‘Yolanda’ debacle haunts the former DILG chief

TACLOBAN CITY- The An Waray party-list group dismissed as black propaganda linking the group with that of former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas who is running in this year’s midterm elections for senator.
Former congressman Florencio ‘Bem’ Noel said that while he respects Roxas both as a person and a politician, it is not fair to link him or to An Waray any affiliation.
“We are not political friends. We’ve never been (politically) aligned and that’s a fact,” Noel said in an interview.
The former congressman, who is the first nominee of the An Waray party-list group, was reacting to various posts in social media showing a photo of the party-list with that of Roxas.
Noel reminded the public when Roxas ran unsuccessfully for president in 2010, he supported the candidacy of Senator Grace Poe who both lost to eventual mayor, then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Both Poe and Roxas are running in this Monday’s elections for senators with the former appears heading for a polls victory based on various surveys. Roxas, meanwhile, is out of the probable winners, surveys have indicated.
Roxas was largely blamed on his mishandling on the management after Tacloban City and the rest of the region was pummeled by super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ in November 8, 2013.
Noel lamented that their rivals are spinning baseless stories out to destroy the image of the An Waray party-list which is among the probable winners among party-list groups seeking for seats at the House of Representatives based on various surveys.
Meantime, Noel said that while they are happy with the surveys showing them as among the probable winners, they remain not be complacent until the counting of the votes on Monday.
“While we are happy with the results of the surveys, we are not depending on them as they just serve as a gauge,” he said.
Meantime, Noel said that they will focus on the aspect of providing livelihood to the families in the village as one of their priorities once reelected.
The An Waray party-list first nominee said that they will also continue their ‘One Visayas’ campaign that gears on helping the tourism industry of the region. (LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA, ROEL T. AMAZONA with reports from JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY-Unidentified gunmen onboard a gray color Ford Ranger Wildcard vehicle shot dead the municipal administrator of San Isidro town, Leyte, on Wednesday (May 8).
Based on a police report, Levi Mabini, 42, was on board of his motorcycle with a companion when the assailants open fired upon them several times when they reached a gas station at Barangay Capiñahan.
Mabini sustained multiple gunshot wounds on the different parts of his body which resulted to his instant death while his companion managed to escape.
The gunmen hit the victim’s companion Joseph Misa, 26, and another 19-year old bystander who were immediately brought to a hospital.
Police recovered four pieces empty shell M16, one piece empty shell 9mm, one unfired ammunition of Caliber 45 at the crime scene.
Personnel from San Isidro Municipal Police Station are conducting hot pursuit operation against the suspects.
(RONALD O. REYES)

Tingog party-list commits itself to taking on the mission of enabling and empowering families and communities who were devastated by the 2013 Super Typhoon Yolanda to get back on its feet.
The party-list which is based in Eastern Visayas is “inspired by the challenge of building back a better region,” said Tingog Second Nominee Jude Acidre.
Located at the at very heart of the Philippines, with the islands of Samar and Leyte serving as island bridges between the country’s northern island of Luzon and the southern region of Mindanao, Eastern Visayas is one of the most ecologically diverse regions of the country, the three islands of Samar, Leyte, and Biliran are blessed with land, mineral, energy, and marine resources, making it favorable for agricultural, fishery, and industrial potentials.
“Our geothermal resources have also been tapped, producing electricity for the national power grid. Our coconut, abaca, and other agricultural produce have contributed toward increasing the national economic supply,” Acidre said.
When Yolanda struck on November 8, 2013, the world’s strongest typhoon in recorded human history flattened parts of Eastern Visayas, leaving behind a trail of devastation that has tragically resulted in the loss of lives, livelihood, and property.
“But even as we rise from the typhoon, our region continues to be caught up in the vicious cycle of poverty. With the worsening economic conditions in the region, especially in the aftermath of the record-breaking disaster, Eastern Visayas has become the poorest in the country,” recalled Acidre.
Even before Yolanda struck, the incidence of poverty has already been on declining trend while the nation’s overall economic situation has been improving on the average, poverty in the region worsened from 2006 to 2012, he added.
“In 2014, poverty incidence was at 54.9 percent; more than half of the region’s population of 4.10 million live below the poverty line and unable to earn the minimum amount necessary to address their basic needs. The recent typhoon has aggravated this already deplorable situation, with the poor becoming desperately poorer,” said the Tingog nominee who also headed post-Yolanda humanitarian assistance in the region.
According to Acidre, the creation of Tingog as a regional political party, “seeks to articulate the principles, hopes, and aspirations of the people of Eastern Visayas in their common pursuit towards transformational politics, genuinely shared governance and the full development of the country’s social, geographic and economic peripheries.”
“Our core advocacies are rightly encapsulated in our party motto: change, hope, and progress,” he said.
“As the name of our party suggests, Tingog, a Visayan term for ‘voice’, amplify their often unheard aspirations of the people of Eastern Visayas for inclusive progress and sustainable change. Going beyond the task of rebuilding those communities damaged by typhoon Yolanda, Tingog is geared towards engaging and empowering the people themselves to work together rebuilding better communities,” added Acidre, former youth leader, community volunteer and political consultant from Barugo, Leyte.
In this greater vision of rebuilding a better Eastern Visayas, Acidre said that Tingog intends to focus on the social, economic, policy and governance development of the region: Social development, which focuses on improving the social condition of affected communities through the provision of basic social services particularly in education, healthcare and housing; Economic development which aims to increase productivity by providing livelihood programs and supporting economic recovery from the loss and damage caused by the disaster and other mitigating conditions.
Also, policy development which involves engaging with public policy stakeholders in order to push for policy interventions that would not only ensure the effective management of rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts, but also strengthen the capability and capacity of the government to mitigate the effects of such disasters in the future; and Governance development aims to mainstream good governance into disaster management and strengthen the capacity and capability of public sector stakeholders, especially local governments affected by the disaster in the implementation of rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts
To do this, Acidre said that Tingog is committed to “establish, promote, foster and preserve the political, legal, social and economic foundations of a truly just, free and democratic Filipino society through this three-point approach, namely transformational politics, shared governance, and development of the peripheries that embraces everyone and leaves no Filipino behind.”
Founded in October 2012 as Tingog Leytehon, a provincial political party based Leyte, Tingog was officially accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as a party-list organization through a Resolution promulgated in August 2015 and is qualified to run under the party-list elections beginning with the May 2016 national and local elections
Currently, Tingog is being led by young, dynamic, and competent community leaders from Eastern Visayas, figures who have already made significant individual and professional accomplishments and have now bonded together with a new vision of political leadership, seeking to contribute their collective skills for the development of the region.
Tingog is led by Leyte First District Representative Yedda Marie K. Romualdez, a registered nurse from Tacloban City, as first nominee; Jaime “Boy” Go, entrepreneur and community volunteer from Javier, Leyte, as third nominee; Alexis V. Yu, pharmacist and community leader from Basey, Samar, as fourth nominee; and Jennifer C. Padual, community leader and human resource management professional from Guiuan, Eastern Samar, as fifth nominee.