TACLOBAN CITY – The City of Tacloban celebrated its 65th Charter Day Anniversary last June 12, simultaneous with the 120th Philippine Independence Day Celebration.
The city government under Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez led the twin celebrations which highlighted a Holy Mass and the traditional flag raising and floral offering ceremonies.
A Holy Mass was held at the Sto. Niño Parish Church attended by City Hall officials and employees started the celebration.
Following the Holy Mass was a flag raising ceremony and floral offering at the Plaza Rizal with members of the Sangguniang Panglungsod, regional directors, representatives of civic and professional organizations and students was held.
During the program, Mayor Romualdez’s independence and Charter day messages was read by Executive Assistant Pinky Brosas.
“Pagbabagong ipinaglaban, alay sa masaganang kinabukasan,” was the theme of this year’s Independence Day Celebration.
Tacloban City is celebrating its 65th cityhood anniversary this year, having been proclaimed a Chartered City by virtue of Republic Act No. 760 on June 20, 1952, signed by then Pres. Elpidio Quirino.
It took effect on June 12, 1953. The late House Speaker Daniel Z. Romualdez sponsored the law converting Tacloban into a Chartered City.
At present Tacloban, which is considered to be among the most competitive cities in the country, is poised for more progress and development with the entry of more investors.
Under Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez and ten years as a highly urbanized city, Tacloban is experiencing a business boom which is transforming the lone HUC in Eastern Visayas into one of the most viable cities in the country today.
To date, the income of the city government — the internal revenue allotment and the local revenue sources included amounts to more than a billion pesos.
(HENRY JAMES ROCA/CIO)

TACLOBAN CITY — At least eight major concerns related to resettlement have been raised by super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ survivors in Leyte and Samar provinces during the grassroots consultations initiated by the Office of the President.
These issues are defective housing units, location of houses vulnerable to flooding and landslides, lack of water, no electricity connection, non-availability of sustainable livelihood, no police visibility, poor drainage system, and lack of government facilities.
For the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the agency tasked to supervise rehabilitation projects after the 2013 catastrophe, these issues are not new, however, after the dialogues, concerned agencies came up with agreements to curb the problem.
“A lot of issues are recurring, but with the intervention of the Office of the President, we are expecting that these will be properly addressed,” said NEDA Regional Director Bonifacio Uy.
Presidential Assistant Wendel Avisado, the official assigned by President Rodrigo Duterte to oversee post-Yolanda rehabilitation efforts, led the grassroots consultations from March 19 to April 27, 2018.
Dialogues have been held in Tacloban City; Guiuan, Eastern Samar; Balangiga, Eastern Samar; Basey, Samar; Carigara, Leyte; Isabel, Leyte; Naval, Biliran; and Silago, Southern Leyte.
For instance, on substandard houses, Avisado asked beneficiaries to list specific defects of houses and submit to the National Housing Authority (NHA).
The official ordered NHA to convey the concerns to developer for “immediate rectification.”
NEDA-Eastern Visayas gave a copy of the issues and suggestions to the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Thursday.
On lack of facilities such as schools and health centers, this concern will be addressed by the inter-agency committee both in the national and local levels.
On water supply shortage, Avisado asked the Department of Public Works and Highways to add the volume of water delivery, the same list showed.
For long-term solution, local governments were told to link with Local Water Utilities Authority for implementation of water supply projects.
The consultation gathered issues and concerns encountered by survivors in resettlement sites and convene various government instrumentalities to identify interventions that will ensure sustainability of resettlement projects and improve their quality of life.
Each consultation was attended by 120 participants composed of beneficiaries of resettlement projects, local and national government officials, and representatives of civil society organizations.
On November 8, 2013, super typhoon Yolanda unleashed its wrath in central Philippines, killing around 6,300 people and leaving more than 4.4 million people displaced and homeless.
Tacloban City, the regional hub of Eastern Visayas region, was considered as “Yolanda’s” ground zero.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)

TACLOBAN CITY – The city government of Tacloban through Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez has extended assistance to 105 individuals who were displaced by the fire that razed several houses in Brgy. 20 corner Burgos Del Pilar St., last Saturday, June 9, 2018.
The City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) headed by Remedios Buna distributed Sunday, June 10, food packs and non-food items to 30 families affected by the fire that started 9:30 pm and was declared fire out an hour after.
Among the non-food items that were given to the victims were cooking utensils, clothing, blankets, mats and Hygiene Kits.
Meanwhile, Leyte First District Representative Yedda K. Romualdez also distributed financial assistance to 18 house owners amounting to P5,000 each.
Authorities reported that the damages caused by fire amounted to more than P1 million.
There was no reported death or injury from the incident. Eight families affected by the fire are temporarily sheltered at the Tacloban City Pilot Evacuation Center in Abucay.
(HENRY JAMES ROCA/CIO)

CATARMAN, Northern Samar- Senator Cynthia Villar said that protecting the already fragile environment of the country and the rest of the world is very important.
And she is thankful that there are still groups like the Philippine Environmental Science Association (PESA) which gives importance in preserving the environment through their various research works, Villar, who is the chairperson of the committee on environment at the Senate said Thursday (June 13).
“The goal for which the PESA was organized is to strengthen the value of environmental science as an inter-disciplinary field in analyzing and providing solutions to the perennial environmental problems of the country,” Villar said in her speech at the 7th Annual International Conference on Environmental Science held at the University of Eastern Philippines, this town.
Villar added that it is good to note that the youth particularly the students of the member-universities of PESA are not only concerned about the problems of the environment but are committed in finding solutions.
The senator believed that science through research and technology plays a very important role in solving various problems in various fields and sectors.
She further added that she supports PESA’s pro- active stance to continuously upgrade and advance the level of environmental science research an actions to address the environmental problems affecting the country.
She also appreciated that the conference tackled key environmental topics and issues such as climate change, bio diversity and conservation, disaster risk management and sustainable solutions.
Villar pointed out that the inputs, ideas and innovations that will result from the three-day conference will affect or solve not only environmental problems will also benefit many other sectors.
Villar stressed that protecting the environment is not just a concern of certain sector but by every individual.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

Chief Supt. Mariel Magaway is the new police director

CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, PALO, Leyte- The more than 20,000 police force of the region will have their new regional director after their incumbent leader, Chief Supt. Gilberto Cruz, formally bowed out from his post he held for nine months on Monday (June 4).
Cruz, who assumed his post August 31,2017, will be replaced by Chief Supt. Mariel Magaway, who is the current chief of the intelligence command of the national PNP.
Cruz, who received his relief order on June 1, will be assigned as the deputy chief of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations-Eastern Mindanao based at Camp Crame.
The former regional police director asked the police force of the region to also give the same trust and confidence that they gave him to Chief Supt. Magaway.
The change of command of PNP-8 leadership is part of a reshuffle among top regional officials initiated by PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde.
Magaway was not around during the change of command program held at the grounds of Camp Ruperto Kangleon, the regional PNP-8 headquarters, this town.
Cruz said that while he welcomes his new appointment, he will also miss Eastern Visayas.
“Medyo malungkot. Mami-miss mo ang samahan sa kapulisan, yung adventures and journey that we went through together,” he said during an interview after the turn over ceremony.
But he was happy that during his nine-month stay in the region, Cruz said that he had accomplished so many things.
For one, he said, it was under his watch that three of the six provinces of the region were declared as drug-cleared, namely, Southern Leyte, Biliran, and Northern Samar and four of its seven cities were also declared as such, namely, Tacloban, Ormoc, Baybay and Maasin.
About 97 percent of the region’s 4, 390 barangays were also declared as drug-free under his watch, he said.
Cruz is also known as an environmentalist as he led several operations against illegal logging activities in the region.
Before he bow out from the region, he led in the blessing of the 30-feet image of Crucified Jesus Christ which he dubbed as “Environmental Jesus’ located right inside the PNP regional headquarters.
The image is made of scrap materials like confiscated chain saws and firearms, among others.
Cruz said that he hope that the image, made by Lucky Salayog, will symbolize fight against environment destruction.
During the fourth anniversary of destruction of super typhoon ‘Yolanda’last year, Cruz also initiated in the construction of the image of St.Medard, patron saint of protection against bad storms, located in Tanauan, Leyte.
He also supervised the most peaceful conduct of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in the region held last May 14.

By: Joey A. Gabieta/Lizbeth Ann A. Abella

Declared as persona non grata by city council

CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, PALO, Leyte- The embattled police provincial director for Samar, Senior Superintendent Nicholas Torre III, said that he is willing to reach out to his perceived adversaries in the province.
He, however, was quick to say that his adversaries should not take his actions personally as he maintained that these were just part of his duty as a police officer.
Torre became the first ever police official of the region to be declared as persona non grata after the city council of Calbayog City passed a resolution of such effect on May 21 citing his alleged failure to solve killing incidents in the city and some towns of the province.
This allegation was denied by Torre saying that most of the killing incidents cited occurred when he was not yet the provincial director of Samar.
“Of course (I’m willing to reach out to them). I don’t see any problem of it. I did not start the problem. If we have some differences of opinions, so be it,” he said Monday (June 4).
“I’m not mad (with them). It’s just part of my job and spices of my being a police officer,” Torre added.
He also said that despite of the persona non grata resolution, he still visits Calbayog to meet his men there.
Torre also said that he is proud of the police force of Calbayog, calling them ‘professionals’ and ‘shield’ them from getting involved in partisan politics.
He also dismissed the claim that he played favorite among officials in Samar saying that as a provincial director, he deals most of the time with Governor Sharee Ann Tan, who chair the Regional Peace and Order Council.
“I am a provincial director and we work closely with the governor and other government officials,” Torre said.
Part of the persona non grata petition against Torre was that he engages in ‘political partisan activity.’
The incumbent mayor of Calbayog City, Reynaldo Aquino, is a known political enemy of Gov. Tan whose sister Angel, ran against him during the 2016 elections.
Asked if his confident that he could retain his post with a new regional director, Torre said that he will leave it up to their new leader, Chief Supt. Mariel Magaway, to decide.
“That’s remain to be seen. It depends to our new regional director. It depends on his appreciation, on my performance. I always respect the decision of the higher-ups,” Torre said.
But if he will be relief from his post, Torre said that he will accept it.
“That’s ok. Why, is my name engrave forever as a provincial director?” Torre said.
Torre has the backing of several town mayors of the province, to include Catbalogan City Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan, and Gov. Tan.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)