CATBALOGAN CITY- The New People’s Army (NPA) in the region has suffered a major blow as they failed to successfully carry out their attack on a police station in Victoria, Northern Samar.
Thus said Major General Raul Farnacio, commanding general of the 8th Infantry Division, based this city.
What made the failure doubly frustrating to the rebels was it happened while they were to celebrate their 50th founding anniversary, Farnacio said.
The NPA observed their founding anniversary on March 29.
To recall, about 80 NPA rebels attacked the police station in Victoria on March 28 but was frustrated by 15 policemen, led by their chief of police, Lt. Eladio Alo, who engaged them to a two hour gun battle.
This resulted to the death of three rebels and the captured of three others.
At least two policemen were hurt during the predawn attack.
Farnacio said that the NPA rebels further suffered defeat with the surrender of a top rank rebel leader in Leyte.
He said that ‘Ka Bayong’ of the Apoy Platoon, informed them that more rebels are planning to surrender and return to the folds of the law and want to avail the program of the government for those who want to surrender.
“What we can assure the public is that members of the Philippine Army is always ready and willing to do what is necessary for the triumph of the government,” Farnacio said.
The region’s top Army official also said that their forces are further augmented with the return of their forces earlier assigned in Mindanao and Negros and the assignment of the elite force of the Philippine National Police, Special Action Force, to the region.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is hoping to improve its budget utilization rate for Eastern Visayas projects this year despite bottlenecks that are out of the agency’s control.
DPWH Regional Director Nerie Bueno said they have mapped out plans to fast-track spending this year after seeing reports that only P17.32 billion or 41.95 percent of the P42.64 billion allotment last year has been disbursed as of Dec. 31, 2018. The figure is way below than the 70 percent to 75 percent ideal budget utilization rate.
“The regional office is fully aware of the problem and we have to address it in 2019. We don’t want to commit the same mistakes over and over again,” Bueno told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Wednesday.
Although P41.29 billion or 96.84 percent of the 2018 outlay has been obligated, actual disbursement remains low due to some factors considered by DPWH as out of their control.
These include bad weather, insufficient workforce provided by the contractors, road right of way acquisition issues, difficulty on transportation of construction materials and scheduling of equipment, peace and order problem in Samar Island, and repeated bidding failures.
“Some contractors are not interested to build infrastructure in remote areas because they have many choices with a lot of projects being rolled out under the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program. Road right of way problem is major setback since we have to talk to people and deal with a lot of legal issues,” Bueno added.
Last year, the region completed 716 out of the 1,040 regular projects listed under the 2018 General Appropriations Act. Some 271 projects were ongoing while 52 others have not yet started as of Dec. 31, 2018, according to DPWH records.
To curb project delays in the future, the department has started pre-detailed engineering activities as early as first quarter of 2019 for projects programmed in 2020.
For 2019, the DPWH is eyeing a P27.62 billion budget under the 2019 National Expenditure Program. The proposal went up to P61.11 billion in 2020.
No single project for 2019 has started its construction this year due to pending approval of the 2019 budget bill after months of budget deadlock as Senate and House of Representatives failed to reach consensus.
The 2019 proposed budget has been submitted to the President for scrutiny but Malacañang could not say when it will be signed.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Commission on Population and Development (Popcom) and the Association of Government Information Officers (AGIO) in the region recently forged a memorandum of agreement to strengthen the Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning (RPFP) program through the conduct of classes in the workplace of government offices.
Popcom Regional Director Elnora Pulma said that there is a great demand for information and discussion on responsible parenthood, family planning, and clarification on the common myths and misconceptions of various contraceptive methods in workplaces, thus, RPFP is now being brought to the workplace.
Under the re-strengthening of the National Program on Family Planning (NPFP) under President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, workers’ access to family planning information and services need to be increased by promoting RPFP in the workplace to include those in large companies, in various, informal economies and government offices.
“We have been bringing RPFP to the grassroots. It’s about time we bring it to our partner government offices because our workers also need family planning information and services,” Pulma said.
RPFP Program aims to help couples/parents exercise responsible parenting to achieve their desired number, timing and spacing of their children, and to contribute in improving the maternal, neonatal and child health, and nutrition (MNCHN) has been made in harmony with DOLE’s Family Welfare Program to which its first component is the RPRH.
The AGIO-8, which is under the auspices of the Philippine Information Agency, is a group of government information officers, who assists in all program advocacies of all its government partners.
Popcom tapped the AGIO-8 recognizing their role as potent partners in advocacy and help to ensure women workers to have access to comprehensive family planning, and to support their right to decide whether, when, and how many children they want to have.
As part of the agreement, AGIO member-agencies are to identify participants to undertake the appropriate programs/ lectures/ symposia and trainings in relation to RPFP who will be made aware of the FP programs and services under the principle of Informed Choice and Volunteerism (ICV) during the orientation; cascade and disseminate content information on RPFP through social media; and institutionalize the program by including RPFP as part of their Gender and Development and Health and Wellness Program.
(LIZBETH ANN A.ABELLA)