CARIGARA, Leyte – The Department of Public Works and Highways – Leyte Second District Engineering based this town will soon have its new district engineer.
This after Engr. Gerald Pacanan was relieved from his post and was assigned to Region V as assistant regional director effective August 3 by Sec. Mark Villar.
Pacanan was appointed as district engineer of Leyte’s second engineering January last year.
Sec.Villar has yet to announce who will replace Pacanan as district engineer of Leyte’s second district engineering office.
Personnel of district office held a simple send-off party to Pacanan early this week.
Pacanan, in his speech, called on the employees of the 2nd DEO to work with the new district engineer with the same determination and enthusiasm in order to accomplish more.
He added that working at the 2nd DEO is an experience and opportunity he will never forget especially the support, kindness, and respect the employees had accorded him.
“It was an honor and privilege to serve you the best that I can. Thank you for all your efforts in helping me accomplished many projects in this office. All of you are an integral part of who I become,” he said.
He then gave his sincerest thanks to the support of Rep. Karen Javier and to her husband, former mayor Sandy Javier, Assistant District Engineer, Francisco Robin, Jr. and to the different section chiefs for the job well done and effective management in handling the people working behind the success of Leyte 2nd district engineering office.
“If you need me, you can always count me in. Thank you. I would love to work with all of you again, soon. May God bless us all,” Pacanan said.
(LIZBETH ANN A.ABELLA)
Pacanan leaves Leyte’s 2nd district engineering office
Tacloban city govt appoints personnel as part of its intensified COVID -19 contract tracing
TACLOBAN CITY-In hopes of speeding up the contact tracing and surveillance process of suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and other infectious diseases carriers at the community level, the city government of Tacloban convened the 40 designated Persons of Authority (POA) in an orientation on Wednesday, August 12 at the City Engineer’s Office (CEO) Gym.
The POAs, who are all local government employees and currently living in the northern part of the City, will lead the Volunteer Surveillance Officers (VSO), composed of Barangay Health Nutrition Scholars, Barangay Service Point Officers, and other volunteers at the community who have signed up to help the government address this health crisis.
Meantime, Acting City Health Officer Dr. Gloria Fabrigas has appealed to the employees to be more involved in the contact tracing, stressing that it is not solely the responsibility of the government but everyone in the community to help curb the spread of the virus.
“We mobilize them in order to engage and empower the community, especially in the North, wherein there are more than 16,000 families living in the resettlement areas, “ she explained.
Fabrigas stressed that the PAOs, in coordination with the VSOs, are tasked to trace those who have been in close contact with the COVID-19 suspected and confirmed patients.
To date, Tacloban City has 13 active cases and is among the 16 areas in the region which already has a local transmission of COVID-19.(TACLOBAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)
Students using Chinese or Korean characters as FB names ask to use real names
As online teaching starts this school year
TACLOBAN CITY- Some students enrolled in this year’s school year may have to be compelled to change their Facebook account names, particularly those using Chinese or Korean characters.
For this year’s school term, students, especially in college and secondary levels, will be resorting to online method of teaching.
The change of method of teaching for this school year, which will formally opened on August 24, was part of the campaign of the national government to address the growing number of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) cases in the country.
For teacher Jocelyn Tualla Balagusa, who handles Grade 12 students at the Leyte National High School (LNHS), based this city, she would be requiring her students who are using Chinese or Korean characters as their FB names or accounts to use their real and complete names beginning first day of classes.
She said that considering that all her students will be required to go online, it would be difficult for her to ‘locate’ them if they are using these characters.
“We teachers will be creating our group chats or FB page. How can we add or locate them (students) if they are using these Chinese characters,” Tualla Balagusa said.
She said that last school year, out of the 45 students she had, only five of them were using their real names.
LNHS is the biggest secondary school in Eastern Visayas biggest with more than 8,000 enrollment.
“So what I did was to call them through their mobile phones,” Tualla Balagusa, who is handling nine sections in Grade 12 teaching HUMSS (humanities and social sciences), said.
And calling her students instead of ‘messaging’ them on their Facebook accounts entail additional expense on her part as she need more ‘load,’ Tualla Balagusa said.
Lemuel Dave, a Grade 11 student at LNHS, said that it is okay for him to change his FB account using his name.
But the problem, he said, it would take 60 days for him to do that.
“I would love to but still I have to wait until 60 days to change it again,” the 16-year old student said.
He has been using his account with Chinese characters for more than eight months now.
The student explained that under the guidelines of Facebook, one can change or replaced his or her account only after the lapse of 60 days or two months.
Heeven Kyle Abiertas, a Grade 9 student, said that he resorted to using Chinese characters as he was ‘bored’ when he created his Facebook account.
“That’s ok. I will just create another FB account using my real name,” the 14-year old student of San Jose National High School, said, adding that he would still continue to use his FB account with the Chinese character.
It’s not clear yet why using Chinese or Korean characters became a fad of sort among young FB users.
But Queen Sofia,14, said that she noticed that almost all of her friends and classmates switched into using Chinese or Korean characters as their FB account names last year.
“We would like to avoid our accounts being hacked or attacked by trolls that is why I and my friends decided to use these characters as our FB accounts,” the Grade 9 student of LNHS, said.
She too, favor to use their real names for this school year though she admitted that she would not close down her original FB account.
For Ariel, who declined not to give his complete name but is using Chinese characters as his FB name, he has no choice but to change his name’s account.
“It’s ok if our teachers will ask me to use my real name in my FB account. I am using these Chinese characters just for fun. I just translated my name using the Google,” the 13-year old who will be entering Grade 9 this school year, said when asked why he is using the Chinese characters as his FB account.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
Mayor Romualdez issues order to help contain Tacloban rising COVID-19 cases
TACLOBAN CITY- With the rising of local cases of coronavirus disease 2019( COVID-19 ) here in the city, Mayor Alfred Romualdez renewed his earlier directive to strictly enforce curfew in city including the strict implementation of checkpoints.
Mayor Romualdez met with barangay officials this week where he also asked them to cooperate on this campaign.
Several government offices will help carry out the directive of Mayor Romualdez.
The Traffic Operations Management Enforcement and Control Office( Tomeco) and The Tacloban City Police Office will be in charge of the curfew as well as the issuance of citation ticket against minors who will be caught still outdoors even at 10 pm.
The Business Permits and Licensing Division (BPLD) reminded the establishments to not allow minors to enter their establishments.
Meanwhile, those who will enter the city needs to present complete travel documents like medical certificate, QR code and travel authority to the authorities manning the checkpoints.
Travelers who will enter the city as well as residents stranded in other places and wanted to go home must register in the city’s website at www.baliktacloban.tacloban.gov.ph .
(LIZBETH ANN A.ABELLA)
Dead dolphin found in Biliran waters
TACLOBAN CITY- A male spinner dolphin was found dead along the waters of Barangay Masagawsaw, Kawayan town in Biliran province on Tuesday (August 11).
The whale, measuring 1.98 meters, was said to have been found by Janito Rosario, a fisherman in the village at around 7:35 am, the regional office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), based this city, said.
BFAR said that based on the report of their field office in Biliran province, the spinner whale was found entangle at the fish net owned by Rosario.
But based on the initial results of a necropsy conducted on the whale, the cause of death could be due to drowning as his lungs were ‘frothy’ upon incision.
Tissue samples were taken from the whale to really determine its cause of death.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species on Flora and Fauna (CITES)II, spinner whale are considered as among the protected species.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
DOH confirms two new deaths due to virus
Region’s COVID-19 cases now at 1,464
(TACLOBAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)
By: Lizbeth Ann A. Abella/Ronald O. Reyes
TACLOBAN CITY- As the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) cases continue to balloon in the region, the Department of Health(DOH) confirms of two new deaths due to the dreaded virus.
The two COVID-19 deaths of the region involved a 74-year old woman from Dulag town and an 80-year old man from Ormoc City.
With this latest deaths, the region has now six confirmed COVID-19 fatalities.
Dr. Exuperia Sabalberino, DOH assistant regional director, said that the 80-year old man, a locally stranded individual, died on August 7.
His swab result came out after his death.
Meantime, the 74-year old woman died on August 11, the day her swab result was released.
Both were suffering from pre-existing medical conditions and were buried immediately, Sabalberino said during a virtual press conference on Wednesday (August 12).
The DOH in the region has earlier confirmed COVID-19 deaths from the towns of Tarangan and Calbayog City, both in Samar province; Kawayan, Biliran province; and Kananga, Leyte province.
Among infected of the COVID-19 cases were five caretakers.
They came from the towns of Lawaan, Eastern Samar; Villareal in Samar province; and Tanauan in Leyte province.
All patients are now confined at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC), this city.
John Paul Roca, information officer of the DOH, said that considering that these new patients were exposed to the virus while attending their loved ones at the EVRMC, there is no way that they could spread the virus.
“It’s not alarming because they never went out of the hospital. They have high risk of exposure since they were direct contacts of the confirmed cases. They were there because their patients need assistance,” he said.
The patients, Roca said, have pre-existing medical conditions reason why they need to have somebody close to them while they were in confinement.
Also infected were a doctor from Palo town, Leyte and a nurse in Catarman, Northern Samar. Both got the infection from COVID-19 patients.
In Catarman, its rural health unit was shut down on Friday for disinfection.
This week, the COVID-19 cases of the region rose by more than 130. As of Friday, the region has now total cases of 1,464.
And obviously alarmed on the rising COVID-19 cases of the region, the DOH has called on the public and different government agencies to closely cooperate to help slowdown the progress of the dreaded virus in the region.
Dr. Exuperia Sabalberino, the assistant regional director of the DOH, said that there are now several areas in the region which have ‘local cases’ which means the affected individuals were infected of the virus from an individual within their areas or villages.
Among these areas is in Basey, Samar, particularly in Barangay Villa Aurora where it has now 41 cases of which eight were children.
The town has a total 70 COVID-19 cases.
The Basey municipal government has imposed lockdown last August 8 in Villa Aurora which has more than 1,000 residents and provided food packs to them as a way to contain further spread of the virus. The lockdown is to end on August 22.
Aside from Basey, the DOH has also identified the following areas in Eastern Visayas which have local cases of COVID-19: Palo, Carigara, Tanauan, Barugo, Matag-ob, and the cities of Ormoc and Tacloban, all in Leyte; Almeria in Biliran; and Lawaan and Giporlos, both in Eastern Samar.
“We are calling for the cooperation of the different government agencies and the public. During this time of pandemic, we all need to act as one. We need a whole-of-government, whole-of-system approach,” Sabalberino said.
(And) with the increasing trend of COVID-19 cases in the region, the DOH and our government will be implementing stricter enforcement of localized lockdowns and CODE,” she added.
CODE, which stands for coordinated operations to defeat COVID-19, is a patient and community-focused approach wherein the DOH assists the local government units through community engagement activities to effectively address further spread of the virus.