TACLOBAN CITY – The first-ever bamboo industry summit in Leyte will be held on Wednesday (Nov.16) with several national officials expected to grace like Environment and Natural Resources Sec. Toni Yulo Loyzaga.
A first-ever bamboo summit will be held in Leyte this Wednesday (Nov. 16) on the initiative of Palo Mayor Remedios ‘Matin’ Petilla. The summit aims to encourage planting of bamboos as a natural barrier against flooding and at the same time, boost economy by encouraging artisans to design using it as a material.
The bamboo industry summit is an initiative of Palo Mayor Remedios ‘Matin’ Petilla who is also the president of the mayors’ league of the province.
Mayor Petilla, in organizing the summit, hopes that the summit will spur a province-wide bamboo planting as a disaster mitigation and also to help boost local economy by producing bamboo-engineered products.
During the summit, Leyte province is set to launch the Bamboo Industry Development Program, a first in the country.
Among the speakers of the summit include Security Adviser and chairperson Emeritus, Bamboo Warriors Philippines Secretary Clarita Carlos; former agriculture secretary Manny Piñol; Rimmon Parren an advocate, Giant Bamboo Program; Mark Sultan Gersava of Bambuhay Foundation; and Development of the Philippines President Emmanuel Herbosa.
Prior to the summit, an exhibit featuring bamboo-made products is set to be displayed at the Oriental Hotel de Leyte from Nov 15 to 16.
These include a bamboo toothbrush embedded with a seed that could be planted after use; bamboo kitchen and dining utensils; bamboo bicycle and furniture, tiles, panels, and office tables.
Planting materials of giant and iron bamboo will also be shown and sold at the summit. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)
TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Central Office conducted a two-day assessment to monitor the ongoing infrastructure projects implemented by Leyte Second District Engineering Office (L2DEO).
The assessment, conducted through its quality assurance unit, was carried out on November 8 and 9 by engineers from the Bureau of Research and Standards with assistance from the construction and quality assurance sections of the district office to provide the necessary inputs and project-related data.
The team assessed and evaluated six projects were assessed and evaluated if they were compliant with the plans and standard specifications.
These projects were the construction/rehabilitation of the Binahaan flood control structure and drainage system, Binahaan river basin in Barangay Balilit, Dagami; construction of missing links/new roads along the Burauen – Albuera Road; retrofitting/strengthening of the Marabong Bridge along Jaro-Dagami-Burauen-La Paz Road, Burauen, Leyte; construction of by-pass and diversion roads in La Paz; and the completion of the construction of a two- storey office building of the in MacArthur town.
According to District Engineer Leo Edward Oppura, regular assessment is necessary to monitor the quality of the projects so that if there are issues during the implementation, corrective measures will be immediately addressed. (LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
Manila-The United States government, through the Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), recently gathered international experts to train local government representatives in developing strategies to mitigate the impact of and reduce the demand for illegal drugs in the Philippines.
From October 31 to November 2, 120 delegates representing 19 local government units attended the 5th National Conference of Anti-Drug Abuse Coalitions on the theme “Strengthening Prevention Strategies for Drug Free Communities,” organized by the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines, the Association of Anti-Drug Abuse Coalitions of the Philippines, Inc. (AADAC), and the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) in Makati City.
During the conference, international experts trained participants on conducting community assessments and developing sustainable and comprehensive strategies for anti-drug abuse coalition activities. Two certified youth trainers led sessions for 60 youth leaders on countering stigma associated with drug use, promoting mental health, and strengthening youth engagement in anti-drug abuse coalitions.
AADAC also awarded ten local chief executives for their grassroots efforts in strengthening multisectoral cooperation to address illegal drugs and in allocating financial support for AADAC programs in their communities. The ten officials named “champions in anti-drug abuse coalition work” are Angono Municipal Vice Mayor Gerardo Calderon, Calamba City Vice Mayor Angelito Lazaro, Jr., Cavite City Mayor Denver Chua, Muntinlupa City Mayor Rozzano Rufino Biazon, Tanay Municipal Mayor Rafael Tanjuatco, Barangay Caticlan Chairman Ralf Tolosa, Aklan Governor Jose Enrique Miraflores, Barangay Poblacion Makati Chairman Benhur Cruz, Makati City Mayor Mar-Len Abigail Binay, and Quezon City Mayor Maria Josefina Belmonte.
“Coalitions carry out vital work, such as educating and engaging the youth, volunteering time to holistic care, and ensuring the availability of mental health support, often with very little resources,” INL Manila Director Kelia Cummins said. “This is why cooperation among coalitions is so essential—we are stronger together. We can pool not only financial resources, but also knowledge, time, and collective experience to ensure that our communities are safe, healthy, and productive.”
“Law enforcement alone is not enough. We must pursue a holistic approach to this fight by strengthening our drug prevention and control strategies. This cannot be done without the unity of the Filipino people,” Department of Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Margarita Gutierrez said.
“We share one goal, and that is to achieve a health and drug free community,” Dangerous Drugs Board Undersecretary Gilberto Cruz added.
AADAC is an umbrella association of 27 community anti-drug abuse coalitions located across the Philippines.
The INL-sponsored multi-year program “Building and Sustaining Effective Community Anti-Drug Coalitions in the Philippines” aims to establish community anti-drug coalitions and strengthen existing communities with the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to build effective and sustainable coalitions that combat illegal drugs and drug-related crime. Learn more about the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement and its global drug demand reduction programs at www.state.gov/j/inl. (PR)
ORMOC CITY-A village chief shot dead a constituent after he tried to pacify him during a confrontation in Basey, Samar on Sunday (Nov.13) evening.
Venerando Bacayo, 57, barangay chairman of San Agustin, shot to the head Rodel Lapinig,32, after the latter challenged him to shoot him.
Lapinig, who was said to be heavily intoxicated at that time and armed with a ‘sundang’, was causing havoc in the village, prompting the village chairman to pacify him.
But instead of heeding his appeal, Lapinig instead challenged the village leader to shoot him.
Apparently, the village official lost his cool and drew a gun pointing at Lapinig, hitting him on his head, the local police said.
The suspect voluntarily surrendered to Basey Municipal Police Station. (ROBERT DEJON)
THE story of Zaccheus in the gospel (cfr. Lk 19, 1-10) offers us a precious lesson on how to properly deal with the unavoidable human condition of our sinfulness. And that is, no matter how big, ugly and plenty our sins are, God’s mercy is always available. We should not waste time rutting in guilt feelings, sadness and depression because these would only make things worse.
In that gospel story, Zaccheus, regarded as a sinner at that time, promised to amend for whatever sins he committed, and Christ readily forgave him. “Today salvation has come to this house,” he said, “because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.” (v.9) These words can only show how merciful and compassionate God is with all of us.
And to think that it was Christ who invited himself to Zaccheus’ house, knowing how Zaccheus was regarded by some people, only shows that Christ always takes the initiative to look for sinners, eager to offer forgiveness. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost,” he said. (v.10)
We should not over-react to our sinfulness which is unavoidable in our life. What we should immediately do is to go to God, asking for forgiveness, promising some amendment and reparation for our sins, and when able, to go to confession.
We should avoid staying too long keeping some guilt-feelings and sadness in our heart. These conditions are not good for us. They are harmful, and worse, they can be like wedges that make more openings for temptations to come to us. We should get rid of these feelings as soon as possible.
The ideal condition is always for us be at peace with God and with everybody else. We have to ooze with our faith-based confidence. The moment we feel some disturbance in our heart, we should act quickly to seek relief through God’s mercy. Remember St. Paul saying, “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound.” (Rom 5,20) He is slow to anger and quick to forgive.
God is always a father to us. He will always understand us and do everything to help us. Before him, we are like little children who cannot avoid making a mess around. Let’s remember that we have to contend not only with our own weaknesses, but also with powerful evil spiritual enemies.
More, the goal that we have to reach is something supernatural. It’s just beyond our powers. We should not be too surprised if along the way, we commit all sorts of blunders. We should not be unduly entangled with them. God’s mercy and compassion is always available.
Let’s just strengthen our sense of divine filiation, that is, that we are all children of an infinitely good and merciful father who do everything to bring us back to him. His justice is never without mercy.
Whenever we feel the sting of our weaknesses and sinfulness, together with their antecedents and consequences, their causes and effects, let’s never forget to consider also God’s mercy that is always given to us, and, in fact, given to us abundantly.
What we have to avoid is to get stuck with one while ignoring the other. Our sinfulness should be viewed in the context of divine mercy. And vice-versa: God’s mercy should be regarded in the context of our unavoidable sinfulness.
On our part, of course, we should try our best to be as good a child to God as God is good to us. Obviously, we cannot perfectly achieve that ideal, but it’s in the desire to struggle to be so that truly matters.
The Christmas of the modern times is celebrating the basic instincts of humans. It is all about feeding, clothing and parties. All hedonistic , pleasure grounded things.
Depending on this Opinion seeing print, it may be that the commercial signages would remind you to skip the Christmas rush and go shopping early. Reminding you that Christmas is 40 days to go, it would mean that you can still make a financial projection side by side with the gift list. The reminder will persist on a countdown and given this mind conditioning you are thrown into the frenzy of buying, sometimes buying things we don’t need.
We are aware and certain that Christmas is now commercialized, we are certain that the marketing gurus had unleashed that spell called Christmas Sale, but we cannot and has no power resisting.
History would tell us that it was a well orchestrated marketing ploy that never fails. One soda or soft drinks has Santa endorsing its sweety taste since 1920s. Appearing in the Advertisement on the Saturday Post in the United States, we also saw Candy Canes decorative. It was said that the candy cane are white and long, given to choir boys to serve as snacks on Nativity Mass in Germany. In the Philippines, the Simbang Gabi a devotional 9 day dawn masses is an offshoot of our colonial past. The Spanish Friars had to make a schedule of the dawn mass as a compromise to farmers who had to start working early on mornings. The heat of the sun would create problem if the farmers would start late mornings. At present that would mean not only early morning masses it would also mean splurging on Pinoy delicacies like Bibingka, Puto Bumbo, Tsokolate. The opportune time of selling breakfast staple is both commercial and yet also cultural.
In the long and short of it Pasko had became commercial and not a stoic and simple observance of the birth of a Savior who opted not to be born in Rome but in a manger of simplicity in the fellowship of cow dung and sheep with shepherd without the luxe bath.
In all, the world is celebrating Christmas in the lens of luxury when the He, whose birth we celebrate was without the proper nor sanitized setting for a birthplace. It was on a crude and stinky manger. We have parties , multiple parties upon after parties, He was cold, lonely and persecuted, being chased by a Roman administrator and when found will be murdered. We are on the euphoric frenzy on the glittery side of Christmas observance when the real Nativity scene was dark , simple and has no comfortable ornaments in sight .
With the remaining 40 nights before Christmas , I would reflect and look deep into the fact that as a good friend DORELCO General Manager Allan Laniba said, Jesus did not opt to be born in Rome, He had chosen a simple manger in a place where animals of burden dwell. Where darkness and cold air pervades. All the more realizing the fact that His love sheltered us from that eventuality because his love is great.
