ORMOC CITY-Education Secretary Leonor Briones thumbs down on the clamor of public school teachers for an increase of their salaries.
Briones made this declaration on the eve of the annual World Teachers Day celebration Friday(Oct.5)with Ormoc City hosting this year’s event attended by 6,500 teachers from all over the country.
The Education Secretary, in a press conference here Thursday night, said that raising teachers’ salaries could possibly result for the government to impose new tax increase just to meet the demand of the teachers as well as other government workers, to include those serving in the local government sector.
“Right now, the budget of the Department of Education is P527 billion and more than P350 billion go to the salaries of the teachers. If we give in to the demand that we’ll have an increase on the starting salaries of P29,000, it will cost us another P350 billion,” she said.
“Now, I would like to ask and consult all of you here as I presumably presumed that all of you are taxpayers, are you prepared, can we afford to contribute P350 billion more in taxes to increase the salaries of the teachers?,” Briones, a former national treasurer, said.
“While we think the personal needs of our teachers, we have to also to think the rest of the economy. We also have to think the rest of the Filipinos and we have to prosper together,” she added.
Public school teachers, particularly those belonging to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) are demanding for an increase of salaries from the current P21,000 to P30,000 as starting salary citing as the increase on the prices of commodities and utilities.
Briones also said that another factor why she is not in favor to increase the salaries of the teachers is doing so could result to exodus of teachers coming from private schools.
This is because teachers teaching in private schools receives as low as P6,000 for their salary which is very small compare to the starting salary being received by a public school teacher.
She said that a private teacher, once he or she passes the LET (Licensure Exam for Teachers), will immediately apply for a teaching job in a public school lured by its higher salary.
“The most a teacher will stay in a private school will be three years. Pagpumasa na yan sa let,aalis na yun. We cannot promote the interest of the public school teachers (at the expense of private school teachers),” Briones said.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY – On October 1(Monday), the highly urbanized city of Tacloban was recognized as one of the first eligible cities of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Local Government Support Fund Assistance to Cities in ceremonies coinciding with the celebration of World Habitat Day.
DBM Secretary Benjamin Diokno led in the event held at the National Museum of Natural History in Manila.
Also present to give their messages of support were Senators Loren Legarda, Sonny Angara, and League of Cities president Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan.
Tacloban City became eligible to the P14 million grant that will be used by the city government for the development of a new park at the Abucay Transport Terminal – a priority project of Mayor Cristina Romualdez.
According to the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO), the park which will be located at the heart of the transport terminal will cover 2,063.267 square meters will feature a fountain and a landscaped lawn planted with endemic plants and trees.
Other features of the proposed park will be a commercial area, public toilets, food court, shaded waiting and picnic areas spaces for commuters and visitors.
The park’s design was conceptualized by the City Architect’s Office.
One of the city government’s flagship programs under Mayor Romualdez is the Clean Green and Resilient Tacloban which promotes eco-friendly initiatives such as the upkeep and maintenance of “green spaces” within the city.
At present, Tacloban City has only one public park maintained by the city government, which is the Astrodome Park and Playground.
The park, located within the Tacloban City Convention Center grounds, has become a favorite spot for locals and visitors to the City.
(Tacloban City Information Office)

CALBAYOG CITY- Samar Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento said that his bill proposing for an increase of the bed capacity of the Schistomiasis Hospital and Research Center (SHRC) has been approved by the health committee of the House of Representatives.
This means, the Samar solon said, with an increased capacity, the said health facility located in Palo, Leyte, could now increase the number of its patients.
Under his proposed House Bill 5272, Sarmiento proposed to increase to 80 SHRC’s current bed capacity of 25.
The health committee of the Lower House approved the Sarmiento bill on October 2.
“The current budget of the hospital can only provide for 25 beds but the facility has an average of 61.5 admitted patients per day. On its peak, the number of admitted patients can balloon to 75-80. We can only imagine the discomfort and inconvenience that this overcrowding causes to sick patients in need of immediate medical attention,” Sarmiento said.
According to Sarmiento, one of the reasons why he pushed to increase SHRC’s bed capacity is because schistomiasis ‘is a major concern in the first district of Samar,’ his congressional district.
Schistosomiasis is a debilitating, parasitic disease which can eventually lead to death. Unfortunately, Samar is one of the areas where the disease is endemic,” Sarmiento said on his message he posted on his Facebook account.
“When I was informed of how widespread and grave the disease is, I immediately acted and mobilized stakeholder LGUs to curb its spread. Thus, we have been distributing toilets to achieve zero-open defecation and ensuring access to potable water sources for everyone, among others,” he added, referring to the measures he undertaken to address the disease that afflicts several of his constituents in the district.
Rep. Sarmiento said that he will make sure that his bill will become a law.
SHRC, the only hospital in the Philippines recognized for schistosomiasis infection management, was founded in 1975 created by virtue of Presidential Decree 1062.
Aside from serving the people of Leyte, it also serve patients from Samar and Surigao provinces. (JOEY A. GABIETA/HENRY PUYAT)

TACLOBAN CITY – The city government of Tacloban through its Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) and in coordination with the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) and senior citizens organizations join the nation in celebrating the “Elderly Filipino Week.”
The weeklong event aims to raise awareness on R.A. 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 commenced this week in Tacloban.
This year’s celebration with the theme “Kilalanin at Parangalan: Tagasulong ng karapatan ng nakakatanda tungo sa lipunang mapagkalinga” was highlighted with the “Elderly Day” held at Robinsons Place Marasbaras on Thursday (Oct.4).
During the day-long event, senior citizens enjoyed free services courtesy of the city government like free bone screening, montreal cognitive assessment service, free haircut and massage services, manicure and pedicure.
Lectures on elder abuse and nutrition were also held during the event.
A dialogue/consultation with local establishments, transport groups, and government agencies was also scheduled to discuss concerns and issues pertaining to the benefits and privileges of senior citizens as mandated under R.A. 9994
The search for King Lolo and Queen Lola- 2018 is also slated this Saturday (Oct.6) at the Tacloban City Convention Center (Astrodome).
Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez considers the welfare of elderly city residents a priority of her administration; among the services of the city government available for senior citizens are the provision of financial assistance, medical assistance, and burial assistance.
Meanwhile, from 864 beneficiaries in 2015, the number of social pensioners in Tacloban has now increased to 5,373 for 2018.
This can be attributed to the extensive campaign of the City Social Welfare Office to enroll indigent senior citizens to the government pension program.
Proclamation No. 470 issued by then President Fidel V. Ramos in 1994 started the yearly celebration of the Elderly Filipino Week, with the aim of raising awareness on R.A. 9994 and to address issues concerning the older persons’ sector. (HENRY JAMES G. ROCA/CIO)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Tourism (DOT) reported that Leyte continues to have the highest number of tourists among the provinces and cities in the region.
Of the 1.51 million tourists, local and foreigners alike, who visited the region last year, more than 971,000 of them visited Leyte who went to it various tourist attractions.
The most frequently visited destination in the province by the tourists were Kalanggaman Island in Palompon town and Cuatro Islas, a group of four islets located in Hindang and Inopacan.
Tacloban City, the premier city of the region, had the second number of tourist arrivals last year with 532,800 tourists.
Samar, whose provincial government under Governor Sharee Ann Tan is strengthening the province’ tourism promotion, was visited by 212,189 tourists followed by Baybay City with 157, 364; Southern Leyte (142,970 tourists); Ormoc City,119,099; Calbayog City with 115, 997; Catbalogan City,95,147; Northern Samar(83, 433); Eastern Samar(78, 422); Maasin City with 72,604; Borongan City with 57, 945; and Biliran province with 23,297.
In terms of grouping percentage, North Americans had the biggest part of the pie with 24.77 percent, followed by East Asian with 11.88 percent, European with 8.86 percent, Australasia with 6.45 percent and Asian with 1.76 percent.
Rodel Balierbare, DOT8 tourism operation officer and in-charge of tourism statistics, said that they are targeting to achieve 1.76 million tourist arrivals.
For next year, the DOT is targeting 2.10 million visitors in the region and 2.51 million by 2020.
The DOT also reported that tourist receipt reached to P13.97 billion in 2017, an increase from the P11.68 billion in 2016.
The increasing number of tourist arrivals in the region is being complemented with the implementation of infrastructure programs and tourism industry skills program (TISP), said Balierbare.
Under the Tourism Road Infrastructure Program (TRIP), 29 road access projects to tourism sites were given allocation of P1.84 billion budget for this year.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)