CALBAYOG CITY-Farm-to-market roads (FMRs) constructed from the fund allotted by the Department of Agriculture paved the way for the concreting of FMR in Barangays Imelda through Bana-o to Avelino located in the municipality of Sta. Margarita, Samar with a total allocation of P50 million.
A concreted road which spans 900 meters is constructed on most part of Brgy. Imelda. The rest is an opening with a length of 1.780 kilometers. With a width of 5.3 meters, a riprap was also infused in the project to avoid collapse of structure and protect soil from erosion since the structure is located in the mountains.
Copra, rice, banana, corn and other root crops such as taro, cassava and sweet potato are products that are usually being delivered to the local markets in Calbayog City from the said barangays.
Residents and farmers alike, who are living in Brgys. Imelda, Bana-o and Avelino would have to walk for 3-4 hours on foot on a footpath to reach Brgy. Napuro and from there, they will need to ride a motor vehicle to reach the city proper for another 30 minutes.
Income is strenuous for farmers since they need to bribe someone depending on the product that they are selling aside from the fare that they pay for the motor vehicle from Napuro to the city proper.
A resident and farmer of Brgy. Bana-ao, DayDay Tolibat have these to say:“Amon la ginkakarga amon produkto pareho san saging o kopra sa amon kalugaringon na lawas tapos mano-mano la ngadto sa dalan tapos pag abot namon sa Napuro, ginsasakay na namon ngadto sa Calbayog. Tikang sa Bana-o maglalakat kami sa Napuro tapos sa Napuro karga na namon tikadto sa Calbayog na. Naglalakat kami danay upat ka oras, naabot lima, danay tulo liwat depende la san imo kalakat ngadto. Wara pa dida an tikang sa Napuro tikadto sa Calbayog. (We carry our own products in our backs like bananas or copra and trudge the footpath to Barangay Napuro, then we load it on a motor vehicle that passes the said barangay to the city proper. We walk for four hours, sometimes five or three depending on our pace, excluding the time-travel from Barangay Napuro to the city proper.)
A resident and barangay chairman of Imelda attested saying, “mahirap talaga noon na hindi pa kalsada ang aming barangay dahil sa mga produkto na lang na aming dinadala papunta sa car line dahil upland itong aming lugar, mahirap talaga. Kung mayroon kaming produktong copra na dinadala namin sa Napuro, galing dito, ang pagdala, binubuhat lang ng tao at yan ay kada sako binigbyan ng suhol ng seven pesos kada kilo o five pesos depende sa presyo ng kopra. Kaya sobrang hirap na wala pang kalsada noon”. (When the road is non-existent, it is so hard for us to deliver our goods to where motor vehicles are available because we come from an upland. If we have products to send to the market, we need to go walk on foot and load it on a make-shift basket carried at the back to Barangay Napuro and bribe them with seven or five pesos per kilo depending on the price of copra. That is why it is hard when there is no road.)
With the completion of this farm-to-market road, farmers’ income is much better since travel of their goods are directly delivered to the public markets. Travel time was reduced from 15-10 minutes to Barangay Napuro where they can get hold of vehicles to Calbayog City.
Farmers won’t have to bribe just to get their products to the local markets since public transportations can now reach their barangays because of the completed roads.
Furthermore, health issues such as problems in carrying their sick or those who are pregnant, can now be transported to the nearest hospitals immediately unlike before that that they have to carry them and travel on foot for hours.
“Pag-abot naman san mga may sakit amon la iton ginkakarga ngadto kay wara man natukad ngadi sa amon nga ma check-up. Tapos kun may mga burod, nanganganak, amon iton gnbababa liwat, lakat na liwat. Pag abot sa Napuro mao na masakay ngadto sa Calbayog.Pero yana madali na kay didi na la masakay deretso na an byahe kay may ada na man sarakyan”, said Mr Tolibat. (when it comes to those who are sick and pregnant, we carry them in our backs since no one can come here for check-ups. But now, it is easier since any vehicle can now reach our place.)
In the communities where the primary source of livelihood is farming, the concrete road is a welcome respite from the inconvenience of travelling to the Poblacion and back, and able to get their produce to the market cheaper and faster.
Farmers have better opportunities ahead of them now. Basic infrastructure paves the way for a future that holds an abundance of promise, heightened productivity and accessibility.(GISSELLE G. PARUNGAO,PIO-Designate)
A closer look of farm-to-market road in Barangays Imelda to Avelino
PESO records 227 employees from Tacloban City lose jobs due to COVID-19 pandemic
Actual number could be in ‘thousands’
TACLOBAN CITY- At least 227 workers from this city have lost their jobs after the business establishments they were working either shut down or downsize their number of workers due to the coronavirus disease(COVID-19) pandemic.
However, this number could reach to ‘thousands’ as there were establishments which did not report on the retrenchment of their workers, Katherine Peliño of the Public Employment Service Office(PESO) of the city government said.
She also said that the 227 retrenched workers only covered from their July to August survey involving only 43 establishments across the city.
Peliño said that since August, their office stopped visiting around business establishments due to the rising COVID-19 of the city.
“While on record we have only 227 number of workers who lost their jobs during this time of pandemic, we can say the number could be higher, even in thousands as our survey only covered the July to August period,” she said.
She cited that based on their survey for those who were rendered unemployed during this time of pandemic in the different barangays of the city, 570 individuals were identified to have lost their jobs.
And only 12 barangays out of the city’s 138 responded on their survey. Also, the survey, which started last July 15, was temporarily suspended due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases of the city.
City Mayor Alfred Romualdez said that there could be ‘thousands’ of workers from the city who lost their jobs during the quarantine period as there were business establishments have stopped their operations or chose to continue to operate but at the same time, cut down the number of their workers as the local economy was severely hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Peliño said that their office tries to help these unemployed people through referral system saying there were still establishments despite of the current health problem which looked for workers.
“But those retrenched during this COVID-19 pandemic were given assurance by their employers that they would be rehired once everything return to normal,” she said.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
Tacloban’s public schools disinfected as part of anti-COVID measure
TACLOBAN CITY- The city schools division here expressed its gratitude to the city government under Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez thru the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRMO) for granting their request to disinfect all 64 public elementary and secondary schools under the division.
CDRRMO Head Ildebrando Bernadas has instructed the disinfection team to go through all these 64 schools as per the schedule given by the city schools division, which started on August 10 and ended on November 11, 2020.
The disinfection operation of all schools is relative to Division Memorandum No. 235, s. 2020 entitled “Conduct of 2020 Brigada,” and to undertake necessary safety measures relative to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The City Division, thru the Social Mobilization and Networking Unit (SocMob), and the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) units, in partnership with the CDRRMO, made this endeavor a success.
“It greatly helped our schools in combating the threat of coronavirus, and ensured the safety of our teachers, non-teaching personnel, parents, and stakeholders during this pandemic,” says Crisvill M. Villamor, division DRRM officer. (TACLOBAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)
DOH renews appeal against mass gatherings
With surging of COVID-19 cases
TACLOBAN CITY-The Department of Health (DOH) renewed its appeal for the public to avoid mass gatherings as it noted continued increase of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the region.
As of Thursday, 72 new COVID-1 cases were added to the region’s cases, raising its total cases to 8,089.
Of the 72 new cases of the region, 38 were from Leyte; 15 from Samar; 10 from Northern Samar; and nine from Eastern Samar.
The DOH, in particular, cited the increasing COVID-19 cases in the provinces of Northern Samar and Eastern Samar.
Mass gathering of people, to include family gathering involving more than 10 people, were cited by the DOH as the most common reason why there is now a surge of COVID-19 cases on these two Samar provinces.
Dr. Exuperia Sabalberino, officer-in-charge of the DOH-8, said that mass gathering of people is considered to be a ‘super spreader’ of COVID-19 which makes the transmission of the dreaded virus faster.
“So, we appeal to our people to avoid any mass gatherings or other high-risk gatherings. Please avoid going to) parties during this time,” she said during a virtual press conference Wednesday.
She noted that even in areas that are under lockdown, COVID-19 cases remain to be high as gatherings among families continue.
Sabalberino also renewed their call for the public to follow the standard health protocols.
“If you are asked to go on quarantine, please quarantine yourself because we are not only after you but we want to protect your family as well for them not to acquire the virus,” she said.
Local transmission has become the main source on the spread of COVID-19 cases in the region as reported by Sabalberino.
Out of the region’s current number of COVID-19 cases, local transmission as source of the virus accounts to 5,963.
Cops net illegal fishers in Northern Samar
TACLOBAN CITY- At least two persons were arrested for alleged illegal fishing in Laoang, Northern Samar last November 14, 2020.
Police identified the violators, aged 44 and 39, as residents of Barangay Talisay, Laoang.
The operating unit from Laoang Municipal Police Station, led by Staff Sergeant Argel Joseph Salva caught the two while in the act of engaging in illegal fishing activity using fine mesh net or ‘biyakus.’
Confiscated from their possession were one motorboat, one wooden boat, one set of fine mesh net measuring 10-meter-long, and five kilos of assorted catch, police said in the report.
The estimated market value of confiscated items was placed at P25,000.
The violators and confiscated fishing paraphernalia were brought to the police station for proper documentation.
(RONALD O. REYES)