BY: MELISSA R. REATAZA

June 12 Thought: Respect Flag rites:
“We can’t make our mistake twice. The second time we make it’s so no longer a mistake. It’s a choice.
A flag ceremony, whether it be a flag raising or a flag retreat is sacred. Therefore, it should be observed with all the solemnity and sacredness of a Filipino citizen that can be mustered. But, as we go far away from the past years or declaration of our being independent, we are much getting too far from respecting our own flag and our own National Anthem.
The National Anthem (Pambansang Await) like the national flag should be treated with ceremonial respect. On this, the anniversary of the declaration of Independence in Kawit in 1898m it is perhaps timely to remind all to behave during flag ceremonies.
But, sad to say, many students, during the everyday flag raising ceremonies, instead of standing at attention while singing the national anthem, and while reciting the Patriotic Pledge(Panatang Makabayan), students prefer to move around, have some gossips and make fun which completely disregarding what is going on.
Those acts simply make the reason that students are calling the attention of all. We have to be more forced to give more emphasis to our country, love our nationality, respect the flag, the veneration f heroes and most important for students, the proper behavior during the flag ceremonies.
If flag ceremony cannot be held properly, why do we hold them at all?
(Note: The author is a Teacher III of the Lusad Elementary School of Burauen South District)

PALO, Leyte-In its continuing advocacy and campaign to address various adolescent health and related sexuality issues and needs the young people of today are facing, the Commission on Population and Development (Popcom) will be establishing a teen center at the Carigara National Vocational School (CNVS) and the Information and Service Delivery Network (ISDN) for Adolescents in Carigara town.
Popcom through its Adolescent Health and Development (AHD) Program sees the need to provide a mechanism where it can further promote better quality health services for the adolescents which are responsive to the needs and protection of their rights. The teen center and the establishment of an ISDN for adolescents are among this mechanism.
The teen center will become the physical facility where adolescents can go for adolescent health information, entertainment, while the ISDN is the organizational linkage which will provide the needed adolescent health services.
The new teen center, to be launched at the CNVS on July 5, will serve as a resource of information, aid, skills building or simply a place of recreation or amusement for their in-school adolescents, as well as from other schools in the municipality of Carigara.
The proposed teen center will have available counselling, skills training, values formative skills, employment services, medical and dental health and even reproductive health services.
All these will be provided by the ISDN for Adolescents linkage such as the Rural Health Unit, Carigara District Hospital, the barangay health stations, Municipal Social Welfare Office, Municipal Population Office, Municipal PNP through its Women and Child Protection Desk, Youth Development Office, PESO, PhilHealth, SK Federation and the private and public secondary schools who have been linked to form part of the ISDN.
The ISDN, meantime, will become a network of facilities within municipality of Carigara that offers information, training, and core packages of health and social care services in an integrated and coordinated manner.
To firm up the partnership for the teen center and ISDN, a memorandum of agreement will be signed between Popcom VIII, CNVS, ISDN partners and the local government unit of Carigara through Mayor Eduardo Ong.
It was learned during the orientation and organizational meeting for the members of the ISDN that the municipality have a number of cases on teenage pregnancy, children in conflict with the low and a rising number of adolescents with sexually transmitted infections.
“With the establishment of a teen center, the young people can have facility they can go to while the ISDN links can ensure that the comprehensive needs of adolescents are addressed accordingly,” Reyan Arinto, Popcom information officer, stated during the meeting.
More school-based teen centers are set to be opened in other areas in the region this year and expected to be fully functional to provide greater, effective and sustained impact among target young audience.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) program of the regional Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-8) has announced the completion of 694 child development centers (CDCs) in Eastern Visayas.
Engineer Gerry Piñeda, the focal person of the Kalahi-CIDSS program in region, told Leyte Samar Daily Express in an interview that the total cost of these 694 child development centers (CDCs) formerly known as day care centers is P408.82 million.
He said that in Leyte there are 163 CDCs worth P86.18 million; in Southern Leyte 18 CDCs worth P7.49 million; 12 in Biliran with the total amount of P6.85 million; 225 in Northern Samar worth P128.10 million; 195 in Samar with the total project cost of P119.40 million and 81 in Eastern Samar worth P60.77 million.
Piñeda said that these CDCs are now being used in the implementation of the supplemental feeding program (SFP) of the DSWD-8 in the region.
DSWD officer-in-charge Yvonne Serrano-Abonales reported that for the 8th cycle implementation of SFP in Eastern Visayas last year, her office has served a total of 69,721 day care children (DCCh) beneficiaries enrolled in 1,967 CDCs from the targeted 76,327 DCCh from 57 LGUs served by the program.
She added that her office had a total of P125.49 million fund downloaded to partner local government units from the fund allocation of P137.38 million for last year.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)

TACLOBAN CITY- The Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals parade will push through as planned on Thursday (June 27) at 8 am.
Thus said the organizers of the twin-bill festival amid information that the event has been cancelled or been moved to another date.
The Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals is being held days ahead of the annual June 30 fiesta of Tacloban City paying homage to its patron, Senior Santo Niño.
The organizers said that the street parade will start at the Leyte Sports Center or Grandstand and will pass the major streets of Tacloban heading back to Grandstand for the ritual dance presentations.
Pintados Festival will only have three contingents, while four groups will participate in the Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals on June 27, expected to last less than in four hours.
The Kasadyaan participants are Pasaka Festival of Tanauan Leyte, Tolo-Usa Festival of Tolosa Leyte, Haru Tambalan Festival of Jaro, Leyte, and Macarato Festival of Matuguinao, Samar.
Palo Mayor Remedios ’Matin’ Petilla, chairperson of the Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals, said all participating contingents will receive P500,000 from the provincial government of Leyte as financial assistance and seed money for contingents.
Petilla and Eugene Tan, president of Pintados, said that despite of the few numbers of participants in this year’s festival, the Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals will continue to stage the annual festivities as this is already part of the Tacloban fiesta celebration.
Now on its 24th year, the Leyte Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals brings together the diverse, vibrant and colorful festivals from the different towns in the province of Leyte and other participating festivals from its sister islands of Samar and Biliran, as well as other provinces in the Visayas.
It is one of the most awaited events of Tacloban City’s fiesta celebrations this month in honor of its patron, the Señor Sto. Niño de Tacloban.
Leyte’s festivals have brought fame and fortune to various champions, among them the Buyogan Festival of Abuyog, Burauen’s Buraburon, Tanauan’s Pasaka Festival, and Lingganay Festival of Alangalang, having bested other festivals in the country; and emerged as champions in such prominent festivals as Sinulog of Cebu and the annual national Aliwan Fiesta-Battle of Festival champions in Manila.
On the other hand, the Pintados Festival was first celebrated on June 29, 1987 when a group of businessmen belonging to the Pintados Foundation, Inc. came up with this event to showcase Leyte and Samar’s early tattooed inhabitants called Pintados, and their rich cultural heritage and indigenous music and dance.
In 1998, the Pintados and the Leyte Kasadyaan were merged into one big attraction called the Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals.
(LIZBETH ANN A.ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The country’s electric cooperatives are optimistic that their interests and security are now guaranteed with the elections of four congressmen who ran under the party-list system of which they provided full support during the May 13 elections .
This was disclosed by Allan Laniba, president of the General Managers Association in Eastern Visayas, saying that the energy sector in the country is being rocked with various issues that could affect their operations and even existence.
Laniba, who is the general manager of the Don Orestes Romualdez Electric Cooperative covering Leyte’s second and part of its first districts, said that with the election of four congressmen from their sector, at least the interests and welfare of the electric cooperatives could be protected.
Electric cooperatives in the country have banded together to support the bids of four party-list groups which each gaining one seat each at the House of Representatives.
These are the Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives (APEC), represented by Sergio Dagooc; Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association, Inc. (PHILRECA), represented by Presley de Jesus);Rural Electric Consumers and Beneficiaries of Development and Advancement,Inc.(RECOBODO),represented by Godofredo Guya; and Ako Padayon Pilipino(AKO PADAYON),as represented by Adriano Ebcas.
Laniba said that the four congressmen will push for the realization of the issues that they have been fighting for the past years now before the House of Representatives.
Among these issues include the full implementation of the Sitio Energization Program of which no less than President Rodrigo Duterte would like to realize.
However, Laniba said, this could not be realized as the budget for energization of sitios that remain without power supply has been pruned down.
Laniba said that it is Congress that has the powpower to allocate the needed budget.
He said that leaving these sitios still without power supply will result to injustice.
“It’s so different if a sitio has no electricity,” he Laniba said.
The four congressmen will also push for the cancellation of 12 percent tax imposed by the government that covers from generation, transmission, and distribution.
Laniba stressed that once this 12 percent tax would be removed,’it will result to reduction of power rates.’
Also, he said, the efforts by some multi-national companies, controlled mostly by the country’s oligarchs, to buy and take over power cooperatives could be blocked.
“(They) will protect the electric cooperatives from being privatized which will result to a 12 percent margin of profit,” Laniba said.(JOEY A. GABIETA)