained possible in Eastern Visayas despite the new normal brought by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Karen Tiopes, Department of Tourism (DOT) regional director, assured travelers and visitors that they are positioning a responsible restart for Eastern Visayas tourism, following the issuance of various guidelines on the operation of tourism enterprises in the new normal from DOT central office.
“That is why for the Eastern Visayas tourism to restart, we are positioning the region to be known as a destination with infinite escapes to experience and offers sites and activities that are fun yet at the same time promotes safety and wellness,” she said.
“By having guidelines on the operation of tourism sites, we are actually able to accomplish two things – promote wellness and help build back the confidence of our target market to travel again,” Tiopes added.
According to Tiopes, they drafted a manual to promote the health and safety of guests, tourism workers, and service providers alike.
“Once people see that their safety is of utmost importance in our tourism sites, they will start to feel that there is not much to worry about. When our target domestic markets also start to see that Eastern Visayans are safely going to their tourism sites, this will also give them the message that Eastern Visayas indeed is a safe destination and may consider putting us in their list once they start traveling to other region again,” the tourism regional director said.
With the lowering of the COVID-19 risk level in many parts of the region, Tiopes said many tourism facilities that comply with the guidelines have already reopened.
“Next in line are the tourism sites and activities. However, we have to do this with care to make sure that health and safety protocols are in place consistently followed by both service providers and guests,” she said.
For their first assessment, Tiopes and her team visited Calbayog City sites in collaboration with the Calbayog City Tourism Office to see how their health and safety manual is adopted and implemented by the local government unit (LGU).
“One challenge we have faced though is the level of willingness of our target tourists to travel again at this time. That is why we will initially target local tourists – Eastern Visayans traveling around Eastern Visayas. However, for now, many of our LGUs who have already opened up some of their tourism sites only allow their local community to initially visit their sites,” Tiopes said.
The tourism industry has been one, if not the most affected industries when COVID-19 struck, according to the tourism official.
“The need to follow health and safety protocols remain paramount, however, we also have to nurture back our economy – open up businesses, resume the operation of tourism sites, bring back jobs, continue the livelihood that were temporarily stopped as a result of impositions made to put to a minimum the spread of the virus,” Tiopes added.
(RONALD O. REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY (CIO) – At least P3.2 million worth of financial assistance was allocated by the city government of Tacloban through Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez to aid City Division Schools in its Brigada Eskwela Program this year.
Under the financial assistance program, each of the 64 elementary and secondary schools under the division will receive P50,000 each from the Special Education Fund of the local government to help defray the cost of maintenance and repairs of schools as it prepares for the coming school year.
On Monday, August 3, 2020, Mayor Romualdez, along with City Schools Division Superintendent, Dr. Mariza S. Magan led the distribution to the heads of the 64 elementary and high schools of the city division.
This is the second time that the local government extended the much-needed aid to city schools. Last January, the city government also handed cash aids to the public schools for the repair and rehabilitation of facilities affected by Typhoon ‘Ursula’.
Meantime, amidst the coronavirus scare, some 61,157 students (as compared to last year’s 72,293) have enrolled for the new school year which, will start on August 24, 2020.
Despite the slight decline in enrollment, the City Division still posted the highest enrollment rate in Region 8, according to Magan.
The City Division will utilize multiple learning modalities; through self-learning modules and online/virtual classes as to alternative to face-to-face learning.
(K.NAPALA, TACLOBAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)

TACLOBAN CITY- Two pieces of debris suspected to be from an aircraft were separately found on the beaches of Mercedes and Guiuan towns, both in Eastern Samar province.
In Mercedes, such wreckage was said to have been beached off the waters in Barangay Anuron, Juvimar Lira, a resident of the said village, said.
Lira, in a phone interview, said that the wreckage was seen in the area five days ago by some local fishermen in Anuron, which faces the Pacific Ocean.
“When I saw them, they were trying to tinker the debris, probably for profit. I told them not to touch it and instead report it authorities,” the 33-year old businessman said.
He said the item should be turn over to proper authorities for them to conduct investigation to really determine on the wreckage found on the shore.
On Thursday (August 6), local police together with personnel from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), and local police came to the area to inspect the debris.
There was no illegal contraband found by the PDEA while the CAAP has not yet determine if the debris was from an airplane or from what part of an aircraft.
CAAP regional office based in the city has yet to issue a statement on this matter.
But Lira said that the debris was heavy as it took about 10 men to flip it over as he estimated that it could be around over 100 kilograms in weight and 3 x 4 meters in width. Some Chinese or Japanese characters were seen on the debris, he added.
Meanwhile, another similar debris was also in the waters in Brgy. Taytay, Guiuan, report reaching the regional headquarters of the Philippine National Police, said.
The said debris was found floating last July 27 by Nicanor Gagarin, 46 and resident of said village.
The item was said to have been secured by the Guiuan police.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

ORMOC CITY- At least three persons were buried alive after a landslide hit near a dried river where they were excavating in Barangay Canlawis, Pintuyan, Southern Leyte Friday (July 31) afternoon.
Town police chief Lt. Col Omar Bagasbas identified the fatalities as Ruben Gulbao, 20, single and native of Tampoong, Sogod, Southern Leyte; Adelberto Gales, Jr., 35, single and resident of PD Equipilag village in Pintuyan town, both are laborers; and Joel Malque, married, 43 and living in the village where the incident occurred.
Bagasbas said in a phone interview that the three were sacking sand and gravel near the slope at estimated height of 35 meters at the side of a dried river when the soil containing rocks eroded and covered the victims.
When police arrived at the scene, some people from the community, roughly half a kilometer distance, were already digging with the use of shovel to rescue the victims. They came to help the town rescuers and able to retrieve two bodies. Another body was recovered with the use of a backhoe.
The three were rushed to the town district hospital but were pronounced dead upon arrival by the attending physician Dr. Jude Aspirin.
Bagasbas said that the landslide area used to be a quarrying site but excavation was discontinued by the local government being unsafe already.
However, residents nearby continue excavation activities of small volumes for meager income. Heavy rains on the past days softened the soil and slight movement on the ground may have resulted to the landslide, he added.
(ELVIE ROMAN-ROA with report RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)