TACLOBAN CITY – The members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan(SP) of Leyte approved on the third and final reading the proposed Leyte Bike Lane Ordinance of 2020 during their regular session last November 20.
The ordinance was approved two days before the celebration of the National Bike Day which is observed every fourth Sunday of November as approved by President Rodrigo Duterte through Presidential Proclamation 1052 which he signed on November 18.
“Basically this reinforces the mandate that we impose through our Environmental Code ordering local government units to come up with a different networks of bicycle lanes in their respective municipalities,” Vice Governor Carlo Loreto said.
“In this ordinance it does not only requires them to put up bike lanes but also activity areas which can be used under the new normal like areas for jogging or walking provided that they still follow the minimum health protocols such as wearing of face masks to prevent virus transmission,” he added.
Under the ordinance, authored by the vice governor, the province through the Active Mobility Committee which is chaired by Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla with Loreto as his vice chair, shall review all roads within its jurisdiction and determine sections that may be developed into a continuous bike lane network.
The committee also includes the provincial legal officer as secretary and members are representative from the provincial engineering office, planning and development office, budget office, disaster risk reduction and management office, health office, SP chairman on committee on infrastructure, representative from local cycling group, persons with disability, women’s group, senior citizens, and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
The committee is also mandated to adopt traffic engineering solutions that will prioritize, complement, and support safe and efficient biking and walking.
The measure mandates that all bike lane designs and sidewalks must comply with the design standard by the Department of Transportation and the DPWH and must also take into account for the safety, social distancing measures, operating speed, volume and composition of traffic and the carriageway width of the road.
Signages that indicate bike lane and motor vehicle lane are also need to be installed including speed limits, and other traffic rules to ensure safety of all road users.
The traffic management office of the city and the municipality is also task to maintain the bicycle lane network from use of motorized transport vehicles, and illegal road obstruction such as illegal parked cars.
The ordinance also mandates that every bikers or cyclists must use personal protective gear for their safety such as helmets, closed shoes, head gear, bicycle lights or reflectors, while minor or those below age 18 years old are required to use additional appropriate protective gear as determined by the committee.
The municipality or city under Leyte province will have to adapt the ordinance and include a penalty provisions to be impose against violators.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

ALANGALANG, Leyte- Soon, agriculture graduates and uniformed personnel will have their own lands to till.
This was disclosed by Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones during his visit to this town Thursday (Nov. 26) as he led in the distribution of certificate of land ownerships (Cloas).
Castriciones said that giving lands to agriculture graduates will help increase the number of young people who will take agriculture courses and this could encourage parents for their children to farming-related course.
“Kaya nga marami rin ang nag-aral ng agriculture, pero dahil sa pagkagraduate nila yung kanilang natutunan hindi nila magamit sapagkat wala silang sariling lupa. Kaya po ngayon ang aking gagawin, gagawa po tayo ng administrative order in relation to sections 6, 7, and 14 or RA 6657 so that all agriculture graduates will have their own piece of land, so they can put into practice their wealth of experience and the knowledge they gain from their agricultural studies,” he said.
RA 6657 refers to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of 1988.
“Some of them even have masteral degrees, some of them even have doctorate in agriculture. But the only problem is they don’t have a piece of land that they can use as a laboratory in order to implement what they have learned as experts in agriculture,” Castriciones said.
According to the DAR Secretary, there is around 200,000 hectares of government-owned idle lands that could be used for this purpose, adding that there is also around 500,000 hectares of lots could be distributed to potential CARP beneficiaries.
Other than agriculture graduates, retiring or retired uniformed personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police who are landless will also be entitled to receive a portion from the government-owned idle lands, according to Castriciones.
Rebel returnees are also included in this program he added.
Under the proposed administrative order that he will issue next week, agri-graduates and retired AFP and PNP personnel will receive 3-hectares of land for them to till and nourish.
“Definitely this will be a bold steps in order to see to it that agriculture will really take the lead when it comes to the development of our country,”he said.
Castriciones, in his visit to this town, lead in the ceremonial distribution of CLOAS to 1,031 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARB) from the towns of Alangalang, Barugo, Burauen, Capoocan, Carigara, Dagami, Jaro, Kananga, and Pastrana, all in Leyte.
Farm machineries were also distributed to ARBs from Alangalang town.
The event was also graced by Vice-Governor Carlo Loreto, Mayor Lovell Yu, and national government agency heads.
Castriciones also lead the launching of the Support for Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT), a program in partnership and funded by the World Bank worth PhP24 billion.
This project, which will be implemented for three years, seeks to improve land-tenure security and stabilize property rights through fast-tracking of land subdivision of collective CLOA and generate individual titles on lands awarded under CARP.
The program is targeting a total of 63, 373 ARBs for CLOA subdivision, 36, 287 ARBS for CCLOA redocumentation, a total of 114,661 hectares for CCLOA subdivision and 92, 644 hectares for CCLOA redocumentations. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The provincial government of Leyte will be launching a pilot farming project that will save farmers from using a wide area of land in cultivating crops.
Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla revealed this saying that the project uses hydroponics farming technique which they will implement in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology,
Atenio De Manila, Arizona State University, and the Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU).
Compared with the traditional gardening, hydroponics is a concept of using less soil, less space, and less water, and proved to have several advantages over solid gardening with a growth rate of 30-50 percent faster, and yield of plants is also greater.
Because hydroponics also uses less soil, it get rid of soil-borne diseases and pests that normally affects the plants.
“The good thing about this project is because we are using container vans. During times of natural calamities and disasters like typhoon, we can transfer the vans to safer place where the typhoon will not directly hit,”Petilla said.
Two container vans are to be used in the pilot testing of hydroponics farming where one is going to be place inside the EVSU-Main campus while the other one is at the La Granja De Reyna, a Leyte Economic beneficiary, based here in the city.
The two container vans are provided by the provincial government while the technical aspect of the program are to be provided by its partners.
“Initially, they will try growing lettuce, then eventually they will try other crops like tomatoes, (and) bell pepper,”Petilla said.
Other plants that can be grown using hydroponics includes butter crunch, spinach, herbs like basil and mint, strawberries, cucumber and flowers like marigold.
The governor said that they are targeting to launch the program before the year is over or once the construction of the hydroponic system inside the container vans are finished.
“Our main goal here is to have agricultural resiliency for our farmers livelihood. Even a strong typhoon hits our province, our farmers will immediately resume their livelihood because their crops are protected. They can plant their crops whole year round,” Petilla said. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)