Zumarraga police force

TACLOBAN CITY- The entire police force of a town in Samar province are under quarantine after they were exposed to an inmate who was confirmed to have the coronavirus.
Police Lt. Reynato Gerona, police chief of Zumarraga town, said that he and his 16 subordinates and four non-uniformed personnel, are now at their station for a quarantine.
Last June 14, he and his four men went to Caloocan City to pick up a 50-year old man, suspected for a rape charge last year, arrested by the elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the said city.
The suspect obtained a medical certificate from the Caloocan Medical Center that he was physically fit, Gerona said, adding that it did not state whether he was positive of the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19).
On June 17, as part of the procedure, the suspect was swabbed and on June 24, the result was released which turned out to be positive.
“We had our rapid test last June 16 which turned out to be negative and we are scheduled for our swab test this week. But we are all okay. We are not showing any of the symptoms. Hopefully, the result would turn out to be negative,” Gerona, in a phone interview, said.
The inmate who is positive of COVID-19, is also not showing any symptoms, the town police chief, adding that every now and then, his cell is being disinfected.
Gerona said that despite that they are all in quarantine, the peace and order of the town is not affected.
“We have asked help from our barangay tanods to help us maintain our peace and order. So far, everything’s okay here in Zumarraga. We are peaceful here,” he said.
the town police chief added that they are thankful for the total support being extended to them by Mayor Myrna Tan.
Mayor Tan earlier placed the town poblacion under enhanced community quarantine as part of the contact tracing and ensure that the virus would not spread in the town of close to 17,000 people.
The town has a total of four COVID-19 confirmed cases.
Mayor Tan also issued an appeal to the residents who want to return to the town to defer it for the meantime.
“Please don’t take it as we are denying your right to return here in Zumarraga. This is for the good of the majority of our people here,” the town mayor said.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- Sheila Camposano,34 and a mother of two children, worked as a waitress in one of the restaurants here in the city.
But after only working for less than five months, she lost her job last March, the time the quarantine period started due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“The restaurant stopped its operation which resulted for us workers to lose our jobs. I am just an ordinary food server earning less than P200 a day. But now, I have no job and I have been looking around with no positive result at all,” she said.
She said that she even went to house-to-house just to find work as a house help.
Camposano is just one of the more than 250,000 people in the region who have lost their employment related to the COVID-19 pandemic, report the regional office of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
According to the PSA, as of April of this year, about 251,000 people in Eastern Visayas were rendered unemployment amid the COVID-19 pandemic which saw several business establishments either totally closing or limiting their operations which resulted to job losses.
The PSA said that the number of people who lost their work represents a whopping 14.3 unemployment rate of the region which higher by 10.3 percent compare to the same period of April,2019 or 4.0 percent.
This makes Eastern Visayas as the fifth region in the country to have posted a high unemployment rate during this time of pandemic.
Meantime, the underemployed or those employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional job was estimated at 328,000 April 2020.
This figure translates to an underemployment rate of 21.8 percent, higher than the 18.6 percent recorded in the same period last year.
The region has about 1.7 million in the employment force in April of this year, PSA said.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY- Jan Joshua Inghoy of Barangay 62-A Sagkahan, eagerly received his P3,250 salary from Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa ating Displaced Worker (TUPAD) #Barangay Ko, Bahay Ko, or Tupad #BKBK, a jointly implemented program of the local government and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), on Wednesday, June 24 at the Tacloban City Hall.
Inghoy, who has been unemployed for four months, was among the 34 beneficiaries for the first batch of release and worked four hours for 10 days of disinfection and sanitation work of their dwellings and immediate vicinity.
“This program really helped us during this trying times, we need not only disinfect our houses but also participated in sanitizing our community to contain the spread of the dreaded coronavirus disease (COVID-19),” the beneficiary explained.
According to Public Employment Service Office (PESO) Development Management Officer Katherine Peliño, the said program aimed to augment the income of the unemployed poor through short-term community work and temporary employment that can improve their living conditions.
“The displaced workers have been deployed since June 1, and their work ended last June 11,” she said.
Overall, a total of P487, 500 worth of wages was allocated for the 150 informal sector workers who have qualified from the TUPAD #BKBK program.
The second batch of beneficiaries is set to receive their salary on Friday, June 26, 2020, PESO reported. (TACLOBAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)

TACLOBAN CITY- Taranganan’s youngest patient afflicted by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is fully recovering.
This was disclosed by Mayor Arnel Tan who commended the boy’ as ‘very courageous’ who was placed at the town’s isolation facility as part of the protocols.
“Our youngest COVID-19 patient, a 9-year old boy, is now fully recovering from the infection and is now out from the Municipal isolation facility and recently attended the community reintegration process,” the town mayor said.
Tan said that despite being the youngest among the patients, the boy was very courageous and well-disciplined in following necessary protocols that are being implemented inside the facility.
He never feared being isolated amidst his young age. Instead, he showed determination in fighting the disease until his full recovery, added Tan.
“Such very commendable attitude for a young one,” he added.
The town is the first area in the region to be declared by the Department of Health to have a local transmission of COVID-19 cases on April 27.
Tarangnan had its first two confirmed cases on April 7 involving personnel of the 10-bed Tarangnan Community Hospital who got the virus from their co-worker, a doctor from Calbayog City, who recently traveled to Metro Manila.
On April 28, Mayor Tan issued Executive Order 8 placing the entire town under total lockdown, restricting the movement of its over 25,000 people.
The lockdown took effect until June 15.
On June 16, 4 news cases were recorded from Tarangnan town with one positive repeat swab.
To date Tarangnan has 35 total number of COVID-19 cases, 6 active cases, 2 under-recovery facility and 27 total number of individuals being re –integrated to the community. (LIZBETH ANN A.ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The temporary suspension on the return of the locally stranded individuals (LSIs) was welcomed by the mayors in Leyte province, in particular, saying this would ‘help’ contain somehow the further spread of COVID-19.
To recall, Interior Sec. Eduardo Año has called for the temporary lifting on the return of the LSIs in the entire region amid spike of COVID-19 cases of the region which was partly blamed to the surge of the arrivals of the LSIs.
Mayor Ma. Rosario Avestruz of Barugo town who is the spokesperson of the League of Mayors-Leyte Chapter, said that they were happy that their request for the temporary suspension of the LSIs were heeded by Sec.Ano.
‘This lifting, though temporary, will really help us local government units as we are already overwhelmed with the number of LSIs arriving in our respective areas,” Avestruz, in a phone interview, said.
She also said that the lesser number of LSIs coming to the provinces would also help in the decrease on the number of COVID-19 cases.
The town of Barugo has about two confirmed COVID-19 cases with about 110 LSIs, among others, now under their quarantine facilities.
“(The suspension) will also help us LGUs in terms of funding because we are allocating funds for the daily meals of these people,” Avestruz said.
She, however, was quick to say that they do ‘welcome’ their kababayans to return but not during this time while they are grappling the impacts of the pandemic.
In Leyte, the return of the LSIs, to include those who availed of the Balik Probinsiya program and the returning overseas workers, contributed to the dramatic increase of its COVID-19 cases.
At present, Leyte has about 224 COVID-19 cases, majority of them were LSIs, returning overseas workers and those who availed of the Balik Probinsiya program.
Meanwhile, the regional office of the Department of Health (DOH) in Eastern Visayas reported of 16 new COVID-19 cases of which 13 of them were LSIs.
This increase to 467 the total number of COVID-19 cases of the region.
These LSIS confirmed to have acquired the virus were from the towns of Libangon (one), and Sogod, 10, both from Southern Leyte province; and one each from Calbayog City and San Jorge town, both in Samar province.
The other fresh cases of COVID-19 of the region were from Catbalogan City, Samar, 2; and Kananga, Leyte, 1.
(JOEY A. GABIETA with LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)