TACLOBAN CITY- The national government has released about P52 million in the past seven years to improve the capability of local government units in the region to comply with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) regional coordinator for the solid waste management program, Maribel Munsayac, said financial assistance has been provided to cities and towns in the region whose officials are more committed to comply with the environmental law.
“With the very limited resources, we prioritize those areas with initiative to manage their solid waste. Since the fund is already handed to them, there’s no reason they won’t close open dumpsites,” Munsayac said on Wednesday.
About P26 million has been released since 2012 for the establishment of the materials recovery facility (MRF) of three cities and 58 towns in the region’s six provinces.
The MRF receives waste for final sorting, according to its type for composting and recycling. It is designed to receive, sort, process and store compostable and recyclable material efficiently.
Of the P52 million, P20.29 million was given to six local governments for the closure of open dumpsites.
These were Tacloban City; Palo, Leyte; Lavezares, Northern Samar; Laoang, Northern Samar; Abuyog, Leyte; and Motiong, Samar.
Most of the funds were released in the past two months.
Republic Act (RA) No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act prohibits the continued use of open and controlled dumpsites and requires that they must be closed and rehabilitated.
“The degradation of the waste layers takes a long time even as these continue to generate leachate and methane gases. It is necessary to manage the dumpsite properly after the operations and to manage the post closure land use in order to protect public health and preserve the environment,” Munsayac explained.
Some funds were also poured for the provision of shredder machines for biodegradable wastes (P3.42 million), solid waste management in public markets (P1.8 million), school-based eco-savers program (P450,000), and informal waste sector (P100,000).
These funds are primarily sourced from the office of Senator Loren Legarda, the principal author of RA 9003, which was signed in 2001.

By: Sarwell Q. Meniano/PNA

TACLOBAN CITY – Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez on Thursday (June 14) led the mass oath-taking of 1,112 newly-elected barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials.
The mass oath-taking ceremony, held at the Tacloban City Convention Center, was attended by barangay and SK officials from the city’s 138 barangays who won during the May 14 polls.
Mayor Romualdez urged the officials to work for the common good and focus on pressing issues in the barangays such as drugs and the environment.
“We need good and dedicated leaders, willing to work and sacrifice for the common good,” she added.
The chief executive also assured the officials of city government support in barangay projects, especially on health, public service and infrastructures.
Meanwhile, Atty. Darwin Bibar, city local operations officer, asked the officials to support the Department of Interior and Local Government’s anti-corruption campaign Bantay-Kaagapay and do away with politics.
“Your cooperation in the various programs and projects of the city government will ensure (your) barangay and the city’s success,” he told the village officials.
As for the unfilled SK positions in some barangays, Bibar said that they are still waiting for guidelines from the central office on how to resolve the issue.
Prior to assuming their duties on June 30, the newly-elected barangay officials will attend an orientation on June 20 that will be organized by the local DILG.
Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin and Association of Barangay Chairmen (ABC) president Eden Chua-Pineda also witnessed the mass oath-taking ceremony. (HENRY JAMES G.ROCA/CIO)

TACLOBAN CITY- An innovation made by the service support unit of the 8th Infantry Division will now guarantee that all of its military vehicles could still remain serviceable despite of their being decades-old.
This after the 8th Forward Service Support Unit (FSSU), whose headquarter is based in Palo town, Leyte and under the command of Lt.Col. Vincent Arnold Dy, developed a hydraulic brake system which are now being applied to 11 military vehicles.
This means, these vehicles are using two brake systems, manual and hydraulic-driven.
The hydraulic-supported brake system was developed by Technical Sgt.Mario Alfie Bagtong, who is the chief mechanic of the FSSU motor pool.
Major Sergio Sabiano, Jr., executive officer of the FSSU-8, said that the new system is a big help to the division’s vehicles.
He said that considering that many of their military vehicles have been acquired by the Armed Forces in the 1960s, the brake system of these vehicles are no longer reliable which are all manually-operated .
Thus, aside from being costly due to repairs every now and then, safety is also being compromised, Sabiano said.
He added that the hydraulic- support brake system could work alongside with the manually- done brake system.
“One of its advantages is that the driver will no longer exert effort to press the brake as it is no longer depended on foot valve,” Sabiano said.
He also said that the materials used by Bagtong in developing the hydraulic-supported brake system could be bought locally unlike the standard ones that they are using.
Thus, maintenance cost is drastically reduced, Sabiano added.
“We hope that this system will also be applied by our FSSU units considering of its advantages,” he said.
FSSU serves as the motor pool of the military organization which is responsible, among others, in the repair and rehabilitation of their military vehicles and other equipment.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

CATARMAN, Northern Samar-Senator Cynthia Villar said that she will be introducing a legislative measure that would provide relief assistance to farmers in times of calamities.
This way, affected farmers and their respective families would no longer wait for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to provide them relief assistance, Villar, who chairs the Senate’s committee on agriculture and food, said during an interview Thursday (June 14).
Villar was in this provincial capital of Northern Samar where majority of its people depends on agriculture to speak during the 7th Annual International Conference on Environmental Sciences held at the gymnasium of the University of Eastern Philippines (UEP).
The senator said that her measure, once approved, could provide relief to farmers hit by a natural calamity.
Villar said that she is still making some fine-tuning on this proposal like its mechanism and how much the government will allocate for this scheme.
“Bibigyan sila ng free insurance against calamity para sa ganun, pag sila ay tinamaan ng calamity, magki-claim sila sa insurance company, di na sila pipila sa DSWD,” Villar said.
She added that there are instances that farmers are being left out during calamity-giving assistance but this measure, they are sure to receive the assistance.
“(But)we just have to know how much will cost us and what budget we will put in the (proposed) law to cover the free calamity insurance for crops of our farmers,” Villar said.
“We will be asking the private sector to participate in this,” she added, referring to private insurance companies.
Jun Berino, secretary-general of the Samahan han mga Gugti na Parag-uma (Sagupa), a regional farmers’ group, welcome this proposed measure of Villar.
“We welcome this proposal of Sen.Villar and we just hope that this will become a reality because farmers really need all the help that our government could provide to them,” Berino, in a phone interview, said.
Potentially, if this Villar proposal becomes a law, around 3 million farmers, to include their dependents, from the region could benefit this.
Berino said that farmers in the region continue to grapple economic difficulties after the Eastern Visayas was devastated by super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ in 2013.
“They have yet to fully recover, to include those engaging in the abaca and copra production,” he said. (JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY-A mass wedding of same-sex couples is set to happen in the region despite the continued opposition of the predominantly Catholic Filipinos.
EnGAYged, a community of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders (LGBTs) has announced the registration for interested couples until July 3.
“The idea to have a mass wedding for same-sex in the region was made during our first visit in Tacloban City because I had wed a couple in Southern Leyte, which was the first in that place. The event should have been on June 17, but I requested it to me moved due to short preparation. July 15 is the date that I will be available (for the mass wedding),” said Rev. Crescencio Agbayani Jr., the union celebrant and founding pastor of LGBTS Christian Church Inc. based in Quezon City since 2012.
While the government has yet to recognize the right of LGBT couples to civil marriage, Agbayani said that they remain “very positive” on the outcome of the oral argument of the Supreme Court over the marriage equality in the Philippines on June 19.
“If we’ll be lost, then will start again. We’re not going to give up until we’ll achieve the same legal rights as any other couple. LGBT couples are family, too,” Agbayani said in an interview.
He added that they “need security and peace of mind that our partners for life are also our partners under the law.”
“We are Filipinos who pay taxes and serve our country too. We deserve to have our relationship as a family legally recognized,” Agbayani said.
Having educated at the Union Theological Seminary in Cavite with Master of Divinity in Christianity and Culture and awarded the Bishop La Verne Mercado Award in Ecumenics, Agbayani has been conducting same sex holy union wedding rite in Quezon City and some parts in the Philippines and in Asia.
As this developed, Palo Archdiocese priest Virgilio Cañete said that our society has been ‘tolerant enough’ over the issue on the same sex marriage.
“Such unions are everywhere, and no one in this tolerant times can prevent such same sex unions. But making a law for this, is no longer part of being tolerant but promotes beyond what is needed, at the expense of social conventions, our culture, and faith,” Cañete said.
He stressed that under the Church’s doctrine, marriage is between a man and a woman and not of the same sex.
“Same sex marriage is not legal here in the Philippines, right? Or at least, not yet, and I rue the day when it will be,” added Msgr. Ramon Aguilos of the Palo Archdiocese said.
“So, whether the mass wedding of same sex marriage be held in Eastern Visayas region or elsewhere in the archipelago or anywhere in the world or in the universe, I have the same answer,” he said.
Interestingly, the news on the upcoming mass wedding of same-sex couples didn’t also bode well with other LGBT couples.
“It has never crossed into my mind that I’ll tie the knot with my partner because I always think that every relationship has its ending. Even those of straight couples and partners, they are prone to separation,” Wendell Astrero said.
The 41-year old openly gay man is living with his 21-year old partner for five years now.
He, however, maintained that his opposition has nothing to do with the strong Catholic faith in his place but more of a personal choice.
(RONALD O.REYES)

ORMOC CITY –At least 14 scholars of the city government here who graduated with honors this year received laptops and printers from Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez as her gift to them.
The cum laude scholars who received 13 Lenovo laptops and 13 printers were Juvelyn Dula, Noven Jayme, Mark Anthony Pecho, Christel Tangcawan, Marvin Teves, Christene Malasaga, Roselle Quilantang, Rea Kirby Costan, Jesseca Veril, Hannah Marie Dagohoy, Sarah Mae Justo, Mary Grace Suan, and Lilibeth Aure.
Danica Visabella, a magna graduate, received an expensive MacPro from Rep. Gomez in a simple ceremony held Wednesday (June 13).
Since 2011, Gomez has been giving city and congressional scholars a laptop each if they graduate with honors in their class, according to a city government report.
Also present during the distribution of their gifts at the City Mayor’s Office were Councilor Nolito Quilang, who heads the Ormoc City Scholarship Board, and Councilor Benjamin Pongos, Jr. who chairs the committee on ways and means.
Through an ordinance, the city instituted the Ormoc Scholarship program in 2017.
At least 121 young students passed the qualification exam and requirements. The scholars have to maintain a general weighted average of 2.0.
The city government scholars get a P9,000 tuition allowance, book allowance, and P2,000 monthly stipend while those who graduated also received a P3,000 graduation allowance, the report said.
Because of the free tuition policy under President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, Ormoc was able to accept 154 scholars due to the savings on the tuition this school year.
(RONALD O.REYES)