TACLOBAN CITY-Indescribable feelings.
That’s how the parish priest of Balangiga in Eastern Samar feels with the return of the bells taken from the town’s Church belfry 117 years by the American soldiers to their town.
Fr. Serafin Tybaco, Jr., parish priest of the San Lorenzo Martir, said that whatever he feels right now is sure how the people of Balangiga, more than 98 kms away from this city, feels.
“It’s really overwhelming and indescribable feelings that finally the long wait is over,” Tybaco, reach on his mobile phone, said.
On Wednesday (Thursday in the Philippines), US Defense Sec. James Mattis led in the send-off ceremony, dubbed as ‘Veteran Remembrance Event,’ of the two bells at the FE Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. Also present was Wyoming Governor Matthew Head.
The Philippine delegation was led by Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez.
Tybaco said that while he is not a native of Balangiga, he shares the strong emotions now being felt by the locals on the return of the historic bells.
“They have waited for the return of the bells for so long, for 117 years now and no living resident of the town has perhaps seen the (real bells)except in Facebook or pictures,” Tybaco, who is a native of Taft, Eastern Samar, said.
“So everybody is eager to see the bells,” he added.
Tybaco, as parish priest of the town for four years now, played an active role for the call in returning the bells taken by the American forces on September 28,1901.
He could not give details as to plans once the bells would be repatriated back to Balangiga saying meetings are still on going.
The parish priest, however, said that the bells would be placed at the Church grounds for a public viewing.
Rolando Borrinaga, a local historian and member of the also a member of the Committee on Historical Research of National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), said that the Balangiga Bells would be returned to the country by ‘mid-December’ of this year.
“The target date is still mid-December but there might be some delay because of the holidays in the US and some other contingent factors,” Borrinaga said.
The bells were used by the Filipino resistance fighters to signal their attack against the American forces assigned in Balangiga town.
At least 54 American soldiers were killed and 18 others were wounded in the attack.
An outraged Gen. Jacob Smith deployed 180 soldiers on Sept.29,1901 and ordered them to turn the town into a ‘howling wilderness’ where every Filipino male, at least 11 years old and capable of carrying firearms, was killed while communities were burned down.
The American soldiers took the bells as their war trophies.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
Balangiga parish priest says return of bells gives them ‘indescribable feelings’
Leyte town eco-park aim to become a tourist draw,model for environment preservation
ORMOC CITY- The town of Tabango in Leyte has not just put up a landfill where wastes are to be dumped turned it into an ecological (eco) park to make it more productive.
In 2016, the local government has put up a landfill in Barangay Manlawan, seven kms away from the town proper, where wastes are to be deposited and processed in compliance to Republic Act 9003, otherwise known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
The municipal government, under Mayor Bernard Jonathan Remandaban, packaged the area, all of three hectares, not just a mere dumpsite but into an eco-park where tourists could visit or as a venue for sports competitions.
“Who would come here if this will just a dumping site. Brgy. Manlawaan, where the eco-park is located, is the most populated barangay in Tabango. At first, the villagers were against the idea of having this landfill here. After I presented them the whole idea, they approved it and they were happy even for the initial turnout,” the town mayor of Tabango, 50 kms away from Ormoc City, said.
Since the entire area is generally mountainous and steep, it was landscaped by putting ornamental plants and as a way to avoid soil erosion or landslide.
Remandaban said that they are planning to put up a restaurant in the area, to be operated by an accredited civil society organization, a 16-room hotel equipped with a clinic, souvenir shop and a spa.
The construction of the planned hotel will be funded by the local government unit, the town mayor said.
A zipline and a sky bike, in addition to the currently operational wall climbing, will also be put up inside the eco-park.
And to make the eco-park ‘more lively,’ sports events are to be staged there, Remandaban said.
Early this month, it served as a venue for bicycle endurance competition participated by foreign competitors.
“My travel to other countries with my wife, former Mayor Maricor, gave us the idea of having this in our town and maximize the rich resources that we have which is the nature. At the same, it is our way of raising advocacy in preserving the environment and reduce its abuses”, he added.
(ELVIE ROMAN ROA)
CHR, group dismay on unresolved murder of a noted botanist
The gruesome incident took place 8 years ago
TACLOBAN CITY- Justice remain elusive to the family of noted botanist Dr. Leonardo Co who was killed while doing a research work inside the complex of the Energy Development Corp.(EDC) in Kananga, Leyte eight years ago.
Co was killed on November 15,2010 in Barangay Lim-ao, Kananga, which is within the EDC complex, together with forest guard Sofronio Cortez and another companion, Julius Borromeo.
In 2013, a case of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and attempted homicide was filed against members of the 19th Infantry Battalion, based in Kananga by a panel of prosecutors of the Department of Justice.
However, the family of the late botanist, through their lawyer Edmund Lao, filed a motion seeking to upgrade the case into murder.
Lawyer Alexander Abinguna of the Katungod-Sinirangan Bisayas, a local human rights group, said that they are disappointed that it’s been eight years now since the murder of Co took place and the perpetrators remain scot-free.
“Our call is still the same: those who killed Dr. Co should be held accountable. To us, the delay in the decision of the case could be deliberate considering those involved (in the killing incident) are members of the state forces. They thought that delaying the decision of the case could result for the public to forget on the case,” Abinguna said.
Abinguna said that they remain positive that the soldiers involved in the case would be found guilty, citing the case of retired military general, Jovito Palparan who was meted with jail time after a court finds him guilty of kidnapping and serious illegal detention.
Palparan, incidentally, served as Eastern Visayas top military official for eight months in 2005 which was marked with alleged human rights violations.
Lawyer Desiree Pontejos, regional director of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), also said that they are also dismayed on the slow pace on the case of Co and his companions.
“We are monitoring the (progress of the) case. We are also disappointed that up to now, there is no resolution on the murder of Co,” Pontejos said.
The respondents of the case were members of the 19th IB led by Lt. Ronald Ochimar.
Ochimar, in previous interview, said that on that fateful day, they were conducting their operations against members of the New People’s Army.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
NFA-Eastern Visayas sets ultimatum for rice SRP compliance
TACLOBAN CITY — Rice traders in Eastern Visayas are given until next week to fully comply with the suggested retail prices (SRP) for the staple, an official of the National Food Authority (NFA) said on Tuesday.
NFA-Eastern Visayas assistant regional manager Raymond Tafalla admitted that some traders defy the new SRP since they still have old stocks of rice bought at higher prices.
“The maximum is two weeks after the launch in Ormoc City last November 9. We don’t want to hear this excuse of old stocks again. We have deployed our staff to conduct an inventory of existing stocks in private warehouses,” Tafalla told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in a mobile phone interview.
The central government on Friday began enforcing the SRP for rice in cities and provinces nationwide. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol led the provincial launch in Ormoc City.
In consultation with rice industry stakeholders, the following SRP were set: regular milled rice (local), P39 per kg.; well-milled rice (local), P44 per kg.; premium rice (local), P47 per kg.; well-milled rice (imported), P39 per kg.; and premium rice (imported), P43 per kg.
To raise awareness on the SRP for rice, the NFA regional office will launch the program in six provinces of the region. The first is on Wednesday in Northern Samar.
Starting Nov. 23, the NFA regional will impose sanctions against traders and retailers not complying with the SRP set for both local and imported rice sold in the market.
Sanctions include a written warning on the first offense and for succeeding offenses, the violators could suffer penalties of a jail term of between four months and four years and a penalty of between PHP2,000 and PHP1 million. The NFA will also cancel their licenses to engage in rice trading and retailing.
NFA Acting Administrator Tomas Escarez warned that starting next week, NFA officials who will fail to enforce the SRP for rice in their respective areas will be relieved immediately and placed on floating status.
“NFA provincial managers who will fail to implement the SRPs will be subject to a one-strike policy while regional directors will similarly be subjected to administrative sanctions, including relief from their posts,” Escarez said in his speech in during the SRP launch in Ormoc City.
The central government came up with SRP for rice as the prices of the staple surged to record high this year.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)
Dengue fever downed 1,073 people in N.Samar
Highest in three years with 6 deaths
TACLOBAN CITY- Dengue fever cases in Northern Samar has claimed the lives of six children with more than 1,000 others falling ill due to the said mosquito-bites ailment.
The 1,073 cases of dengue fever covering from the months of January to November 13 of this year is the highest of the province for the past three years, Jessica Tepace, provincial dengue coordinator, said in a mobile phone interview.
Tepace said that the 1,073 dengue fever cases of the province is its highest since 2015 wherein 635 people were downed due to dengue fever.
In 2017, there were only 529 dengue fever cases with a single death.
The municipal government of Mondragon town has placed the entire town under a state of health emergency last October, Tepace said.
She said that almost all of its 24 barangays have dengue fever cases with the villages of Bugko and Cahicsan having the most number with combined 44 cases.
A one year-old boy from the village of Eco of said town died this week due to the mosquito-bite ailment, Tepace said, without giving details on the circumstances of the case.
Fatalities, whose age ranged from four years old up to 9 years old, due to dengue fever also occurred in the towns of Catarman, the provincial capital, with two deaths with the towns of Biri, Gamay, and San Isidro with one death each.
Tepace said that they expect more cases of dengue fever before the year ends as the province continues to experience rainy season.
“The increase of the dengue fever cases in the province is due to stagnant waters caused by the rains that we have experienced since the start of the year,” she said.
“That is why we are encouraging the public to clean their surroundings particularly those areas where there are stagnant waters which mostly serve as the breeding ground of dengue-causing mosquitoes,” Tepace said.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
Tacloban City gets child-friendly seal
TACLOBAN CITY – The highly urbanized City of Tacloban under the leadership of Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez was conferred on Wednesday, November 14, the ‘2017 Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance’ (SCFLG) award, during the regional awarding ceremony held at Hotel Lorenza, this City.
Conferred by the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) chaired by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and its partner agency the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the award was received by Executive Assistant Atty. Marie Ronette Salve Barreda.
The award is based on the results of the mandatory Child-Friendly Local Governance Audit (CFLGA) conducted in the different local government units (LGUs) in Region 8, which is designed to enhance the delivery of social services for children. The program audit consists of 12-point indicators that assess the overall performance of LGUs.
LGUs were assessed using the following indicators: a reduction in deaths among under five-year-old children; reduction in children under six years old with below normal weights; percentage increase in daycare/early learning center attendance (public and private); and completion rate for elementary schooling (public and private).
The absence or reduction of child labor or percentage reduction in child labor cases; percentage reduction in the number of children who are victims of violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation, and trafficking were also considered during the program audit.
Under Mayor Romualdez, the city government has initiated child-friendly policy and programs that focus on health, nutrition, education, and social protection.
One of the noteworthy programs of the city government benefiting children is the supplementary feeding program which benefits day care pupils from the 71 day care centers around the city.
Lasting a cycle of 120 days, it is being implemented by the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) and is considered to be instrumental in the drop of malnutrition prevalence in the city.
The local government unit (LGU) also maintains a center for abused children (along with a Center for Abused Women) – the only facility of its kind in Region 8 managed by an LGU, which offers psychosocial support and a temporary sanctuary for neglected and maltreated children.
In city barangays, child-friendly desks were also instituted to render protection services to children, while the City Health Office maintains a network of health centers which puts a premium on child healthcare.
Last year, Tacloban was hailed as a finalist of the Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities for its outstanding performance in the implementation of child-friendly programs. (HENRY JAMES ROCA with a report from D. ABARQUEZ/CIO)