TACLOBAN CITY-A lone bettor from this city won the P35.4 million of the grand lotto6/55 last Saturday.

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in the city did not identify the winner except to say that the lucky winner purchased his winning ticket in an outlet at the Naga-Naga area.

The lone winner placed his bet on 6/55 with the number combinations of 44-50-07-52-46-36.

The PCSO official, who declined to be named, said that they are happy that the 6/55 winner is from the city as the lotto outlet where the winner purchased his ticket stand to receive a commission.

The outlet is to receive .01 percent of the guaranteed jackpot prize.

“We hope the winner will use the money wisely and think for their future as we have noticed that most of the lotto winners have mismanaged their winnings,” the PCSO official said.

During the controversial October 1 6/55 draw which had a prize money of P236 million, out of the 433 winners, 12 of them were from Eastern Visayas, namely, seven from Leyte province; two from Eastern Samar, and one each from Biliran, Samar, and Southern Leyte provinces.

Each received a P545,000 prize.(JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) of the Leyte Second District Engineering Office (L2DEO) is now working on a P48.51-million infrastructure project located in the villages of Talisay to Tolibao, both in Capoocan, Leyte.

During the project inspection by District Engineer Leo Edward Oppura, he stated that the project involves the construction of 221 meters of crib wall slope protection and will be placed in the landslide-prone area to prevent soil erosion and further damage to properties.

He added that the project scope includes a 330-meter lined canal with a cross drain that will serve as a waterway, allow extra water to flow into one channel, and prevent road slips.
Slope protection crib walls are made of interconnecting precast modules that are built up to resemble a series of hollow boxes and are parallel to and at right angles to the wall’s line.
To create a retaining wall, the boxes are filled with particular granular material.
This project is funded under the DPWH-CY 2021 General Appropriations Act, sourced from the Tourism Road Infrastructure Program (TRIP).

The construction of the project started last July 22, 2022 and is scheduled to be completed by January of next year.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY-About 2,688 farmers from different towns in Leyte have received their cash assistance from the Department of Agriculture (DA) the source of funds sourced from the Rice Tarrification Law.

The two-day payout that ended last Saturday (Oct. 22) was graced by Rep. Jude Acidre of the Tingog party-list group who said that the giving of P5,000 to the rice farmers was continued under the administration of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. for them to tide over during this time of financial difficulties compounded by the pandemic caused by coronavirus disease.

The President is concurrently the DA Secretary.
The giving of cash assistance to the country’s rice farmers started during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte in the course of the implementation of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund which was the result of the enactment of the Rice Tarrification Law or Republic Act 11203.

The party-list solon said that he hopes that the beneficiaries will make good use of the cash assistance given to them by the government.

It was learned from Francis Rosaroso, head of the regional roll-out committee, that the 2,688 rice farmers were from the towns of Sta. Fe, Tanauan, Tolosa, and Palo, all belonging to the first congressional district of Leyte which is under the congressional district of House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

For this cash distribution, the regional DA office released P13.44 million.
It was learned that for this year, DA target about 41,181 rice farmers in Leyte who are to receive the one-time P5,000 cash assistance.

Those entitled to receive the assistance are farmers tilling land of two hectares who are registered at the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) which mostly source from the local government units.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY– The decision of the city government of Tacloban to purchase and operate a hotel built by former first lady Imelda Marcos was welcomed by the head of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).

Mark Lapid, the chief operating officer of the TIEZA, said that they were glad and opposed no objection on this decision of the city government to take over the Leyte Park Resort Hotel.

“The mayor told us that they are pursuing it. Since we have a 40% stake of it, we oppose no objection on it,” Lapid said.

Lapid was interviewed during the switch-on ceremony of the aesthetic light and sound show at the San Juanico Bridge last October 19 with TIEZA providing the P80 million fund for the said project.

To recall, Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez disclosed that the city government will be P1 billion borrowing loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines of which P500 million will be used to purchase and rehabilitate the Leyte Park Resort, once the only five-star hotel in Eastern Visayas.

The said property, sprawling at six-hectare along Magsaysay Boulevard, was built in 1979 during the time of former first lady Imelda Marcos, aunt of the city mayor.

Lapid said that he had a discussion with Mayor Romualdez on this issue during his visit.
“We are very glad that the city government will take over the Leyte Park Hotel. If the city government will not take over the hotel, kami ang magta-take over,” he said.

“But since the city government is interested and very aggressive in pursuing to have it operated, we are very happy and supportive of that idea,” Lapid added.

He added that he is happy that the city government wants to operate the hotel as it means that it is engaging in tourism-related activity.

The hotel ceased to operate in 2021 after its private operator, whose been leasing the facility since 1994, did not renew its contract as it chose to build his own hotel, also in the city.

The Leyte Park Resort and Hotel is being managed by the Privatization Management Office (PMO), the Leyte provincial government, and the TIEZA, an attached agency of the Department of Tourism.

PMO serves as the national government’s marketing arm concerning transferred assets, government corporations and other properties assigned to it by the Privatization Council for disposition.

On the other hand, TIEZA is responsible for implementing policies and programs of the DOT related to the development, promotion, and supervision of tourism projects” in the country.
The Leyte provincial government owns the lot where the hotel is built.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)