ABUYOG, Leyte—Leyte Division education officials and corrections officers of the Leyte Regional Prison on Saturday(June 23)expressed appreciation to the “package of surprises” by the Standard Chartered Bank to the 63 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) or inmates at the correctional facility this town.
“We really have to thank God every day for this program. As we continue to search for partners in the operation of our senior high school to the persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), we’re happy to have the support of the Standard Chartered Bank,” said Edgar Tenasas, the Leyte assistant schools division superintendent.
Tenasas, who first conceptualized on the offering of the program to the selected PDLs on June 4 after they graduated from the Alternative Learning System (ALS) program last April, thanked the employees of the Standard Chartered Bank led by Mai Sangalang, the Philippines head of Corporate Affairs/Brand and Marketing, for spending their time and money in support to the program.
Standard Chartered Bank employees donated and delivered personally school bags, shoes, socks, laptops, and computers for the 63 inmate-students of the first senior high school program.
Leyte Regional Prison Corrections Senior Superintendent Geraldo Aro also lauded the bank employees for their efforts, saying that the prison facility needs all the help from various sectors to fulfill their mandate in rehabilitating the PDLs.
“We started from scratch here. We’re always thankful of your help,” Aro said.
In his speech, he urged the inmate-learners to do their best in their studies for the benefit of their respective families and communities.
“If you’re serious with your studies here, it will have a multiplier effect. Your families will not be worried about your situation and you will become productive citizens upon your release,” he added.
Sangalang emphasized that their coming to the regional prison facility is a matter of “divine providence,” adding that it is just but right for them to arrive in the said place as it is part of their service to the community.
“We didn’t think twice about helping you. If there is one message that we would like to give you, it is the message of hope. Even though you’re here, don’t lose hope,” Sangalang told the PDLs while holding back her tears.
She also acknowledged the enthusiasm of the PDLs in their classes.
Meanwhile, Leyte schools division superintendent Ronelo Al Firmo said that the opening of senior high school inside the regional prison facility is part of his administration’s mission of providing access to education for the secondary students in the province due to its low participation rate and high drop-out rate which he found out when he assumed office in 2013.
“We started to put up high schools around Leyte. We’ve been working silently, and up to this time, we’ve learned that we already established over 30 high schools. When Tenasas presented the proposal to open a senior high school in Leyte Regional Prison, I immediately gave my go signal,” Firmo recalled on how the senior high school inside the prison facility was realized.
(RONALD O. REYES)

LAS NAVAS, Northern Samar- A member of the communist New People’s Army terrorist (CNTs) was left dead by his comrades after a 10-minute firefight with the members of the 43rd Infantry (WE SEARCH) Battalion in Barangay McArthur, this town on June 23, 2018.
Government forces responded to an anonymous tip from the residents in the area and immediately deployed 43IB elements to verify the veracity of the report.
Few kilometers from the barangay proper, said troops were fired upon by undetermined number of CNTs forcing them to retaliate which ensued a firefight that killed the still unidentified communist terrorist member and the recovery of his rifle.
Col. Ramil Bitong, commander of 803rd Brigade, said that this incident could have been avoided if CNT heed to the call of the government to stop their extortion activity and avail the Enhance Comprehensive Integration Program (E-CLIP).
“This should serve as stern warning to other member of the lawless CTG that the arm of the law can reach you, no matter how long and far you can hide for evil never triumph as long as good men stands for what is right,” Col. Bitong added. (PR)

Mandated to finish CARP under Pres. Duterte’s term

TACLOBAN CITY- Over 63,000 hectares of agricultural lands in the region are still subject to be distributed to farmers under the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
And of this number, more than 42,900 hectares are in Leyte, Joel Alsmith Soria, regional information officer of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), said in an interview.
This year marks the 30th year of CARP implementation.
Soria said that they are under instructions to distribute the remaining 63,141 hectares to benefit 27,452 farmer-beneficiaries within the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Since the start of the CARP implementation in 1988, DAR in the region has distributed 431,972 hectares, benefitting 187,813 farmers.
For Eastern Visayas, about 495,113 hectares of lands have been identified to be place under CARP with 215,266 farmers as targeted beneficiaries.
Each farmer is entitled to receive a maximum of three hectares under CARP.
“During his recent visit to the region, Undersecretary (for field operations) Karlo Bello mentioned that DAR should finished the land distribution within the term of Pres. Duterte,” Soria said.
He said that there were issues confronting the implementation of CARP reason why 30 years after it was first implemented, there are still lands remaining to be distributed.
Among these issues cited by Soria include the resistance of some land owners to place their lands under CARP who filed petitions and no notice of coverage received by the landowners.
Soria said that they are working to address these concerns for their office to eventually distribute the remaining 63,141 hectares of land.
Based on their records, Biliran has 100 percent accomplishment which means all its 10,982 hectares targeted under the program have been distributed which benefited 4,774 farmers.
Leyte has the biggest agricultural lands that were distributed for the past 30 years with 182,695 hectares out of 225,687 hectares identified.
About 79,432 farmers have received their certificates of land ownership across the province.
Soria said that of the remaining 63,141 hectares of lands, the biggest is in Leyte with 42,993 to potentially benefit 18,692 farmers.
Following Leyte is the province of Northern Samar with 9,349 hectares still to be distributed which could benefit 4,064 farmers.
In Eastern Samar, 3,386 hectares are to be distributed which could benefit 1,471 farmers while in Samar, 5,787 hectares remain undistributed with about 2,526 farmers to benefit and in Southern Leyte, 1,625 hectares of land are still be placed under CARP and could benefit 706 farmers.

By: Joey Gabieta

Only few LGUs in the region have population office

TACLOBAN CITY- The implementation of population-related programs in the region are suffering snags due to the absence of a local office that could better handle them.
Thus said Elnora Pulma, regional director of the Commission on Population (Popcom), who said that this problem could be address if a bill mandating for the creation of a population development office will be enacted by Congress.
The said bill is still under deliberation by Congress and is principally authored by Laguna Rep. Sol Aragones.
“Our management population program is really affected because of the lack of a point person in the local (lities) who can discuss it,” Pulma said.
She said that the proposed office will mainly be tasked to address the population development issues like increasing teenage and high-intended pregnancies, among others.
The Popcom director said that they are having some difficulties in cascading down their programs due to the absence of a point officer in the local government unit.
The proposed bill mandates all local government units or from provinces down to the cities and municipalities to create the population development office.
At present, creating a population office is not mandated reason why there are several local government units in the region, in particular, that does not have such office or just simply designate somebody to act as a population officer.
At present, the provinces of Leyte, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar and the cities of Ormoc and Tacloban have passed executive orders mandating for the creation of a development population office at their respective areas.
Reyan Arinto, Popcom-8 head of the technical services unit, said that they are hoping that with the proposed bill of Aragones becoming a law, all local government units in the region will have their own development population office.
He said, for one, the high incidence of teenage pregnancy in the region could be address if such office will be created in all local government units.
Eastern Visayas has one of the highest teenage pregnancy cases. Last year, there were about 9,000 teenagers who got pregnant.
(JOEY A. GABIETA/LIZBETH ANN A.ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY -Scores of devotees participated in the pre-Balyuan rites held Monday (June 18).
Considered as a prelude to the Balyuan rites happening on June 20, the event commemorates the historical swapping of Sto. Niño images between Tacloban and the town of Basey in Samar.
The convoy, which departed for Basey at 8 am, included devotees of Sto. Niño de Tacloban and city government officials and employees.
It made the 28 kilometer-land travel to Barangay Buscada for the religious rites commemorating the exchange of Sto. Niño images between Tacloban and the municipality of Basey.

The motorcade featured the revered image of the El Teniente – a replica of the Sto. Nino de Tacloban –the primary object of the Balyu-an reenactment.
Upon arrival at Brgy. Buscada, the faithful and the town’s cultural performers greeted the delegation from Tacloban with a ritual performance.
After which, the motorcade around the town proper of Basey followed, and a Holy Mass was said at the Old Buscada Church attended by Tacloban city government officials and Basey Mayor Igmedio Junjie Ponferrada.
The image of El Teniente will be returned to Tacloban through a fluvial procession on June 20 for the Balyu-an Rites at the Balyu-an Amphitheater.
The Balyu-an rites on June 20 will signal the start of the nine-day novena mass for the city’s 129th fiesta celebration.
It commemorates a religious tradition that can be traced back to the time when Tacloban was but a mere Sitio of Basey Town.
As Kankabatok—the early name of Tacloban—grew in prominence it was decided by the parish priest of Basey to swap their bigger image of the Sto. Nino with the smaller image of the former. – HENRY JAMES ROCA/CIO)

TACLOBAN CITY – Members of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) from the National Capital Region(NCR) visited their counterparts in the region to learn and possibly adopt their best practices.
The NCR-RPOC members met with their counterparts in the region at the regional office of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Monday (June 19).
“We want to personally hear from them and also learn several other programs which we can also adopt in Metro Manila like the Women Peace Table,” Maria Laurdes Agustin, DILG-NCR director, said.
“We wanted to see how the women are able to participate in governance and in peace-building. This is more of an exchanging of information and program that we can learn from,” she added.
Women Peace Table is a program of the RPOC-8 and the DILG launched during the 1st quarterly meeting held in Catarman, Northern Samar, the aim of which is to include women as active players in peace-building and not view them as mere “victims” of conflicts and not “actors” to end wars.
The Women Peace Table initiative is an integral part of Eastern Visayas Regional Peace and Prosperity Roadmap produced through brainstorming of all the six governors of the region providing a venue for the inclusive discussion of issues relevant to peace and development by stakeholders, create consensus on issues, plan and collaborate on actions, appreciate the diversity of identities and views, and promote healing and reconciliation.
The program is supported by five pillars that serve as purpose to attain just and lasting peace. These pillars are sound business and economic development, responsible use and equitable distribution of resources, high levels of human capital, social cohesion, and strong and stable inter-local government ties.
“Although Metro Manila and Leyte have different settings, interventions to address the issues can be replicated by reconfiguring it to attune it with the condition of NCR,” Agustin said.
“We should adopt peer to peer learning. Why do we have to create our own if there is already one that is working. We are here to know how it works and how we can adopt it to our own conditions,” she added.
Prior to the meeting with RPOC-8 members at the DILG regional office, the group along with Samar Governor Sharee Ann Tan,RPOC-8 chair, made a courtesy call to Leyte Gov.Leopoldo Dominico Petilla.
Gov. Petilla presented to them the programs and interventions of the provincial government in hard-to-reach and conflict-affected barangays under its More Income to the Countryside Program (MIC-P).
Agustin said that after their meeting with Gov. Petilla and the RPOC-8 members, they will convene again to talk and discuss the programs in Eastern Visayas that are doable in Metro Manila.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)