ORMOC CITY– A newly-identified drug peddler yielded three sachets containing suspected shabu in a buy-bust operation in Gandara, Samar on Nov.29.

The sting operation, led by the local police’ drug enforcement team and the provincial police intelligence unit, resulted in the arrest of Allon Cuaresma,36, an event organizer, in Barangay Buñagan.

The suspect, who is from Calbayog City, is listed as a newly-identified drug personality in Gandara.

During the conduct of a body search, police operatives recovered sachets of shabu placed inside a calling card container.

Charges of violations of RA 9165, the Comprehensive Law against Illegal Drugs of 2002, was filed thru inquest proceedings at the Provincial Prosecutors Office. (ROBERT T. DEJON)

TACLOBAN CITY – At least 104 former rebels in Lope de Vega, Northern Samar have received cash assistance from the government for participating in an emergency employment program.

A ceremony held Tuesday in Lope De Vega town awarded PHP924,000 cash to 264 beneficiaries, including the 104 New People’s Army (NPA) surrenderers to the Philippine Army and Philippine National Police units in the province.

Philippine Army 43rd Infantry Battalion spokesperson 1st Lt. Benigno Lopez, Jr. lauded the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the local government for enlisting former members of the NPA in the program.

“This is a way to make them productive as they start a new life after engaging in a senseless armed struggle. We want to forge partnership with more government agencies to help our former rebels,” Lopez said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

These former rebels residing in the town’s five villages with insurgency problems in the past are members of people’s organization formed by the Army’s 43rd Infantry Battalion in 2021.

Each beneficiary received cash worth PHP3,500 as compensation for their work in the community.

The assistance is part of the DOLE’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers or TUPAD, a community-based package of assistance that provides emergency employment for displaced workers, underemployed and seasonal workers, for a minimum period of 10 days, but not to exceed a maximum of 30 days, depending on the nature of work to be performed.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)

Other LGUs put up their own Christmas lights, decors

TACLOBAN CITY– For a change, there will be no Christmas tree put up by the city government here.

It’s because, every time the city government puts up a Christmas tree, it’s being torn by a typhoon.

So said City Mayor Alfred Romualdez who directed instead the City Tourism Office to just flood the entire City Hall building and its compound of glittering Christmas lights and display.

“Perhaps you are surprised that we don’t have a Christmas tree this year. You know, every time we put up a Christmas tree, we are being hit by a typhoon,” he said in jest during the switch-on of the Christmas display on Friday (Dec. 2).

“So we have decided to just put up Christmas lights and I commended the City Tourism Office for a good job,” he said, adding that he hope this will not result in an increase in the electricity bill for the city government.

Power consumers in this city and the rest of the region have complained of the high cost of power rates for months now, ranging from as low as P12 per kilowatt to as high as P19/kw.
Tacloban is often visited by typhoons during the last months of the year. In fact, for the past three years now, successive typhoons hit the city.

In 2013, it was devastated by Super Typhoon ‘Yolanda’ which did not only destroyed Christmas decors put up but even resulted in the deaths of more than 2,200 people and destroyed houses and buildings across the region.

Meantime, the Price Mansion, owned by the family of Leyte Rep. and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, was transformed into a big Christmas village decorated with Christmas lights and display.

Since it opened on Dec.1, thousands of people have visited the place, as they are being reminded to observe social distancing as the threat of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) remains.

Other local government units across the region have also put up their Christmas displays like the provincial government of Biliran which uses different themes every night at their Christmas village in Naval town.

A nativity scene is the main attraction of the ‘Paskuhan ha Katbalugan’ in Catbalogan City, Samar located at the city’s main plaza.

In Silvino Lobos town, its main municipal building up to its plaza were also lighted up with colored Christmas lights and display that gives a Christmas feel to Northern Samar’s farthest town.
(LIZBETH ANN A.ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Samar provincial government on Thursday identified four areas for the initial rollout of Strengthening Initiatives for Balanced Growth and Opportunities at the Localities (SIBOL), a program meant to generate employment and livelihood opportunities.
Listed as pilot areas are the cities of Catbalogan and Calbayog, and the towns of Basey and Paranas. These areas have been selected due to high poverty incidence and some of the villages are previously affected by armed conflicts.

Other local government units in Samar “will soon follow”, according to the provincial government.

“The provincial government have been holding training as initial step on the roll out of SIBOL. Through this, the workforce development plan of local government units is institutionalized through enhanced capacity to generate employment and livelihood opportunities,” the provincial government said in a statement.

Among the training participants are investment officers, public employment service officers, tourism officers, planning and development officers and business permit and licensing officers of local government units.

The workforce development plan is a three-year roadmap of the province, cities and towns to provide its workers with globally competitive skills and assist them to have access to quality and sustainable jobs or livelihood opportunities.

The SIBOL program came about in response to the United Nations Framework for the immediate socio-economic response to the Covid-19 Crisis where it advised that the pandemic is far more than a health crisis thus affecting societies and economies.

The program is a partnership of the Samar provincial government, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
(PNA)