TACLOBAN CITY- A cause-oriented group has urged the city government here to enforce its ordinance banning the selling of cigarettes within 100 meters from schools and public playgrounds.
“(The)City Hall should enforce the law prohibiting stores from selling cigarettes if they are located near schools and areas that minors regularly visit,” said Vince Basiano of the Rural Poor Institute for Land and Human Rights Services, Inc. (Rights Inc.) for Tacloban.
“Children should be insulated from the dangers of tobacco as much as possible so that they won’t be exposed to the highly addictive nature of nicotine and take up dangerous habit of smoking,” he added.
Basiano said they have observed that cigarettes and other tobacco products continue to be freely sold by stores in the city despite being located near schools and places that children frequent.
“Moreover, smokers continue to light up in public places without regard for the environment and the health of their fellow residents,” he said.
Meanwhile, City Vice Mayor Jerry “Sambo” Yaokasin said that concerted effort is needed to educate the public regarding the ill effects of smoking to health.
“We have asked the Traffic Operation Management Enforcement and Control Office (Tomeco) to remove billboards of cigarette brands from sarisari stores,” Yaokasin said in an interview.
According to Cynthia Esquillo, heads of Rights’ anti-tobacco advocacy program, the full implementation of the said ordinance “will protect the health of its children and enhance the reputation of the city as a child-friendly city.”
Rights cited Tacloban City Ordinance No. 2009-10-160 which was enacted to “protect the populace from hazardous products and promote the right to health and instill health consciousness among them.”
Section 11 of the ordinance, which was passed in March 2009, also prohibits “the sale, distribution, or promotion of tobacco products is prohibited within one hundred meters from any point of the perimeter of a school, public playground, or other facility frequented particularly by minors.”
Earlier, the Department of Health (DOH) regional official urged local government units to attain smoke-free environments.
(RONALD O. REYES)
Group urges ban on selling cigarettes near Tacloban schools, playgrounds
BFAR, groups launch activity on red tide detection and mitigation
JIABONG, Samar-The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) partnered with the local government unit of this town for the regional launching of hazard detection and mitigation for algal blooms in changing marine environment held on Thursday (March 14).
The program, funded by the Department of Science and Technology, is implemented by University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI) together with the Community Alliance for the Sustainability of our Threatened Seas (Coasts).
The overall goal of the activity is to promote an early warning system that would help address problems related to the occurrence of harmful algal blooms (HABs).
According to BFAR Regional Director Juan Albaladejo, red tide poses threats to the health and safety of shellfish consumers.
He added that paralytic shellfish poisoning or PSP have caused illnesses and several mortality incidents through the years.
During the launching, participants from the villages of Malubago and Maligaya, whose residents are into ‘tahong’ or green mussels industry, engaged themselves in discussions to better understand their risks from harmful algal blooms.
In the course of the project, participants will undergo training for increased awareness about red tide and develop their capacity for monitoring and response.
They will also engage in active participation in monitoring water quality and red tide.
The same program will be launched in Capiz, Western Visayas, and Bolinao, Panganisan.
These pilot sites, to include Jiabong, were chosen based on their different HAB types and their importance in contributing to seafood production.
Coasts is hopeful to build a network of partners towards improved food safety, livelihood security and ultimately good quality of waters.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
Rep. Veloso mulls of filing legal action against PDEA, PNP
Named by Pres. Duterte in the ‘narco-list’
TACLOBAN CITY-Leyte Rep. Vicente ‘Ching’ Veloso strongly denied that he is involved in the illegal drug trade, adding that the inclusion of his name in the so-called ‘narco-list politicians’ not only destroys his reputation but his life is now at stake.
Veloso, who is seeking for a second term in this year’s midterm elections for Leyte’s third congressional district, was surprised why his name was included in the list of alleged narco-politicians.
On Thursday night, President Rodrigo Duterte named Veloso, a former justice of the Court of Appeals before entering politics, named Veloso among the 46 elected officials in the narco-list.
“I am not blaming the President. He is just like a father doing what his children asked him to do. He is just doing his work. He said that (the list) is verified but I am far from that,” Veloso, in a phone interview, said.
“I have been known here (in the third congressional district) as a performing politician and not as a narco-politician. I don’t smoke, drink, gamble. I don’t have any vices. This is the kind of discipline that I impose to my children,” the solon said.
Veloso added that one of his thrusts as a lawmaker is to eliminate the proliferation of illegal drugs in his district and has been extending support to the campaign of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) like joining them on their anti-illegal drug campaign and donating motorcycle for their use on their operations.
But Veloso admitted that with his inclusion to the dreaded list resulted for his reputation under question and worst, his life could be put in line.
“I am concerned now with my security. After this baka ma-tokhang na ako,” he said.
Tokhang refers to the manner how the police and members of the anti-drug enforcers carry out their anti-illegal drug campaign which, some human rights groups say result to death of some drug suspects.
Veloso said that he also fears for his family’s security, adding that they want him to withdraw on his reelection bid after his name was included among the country’s narco-politicians.
“But I told them that if I will do that, this will only allow the evil ones to prevail. I will not ran against a fight, especially if my reputation is being besmirch,” he added.
The lawmaker said that he would go on with his reelection bid as he continue to enjoy the support of the people in the district. “They told me never to surrender and give up,” he said.
Veloso recalled that in one of the Senate hearings conducted by its committee on public order and illegal drugs, he personally attended it to confront Kerwin Espinosa, alleged drug kingpin of Eastern Visayas.
Veloso said that Espinosa denied and even apologized to him that his name was dragged among politicians that he allegedly deal for his anti-drug activity.
“I thought this is over. This is just a rehash of previous accusation. Its election time,” he said.
Still, the solon said that he will face the allegation as he vowed to clear his name, adding that he will ask for a congressional inquiry once their session resumes on May 22 as to why his name was included.
He also said that he would file criminal case against some personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Philippine National Police, and the Department of Interior and Local Government for including his name without any basis.
By: JOEY A. GABIETA
14th Pacific Partnership in the Philippines
Americans to help in the repair of schools, health stations, and beach clean-up
Pacific Partnership 2019
TACLOBAN CITY- For the next two weeks, residents of this city would be seeing foreign servicemen and women, notably Americans, doing some beach cleaning and repair works of some public schools.
The foreign soldiers, who are mostly assigned in the Navy, are part of the around 200-strong men and women who comprises the delegation in this year’s Pacific Partnership who will do series of activities in selected areas in the city.
The two-week activity was formally opened on Monday (March 11) with Mayor Cristina Romualdez expressing her gratitude to the foreign delegation for coming to the city for the second time.
According to the city mayor, their coming to Tacloban will be a big help to the city and its people who still vividly recalled what happened to them almost five years ago.
Tacloban was considered as the ground zero when the world’s strongest typhoon to hit inland, super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ hit Eastern Visayas on November 8,2013 that resulted to loss of more than 2,200 lives and destruction of properties amounting to billions of pesos.
The group arrived in the city in 2014 which conducted in the rehabilitation of several public schools, among others.
For this year’s Pacific Partnership, the participating soldiers coming from the US, United Kingdom, Canada, Peru, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Japan,Malaysia and Thailand, are to conduct repairs of several public schools and health centers in the city as well as help on a beach clean-up.
They will also conduct series of activities related risk reduction management.
John Law, US deputy chief of mission to the Philippines, said that they are just too glad to return to the country, one of the world’s most prone to natural disasters.
He called their two-week stay in the city as an ‘extraordinary mission.’
“We all know that when a natural disaster strikes, it is sudden and without warning. It is always catching people at the worst possible time and if we have not done any preparation…. causes extraordinary devastation to the individuals, to the communities, to the economies and to our lives,” he said.
For his part, Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, representing Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenzana, said that the holding of the exercise in Tacloban is ‘very timely and remarkable’ in our campaign for disaster resilience.
The Pacific Partnership is considered to be the largest annual, multilateral disaster response preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific.
This annual maritime operation will help disaster response preparedness, resiliency and capacity while enhancing partnerships with participating nations and civilian humanitarian organizations within the Indo-Pacific area.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)