GOVERNMENT CENTER,PALO, Leyte-A high ranking education official has urged the public to celebrate this year’s national teachers’ month like how they would celebrate Christmas and other festive holidays.
“Our dream is that the Filipinos will have this deeper awareness on the importance of teachers in our society. We want everyone to intensify the teachers’ month celebration starting September 5 to October 5 like how we would celebrate important holidays such as Valentine’s Day and Christmas day,” said Undersecretary Tonisito Umali said in a press conference.
Umali said that there is a need for the people to relive the past in terms of how the teachers are being respected and honored.
He reiterated that the annual teachers’ month celebration is pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 242, Republic Act No. 10743 entitled “An Act Declaring the Fifth Day of October of Every Year as the National Teachers’ Day,” and the designation of the World Teachers’ Day every 5th of October by the United Nations Education and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO).
In coordination with the National Teachers Day Coordinating Council and the National Teachers’ Month Coordinating Council, Umali said that this year’s teachers’ month celebration will be held in Ormoc City with its theme “Gurong Filipino: Turo Mo, Kinabukasan Ko.”
Umali said the event is aimed to “honor those who are in the teaching profession; acknowledge and give emphasis on the crucial role, loyal service, and dedicated commitment of teachers in developing globally minded citizens, nurturing families, strengthening communities, and building the nation.”
According to Umali, the celebration will also “ revitalize the image of and respect for teaching as a vocation by increasing public awareness on the value of teachers in the Philippine society; take the occasion as an opportunity in building the image of teaching as an attractive and fulfilling profession; generate widespread support and assistance for teachers; and express gratitude for the positive influences of teachers on Filipino learners.”
Meanwhile, Ramir Uytico, DepEd regional director, welcomed the hosting of the event.
“We should be happy that Region 8 will be hosting a national activity,” Uytico said.
Despite the many issues hounding the education sector, Uytico called on the teachers to continue what they are doing with “competence, courage, and compassion.”
“For me, the work of a teacher is not something new…I am what I am now because of the bulk of work of DepEd. Mas maganda nga ngayon, may chalk allowance, may hardship allowance, may mga increase sa salary maski pakunti kunti. Noon wala iyon, but I was able to survive,” Uytico said on his message to the teachers.
More than 6, 000 teacher-delegates across the country are expected to attend the national teachers’ month celebration in Ormoc City on October 5. (RONALD O. REYES)

PALOMPON, Leyte- Visitors going to Kalanggaman Island contributed more than P18 million to the economy of this town.
Visitors of Kalanggaman Island, considered now as Leyte’s main island tourist destination, spent P18.5 million last year which was higher by P2 million compared to the 2016 receipt.
Last year, 101,312 tourists visited Kalanggaman Island which was higher compared to the 95,677 guests who spent P1.6 million on the same period.
Raoul Bacalla, head of Palompon municipal environment and natural resources office, said that considering that Kalanggaman Island is fast becoming one of the town’s income generators, they are making sure that the island’s natural beauty would not be destroyed.
Aside from enforcing the maximum capacity policy which allows only 500 tourists a day going to the island, regular water sampling is also conducted in collaboration with the Environmental Management Bureau to ensure the health and safety of the guests and maintain the integrity of the island.
Bacalla added that partying including loud music is also not allowed in Kalanggaman Island which being promoted as place for relaxation away from the busy life in the metropolis.
Bacalla added that only soft infrastructures were constructed in the island like comfort rooms, shower area and a pavilion intended as shelter for their personnel who are manning the island.
Kalangaman, which is just a 45-minutes boat ride from the town proper of Palompon, is a 6-hectare island surrounded by fine white sand with some areas covered pebbles and coarse, some coconut trees and a long stretch of sandbar.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

BOBON, Northern Samar- The construction of concrete roads in four remote villages going to the town center, this municipality, is expected to create economic activities in these areas.
Road constructions are ongoing in Barangays Santander and E. Duran worth P180 million while another road project covering the villages of Jose Abad Santos and J.P. Laurel worth P20 million is also underway.
Mayor Reny Celespara said that once these road projects are completed not only travel would become easy and faster but the transfer of goods from these villages to the town center would be hasten.
The municipal government, Celespara said, got a financial assistance from Governor Jose ‘Jun’ Ong who also provided a P6 million assistance intended to procure a one hectare lot for a food and transport terminal.
The construction of said facility located in Barangay Salvacion is to be completed by December this year.
The bulk of the cost in the construction of the two-storey facility is sourced from a loan secured by the municipal government from the Department of Finance.
Mayor Celespara said that the town’s internal revenue allotment would not be used in paying the loan which is payable in 10 years and with a grace period of three years as payments on rentals on the stalls of the said food terminal would be used in paying the loan.(PETER PAREDES)

TACLOBAN CITY- Seeking for the return of the Balangiga Bells as a condition in buying arms from the United States makes President Rodrigo Duterte a ‘traitor.’
Thus said the spokesperson of the National Democratic Front (NDF) in Eastern Visayas, reacting to an earlier statement of Mr. Duterte who said that the historic bells must first be returned to the country before he decides to buy arms from the United States, where the bells are presently stored in one of its military bases.
“It is not only an insult to the memory of the people’s uprising in Balangiga against the US war of aggression to colonize the Philippines, but also treasonous for conniving with a foreign power against the Filipino people in the ongoing civil war,” Salas said in an emailed statement dated August 31.
The President had earlier said that he would not buy arms from the United States unless they would return to the country the Balangiga Bells taken in 1901 during the American colonization.
The bells were carted away when American soldiers based in Balangiga, Eastern Samar were attacked by local guerillas which resulted in the ‘worst single defeat by American forces’ during their colonization of the country as they turned Samar into a “howling of wilderness.”
The bells are presently stored at F.E. Warren Air Force Based in Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA.
Mr. Duterte, during his State of the Nation Address in 2017, asked the US government to return the Balangiga Bells.
Recently, efforts to return the historic bells have intensified after US Defense Sec. James Mattis said that their government is now open for the return of the Balangiga Bells.
Early efforts of the Philippine government to retrieve the Balangiga Bells proved unsuccessful.
Salas, meantime, said that just like the rest of the country, they too are seeking for the repatriation of the bells back to the country and to the town of Balangiga.
“Filipino patriots and their friends and supporters here and in the United States have long sought the return of the Balangiga Bells, a campaign with which NDF-EV is in solidarity. Together with the freedom-loving Americans and Filipinos, we look forward to the return of the Balangiga Bells to toll once more the continuing struggle of the Filipino people to be free,” he said.(JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Regional Development Council (RDC) has listed the Philippine Army as member of a committee tasked to monitor infrastructure projects in remote Eastern Visayas areas infested with communist rebels.
Acting on the request of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, the Regional Project Monitoring Committee (RPMC) approved the proposal to consider the military as one of the members of the body.
The RPMC, composed of officials from the government and private sector, admitted that several projects, especially in Samar provinces, have been delayed due to threats of the New People’s Army.
Consequently, incomplete projects have affected the delivery of basic service to poor families.
“Through the participation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in RPMC meetings, delays in implementation of projects due to security-related reasons shall be appropriately addressed,” National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Director Bonifacio Uy said, quoting Lorenzana’s letter.
Uy, chairperson of RDC’s monitoring arm, RPMC said the military will help check some ongoing projects and report their status in quarterly meetings.
Lt. Col. Gasanara Sultan, Army’s 8th Infantry Division assistant chief of staff for civil military operations, said they can tap all military units in the region to monitor ongoing construction activities, secure heavy equipment, and escort personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) inspecting the project.
“Our efforts will be coordinated with DPWH because we need to know what kind of projects we have to prioritize in monitoring,” Sultan said.
At least 188 major projects in Eastern Visayas have been listed by the RPMC as priority for monitoring this year, citing their importance to the attainment of regional development goals and targets.
These projects include post-Yolanda reconstruction activities; resettlement sites in Tacloban City, Eastern Samar, Leyte, and Biliran; livelihood projects; irrigations; social infrastructure; agriculture and fishery; road and bridges; roads leading to tourism destinations; roads in conflict-stricken areas; seaports; and airports.
Uy said the project monitoring initiative by RDC members, both from government and private sector, will help ensure timely implementation of programs and projects critical to the attainment of goals in the 2017-2022 Regional Development Plan.
The official said programs and projects with substantial negative slippage and problems in implementation have been the priority for field monitoring and problem-solving sessions.
The RPMC is RDC’s project monitoring arm responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of priority programs and projects implemented in the region, particularly those that are encountering implementation bottlenecks and projects that are worthy for replication.

The body forwards monitoring reports and recommendations generated during the problem-solving sessions to the council for information and appropriate action. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)

GOVERNMENT CENTER, PALO, Leyte—The Department of Education (DepEd) in Leyte division continued the delivery of computer units to its schools as part of the department’s computerization program.
Ronel Boholano, the division’s in-charge of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) unit, said that about 90 percent of the schools in Leyte have already received at least one DCP package since 2010.
“Starting from batch 24 up to now the recent batches 44, there were more than 600 school recipients per year have been given at least one ICT equipment,” he said.
While saying that every DCP batch is composed of different components, Boholano said that this year, they have also delivered and installed DCP batches to remote schools and senior high schools under batch 36 to 44.
Aside from the distribution of computers, Boholano said their unit is focused on developing and giving technical assistance, educational leadership in promoting ICT in education, professional development of teachers in terms of ICT in education, crafting of policies and roadmaps that would facilitate integrating ICT in teaching and learning, and provision of learning resources and curriculum support.
Meanwhile, Boholano lauded schools that went an extra mile in soliciting support for their own computerization program, noting that the DCP Batch 24 is not enough for their schools.
He cited the efforts of Pining Paglingap Elementary School (PPES), a remote school in Tabango, Leyte, which have found a way to connect with their stakeholders and donors for additional used computers to their school
“It’s so heart-warming to see this kind of picture of schools using ICT as a tool for their students to get concepts of subjects across subject areas while at the same time teaching ICT as a subject,” Boholano said on the initiative of Carlo Ngoho, the school head of PPES.
Ngoho, who was one of the first 100 teachers who attended the pilot run of ICT literacy skills development last November 2015 in Tacloban City, said their school had received Batch 24 of DCP composed of one system unit and seven monitors.
With the help of its former principal Maristela Delalamon, their school was able to link with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for the donation of computers.
“We write a letter to BSP requesting them to give us numbers of used computers. They responded and gave us 10 desktop computers on August 3 this year,” Ngoho said.
“I am very happy that we will learn computer in our school,” said 11 years old Ronalyn Lapore, a Grade- 6 student.
Ivy Shane Rojas, a Grade 5 student, said they are “proud that even we are studying in the far-flung school we learn ICT skills just like what the pupils learn in city and town school.”
Ngoho also thanked the leadership of Leyte Schools Division Superintendent Ronelo Al Firmo “for the continuous support and monitoring of the program.” (RONALD O. REYES)