In Ormoc City

ORMOC CITY-The government here is serious in clearing its roads from obstructions to make traveling safe and efficient.
Thus said Mayor Richard Gomez who said that roads within Ormoc, especially the national highways, should not be used as parking areas.
“We have to clear the national highways from illegal park vehicles. The roads were widen not to become parking spaces but for the use of traveling vehicles,” the city mayor said.
Establishment owners like those who will be constructing their structures must see to it that they will have parking spaces for their vehicles and their clients to ensure that they will not obstruct the road and cause traffic.
“This needs political will. We need to show them that we are enforcing the law for them to know that it is illegal to park along the national highway,” Gomez said.
Gomez added that aside from prohibiting vehicle owners to use road as parking areas, the city government will also relocate vulcanizing shops that are operating along national roads.
This is part of the implementation of the city land use and zoning ordinance.
“We will be relocating them to areas where they can have a parking area,” Gomez said.
“We don’t want to see them working along the sidewalks because sidewalks are created for pedestrian use,” he added.
Gomez said that he hopes that villages located along the national highway will cooperate with them.
He added that houses located along the national highways should have about 5-meters setback from the drainage to protect their property and their children from untoward incidents.
Along with the clearing of road from traffic obstruction, Mayor Gomez said that for the next three years of his term, more road networks will be opened in the city considering that it is a fast growing urban area.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

Natural barrier against storm surge

TACLOBAN CITY – A team of Japanese and Filipino scientists are conducting their study on the characteristics of mangroves that survived the devastation of super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ when the region was hit on November 8, 2013.
The activity is part of an ongoing Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) -assisted project called Comprehensive Assessment and Conservation of Blue Carbon Ecosystems and their Services in the Coral Triangle, also known as BlueCARES.
BlueCARES is meant to identify the dynamics of the blue carbon or carbon dioxide stored in marine ecosystems in the coral triangle.
Coral triangle is the global center of marine diversity composed of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, and Solomon Islands.
When the blue carbon system is damaged, an enormous amount of carbon is released to the atmosphere, adversely contributing to climate change.
Balangkayan and Hernani, both in Eastern Samar, are the project sites of the study as well as Aklan and Palawan provinces where mangroves along the coasts are surveyed and mapped using drones.
Studies show that the Philippines has about 50% of the total mangrove species in the world. Mangroves are also among the carbon-rich forests providing protection against strong waves and storm surges.
Studying the mangroves that survived Yolanda is crucial in the study of blue carbon system conservation.
“Results of the survey in Eastern Samar will contribute in producing maps of mangroves in the Philippines, and studying their dynamics in the context of disaster management. The surveys are also important in formulating a blue carbon strategy in the country,” said Dr. Kazuo Nadaoka, BlueCARES chief technical advisor.
Mangroves are also among the carbon-rich forests providing protection against strong waves and storm surges. Studying the mangroves that survived Yolanda is therefore crucial in the study of blue carbon system conservation.
“The project takes a long-range vision of hopefully contributing to a framework on blue carbon ecosystem conservation that is based on scientific evidence, and also identify conservation strategies at the local level,” JICA Philippines Senior Representative Yo Ebisawa.
“The results of the survey will help the team prepare recommendations on disaster management in coastal communities,” he added.
JICA has been working with academic institutions to come up with research to address global issues in the environment, disaster management, and health among others under its Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development or SATREPS.
The project is the first tripartite cooperation among Tokyo Institute of Technology, University of the Philippines Diliman, and Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fishery in Indonesia.
The study team aims to help guide decisions of nations with rich biodiversity when it comes to battling against climate change.
BlueCARES study began in 2017 and will end in 2022.
Already, the project team completed initial surveys in Busuanga and in Panay Island, and mapping of mangroves and seagrasses in Eastern Samar.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

Gov. E. Jaro Elementary School (GEJES) in Babatngon, Leyte has new school building that will serve as additional venue for the journey of students and teachers towards quality education.
GEJES school head Valentin Trapela said the school project, in the amount of P4 million, involves the construction of 1-Storey building with two standard-size classrooms funded by the Department of Education (DepEd).
Trapela said that this school building project was completed just in time for the opening of classes for academic year 2019. He added that the 1-Storey, 2-Classroom school building can accommodate more or less 80 students, considering the 1:40 classroom-student ratio.
This building will provide students and teachers a conducive learning facility, one that is new and a lot more comfortable. He said that the building will be used by two Grade 1 sections and added that it will answer the lack of classrooms they had experienced in the past years, benefiting the students as well as the teachers and the community.
(Note: The writer, Shellarica C. Arinto is a Teacher III at Gov. E. Jaro Elementary School in Babatngon II District, Babatngon, Leyte)

By SHELLARICA C. ARINTO