TACLOBAN CITY- The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Thursday (May 3) kicked off its roadshow on the latest packaging trends to help micro-small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in selling their products.
“Packaging is a market. If packaging is good, the market will increase. This will bring change to our MSMEs. We have to innovate to increase our market and demand,” said DTI Assistant Secretary Demphna Du-Naga in a press conference at the Summit Hotel, this city, during the launching of its Visayas leg “Pack! Pinas” campaign.
The Pak! Pinas is a program of the DTI to help MSMEs in the country in making their products become more saleable through proper and correct packaging.
“The image of your enterprise depends on your brand,” added Benedict Uy of DTI’s Foreign Trade Service Corps while urging MSMEs to change their mindset of being price sensitive.
“Sometimes going cheap is not the way to go,” he said.
Uy emphasized that cheap products are not the name of the game and if entrepreneurs would invest in good packaging they can better position their products and sell them more.
Investing in packaging is the only way to mainstream MSMEs products, he added.
Clarke Nebrao of the Packaging Institute of the Philippines also believed that if entrepreneurs would change their packaging quality this could bring change even to the quality of life of the Filipinos.
Nebreo, whose association is composed of suppliers, manufacturers, and users of packaging materials and services, acknowledged this latest initiative of the DTI.
He emphasized the importance of good packaging, citing on the study that 86 percent of consumers’ purchases are done on the shop floor.
At least 20 Manila-based and 10 local-based suppliers of packaging materials and services were invited by them during the packaging caravan in the city, according to DTI Regional Director Cynthia Nierras.
She also assured of DTI’s continued assistance for small businessmen on their pricing and costing while using an alternative source of materials for their packaging, saying that the type of material to package the product “will influence the volume of sell.”
During the conference, Nierras and her provincial heads reported on the new and top MSMEs’ product lines produced in their respective localities whose packaging are also being innovated.
These are crunchy jack fruit, dehydrated jack fruit, root crops chips, and moron in Leyte; pili, new prospect on cacao chocolate, Northern Samar; dried squid and coconut water for Southern Leyte; calamansi products for Eastern Samar; suman balintawak, ampalaya sticks, atchara, Biliran; Charito’s, baked banana chips, root crop products of Samar; among other products in the region.
Jerry Clavesillas of DTI Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development urged the private sectors to take advantage of the support given to them by the agency under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
About 350 MSMEs joined the scheduled forum where they will be assisted in designing, branding, and marketing their products and services.
DTI will have its next roadshows in Mindanao on May 16- 17 in Cagayan de Oro and in Luzon on May 29-30 in Carmona, Cavite.
(RONALD O. REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY- Police authorities in Allen town, Northern Samar seized two dump trucks loaded with illegally cut lumber valued at more than P470,000.
The vehicles were separately intercepted last April 21.
Senior Inspector Wilfredo Jimenez, Allen police chief, said that first to be seized was a 10-wheeler truck driven by Erwin Montajes, a resident of Barangay Solupan, Paranas in Samar.
The second truck, driven by Cesar Nanangas,56, and a resident of Brgy. Santa Rosa, Quezon, was apprehended at Santa Clara Ferry Terminal in Brgy. Jubasan of said town.
Seized from the two trucks were 24,700 board feet of sawn lumber with total value of P470,000, Jimenez said.
The two drivers failed to show transshipment clearance to the authorities reason why their items were seized.
The suspects were detained at the Allen municipal station and were charged for violation of RA 8048, otherwise known as “Coconut Preservation Act of 1995.”(SHELLA MAE DIAZ ASTORGA, NsWWU Student Intern)

First election-related violence in EV

CALBAYOG CITY- In what could be the region’s first election-related violence relative to the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, a candidate for barangay chairman of this city was killed by still unidentified suspects on Thursday (April 26) afternoon.
Killed was Christopher Branzuela, who is running for chairman of their village in Catabunan located within Oquendo District, about 30 kms away from the city proper.
Also killed was Branzuela’s father, Melanio, they were on board a motorcycle when they were waylaid by the armed suspects at about 5:30 pm in an isolated area of Catabunan
Juanito Arneo, who was with the fatalities, survived the gun attack.
Police authorities recovered from the crime scene empty shells of caliber 5.56 rifles.
Supt. Jose Junar Alamo, chief of police of Calbayog City, said that they immediately conducted their hot pursuit operation against the suspects who fled to unknown direction after the incident.
“Hot pursuit is still on-going. We already identified who are the suspects but we cannot reveal their identities as of this time,” Alamo said in an interview.
“We are still conducting a thorough investigation so we cannot just give comment that this is election related,” he added.
The younger Branzuela ran but lost during the 2013 barangay elections.
But for city elections officer Dainty Calagos said that the incident could be considered as election -related for the fact that the victim was a candidate relative to the May 14 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan balloting.
“One of the victim is an aspirant for punong barangay, and we are now under election period, and in the coming days campaign period will start. We cannot just dismiss that it is not election-related, it is really election related,” Calagos said.
The incident is the first to happen in Calbayog City days before the upcoming barangay and SK polls.
Calbayog has been into bad light for the past months due to series of killings wherein some of the victims involved village officials.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) had placed four villages in the city as areas of concern, namely, are Carayman, Esperanza, Guinbaoyan Norte and San Jose.
But with the latest incident in Brgy. Catabunan, Calagos said that the village might also be placed under the areas of concern.
The Philippine National Police and the Comelec has appealed to the public particularly to the candidates to help and support to ensure peace in the upcoming village elections.

By: JENNIFER SUMAGANG-Allegado

In reaction to Boracay problem

TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is set to conduct monitoring to all protected areas in the region promoted as tourist destinations.
This way, problems that forced the temporary closure of the world-famous Boracay Island could be avoided, DENR Regional Director Crizaldy Barcelo said.
The result of their monitoring would be disclosed during their scheduled May 3 meeting.
The DENR regional director, in particular, cited the case of the Cuatro Islas, which is a protected area but is now being promoted as a tourist attraction.
The four islets, located in between the towns of Hindang and Inopacan, both in Leyte, are inhabited by more than 1,000 people which could result to a possible environmental degradation.
“This is a matter of IEC (information education campaign).We need to inform the occupants on the existing laws, rules and regulations. On the part of the LGU, maybe they are not yet fully aware of the regulations in our protected areas,” Barcelo said.
Cuatro Islas is composed of Apid, Digyo and Mahaba in Inopacan town and Himokilan in Hindang town.
It was learned from Barcelo that a core shelter project is to be undertaken by the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Apid which is in violation under the rules of Protected Area Management Board being a protected area.
“This is an opportune time to conduct series of IECs for them to be aware of what are the dos and don’ts in protected areas so that the mistakes that happened in Boracay will not be happening in their areas,” Barcelo added.
President Rodrigo Duterte had ordered for the closure of Boracay, describing it as a ‘cesspool’ due environmental problems.
The closure of the famed tourist attracted started on Thursday (April 26) as part of the campaign to rehabilitate it.
Barcelo said that close to 70,000 people are believed to be inhabiting various protected areas in the region.
The other protected areas are Mahagnao Volcano Natural Park, Lake Danao Natural Park, Samar Island Natural Park, Calbayog Pan-as Hayiban Protected Landscape, Guiuan Marine Protected Landscape and Seascape and the Biri Larosa Protected Landscape and Seascape.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The Archdiocese of Palo highlighted the importance of social media literacy in the recently concluded summer camp in Carigara, Leyte.
“Young people are fully adept at using these tools. They need less to acquaint themselves but to be trained to responsible social media users,” said Archdiocese of Palo spokesperson Fr. Chris Arthur Militante on the need for the youths to learn responsible use of social media.
“The power of the young together with the proper use of social media is a strong force that will benefit society,” he added.
During the camping, Militante lectured a group of youths on the track “social media in evangelization” as the Church sees that today’s young generation needs to be properly guided on how to be a responsible internet user, and at the same time, on how to use the technology in propagating the Catholic teachings.
Jhonel Cobacha, 17, and a frequent social media user from Palo town, said that youths like him need more information and social media literacy, saying this is the reason why most teenagers are drawn into “liking lewd acts” and even committing crimes through the internet.
“Youths need more guidance. Because of too much curiosity, they are not aware that this leads them to commit wrong actions online,” said Cobacha, who spends his time up to four hours on the internet.
Earlier, Gregorio Angelo Villar, the deputy director general of the Philippine Information Agency, urged netizens that every time they use the social media, they should look for the betterment of others, particularly in fighting misinformation, disinformation, and other cybercrimes.
He reported that with a total of 67 million Filipinos out of 105.7 million population who are active internet users as of January 2018 study, this phenomenon is both seen as a “gift and a curse”.
In a study, US-based social media think-tank Hootsuite revealed that Filipinos spent an average daily time of 9 hours and 29 minutes on social media via various devices and that their weekly online activities covered 47 percent for socialization. (RONALD O. REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY— The International Justice Mission(IJM), a global organization that protects the poor from violence through the developing world, has revealed some signals to guide the public in catching suspected perpetrator of Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC).
Rebelander Basilan, JIM partnership development coordinator,said there are various warnings for the people and authorities to detect the existence of OSEC cases.
These include someone having varied means of internet connection (broadband, pocket wifi, etc); frequent trips to money transfer outlets; having multiple social media accounts (Facebook, Messenger, Skype, etc.); several male foreigner friends on social media; and unexplained wealth, among others.
He also debunked some myths on OSEC cases, saying it is wrong for people to say that it is just about standing naked in front of the camera and no physical contact happened because in reality these victims are molested and sexually abused by adults.
Basilan said that it is wrong to say that OSEC does not harm children because, in reality, the children are “deeply traumatized”.
It is also wrong to say that rescuing children from OSEC results in a dysfunctional family because, as it is, these victims already have a dysfunctional family environment, he added.
“OSEC is a very dark world but there is hope for children to recover. We need to be vigilant. If we don’t rescue these children, it will be normal for them,” Basilan told local media and publication information officers in the region during the recently-concluded orientation forum on OSEC held in the city.
While he urged the public to report any cases of OSEC to authorities, he also cautioned media and government information officers on proper guidelines in reporting it to ensure the “privacy and the best interest” of the victims.
According to the IJM, the Department of Justice received 1,000 cyber tip reports each month in 2014 alone.
These referrals doubled to more than 2,000 in the first four months of 2015.
IJM was instrumental in rescuing 165 victims of OSEC in their first 64 cases from 2011 to January 1, 2017.
It said that more than half or 50.3 percent of these victims were in their pre-teens; the youngest of these was a 3-month old baby boy.
IJM reported that with the help of the authorities, they have conducted 76 rescue operations, with 268 victims rescued, 121 suspects arrested, and 20 people convicted as of January 2018.
In a statement, Samson Inocencio Jr., national director of IJP Philippines, said that “more than 80 percent of victims rescued from online sexual exploitation are minors, making this a staggering humanitarian issue and a problem for the Philippine law enforcement to tackle….”
“Perpetrators of online sexual exploitation produce illicit photographs, pornographic videos, and customer-directed live sex shows for costumers residing overseas. These customer-criminals are active in directing the abuse perpetrated on the young children. This crime is spreading as more people gain access to the internet,” the statement said.
In February this year, IJM helped authorities in rescuing 13 victims of cybersex den in Tacloban city and in Biliran province.
Authorities caught an elder sister in the act of offering to sexually abuse minor siblings ages 15 and 17 and “live-stream” those sex acts in exchange for money from a foreigner.
(RONALD O. REYES)