LA PAZ, Leyte – Better roads leading to Calabato Hot Spring, this town, will soon serve the public, the Department of Public Works and Highways-Leyte Second District Engineering Office reported.
According to District Engineer Gerald Pacanan, aside from the completed P46 million for the concreting of 1.6592-kilometer two-lane road and construction of an arch bridge, another P26 million has been poured out for the 2,025.2 square meter Portland Cement Concrete Pavement (PCCP); 320 linear meter lined canal; 110 linear meter retaining wall and 897 cubic meter stone masonry works.
“To intensify local tourism and economic progress in Leyte, the Department of Tourism in partnership with DPWH, has allocated funds for the road development projects of the tourist destinations in the area”, said Pacanan.
Pacanan emphasized that this project will also provide opportunities for residents living in the area through easier transport of commodities and products.
The local government of La Paz is continuously emerging its tourism destination after it was damage by super typhoon Yolanda in 2013.
(GIL A. ACUIN III/PR)
Access road to Leyte hot spring nears completion
NGCP says it completed its energization of all EV’s substations on Dec.30
TACLOBAN CITY- The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) reported that it was able to ‘energize’ all the 36 substations across Eastern Visayas which were affected when the region was hit by Typhoon ‘Ursula’ on the eve of Christmas Day.
Milfrance Capulong, NGCP communications officer, said that the restoration was completed on December 30, or about a week after Ursula pummeled the region.
Still, there are towns in the region that remain without power supply, mostly in Samar and Eastern Samar provinces.
Among these areas are in Llorente and Hernani, both in Eastern Samar, and Basey in Samar.
Capulong said that these areas have already been energized by the NGCP and its now up to the local power distributors to supply power up to the households.
She said that these areas may still have some problems to fix like toppled structures reason why they remain without power supply.
Capulong, however, said that she could not yet give figures as to how many power poles were toppled or leaned due to the strong winds and heavy rains spawned by Ursula.
“We are still in the process of updating but several structures were toppled down or leaned due to the onslaught of Ursula,” she said in a phone interview.
But the restoration of power on these areas may be hasten with the help of eight power cooperatives from Mindanao.
About 55 linemen coming from eight power cooperatives from Mindanao arrived in the region on December 27 and were deployed in Samar and Eastern Samar areas.
These cooperatives were from Agusan Del Norte Electric Cooperative (Aneco); Agusan Del Sur Electric Cooperative (Aselco); Northern Davao Electric Cooperative (Nordeco); Surigao Del Norte Electric Cooperative (Surneco); Surigao Del Sur I Electric Cooperative (Surneco I); Surigao Del Sur II Electric Cooperative (Surneco II); Siargao Electric Cooperative (Siarelco); and Dinagat Island Electric Cooperative (Dielco).
These linemen are working alongside with the linemen from the NGCP, Capulong said. (JOEY A. GABIETA)
74-yr-old woman killed in Leyte road mishap
TACLOBAN CITY-A 74-year old woman died on Thursday (January 2), after a car accidentally bumped the pedicab she was riding in Jaro town, Leyte.
Authorities identified the victim as Angeles Dumayas, married and a resident of Barangay Sto Niño of the said town.
The pedicab driver, identified only as Lito, also sustained injuries.
Police said that at around 5:15 p.m. on that day, the pedicab was crossing the road from the town’s poblacion towards Barangay Macopa, also of the said town, when a black Hyundai Accent driven by Ramon Brazil, 28, a resident of Barugo, Leyte accidentally hit it.
Brazil was travelling from the direction of Carigara, Leyte heading towards the direction of Tacloban City when the incident happened, police said in a report.
Dumayas was rushed to a rural health nit in Jaro but was pronounced dead on arrival by the Dr. Corazon Acbo, the attending physician.
The pedicab driver was also brought to Eastern Regional Visayas Medical Center (EVRMC), based this city, for immediate medical treatment.
Brazil, an employee from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) assigned in Calbayog City, voluntarily surrendered to Jaro Municipal Police Station. (RONALD O. REYES)
PNP offices in EV damaged due to Ursula placed at P5.4 million
TACLOBAN CITY- Typhoon ‘Ursula’ has also resulted to damages of different buildings of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the region amounting to P5.47 million.
In a report by the regional PNP headquarters based in Palo town, Leyte, the damaged to various police stations were from the provinces of Leyte, Samar, Eastern Samar, Biliran and the cities of Ormoc and Tacloban.
The regional headquarter also sustain damaged to its various buildings with an estimated damage cost of P528,784.
In Eastern Samar, the damages were placed at P1.68 million; Samar, P1.67 million; Leyte, P1.27 million; Biliran,P250,000; Tacloban City,P24,900; and Ormoc City,P34,400.
The buildings of these police stations sustain damages on their gutters, ceilings, scaffoldings, roofs, lamp posts and doors, the report said.
Still, B/Gen. Ferdinand Divina, police regional director, assured the public that despite of the damages sustained by the police offices, their work as peace officers are not hampered.
“The damages caused by Ursula will not hamper our effective and efficient delivery of public service to the community,” Divina said.
He expressed his optimism that their central headquarters will immediately release the needed funds so they could immediately undertake repair works.
Ursula’s wrath in Eastern Visayas resulted to the deaths of 13 people, injured more than 200 people and affected more than 230,000 families comprising 960,000 individuals. (PRO-8/PR)
Heavy rains cause landslide in Eastern Samar
TACLOBAN CITY- Due to heavy rains, a landslide incident occurred along Barangay Binaloan, Taft town in Eastern Samar on Friday (Jan.3) morning.
Based on the information relayed by the Eastern Samar District Engineering Office (ESDEO) based in Borongan City, the landslide resulted to the uprooting of rocks and other debris with an estimated volume of 600 cubic meter.
It was learned that since Thursday night, heavy rains were being experienced across Eastern Samar which could have softened the limestones and soil that triggered the landslide and rockslide, ESDEO reports.
The office said that at around 9:30 am, the road leading the Paranas, Samar-Taft, Eastern Samar was rendered impassable to all types of vehicles.
The district engineering said that clearing operations will be done once the safety of their maintenance crew and operators are assured as rains continue to be experienced until today, Friday.
No one was reported due to the incident. (JAYSON ESPEJO/PR)
Math wizard from Catbalogan City wins gold in this year’s Math Olympiad held in Japan
Part of the Philippine contingent
TACLOBAN CITY – A Grade 4 student from Samar College Inc., based in Catbalogan City, made waves during the recently-held Math Olympiad held in Tokyo, Japan.
Mark Christian Mendoza was part of the Philippine contingent coming from different schools of the country who joined the December 27 to 30 at the World International Mathematical Olympiad (WIMO).
The math wizard was one of the nine participants who won a gold medal. Overall, the Philippine team won nine gold medals, 12 silvers, 16 bronze medals and 3 merit awards, enough for the country to emerge second to overall champion Thailand.
Malaysia finished third.
This year’s Math Olympiad was participated by 328 students from Australia, Bulgaria, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Ukraine.
“I feel proud that I brought for my school in an international competition and I feel glad that all of my nights of studying have finally paid off,” Mendoza said in an interview after arriving from Japan.
Mendoza said that as part of his preparations to broaden his knowledge on Math, he enrolled in a program for reading and mathematics called “Kumon” where he learned algebra and calculus and arithmetic sequences.
“I also study every night with my tutor, Teacher Emil Fernando. I am also very good at memorizing, and that’s a very useful skill in math. Usually, to answer word problems fast, you need to memorize many formulas that help get variables or factors required to find the answer. It also helps in multiplication, as not only do I memorize the basic multiplication to 10, but also all the way up to 15,” Mendoza said.
“Along with mental math, as I can usually do most simple calculations in my mind because most of the time, when doing long word problems/equations, even when it is quite simple, some people get lost as to where they were in that specific equation, thus some are forced them to write it down so that they don’t get lost, in which case, they take longer,” he added.
Mendoza credited his parents for supporting him and his tutor and teachers for their encouragement and motivation during his training to do better in math and enable to reach the international competitions.
The young student said that he too also detest the subject but learned to like it upon the prodding of his parents and teachers.
“I too was not good in math, but because of my great teachers, because of my loving parents, and because of my diligence, self-discipline and hard work, I was able to reach where I am right now,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza’s mother, Heidi, said that she is proud on the achievement of her son.
“Mark has an innate talent in him, gifted and I just push him to develop that talent in him. He never says no and he willingly welcome challenges that further hone his skills and develop the best in him even when it is just a school activity or a competition,” she said.
The proud mother said that she encourages her son to join competition that help sharpen his skills on math, commonly the least favorite subjects among students.
Prior to competing in Japan, Mendoza also competed at the Regional School Press Conference held in Tacloban City where he competed on editorial, science and technology writing and radio broadcasting.
He was able to land 1st place on editorial writing out of 90 students.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)