CLARK, Pampanga – Eastern Visayas region joined on the recently-held NorthPhil Expo 2018 held at SM City Clark together with two other Visayan regions under the One Visayas.
The NorthPhil Expo or North Phil Tourism and Travel Expo marks NorthPhil’s rise as a tourism super-region and global destination, with CAR (Cordillera Administrative Region) as a hub for natural wonders, Ilocos Region for history and culture, Cagayan Valley for all-terrain adventures, and Central Luzon for sports, agri-tourism and culinary escapades.
The presence of Visayas regions at the NorthPhil optimized the promotion of the Eastern, Central and Western Visayas to new market not only targeting tourists coming from Region 3 but also those coming from northern Luzon.
“This is strategic marketing because we are not only targeting Region 3 but the northern Philippines,” Director Karen Tiopes, regional director of the Department of Tourism (DOT), said.
“We share one booth with two other Visayan regions because we are also trying to come up with a circuit with Central and Western Visayas. We already have the concept of what kind of tour packages that we are trying to provide,” she added.
The existence of flight to Clark Airport helps tourists to have better connectivity with other tourist destinations in the Visayas.
A direct flight from here is now being offered to Eastern Visayas through the airports in Catarman, Northern Samar; Calbayog City and Tacloban City.
A tourism circuit with Central and Western Visayas is also being developed by the three regional offices of the DOT.
“What is common among the three of us (is) number one is diving. The best dive sites are found in the Visayas areas which we are developing hopefully by early next year we can come up with a tour program that will be sold by tour operators of the three regions. One common tour program, tours that are going around the three regions,” Tiopes added.
Meanwhile, DOT Undersecretary Art Boncato, in his message during the opening of NorthPhil Expo on November 16, underscored the importance and responsible use of social media in tourism promotion.
“We have to utilize this in our own advantage and we are calling for our partners and stakeholders in the tourism industry to use social media platform in a positive voice especially in promoting our culture, our people, and our history,” Boncato said.
“Instead of joining the trolls, we should be conscious and let just focus in promoting what is good and what is true,” he added.(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY – The city government of Tacloban has kicked off activities for the 2018 National Children’s Month Celebration last November 6, starting with a mass for children at the Sto. Niño Church.
On Friday,(November 16), around 4,000 day care pupils coming from the 67 day care centers of the city, along with their parents and teachers, participated in a parade and a program held at the Balyuan Grounds to mark the official start of activities.
Other activities slated for the month-long celebration are a playground demonstration, literary and musical contests on November 23 at the Balyuan Amphitheater.
The Theme for this year’s celebration is “Isulong: Tamang Pag-aaruga para sa lahat ng bata.”
By virtue of Republic Act No. 10661 signed on May 29, 2015, the National Children’s Month is observed every November to create awareness on the plight and importance of Children in nation-building.
(HENRY JAMES ROCA)

TACLOBAN CITY- Vice Mayor Jerry ‘Sambo’ Yaokasin this city lauded the launching of RE (Renewal Energy)-Hub, a community resource center on renewable energy and sustainable solutions by RE-Charge Pilipinas.
“As the ground zero of supertyphoon Yolanda, it is imperative that Tacloban City leads in championing renewal energy against the use of fossil fuels that harm the environment and contributes to global warming,” he said.
The launching of the community resource center is for the people to get information regarding renewal energy, its importance, and options for households, businesses and local government units, Yaokasin added.
In June 2014, the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) formally inaugurated RE-Charge Tacloban to show how renewable energy could aid in disaster response and reconstruction in the aftermath of Yolanda’s onslaught.
ICSC said the facility is powered by a 9.75-kilowatt hybrid solar power system that provides most of the facility’s electricity needs.
It was integrated with a sustainable transport initiative in the form of electric jeepneys (e-jeepneys) and recovered bodies of multicabs that were converted into e-multicabs, it added.
In a statement, ICSC said that Re-Charge Pilipinas has also reached as far as Cagayan Province in north Luzon, in communities surrounding Laguna Lake in Laguna and Rizal Provinces, and the remote island communities of Polopina, Concepcion, Iloilo.
“Located within the RE-Charge Pilipinas facility, the hub is a place where people can inquire about appropriate RE systems to address their household and community needs while renewable energy technology providers showcase their products and services,” according to ICSC.
RE-Charge Pilipinas is located at 58 Burgos Street, Barangay 38 in the city. (RONALD O. REYES)

As mayor of EV’s richest city

ORMOC CITY- With over a billion peso saving and a zero loan balance makes this city as the region’s richest.
Thus said Mayor Richard Gomez as Ormoc City was adjudged as Eastern Visayas richest city based on the 2017 report of the Financial Report for the Local Government.
Based on the said report, Ormoc City has an asset of P5.90 billion followed by Tacloban City which has an asset of P3 billion.
“It is good to be tagged that way and as a mayor, we have to improve on our assets and strengthen our economic functions to continue the city’s development” Gomez said.
“It is our role as mayor to manage our resources and spend our money wisely,” he added.
The city mayor said that Ormoc City has a current saving of about P1.4 billion which he said intended for ‘extreme emergency cases.’
The secret, to this according to Gomez, is the constant communication he has with fiscal managers of the city government that includes the budget officer and city accountant to discuss the program of expenditures as well the city’s payables.
Gomez vowed to maintain its peace and order saying it is a major concern among investors. The city is the safest city in the country per report of the Philippine National Police. (LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

PALO, Leyte-The Roman Catholic Church has said that its P3.2 billion ‘Yolanda’ rehabilitation program in the Visayas was a ‘success.’
Fr. Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary of the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA)/Caritas Philippines, said that out of this fund, they have already constructed a total of 33,253 houses for the families who lost their houses due to the onslaught of super typhoon Yolanda in 2013.
The three-year recovery and rehabilitation program of the Catholic Church, which officially started in 2014, has reached 1.4 million people, Gariguez said.
The construction of 33,253 housing units were implemented directly by NASSA/Caritas Philippines, and bilaterally by Caritas Internationalis member organizations namely: Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Caritas Switzerland, Caritas Italiana, Caritas Belgium, Caritas Germany, Development and Peace-Caritas Canada, Caritas Austria, and Catholic Organization for Relief and Development Aid (Cordaid).
The number of shelters constructed per Caritas members includes NASSA/Caritas Philippines (7,373), CRS (20,000), Development and Peace (1,550), Caritas Switzerland (1,080), Caritas Austria (2,000), Caritas Germany (250), Caritas Belgium (300), Caritas Italiana (500), and Cordaid (200).
Jing Rey Henderson, NASSA’s communications and partnership development manager, said that the Caritas response benefitted the typhoon victims in Leyte, Samar, Eastern Samar, Palawan, Cebu, Iloilo, Aklan, Capiz, Antique and other areas hit by Yolanda.
The Church’s aid covers mainly on shelter, livelihoods, water, sanitation and health (WASH), community organizing, community-managed disaster risk reduction (CMDRR), ecosystems recovery, and institutional capacity building.
Meanwhile, Gariguez said that being able to build more than 30,000 shelter units speak of the dedication and commitment of the Catholic Church to better the lives and restore the dignity of the most vulnerable communities and families affected by Yolanda.
“We are very proud of this accomplishment, yet humbled by the experience,” said Gariguez.
On November 16 and 17, the Catholic Church, through NASSA/Caritas Philippines, hosted the 5th Typhoon Yolanda anniversary commemoration in Palo, Leyte.
NASSA/Caritas Philippines, the humanitarian, development and advocacy arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, serves the 85 diocesan social action centers across the country while representing the Philippines to the Caritas Internationalis, the global confederation of Catholic charities.
(RONALD O. REYES)