Women Power. More women are to pack the provincial board of Leyte with the election of (from the left) Raissa Villasin, Anna Tuazon, and Caren Rama as board members.
Women Power. More women are to pack the provincial board of Leyte with the election of (from the left) Raissa Villasin, Anna Tuazon, and Caren Rama as board members.
TACLOBAN CITY– Leyte’s provincial board will be packed with more women, a development welcome by Vice Governor Carlo Loreto, the presiding officer of the body.
Aside from the reelected board members Gina Merilo (1st district), Trinidad Apostol (2nd district) and Maria Corazon Remandaban (3rd district), three more women were elected to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
They are Raissa Villasin (2nd district); Anna Tuazon (3rd district); and Caren Rama of the fourth district.
Tuazon is the daughter of reelected Rep. Vicente Veloso (3rd district) while Rama is the elder sister of Rep. Lucy Torres Gomez (4th district).
Villasin is an outgoing councilor of Tacloban City and sister of incumbent board member Niccolo Villasin.
Incidentally, the current provincial Sangguniang Kabataan president, Jo Vanille Chua, is also a woman, adding girl power at the provincial board.
Aside from Vice Gov. Loreto, the incoming provincial board will have six men as members.
“I think that will be something. Stereotypes are often distorted but in my own observation, women are more attentive to details and I think having more female board members is an advantage,” he said.
“Their presence will be felt significantly in the legislations that we are about to make, the standards, concerns and how to address the demands of the new normal,” the vice governor added.
The provincial board has already produced vice governors.
They were Mimietta Bagulaya, who later became acting governor, and Apostol, also a former congresswoman representing Leyte’s second district.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
Samar Rep. Milagrosa ‘Mila’ Tan was elected as governor of the province despite of an earlier decision of the Sandiganbayan finding her guilty for a graft case. She will replace her daugther, Gov. Sharee Ann Tan, who will take her post as a congresswoman representing Samar’s second district.
Samar Rep. Milagrosa ‘Mila’ Tan was elected as governor of the province despite of an earlier decision of the Sandiganbayan finding her guilty for a graft case. She will replace her daugther, Gov. Sharee Ann Tan, who will take her post as a congresswoman representing Samar’s second district.
Despite Sandiganbayan decision
TACLOBAN CITY- Samar Rep. Milagrosa Tan was elected as governor of the province, defeating a former military intelligence officer.
Tan received 211,764 votes against her rival, Emil Zosa.
March 1 of this year, the Fourth Division of Sandiganbayan found Tan guilty for graft involving P16.1 million in the procurement of emergency supplies back in 2001 when she was the governor of the province.
Tan immediately posted bail and sought for motion for reconsideration.
Zosa, who was once the head of the intelligence and operations division of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, only managed to obtain 204,118 votes.
In his Facebook post, Zosa conceded defeat to Tan who is returning as governor of the province as she is to end her nine-year in office as a congresswoman representing Samar’s second district.
The governor-elect is to switch position with her daughter, Gov. Sharee Ann Tan, who also won on her congressional race.
The younger Tan received a total votes of 124,459 or higher by 27,223 votes against her rival, Christopher Bolastig, once connected with the Bureau of Customs.
Bolastig received 97,236 votes.
The defeated congressional aspirant also accepted his loss to the outgoing governor.
“It was a good, clean fight for us. We reach this far because of your support and I will forever be grateful,” he said.
“Let’s continue providing services that the province of Samar deserves. Congratulation to Ann Tan,” Bolastig added.
Congresswoman-elect Tan, for her part, expressed her gratitude to her erstwhile political rival for conceding his defeat.
“It was indeed a respectable fight. I salute you for being such a true gentleman. Hoping to align our vision someday soon,” she said.
Elected as vice governor of the province was Reynolds Michael Tan, son of the elected- Gov. Tan, who amassed 214,511 votes.
The vice governor-elect defeated Jesus Redaja, a former vice governor who only received 167,566 votes.
Meantime, Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento was reelected as congressional representative for Samar’s first district.
Sarmiento, who secured his second term, won by 11,018 votes against outgoing Vice Gov. Stephen James Tan.
Sarmiento had a total votes of 104,904 votes against Tan’s 93,886 votes.
The reelected solon expressed his gratitude to the people of the first district for electing him back into office.
“It is an honor and privilege to once again serve as our representative in the upcoming 18th Congress. The fresh mandate you have entrusted me strengthens my resolve to serve the first district to the best of my abilities. I give you my commitment that I will continue to work hard in the House of Representatives to make your voices heard,” Sarmiento said in his message he posted on his Facebook account.
All were proclaimed by the members of the Provincial Board of Canvassers on May 16.
TACLOBAN CITY – Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez expressed his gratitude to the voters of his city for giving him another fresh mandate.
And what made his poll victory more memorable was his vice mayor and all his slate for councilor also won during Monday’s elections.
Based on a partial and unofficial result, Gomez, who ran under the administration party PDP-Laban, obtained total votes of 77, 573 votes compared to 29,795 votes of Eric Codilla, a former three termer mayor of the city.
“We are very fortunate to be given a fresh mandate,” Gomez said.
Gomez credited his successful re-election bid to the support of the City Hall employees which enabled him to implement projects and programs that benefited the people of Ormoc City.
“Our campaign wouldn’t be successful without the support of all department who had helped us to make Ormoc City a beautiful place since 2016. So will again ask you to work harder, work together to make Ormoc more progressive,” Gomez said.
The mayor added that under his administration, he focused on addressing the drug menace, a priority program of the Duterte administration.
“At the end of the day we are all Ormocanons. We worked on to make Ormoc more beautiful and more progressive. While we have this mandate, we want to make Ormoc a better place to live in for all of us,” Gomez said.
His wife, Rep. Lucy Torres Gomez also won on her third reelection bid for Leyte’s fourth district.
Torres-Gomez, based on an unofficial and partial results, received 177,938 votes against her opponent, Eufrocino Codilla who only obtained 50,969 votes.
Her younger brother Matt Torres also won as mayor of Kananga, defeating incumbent Mayor Rowena Codilla.
Matt Torres garnered 15,350 votes against Codilla’s 13,310 votes.
His sister-in-law Caren Rama was also elected as board member representing Leyte’s fourth district.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
MAASIN CITY- The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in this city has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with barangay Tunga-Tunga, the central village of the city, for the maintenance of a public beach located along Espina boulevard, at the back of the city hall.
First in the order of business was to rename the beach into “Baybajon sa Tunga-Tunga,” baybajon being the term for beach in bisaya with a Maasinhon accent, said Senior Jail Inspector Bernardino Edgar Camus, the city jail warden.
“The giving of a new name was necessary to erase the negative connotation of the previous name, Likay-Likay beach, which carries the impression that bathers had to evade something as the term literally means a call to escape,” Camus said during the PIA Kapihan Friday.
Development plan envisioned for Baybajon sa Tunga-Tunga involved the putting up of open nipa huts free-of-charge for beachgoers enjoying the high tide there, on a first-come, first-served basis; a space for volunteer lifeguards; and subdued lighting during the night, Camus said.
“These will be presented to the barangay and the local government unit since BJMP has no budget, but personnel may be scheduled to serve as lifeguard,” he added.
The initiative was part of BJMP’s adopt-a-park program as well as the bureau’s efforts at enhancing community relations, Senior Jail Officer II Sergio Maglines pointed out, adding that the MOA was signed last month, April 23.
“The beach is unique as other barangays in the city proper like Combado, Tagnipa, Abgao, Mantahan, and Mambajao had no such attraction,” Maglines said.
Major events being held at Baybajon sa Tunga-Tunga are the annual conduct of Octoberfest acoustic concert, activities during July 1 anniversary of the province, and charter day activities of the city on August 10.
On weekends especially on a high tide, and every Sakay-Sakay festival of the city in late January, locals and visitors converged in this place, enjoying the white sand and each other’s company, and having fun.
“Meanwhile, the city’s BJMP will continuously push to maintain its top record in the region as a no smoking jail facility, having garnered a Red Orchid Award from the Department of Health,” said Senior Jail Officer III Marlon Abar.
(LDL/MMP/PIA-8, Southern Leyte)
CALBAYOG CITY- A political supporter of Mayor Ronaldo Aquino was gunned down by still unidentified armed men just two days before the conduct of the recently-concluded May 13 elections.
Aquino, who is poised to keep his post based on unofficial and partial results, immediately expressed his indignation on the killing of Joseph Ortega.
Ortega was killed by suspects while he was on board a vehicle along Barangay Marcatubig, this city.
His companion, Manuel Sahul, sustained some wounds due to the ambush incident.
Mayor Aquino said that he feel sad that he killing of Ortega and his other supporters who were earlier gunned down eyeing politics as the main reason.
“I expressed my deep condolences and sympathies with those who mourn their loved ones lost in this pointless political attacks,” the city mayor said.
Calbayog has been placed as a hot spot area during the May 13 elections due to series of killing incidents, many were barangay officials.
Police Colonel Rolando Miranda, deputy regional director for operations of the Philippine National Police Regional Office, assured the public that there will be a thorough investigation into these killings.
He did not gave a timeline when these investigations will be conducted. (JAZMIN BONIFACIO)
