TACLOBAN CITY- The Police Regional Office here in the region is currently conducting the processing on the applications of the 1,500 police aspirants.
For this year’s second cycle regular recruitment, the region has about 450 allocation.
“As you can see, there are many applicants but only few are chosen as they pass thru the stringent process. All I can say to our aspirants is to be at their best,” said Brigadier General Dionardo Carlos, police regional director.
“Being a police officer is not that easy. One must be determined and passionate enough to be in this profession,” he added.
Lieutenant Colonel Ma. Bella Rentuaya, regional PNP spokesperson, said that the processing initially started last June 10, 2019.
Out of 1,500 applicants who registered online, only 1,314 came for a face to face interview and were later on endorsed for Body Mass Index (BMI) to the Regional Health Service (RHS), according to Rentuaya.
Of the 1,314 applicants, 947 are males and 367 are females.
She added that the Recruitment Section still awaits for the BMI final results before proceeding to the next stage.
“All of these applicants are subject to go through a rigorous process along the way. The recruitment section will soon announce those successful applicants who passed the BMI once readily available,” said Rentuaya.
Oath taking of all successful applicants is tentatively set on August 16, 2019.
Meanwhile, Rentuaya announced that the online application of the Philippine National Police Academy is set on July 1 until September 30, 2019.
Qualifications are as follows: must be a natural born Filipino; must be 18-22 years old on or before June 1, 2020 (date of take oath); no criminal and administrative records; of good moral character; and must be a senior high school graduate or K12 graduating CY 2020.
Admission test will be conducted on November 10, 2019 to 28 testing centers nationwide.
All data of applicants are to be sent in electronic-copies through the PNPA website www.pnpa.ph. Steps on how to apply can be viewed either at the PNPA Facebook Page Philippine National Police Academy: Justice, Integrity, Service or @ kaddette.
Scanned copies of the following should be submitted: PSA Birth Certificate, PNPA Medical Certificate Form, and a photo ID. (RONALD O. REYES)
Processing of 1,500 PNP applications continues in Eastern Visayas
700 residents from Palanog District receive food packs, services from Mayor Romualdez
(TACLOBAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)
TACLOBAN CITY-About 700 residents of the three barangays in Palanog received food packs and free services from the city government of Tacloban’s Barangayan through the leadership of Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez on Tuesday (July 16).
The beneficiaries from Barangays 103, 12, and 37- A were given a free haircut, registration of live birth, as well as dental and medical consultation, and other basic services.
According to Ildebrando Bernadas, focal person of the I Love Tacloban Barangayan, the program ensures that all basic frontline services of the city government are brought closer to the barangays.
Also joining Mayor Romualdez during the Barangayan was Councilor Leo Bahin and different city department heads.
(TACLOBAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)
Carlos happy none of the EV cops are positive of drug use
TACLOBAN CITY- None of the close to 2,000 police personnel from Eastern Visayas turned to be negative of using illegal drugs.
This was disclosed by Brigadier General Dionardo Carlos, police regional director, who said that the police personnel underwent a random drug testing which is part of the police organization’s cleansing among their ranks of those who are into illegal drug activities.
The drug testing, which was conducted from January up to last month, involved 1,972 police personnel.
Of this number, 1,080 were assigned at the regional Philippine National Police and different police stations; 763 from its drug enforcement units; 79 from national operational support units; and 50 non-uniformed personnel.
“I am happy with the outcome.It only goes to show that our personnel are worthy of public trust as the result turned out to be negative,” Carlos said.
There are 8,549 police personnel in the region.
Carlos said that the random drug testing were done unannounced and conducted in separate dates to really ensure that the subject police personnel could not done something to detoxify and prepare.
The police regional director said that despite of some issues and controversies surrounding on the PNP’s crackdown on illegal drugs, they still continue to get support from the public.
“The communities knew that our (anti-drug) campaign benefits them and this campaign also help in controlling our other campaigns (against criminality),” Carlos said.
Carlos had earlier said that he is working closely with local government units across the region to ensure that their campaign on peace and order, to include illegal drug activity, would also get support from them.
The police regional director said that for them to be successful on their campaign, they need to get the support of the local leaders and the members of the communities as well.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
Bee farm in Leyte gets notice from people wanting to reenergize their weary selves
TUNGA, Leyte- A bee farm in this town is fast becoming a sought after place for people who wanted to be relax, away from the bustle and noise of city life.
Beengo Farm, a 400-square-meter bee farm located in Barangay San Vicente, this town, started as a hobby for its owner-manager, Gary Ayuste, who worked overseas before he got interested in farming, and eventually, in beekeeping through his aunt.
The name of his farm was a combination of bee and mango where the bees could pollinate and get their nectar.
The bee sanctuary, which started its operation three years ago and is located beside Tunga River, the town’s major tributary, has been providing livelihood to housewives living near the farm as well as a venue for environmental conservation.
Ayuste said that it was not a walk in the park when he started the bee farm because of people’s negative notion on bees.
To solve this problem, he educated the residents living near the farm of the importance of bees to the environment and to our eco-system and encouraged them to keep bees not only for honey, but for pollination of plants.
“Bees are very good in fighting global warming because 80 percent of the trees and plants because of bees. Our tree planting activities are nothing without bees that our pollinators,” Ayuste said.
The farm is using stingless bees that are endemic to the region like the ‘Kiwot’ and Ligwan.’
Stingless bees are about the size of an ant yet have all the features of honeybees except that they do not have a sting.
Typically, these stingless bees make their colonies in old bamboos and are frequently found around bamboos or wooden structures.
“Because of their size, they are very small. They can go to any part of the flower to get nectar unlike the regular honeybees that are big,” Ayuste said.
Ayuste added that as part of his advocacy is to improve the living condition of his neighbors, reason why at least 22 housewives are provided with livelihood by the bee farm.
The farm gets the supply of native chickens and vegetables while others are employed in the farm.
Ayuste said that since they open in October 2017, aside from local and foreign tourists that flock to the farm to relax, eat and learn about beekeeping, some are also visiting them to use the farm as venue for review like those who are taking board exams.
The calmness and serenity of the farm is a perfect place for students who don’t want to be bothered by loud noises while studying before taking exams, according to Ayuste.
Ayuste added that aside from serving local foods to tourists, they also encourage them to talk with each other while they are inside the farm and even only during their stay, forget to use gadgets like cellular phones.
Beengo Farm has been tapped by the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) in Eastern Visayas as a learning site which provides trainings on basic beekeeping.
They also adopted schools, wherein they donate colonies for beekeeping to educate the students.
Ayuste shared that Beengo Farm is currently developing a nature-themed library for the farmers’ children to have access to quality books which mostly are donated by his friends.
He added that to ensure the sustainability of income of the family working in the farm and other residents in the community, they are doing a tree-planting program wherein fruit bearing trees are planted along the road leading to the community.
For those who wanted to visit Beengo Farm and be served with local foods, Ayuste said that visitors should make a prior reservation for them to have enough time to prepare their foods.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
Red tide takes its toll in mussel-rich Samar town
TACLOBAN CITY -The poverty-stricken coastal town of Jiabong, Samar has been losing millions of pesos since last week as red tide infestation compelled authorities to impose a shellfish ban, affecting the livelihood of over a thousand fishermen.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said shellfish ban has been enforced in Jiabong town’s Maqueda Bay since July 12 due to the high presence of red tide toxins in both seawater and shellfish meat.
“The livelihood is really affected, but we cannot compromise public safety since paralytic shellfish poisoning has killed people in Samar in the past. I hope this will end soon as we approach the rainy season,” said BFAR Regional Director Juan Albaladejo.
The fifth class town is known as the region’s top producer of green mussel producing about 200 sacks of green mussels daily with each sack traded at P1,500.
The town has been losing P300,000 daily or over P2 million since July 12.
Jiabong serves as a central trading center from where mussels are shipped to Metro Manila, Davao City, Bicol, Cebu City and other parts of the country.
If an area is red tide positive, the fisheries bureau prohibits the public from eating, harvesting, marketing, and buying bivalve marine products and Acetes sp. (small crustaceans) from it until such time that the toxicity level has gone down below the regulatory level.
For green mussel farmer Jaime Godin, 60, the red tide bloom in Jiabong town means hunger.
In an earlier interview, Godin, a father of six, said life is hard every time their town is hit by the toxic red tide with his family losing up to P30,000 every harvest season. The worst algal bloom was in August 2017 that lasted for six months, according to him.
He shared that if there is a shellfish ban, people don’t buy any type of seafood. “Nobody wants to extend a loan to us because they are aware that we have no money to pay them back.”
Godin is just one of the 1,130 fishermen in this town dependent on green mussel, locally known as “tahong”.
The first red tide phenomenon in the country was recorded in Samar on June 21, 1983, that killed 21 people and hospitalized nearly 300 people.
Since then, red tide recurrence has been episodic, resulting in sudden economic losses, and sometimes leading to unexpected loss of lives.
Red tide is a term used to describe a phenomenon where the water is discolored by high algal biomass or the concentration of algae. The discoloration may not necessarily be red in color, but it may also appear yellow, brown, green, blue or milky, depending on the organisms involved.
Aside from Maqueda Bay, also tagged as red tide positive are San Pedro Bay in Basey and Marabut towns, Silanga Bay in Catbalogan City, Irong-Irong Bay in Catbalogan City, and Cambatutay Bay in Tarangnan town.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)
Dengue fever cases in EV continue to balloon
With already 23 deaths
BY: PNA and JOEY A. GABIETA
TACLOBAN CITY- Dengue fever cases in the region continue to balloon with the regional office of the Department of Health(DOH) reporting of 23 deaths out of the 5,577 cases as of July 16.
The fatalities were from Tacloban City with five deaths; Guiuan town, Eastern Samar with four deaths; and one each from the following areas: Quinapondan, General MacArthur, and Hernani, all in Eastern Samar; Baybay City, Burauen, Babatngon, Mahaplag, Merida and Ormoc City, all in Leyte; Kawayan in Biliran; Sogod and Macrohon in Southern Leyte; and the cities in Calbayog and Catbalogan, both in Samar province.
“The increase is unusual since this is the second successive year that cases are high. Cases have been above the usual occurrence beyond the epidemic threshold since the start of the year,” said DOH regional information officer John Paul Roca.
He, however, clarified that there is no dengue outbreak in Eastern Visayas, but the region has been included in the national dengue alert as clustering of cases has been reported in 105 villages, according to Roca.
“We already asked village officials in areas with clustered cases to conduct assembly and regular clean-up drive to fight dengue,” he told the Philippine News Agency.
The health department asked city and town mayors to organize clean-up campaigns focusing on the destruction of mosquito breeding places in their areas, and conduct community assembly in areas with dengue cases.
Here in Tacloban City, since the start of the year until July 13, its city health office reported of 407 cases with five deaths, the latest was a six-year old girl who died on July 12.
Dr. Jaime Opinion, city health officer, said that the current cases of dengue fever is more than double compared to last year of the same period.
Last year, there were only about 200 cases with two deaths.
Thus, he said, they have intensified their campaign to clean breeding areas of mosquitoes that causes dengue and daily fogging operations, especially in the villages where there are clustering of cases or there are two dengue fever cases within 200 radius.
Opinion said that they are planning to procure three more fogging machines to add its current two machines to ensure that all of the city’s 128 villages could be cleared of the dengue fever causing mosquitos.
He advised the parents to have immediate consultation if their children are experiencing fever to avoid getting the ailment.
“Don’t self-medicate. Seek immediate consultation even only on first day of fever, any fever, for dengue examination,” Opinion said.
He also encouraged the community to practice the “4S”: search and destroy mosquito breeding places; seek early consultation; self-protection and support fogging or spraying in hot spot areas.