TACLOBAN CITY- Tacloban City stands-out among all other implementers of “Yolanda” rehabilitation projects.
Thus said Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, Michael Dino in his inspirational message during the 5th commemorative anniversary program of super typhoon Yolanda on November 8, 2018.
Dino, who represented President Rodrigo Duterte, said that one of the best things notable in the city’s advancement after the super typhoon, is the modernization of the public transport system.
“For one, electronic jeepneys became visible and had started their operation in the city,” he said.
“Tacloban City is the first in the country to have a modern and advanced transport system with the implementation of the e-jeep through the initiative of the Department of Transportation or DOTr,” he further bared.
“With this, we were not only able to provide the routes, but also franchising was made open so that people in the resettlement areas would be served,” he added.
Dino continued that from the initial 45 units granted by the Department of Transportations, there are now more than a hundred e-jeepneys serving additional routes in Tacloban.
“This will give more income to operators and drivers as this kind of jeep needs lesser maintenance cost considering that they do not need gasoline or diesel,” Dino added.
According to him, aside from the economic benefit and the convenience the e-jeepneys provide, pollution is also reduced, thereby improving the health and living condition of the people.
Aside from the economic activities, the guest of honor also assured the Taclobanons about the Malasakit Center at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC), of which Dino echoed the President’s statement that this is a one-stop shop that would give financial benefits to the marginalized sector of the society.
He further said the center will take care of everything a sick person needs because the President is giving a monthly P10 million Malasakit fund to said center, as he wants a zero balance payment.
Finally, Dino disclosed that one of the biggest infrastructure spending from the national government is to the tune of P9.6 billion storm surge protection project, still as part of the Yolanda recovery program.
The project is more than 28-kilometer project that stretches from the shoreline of Barangay Diit, Tacloban to Palo and up to Tanauan, both in Leyte. This will provide protection from storm surges of up to 30,800 houses and buildings.
“With the Yolanda experience, we can better withstand life’s challenges and continue to recover swiftly not just from calamities, but also from the difficulties we encounter in our everyday lives. The experience made us stronger and tougher,” he stressed.
During his commemorative speech, the Malacañang official also recalled his major role in the rehabilitation efforts of the city particularly on the resettlement areas.
He recalled how he sought help of government organizations as well as international organizations whose help cannot be discounted in restoring then the electricity, water and transportation of about 4,000 Taclobanons who are now settled in government housing units.
With the government interventions pouring in, PA Dino said Tacloban is not only being rehabilitated but being open to modernization.
The Yolanda Commemorative event with the theme, “Paglaum” (hope), indeed depicted Taclobanons continued hope for the total recovery of the city and of their lives.
Meanwhile, in her welcome message, Mayor Cristina Romualdez recalled the sad memories and the hardships that the Taclobanons experienced during the biggest disaster in history as she acknowledged the generosity of the national and international institutions that contributed to the fast recovery of the city from the damages Yolanda has brought.
“We memorialize the loss, the grief and the hardship that we faced last November 8, 2013, and today we also honor the generosity of those who helped us recover, and most importantly, we celebrate the resilience of the survivors of the strongest typhoon,” Mayor Romualdez pointed out.
The commemorative program held November 8 at the Tacloban City Astrodome were witnessed by some government officials, representatives of both national and international organizations and Yolanda survivors, themselves who now are being called as resilient Taclobanons. (GTT/Leyte)

TACLOBAN CITY- The Inflation Rate (IR) of Eastern Visayas continued to increase at 6.9 percent in October 2018.
This IR is 0.4 percentage point higher compared with the 6.5 percent IR a month ago, and 3.6 percentage points higher than the recorded 3.3 percent IR in the same period last year.
The regional inflation rate was 0.2 percentage point higher than the 6.7 percent national average in October 2018.
Leyte and Southern Leyte posted the highest increase of 0.8 percentage point each.
Leyte registered 7.1 percent IR in October from 6.3 percent in September, while Southern Leyte recorded 4.0 percent IR in October from 3.2 percent in September.
Biliran recorded a 0.3 percentage point increase from 5.1 percent in September to 5.4 percent during the reference month.
On the other hand, 0.2 percentage point decrease in IR were noted in Northern Samar and Samar settling at 6.3 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively.
Eastern Samar registered a 0.1 percentage point decrease, from 8.9 percent in September to 8.8 percent in October.
It is still, however, the highest IR among the provinces during the reference period. Southern Leyte, meanwhile, posted the lowest at 4.0 percent.
Among the commodity groups, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels registered the highest increase of 2.2 percentage points. It was posted at 8.3 percent in October 2018 from 6.1 percent in September 2018.
This can be attributed to the huge increase in the index of electricity, gas and other fuels.
The transport index also registered an increase of 1.4 percentage points in
October 2018 (8.6 percent), from 7.2 percent in September 2018.
Contributing to the uptrend were the gains seen in the index of operation of personal transport equipment and transport services.
The heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages eased to 8.9 percent in October 2018 from its previous month’s rate of 9.2 percent, a decrease of 0.3 percentage point. This can be traced to slower price increases of fruits, fish, oils and fats, and vegetables.
Education further deflated to 16.4 percent in October 2018, recording a
0.2 percentage point decrease from the -16.2 percent a month ago, attributed to the decrease in the index for tertiary education.
The Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) of the region remained at P0.80 in
October 2018. This PPP implies that goods and services worth 100 pesos in October 2018 only costs 80 pesos in 2012. (PR)

CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, PALO, Leyte- A fire incident in one of the public elementary schools in Ormoc City gutted four classrooms and a house located just at the back of the school.
FO1 Ruby Fajardo of the Ormoc City Fire Office said that blaze affected the Cogon Central School at about 5:10 am on Friday which resulted for four of its classrooms to be burned down.
The blaze spread to a house located at the back of the said school. No one was injured due to the incident.
Fajardo said that the fire incident was contained at about 5:39 am with the cause of the incident has yet to be determine by the fire investigators as of press time.
The school, located about a kilometer away from the city proper, is one of the biggest elementary schools in Ormoc with 890 enrolled pupils and with 27 teachers.
Fajardo also said that the damage caused by the fire has yet to be determine. (PNP-8 with reports, JOEY A. GABIETA)

ST.BERNARD, Southern Leyte- An official of a multipurpose cooperative based this town has claimed that he was illegally ousted from his post.
Rogelio Gorne alleged that he was removed from his post as chairman of the board of directors of the Saint Bernard Multipurpose Cooperative (SBMPC) without following due process.
Gorne also said that he was barred from entering their office on November 6, purportedly upon the order of the management but insisted.
This resulted to a commotion which resulted for Gorne to get injured. Local policemen pacified the tense situation.
Vergil Saludo, officer-in-charge of SBMPC, said that they did not allowed Gorne to enter the office to avoid trouble.
Saludo explained that Gorne and the rest of the members of the board were ousted from their posts due to their unjust expenses and over expenditures.
He added that during their recently-held annual general assembly, Gorne and the other former directors were invited to explain their side on the issue but failed to do so.
During the said assembly, the cooperative members agreed to have an election for new set of board of directors of SBMPC reason why Gorne and the other former of the board were replaced.
But this act of the SBMPC official was not recognized by Gorne saying it was illegal.
Gorne believed that the issue of ousting them stirred when they filed a complaint against some delinquent members, four of them were elected as new board of director members during the annual assembly .
The ousted BOD chair sought a temporary restraining from the court as he prayed for the immediate resolution on the issue. (RONNIE ROA)

TACLOBAN CITY- A village official in Quinapondan, Eastern Samar was arrested by anti- drugs operatives led by the personnel from the regional office of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
Arrested was Ronilo Seberre,44, and councilor of Barangay Naga of said town, PDEA Regional Director Edgar Jubay said in a report to PDEA Director General Aaron N. Aquino.
Seberre was arrested in a buy-bust operation in Brgy. San Pedro, also of the said town, on November 11 at about 3:20 pm.
Seized from the suspect, considered as a high-value target, were three pieces of heat-sealed transparent plastic sachet containing white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu weighing about 0.14 gram with an estimated market value of P952.
Aside from PDEA personnel, joining the operation were members of the drug enforcement units of the Quinapondan police station and the Eastern Samar provincial office.
Seberre will be facing charges for violation of section 5 (sale of dangerous drugs) and section 11 (possession of dangerous drugs) under Article II of RA 9165 and is now temporarily detained at Quinapondan Municipal Police Station’s lock-up facility. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY-About 24 trainees from this province have graduated from the Rural Impact Sourcing Technical Training Project (RISTTP) on November 13.
Leyte Governor Petilla Leopoldo Dominico Petilla, in an interview with Leyte Samar Daily Express, said that the training was conducted by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in partnership with the provincial government of Leyte and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Petilla said that the project will be a big help to solve the unemployment problem and the economy of the province.
In fact, seven of those who graduated were hired before their graduation.
Engineer Jose Bagulaya, regional director for Regions 7 and 8 of the Department of Information and Communications (DICT), in a separate interview, said that their department is implementing the RISTTP intended to create meaningful ICT- enabled jobs in socio-economically disadvantaged areas in the country.
Bagulaya said that the training programs composed of 25 participants per batch include digital marketing/e-commerce, web development, social media marketing and advertising, search engine marketing and advertising, content writing, graphic design, and virtual assistance.
Bagulaya said that the RISTTP benefits disadvantaged individuals in the countryside.
He added that the program helps provide economic opportunities not only for the graduates but also for the people who will, directly and indirectly, benefit from this initiative.
“It looks beyond the common source of supply for traditional outsourcing to provide higher-income employment and access to new income opportunities to individuals that might not otherwise be employed in this sector,” Bagulaya said.
In 2017, DICT conducted the RISTTP in 26 locations across the country and produced 534 online Filipino workers.
Through the project, 381 websites were developed for micro, small and medium enterprises and were able to generate more than P10 million in revenue.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)