CATBALOGAN CITY-Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan pictured her city as one of the fastest booming cities in the region, if not in the country, as she delivered her fifth State of the City Address (Soca) on Tuesday (July 3).
Uy-Tan, in her more than an hour Soca held at the provincial gymnasium, said that Catbalogan City is now attracting investors which could spur its economic development and provide employment generation for its people.
In particular, the city mayor cited her ambitious Sky City Mega Project which she envisions as a new commercial area.
“It’s an ambitious project but will have a long impact to the city and its people,” Uy-Tan said in an interview.
She disclosed that the 40-hectare Sky City Mega Project, located in four contiguous villages just outside the city proper, has already attracted several investors.
One of them is the proposed Oriental Samar Hotel with the construction expected to start anytime this year.
Uy-Tan also said that the management of the SM has also signified their plan to put up their ‘full shopping mall in the area.’
It is in the area that a new city hall, occupying 1.6 hectares, will also be constructed along with different government line offices.
Residential spaces will also be available in the sprawling area, the city mayor said.
And right at the heart of the city proper, a modern four-storey market is also to rise to be constructed by the Primark Town Center.
The coming of investors to Catbalogan City, the provincial capital of Samar province, is an indication that it is now one of the fastest emerging city in the region, if not in the country, Mayor Uy-Tan said.
The investors will not only spur economic growth of the city but more importantly, provide employment to the locals, she added.
Providing jobs to her people is one of the priority programs of her administration why they have tied up with other government agencies and private companies in conducting jobs fairs, Mayor Uy-Tan said.
She disclosed that last year, for example, 2,200 people were able to find jobs because of the jobs fairs her administration has initiated.
In 2017, 1,537 establishments are operating across the city providing employment to the residents of the city, providing more than P67 million to local revenue.
Mayor Uy-Tan also said that she is pushing for the city to become a tourist hub in the region as she reported in her Soca that tourist arrivals in the city is increasing.
Last year, 95,000 tourists visited Catbalogan, which was higher compare to the more than 81,000 guests in 2016.
The operation of its Buri Airport is an addition factor why its tourism industry is slowly booming, Uy-Tan said.
Mayor Uy-Tan also said that her administration is also addressing the poor infrastructure of the city as well as its drainage problem, ensuring quality education particularly among its public schools and providing quality health services among its poor people. (JOEY A. GABIETA)

After Mindanao assignment

CALBAYOG CITY- After almost two years of deployment in Mindanao, members of the 63rd Infantry Battalion have returned home as officials and their loved ones joyously waited at them as they disembarked in a Philippine Air Force plane Thursday (July 5) morning at this city’s airport.
The soldiers, led by their commanding officer Lt.Col.Rizaldo Laurena, were assigned in Jolo, Sulu on August 31,2016 to help fight members of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group and in 2017, were deployed to Marawi City to neutralize another terror group, the Maute Group.
About eight soldiers of the 63rd IB were killed and 30 were wounded during their assignment in Mindanao.
On Thursday morning, 50 personnel of the 63rd IB, four of them officers, arrived home with the remaining of more than 100 soldiers expected to come home soon.
The weary but excited soldiers were welcomed by B/ General Eliezer Losañes, deputy commanding officer of the 8th Infantry Division, and Calbayog City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino.
Their loved ones were also around to welcome the soldiers.
Sonia Cabrera, a cousin of one of the soldiers, was delighted that her cousin has returned safely.
“I am happy that my cousin is now here, he is back and safe,” Cabrera said.
Other family members of the soldiers were delighted and happy upon seeing their loved ones.
In his message, Mayor Aquino expressed his appreciation to the soldiers for their heroic act in Mindanao.
“We welcome you back home, saluting you in making our country a peaceful place to live,” the city mayor said.
He also acknowledged the returning soldiers of their contribution in the stability of Mindanao and their effort in the fast recovery of Marawi City.
“We hope that you will continue to be the vanguards of democracy that we are enjoying and will continue to serve our people,” Aquino further said.
Meanwhile, BGen Losañes said that the soldiers had shown how to be heroes with their sacrifices while in Mindanao.
“The sacrifices made by Filipino soldiers is not observed by public but it does not serve as a hindrance for you to offer yourself for the country,” he said, adding said that the people in Mindanao will forever be grateful to the members of the 63rd IB for what they did to attain peace in their area.
Losañes said that the arrival of the 63rd IB soldiers are timely as government troops in the region continue to press on their campaign against members of the New Peoples’ Army.
“As the focus of the campaign plan shifts to this region, your service will have an important role in this quest,” he said.
The soldiers, whose original base is in Las Navas, Northern Samar, were deployed to the headquarters of the 43rd IB in San Jorge, Samar. (JENNIFER SUMAGANG-ALLEGADO)

TACLOBAN CITY- The Community of Yolanda Survivors and Partners (CYSP), an alliance of 163 devastated communities and 10 non-governmental organizations, has pushed for the adaption of a ‘People’s Plan’ in the communities affected by the onslaught of super typhoon ’Yolanda’ as an alternative to the government program.
“The housing program, it appears, is not designed for the betterment of lives. It was, and remains to be, all for compliance and accomplishment,” said the group as they worked on the People’s Plan which, according to them, has a similar concept to that of a community mortgage program (CMP) or a housing cooperative.
“They want a collective business, from a mini-grocery to a botika ng barangay to a patahian ng uniform. What marvel ideas come up, if only they had been given that chance prior to the oppressive NHA units,” said Katarungan-Eastern Visayas, a member organization of CYSP, in a statement.
In Barangay 6 in Giporlos, Eastern Samar alone, the group said that Yolanda survivors are “making a go of their People’s Plan.”
“When the concept of the onsite development was explored, their membership rose from 54 to 124, further evidence that it is the distance and accessibility to their sources of livelihood that is the determining factor in their choice of location for a relocation site. People’s Plan, we said, is a venue for their voices to finally be held,” the group said.
“In the first draft, we had 13 barangays in Lawaan, Balangiga, and Giporlos in Eastern Samar. We’re working on the second draft because we have already reached 15 barangays to include those in Gen. Mac Arthur, Eastern Samar. Once it is finished, we’re targeting a July submission,” Rina Reyes, project coordinator of land rights group Rights Network and leader of CYSP.
“We’re hoping to submit the People’s Plan to Usec. Avisado, Rep. Alfredo Benitez, who heads the committee on housing of the House of Representatives, local government units, Department of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Reform, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and Inter-Agency Task Force Yolanda,” Reyes said in an interview.
“Moving to a distant location would post more burden on them. They said the price increase, exacerbated by the TRAIN Law, on gasoline and kerosene were between P12-15. This also affected price increases in other commodities, and they said rice is the highest today at P48-50 per kilo. These rising prices, additional costs, when relocated to the poorly built NHA housing units and difficulty in accessing their source of livelihood are too much of a social cost for these Yolanda Victims,” she added.
The CYSP has remained at the forefront in demanding the results of the series of provincial grassroots consultation and the promised post evaluation activity from the office of Usec. Wendel Avisado, the oversight official of Yolanda rehabilitation projects tasked by President Rodrigo Duterte.
From March to April 2018, Avisado led at least nine grassroots consultations in five Yolanda affected provinces in Region 8. (RONALD O. REYES)

MAASIN CITY-President Rodrigo Duterte pointed out on the need for connectivity, especially in relation to the transportation industry, so the province can move on the path to economic growth.
“Connectivity is what is important now. You have all factors to make it really big, the problem is on connectivity,” the President said in front of a sell-out crowd organizers estimated to be more than 10,000, who occupied virtually the entire stretch of the capitol’s Sunken Garden here Monday(July 2).
The President came here as the main guest of honor in celebration of the 58th founding anniversary of the province but his presence was also seen as a sort of a homecoming, to the land of his birth, as country’s top leader.
He arrived three hours off the original schedule yet was truly received with warmth and rejoicing by his fellow Southern Leytenhons, led by Rep. Roger Mercado, Gov. Christopherson Yap, and City Mayor Nacional Mercado.
Among the Cabinet officials travelling with the President were spokesperson Harry Roque, who held a press conference ahead of the presidential visit, Francis Tolentino, political affairs secretary, Christopher’Bong’ Go, special assistant to the President, Mike Dino, presidential assistant for the Visayas, and Arthur Tugade, transportation secretary.
Duterte personally asked Tugade onstage on what else was needed, and how much time is required, for the Maasin Airport at Barangay Panan-awan to be fully functional, in which the answer given was two years.
“Connectivity is needed so people can come here,” the President said, adding that shipping ports anywhere around the province must also be improved in addition to the full-scale development of the Maasin Airport.
Earlier in the day, Secretary Tugade and top officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) inaugurated the new passenger terminal building at the airport.
Tugade was quoted by reporters covering the event as saying that among the work priorities was to extend the airport’s runway from 1.3 kilometers to 1.8 kilometers, in order to accommodate commercial airlines.
Gov. Yap, in his welcome remarks, expressed his gratitude for having served the government at a time when the nation’s highest leader was a native Southern Leyteño, and was a guest in the province’s founding celebration.
“Welcome home, Mr. President,” Gov. Yap declared.
Lone district representative Roger Mercado likewise felt proud of the President’s presence, saying the province’s 58th anniversary was made even more memorable with him around. (mmp/PIA8-Southern Leyte)

MAASIN CITY – Southern Leyte Governor Christopherson Yap said that he had asked President Rodrigo Duterte that a ‘Malasakit Center’ be put up in his province.
A Malasakit Center is a one-stop shop to provide assistance to poor patients, in particular, from various government agencies like the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Department of Health.
The first Malasakit Center in the region was established at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center with Special Assistant to the President Sec. Christopher Lawrence ‘Bong’ Go and presidential spouse Honeylet Avanceña leading the inauguration on May 22.
“For people who have nothing, the Malasakit Center can really help them a lot if they seek for medical assistance,” Gov. Yap.
“Before we can position our self as economically viable to any market, we have also to take care of our human resources,” he added.
Gov. Yap said that he made his request during his audience with Pres. Duterte during his visit to the province on July 2, coinciding with the 58th founding anniversary of the province.
According to Yap, the President would discuss the matter with Health Sec. Francisco Duque III and Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, Michael Lloyd Dino.
The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas is the lead agency behind the Malasakit Center and funded by the socio-civic funds of the Office of the President.
Gov. Yap said that the location of the Malasakit Center in Tacloban is very far from their province which is about four hours travel from the capital city of Maasin and more than five hours travel from San Ricardo, the farthest town.
If their request is granted, the Malasakit Center will be established at the Southern Leyte Provincial Hospital located in Maasin City.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY – Carlos Cabrales Awa-ao, Jr., 57 and Gina Lacbayen Lectojas, 48 both considers July 5, 2018, as the most memorable date in their companionship.
After several years of living together, the two were solemnized as a legal couple through Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez’s Mass Wedding Program – a regular program of the City Government through the City Civil Registrar’s Office (CCRO).
Mayor Romualdez solemnized the union of 54 couples from 18 barangays in the presence of Philippine Statistics Authority-8 Director Wilma A. Perante and CCRO chief Imelda Roa at the Tacloban City Training Center on Thursday, July 5.
The chief executive reminded the couples to remain steadfast in their relationships as this is not only a covenant among themselves but also with God.
The couples came from Barangays 3 Upper Nula-Tula, 5-A, 23-A Avenida Veteranos, 37-A Palanog, 39 Calvary, 44 Quarry, 62-B Sagkahan, 68 Anibong, 69 Anibong, 78 Marasbaras, 89 San Jose, 91 Abucay, 94 Tigbao, 97 Cabalawan, 100 San Roque, 105 San Isidro, 106 Sto. Nino North Hill Arbours, 110 and the Mission of Charity.
The application for marriage and the marriage license fees were waived for the beneficiaries of the ‘Kasalan ng Bayan’ Program, and a wedding reception was sponsored in their honor by the city government.
Before the wedding ceremony, the couples attended a marriage orientation activity and a health and wellness talk spearheaded by the City Population Office and the Special Health Program Unit of the city.
Meanwhile, Director Perante lauded the initiative of the city government to provide free marriage services to indigent Taclobanons, she said that the program will help minimize the number of illegitimate children and establish a strong foundation of couple and family life. (HENRY JAMES ROCA/CIO)