CALBAYOG CITY – DPWH-Samar First District Engineering Office (SFDEO) undergoes 2nd quarter inspection of service vehicles and equipment on July 18, 2018.
Inspectors from the Regional Office, Terencio Regala and Ma. Luisa V. Pedrosa inspected 25 service vehicles assessing their cleanliness, accessories’ functions and updated Land Transportation Office (LTO) registrations as well as the driver’s license of the operators of these vehicles.
“This inspection ensures that the service vehicles used by this office are safe for the roads and that their drivers have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities in compliance with not only DPWH standards but also to the standards of other government agencies such as the LTO and Highway Patrol Group,” said Inspector Pedrosa.
On the last vehicle inspection conducted last April 24, 2018, SFDEO ranked 2nd place among the 13 District Engineering Offices in Region VIII because it satisfactorily complied with all of the standards required in the use and maintenance of its service vehicles.
The final findings and assessment for this quarter will be communicated back as soon as it is evaluated in the Regional Office.
(JASON DE LOS ANGELES)

BURAUEN, Leyte- The long wait is over.
The Cadahunan Elementary School is one of the barrio schools of this town which is under the Burauen North District.
Before it was just a primary school with only two teachers and two classrooms with combination classes of Grades 1 and 2 and Grade 3 and 4.
The school became a complete elementary school when the Grades 5 and 6 classes were opened in the school year 2014-2015.
There was an additional teacher assigned for these grade levels. Because of the limited classrooms, the first classroom were occupied by the Grade 3 and 4 classes while the other classroom was shared by the Grade 1 and 2 classes and Grade 5 and 6 classes. They only put a division at the center.
Due to the mandatory opening of the Kindergarten class for the K to 12 program, the school head, teachers, and stakeholders find ways and means to build a makeshift to accommodate the Kindergarten class. Another teacher was deployed to handle the class.
Now, the long wait is over to have additional classroom because the school was given a 1-unit with 2 classroom building by the Department of Public Works and Highways Regional Office in partnership with the Leyte Division of the Department of Education.
The construction started on January 15, 2018 and was finished on June 19, 2018.
The newly-constructed building was turned over to the school on June 29, 2018 and now occupied by the Kindergarten and Grade I and II classes respectively.
It is a big help to the teachers and pupils and especially the children in Barangay Cadahunan, where the school is is located, to have a classroom that is conducive for learning.
(Note: The author is a school head of Cadahunan Elementary School in Burauen, Leyte).

SOUTHERN LEYTE- All public funds received have been duly accounted for.
This was the central message conveyed as the provincial government here sent a Fund Utilization Report to the city government of Davao.
The report, marked received by the city accountant office of Davao July 9, 2018, covered the P 3 million cash assistance donated to the province in the aftermath of typhoon Yolanda in November, 2013.
“As seen in the report, the total amount disbursed is P 2,992,678.68. Also enclosed is a check amounting to P 7,321.32 representing the balance thereof,” wrote Gov. Christopherson Yap to Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio in a letter dated July 5, 2018, a copy of which was obtained by PIA.
An official receipt was given to the returned, unspent money.
As gleaned in the report, the disbursed amounts were given to all the 18 municipalities and one city in an almost equal amount of P 100,000.00 per LGU, in order to aid constituents with partially damaged houses,
Other amounts were used to purchase medicines for disaster victims, and still others were given to individuals whose houses were totally damaged.
“We would once again take this opportunity to thank the City Government of Davao for your generous gift. It has helped many of our constituents who were victims of the typhoon,” Gov. Yap said in his letter. (PIA8-Southern Leyte)

Leading Philippine carrier Cebu Pacific (PSE: CEB) has signed an agreement with Switzerland-based IPR Conversions Ltd to convert two of its ATR 72-500 passenger aircraft into freighter planes. This will make Cebu Pacific the only passenger airline in the Philippines with dedicated cargo planes.
“We will be able to offer cargo capacity that no other carrier in the Philippines can provide,” said Lance Gokongwei, President and CEO of Cebu Pacific, “With the freighter aircraft, we will further support the growing needs of the logistics industry, especially as the Philippines’ e-commerce businesses expand rapidly and look for faster delivery schedules.”
Cebu Pacific expects to receive the first of two converted aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2018. The cargo aircraft will continue to be operated through CEB’s wholly owned subsidiary, CebGo.
IPR Conversions, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, is one of the leading ATR freighter conversion service providers in the world. The conversion of two of CEB’s passenger ATR 72-500 aircraft into dedicated air freighters involves the installation of a large cargo door, allowing standard containers and pallets used throughout the aviation industry to be loaded. The aircraft will have space for seven (7) AKE Unit Load Device (ULD) containers; and can carry more than seven (7) tons of cargo.
Both aircraft will be converted at the facility of Sabena Technics DNR S.A.S. in Dinard, France. Sabena is one of France’s leading maintenance and modification services (MRO) providers for both civilian and military aircraft.
This marks the first foray of Cebu Pacific in operating specialized aircraft to transport cargo. With a longer body to fit in more freight, an increased wingspan and more powerful turboprop engines, the ATR aircraft is ideal for expediting the transport of high-value and time-sensitive commodities such as marine products, computing equipment and even heavy machinery to various points across the country. It is suited to landing and taking-off in airports with runways less than 1.2 kilometers long—which is too short for jet aircraft.
Only about one-third of the 90 airports in the Philippines can land jets.
Cebu Pacific has about 50% market share for domestic air cargo, currently utilizing belly space of its passenger aircraft fleet. CEB’s cargo services have grown considerably, with revenues growing 29% in 2017, to PHP4.6 Billion; and 26% in the first quarter of 2018, to PHP1.3 Billion. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) here in the region together with its partner agencies and organizations launched the Social Welfare and Development Learning Network (SWDL-Net) here in this city on July 16.
Restituto Macuto, DSWD regional director, said that the launching of the SWDL-Net took place with the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) among involved agencies.
Macuto explained that his office created the SWDL-Net “to achieve its mandate to alleviate poverty and empower disadvantaged individuals, families and communities for improved quality of life.”
Macuto said that SWDL-Net is composed of six national government agencies, four non-government organizations, nine universities and colleges and one individual group member.
The DSWD director claimed that the partners of the network are willing to provide support and share their programs and services for the SWDL-Net.
Macuto added that their office will connect the partners’ respective agenda to the vision, mission, and goals of the SWDL-Net.
The DSWD will assist in the designing and the development of training and capability building activities of the network and also assist in disseminating information about the network members’ capability building activities to partners and other social development organizations.
Macuto further said that his office will help inform partners and other social development organizations about the teachings and training materials of member organizations and also will provide technical assistance, training management and other capability building for the SWDL-Net members.
(RESTITUTO A.CAYUBIT)

BY: JENNNIFER D. SAYONG

BURAUEN, Leyte- The Department of Education, through the School Health Division-Bureau of Learner Support Services implemented the School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP) for school year 2018-2019 to address under nutrition and short-term hunger among public school children.
And one of the beneficiaries of this feeding program is the Catagbacan Elementary School which is under the Burauen North District, Division of Leyte, this town.
Airen R. Modina, the school feeding coordinator, identified 25 pupils from Kindergarten up to Grade VI who were identified either as waster or severely wasted.
The school provides daily heavy lunch with malunggay (horseradish or moringa), mongo (mung beans), and kalabasa (squash) as the main ingredients mixed with chicken or ground pork or fish.
The children are to be fed for 120 days during this school year. The budget is P18 per child per meal.
The meals are prepared by the parent of the recipient, supervised by the feeding coordinator and the school head, Jennifer D. Sayong.
The feeding coordinator follows the low-cost and balanced menus for and each feeding recipients are given vitamins daily.
Health practices are being observed during feeding, hand washing and tooth brushing are also enforced.
The school has complementary activities such as deworming, food production, waste segregation and composting, integration of good grooming and personal hygiene which was integrated in some subject areas.
Through this supplementary feeding program, the schools established and maintained the Gulayan sa Paaralan Program (GPP) as a source of ingredients for the SBFP and encouraged the families of the beneficiaries to have their own home gardens so that nutritional improvement is maintained at home.
This program will greatly help improve the nutritional status of pupils, attendance and performance in school. (Note: The author is the head teacher I of the Catagbacan Elementary School in Burauen, Leyte)