TACLOBAN CITY – A joint operation of the regional offices of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) resulted in the confiscation of cigarettes with fake tax stamps in Ormoc City.
Jess Gadaingan, NBI special investigator III told Leyte Samar Daily Express in an interview that the joint operation conducted by NBI and BIR raided a warehouse and an apartment in Ormoc City on yesterday and yielded the cigarettes bearing fake BIR cigarettes stamps.
Gadaingan said that the BIR and NBI has identified the source of the illegal cigarette products (fake cigarettes with fake tax stamps) proliferating in Ormoc which promoted them to conduct the operation against the illicit trader.
Gadaingan, however, did not give the volume of the products confiscated.
On the other hand, a reliable source from the BIR said that the operation seized 2,026 master cases (boxes) or 20,260,000 sticks at both target sites.
The estimated value of the confiscated cigarettes was valued P60 million and the estimated loss by the government in excise taxes was placed at P35.5 Million.
Gadaingan said that both NBI and BIR are still investigating as to where the fake cigarettes came from.
It is not yet known if these were produced domestically or from outside the country.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)

ORMOC CITY-The central government on Friday (Nov.9) began enforcing the suggested retail prices (SRP) for rice in cities and provinces nationwide.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the National Food Authority (NFA), backed by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Philippine National Police, will start imposing sanctions against traders and retailers not complying with the SRP set for both local and imported rice sold in the market.
In consultation with rice industry stakeholders, the following SRP were set: regular milled rice (local), P39 per kg.; well-milled rice (local), P44 per kg.; premium rice (local), P47 per kg.; well-milled rice (imported), P39 per kg.; and premium rice (imported), P43 per kg.
“This is to stabilize the price of rice. No more hoarding, no speculation. It’s good for consumers, market, and farmers. The SRP will be adjusted based on the volume of harvest and world market prices,” Piñol said during the launch of the SRP program at the city market here.
“Sanctions include a written warning on the first offense and for succeeding offenses, the violators could suffer penalties of a jail term of between four months and four years and a penalty of between PHP2,000 and PHP1 million. The NFA will also cancel their licenses to engage in rice trading and retailing,” he said.
If there are violators, the NFA regional and provincial managers will be relieved, Piñol said.
NFA officer-in-charge Tomas Escares said they will start sending warnings to violators on Monday and impose penalties a week after.
“Our order to NFA managers is to strictly implement the SRP program to ensure that affordable rice is available in the market,” Escares said.
The use of fancy names for rice, such as “Sinandomeng”, “Super Angelica”, “Double Diamond”, and others, which mislead the consumers, will also be stopped, according to the agriculture chief.
The SRP for Metro Manila and nearby areas was implemented last Oct. 27 although the penalties and fines could only be enforced 15 days after the publication of the guidelines, as approved by the NFA Council. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)

ORMOC CITY– The Leyte fourth district engineering office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (4th DEO-DPWH) posted an 84 percent accomplishments of its various projects.
This was disclosed by assistant district engineer (ADE) Irwin Antonio during a recently-held press conference.
According to ADE Antonio, as of October 15, 2018, the Leyte Fourth DEO posted 84% accomplishments for CY 2018 Projects.
“We are now on the last quarter of the year and out of 108 projects, 80 were already completed and 28 projects are nearing completion. We have a positive slippage in terms of actual accomplishments as compared to the planned project accomplishments target,” he said during the interview.
Projects implemented by the Leyte Fourth DEO includes network development – road widening of primary roads, construction of by-pass and diversion roads, construction/improvement of access roads leading to declared tourist destinations, flood management program, local infrastructure program – roads and bridges, buildings and other structures, among others.
Leyte fourth DEO will continue to render its service by implementing quality standards projects all throughout the 4th district of Leyte. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY-The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA-8) conducted a scholar’s orientation and held a memorandum of agreement signing to the newly-admitted scholars for Education for Development Scholarship Program (EDSP), OFW Dependent Scholarship Program (ODSP), and Education and Livelihood Assistance Program for the School Year 2018-2019.
A total of 130 scholars – 95 ODSP scholars, 15 EDSP scholars and 20 ELAP scholars – gathered at Ritz Tower de Leyte last October 29, 2018 for the said activities along with their parents and guardians.
The orientation and MOA signing was conducted in two batches due to the large numbers of newly admitted scholars for this school year, ODSP scholars from the provinces of Southern Leyte, Biliran, Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar joined the first batch of the orientation in the morning whilst ODSP scholars from Leyte, the EDSP scholars and ELAP scholars were the one present in the afternoon session.
OIC Regional Director, Juliet Z. Tan, delivered the opening remarks to welcome and congratulate the present scholars and parents.
She gave encouraging words to the students and prompted them to always strive to reach their goal – to finish their studies.
She assured them that OWWA will be at their side in their journey of reaching this goal. Finally, she encourage them to listen carefully in the orientation and not to hesitate to raise their concerns and clarifications during the orientation.
Salient points contained in the scholarship agreement were discussed during the orientation.
The activity concluded with the signing of the memorandum of agreement between OWWA, the scholar and the parent.
EDSP scholars receive P60,000 financial assistance per school year, while ODSP scholars receive P20,000 and ELAP scholars receive P10,000 for college students, P8,000 for high school students and P5,000 for elementary pupils. OWWA accepts application for the different scholarship program two months prior the start of every school year.
(KATRINA D.OBEJERA/PR)

BORONGAN CITY- Some 5,000 Arteche residents and emergency rescue teams (ERTs) joined the 4th quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) in Arteche town as the world marked Tsunami Awareness Day on November 5.
Office of the Civil Defense (OCD)-8 Regional Director Henry Anthony Torres led the team from Tacloban City and some ERTs coming from Palapag, Northern Samar, Catbalogan and nearby towns like Dolores, Jipapad, Oras and DepEd personnel from other schools meaning to observe the drill.
Mayor Roland Evardone said that the drill is a big help to his people as Arteche town faces the vast Pacific Ocean, and is prone to tsunami.
At 8 a.m., the siren wailed off and as the public was instructed to ‘duck, cover and hold’ they obeyed so, and as the siren stopped, people rushed to their designated evacuation center with their emergency kits, the LGU had assigned five evacuation centers on higher grounds.
Maria Jenny Dagal, who owns a meat shop in town, showed her emergency kit with flashlight, biscuits, canned goods and a whistle.
“Kinahanglan an silbato kay bangin ako mawara, masilbato ako basi matad-an ak rescuers.” (I need the whistle to signal to rescuers that I am alive.)
Dagal said that her people were victims of Typhoon Ruby and that they are aware of disaster preparedness and get better each drill.
The NSED aims to test the efficiency and usefulness of the preparedness, response and recovery plans, systems and policies developed in various localities and offices.
In the aftermath, rescue of people injured, victims being ‘downloaded ‘ from second floor houses and the town hall were shown.
The covered gym became the incident command system, where Evardone serving as the incident commander was busy orchestrating the assessment and rescue efforts with ERTs along with Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Officer Natalio Operario, Jr.
In the evaluation, Eliot Lopez of Catbalogan City’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office suggested that Arteche acquire better equipment that can help rescue. He urged his counterpart to request the needed equipment.
Engr. Leonilo Jumagdao of the regional office of the Department of Public Works and Highways urged the OCD to perform the drill in other areas until everyone in Eastern Visayas has practiced the drill.
Sgt. Edwin Madeja of the 8th Infantry Division was impressed that people were rushing to higher grounds on their own, that they did not need any prodding except the disaster to push them to the evacuation centers.
Director Torres said he was impressed with the outcome of the drill and that the LGU though needing some fine tuning in their disaster preparedness have noted all observations and will act on it as promised by their youthful Mayor Evardone. (PIA 8-EASTERN SAMAR)

TACLOBAN CITY- The alliance between Hugpong ng Pagbabago and Tingog Sinirangan will bring more development in Eastern Visayas and uplift it from being the country’s second poorest region.
Leyte Rep.Yedda Marie Romualdez (1st district), the first nominee of Tingog Siniragan, said this following the brand of leadership of Hugpong founder and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
“Mayor Duterte has the political ascendancy and credibility to lead other regional political parties towards the direction of regional development based on federalism, internal self-determination and inclusive economic growth, the political ideals to which both our two political parties strongly adhere,” she said.
“With this goal in mind, Tingog is committed to foster a strong partnership with Hugpong ng Pagbabago in pursuing the agenda of positive social change, economic growth, peace and order and security, and overall national development,” added Romualdez.
Duterte said that she formed Hugpong ng Pagbabago “to pursue the ideals of what we all want, a strong region, a secure life for our constituents, good governance and effective leadership of the members of the party.”
As a regional political party, Hugpong has a constituency that is spread over the present geographical territory of Region XI (Davao Region).
According to Rep. Romualdez, Tingog is willing to support “in whatever possible role that our party may undertake that would further the aims and mission of Hugpong ng Pagbabago, so that together we can be an effective voice that will serve the best interests of the people.”
Hugpong and Tingog along with Lakas-CMD national party headed by former Leyte First District Representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, the husband of Rep. Romualdez, formally signed their alliance agreement on November 7 in Tacloban City.
A regional political party based in Eastern Visayas, Tingog “aims to be a champion for regional development.”
(RONALD O.REYES)