EV in 2017: Mother Earth calling

In what could be the most disastrous typhoon to hit the region-four years after Eastern Visayas was pummeled by super typhoon ‘Yolanda’, the world’s strongest typhoon to hit inland- ‘Urduja’ pummeled much of the region leaving a trail of destructions and loss of lives.
The region’s smallest province, Biliran, bore the brunt of Urduja’s fury when it barreled its way on December 16, causing several landslides that entombed 52 people, several of them children.
The storm resulted in the destruction of public properties in Biliran alone at P400 million.
The provinces of Leyte, Samar, Eastern Samar, and Northern Samar also suffered devastations both in infrastructures and people killed due either to landslide or flooding incidents.
While several earthquakes shook the region, the July 6 incident was the most destructive.
The 5.6 magnitude tremor that hit Leyte resulted in the deaths of three people and destructions of roads and bridges as well as buildings, homes and public facilities like the Ormoc City Airport reaching to hundreds of millions of pesos.
The tremor was so strong that the region was without power supply for nearly two months, affecting major industries and businesses.
It was also in 2017 that all six governors of the region decided to belong to one common political party which happens to be the party of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Governors Leopoldo Dominico Petilla(Leyte), Gerry ‘Boy” Espina(Biliran), Christopher Yap(Southern Leyte), Sharee Ann Tan(Samar), Marcelo Ferdinand Picardal(Eastern Samar), and Jose Ong(Northern Samar) pledged their political loyalties to the President by jumping to PDP-Laban.
And save for Northern Samar Rep. Raul Daza, all the other congressmen of the region now consider themselves as members of the PDP-Laban.
All of them, to include mayors, have vowed to continue to support on the controversial anti-illegal drug campaign of the President.
After being devastated by supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ in 2013, economic officials of the region has projected that the regional economy is now recovering.
In fact, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) in the region had projected that Eastern Visayas economy would grow between 5.2 to 5.7 percent.
Tacloban City, the regional capital and main economic hub of Eastern Visayas, reported of new and big investments in 2017.
This year, the Robinsons Mall opened its second branch in Tacloban as it also soon to operate in the cities of Ormoc and Calbayog.
The tourism industry is also fast contributing to the regional economy as tourism officials eye an increase of about 20 percent from the current seven percent levels.
It was also during this year that the city government of Tacloban, under Mayor Cristina Romualdez, ‘took’ control of the Leyte Metropolitan Water District (LMWD) from the supervision of the provincial government.
Romualdez issued appointment papers to five new board of directors of the LMWD, a move that right away questioned by the ‘ousted’ officials, to include its general manager.
Despite of the natural disasters that struck Eastern Visayas, leaders of the region are optimistic that the New Year will bring not only stability but further economic growth for Eastern Visayas, still considered as among the poorest regions in the country.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

Responding to the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to be more aggressive in its public campaign advocating a federal system of government, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Officer-in-Charge Catalino S. Cuy has designated a new administrator of the department’s Federalism and Constitutional Reform program.
Assistant Secretary Jonathan Malaya, formerly Executive Director of the PDP Laban Federalism Institute, has been designated the campaign’s new administrator replacing Asst. Secretary Epimaco Densing III.
Malaya was a former assistant secretary of the Department of Education and of the Office of the President prior to joining the DILG.
Cuy says Malaya’s vast experience as executive director of the federalism institute, as a government official, and his wide network in the academe and other sectors would enable the DILG to propel the federalism campaign to the grassroots level.
“As directed by President Duterte, the DILG needs to let the local governments and the ordinary people appreciate and understand how federalism will be able to change the course of our country and lead it towards development. And with Asec Malaya at the helm of the campaign, I am confident that we can make this happen,” he says.
For his part, Malaya says that starting 2018, the DILG will undertake a coordinated effort with other national government agencies and work with the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) to ensure that the entire government bureaucracy is part of the campaign.
“We have to have one voice and one messaging in the federalism campaign, otherwise, we would not be able to bring our message across to our countrymen on how a shift to federalism would impact on our country and our lives,” he says.
Malaya says that the DILG will also be working closely with the Senate and the House of Representatives in 2018. Recently, the lower house began plenary debates on a joint resolution calling for a Constituent Assembly to propose amendments to the Constitution.
In a speech during the PDP Laban’s Christmas Benefit Dinner for Marawi, Duterte urged members of Congress who are his party-mates to unite behind his proposal to amend the Constitution to address the Mindanao problem and to spur economic development across the country.(PR)

CARIGARA, Leyte- The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)’s Leyte Second Engineering Office (2nd LED) announced that the bridge located along Sitio Ansubas, Barangay Lemon in Capoocan is now passable after a landslide occurred in the area in the aftermath of typhoon’s ‘Urduja’ wrath.
Half of the lane was covered with mud and debris when the slope protection along the historic Breakneck Ridge collapsed, followed by a landslide due to the heavy rains spawned by Urduja which hit Leyte on Saturday (December 16).
DPWH maintenance personnel immediately conducted clearing operations in the area and restored traffic along the said route in the afternoon of Sunday, (December 17) for vehicles plying along the Palo-Carigara- Ormoc road, one of the region’s vital highways.
The 2nd LED is still assessing the amount of damage to infrastructure along the area as of this writing.
To recall, a road section of the same spot collapsed in December 2014 after heavy rains pounded Leyte province brought by typhoon ‘Seniang’.
The collapsed road section marred traffic during one of the country’s busiest days. The district engineering office undertook a multi-million road reblocking and slope protection project in the area.
However, incessant rains brought by the slow-moving Urduja softened the soil in Sitio Ansubas resulting in a landslide.
(AHLETTE C. REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY- A convoy of Army personnel from the 20th Infantry Battalion were attacked by members of New People’s Army (NPA) in Catubig town, Northern Samar while they were on their way to help residents of a village of the said town hit by a flooding caused by typhoon ‘Urduja’.
Two soldiers, Corp. Yzael Laure and Private First Class Roland Gomez were wounded in the attacked by about 50 NPA members in Barangay Hinagoyonon on December 16.
Lt. Michelle Estares, information officer of the 20th IB, said that the soldiers were on their way to Hinagoyonon when they were waylaid and attacked by the rebels in Brgy. San Miguel.
“This resulted in a firefight that lasted for more than an hour,” Estares said.
Col. George Domingo, commanding officer of 20th IB strongly condemns the attack by NPA members to the military who were on their way to the area to rescue civilians affected by massive flooding in the town.
“This activity is a clear violation of the International Humanitarian Law and we call upon the people to act against these atrocities,” Col Domingo said.
A total of 7,500 families or 28, 900 individuals from 47 villages of the town were affected by widespread flooding due to heavy rain caused by Urduja.
The municipal council of Catubig has declared the town under state of calamity. (ROEL T.AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The city government of Catbalogan suspended classes in public and private schools from elementary, high school and tertiary level.
The suspension of classes was ordered by Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan as most classrooms in the city are still being used by evacuees displaced by typhoon ‘Urduja’.
The City’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (DRRMC) said that about 829 families or 3,157 individuals were evacuated to 18 evacuation centers, many were public schools.
The City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) distributed relief goods to affected families of the city who sought refuge in the evacuation centers.
The CSWDO added that some residents went back to their homes after the flooding that their respective villages subsided.
Five barangays in the city were hit by landslides as the city’s commercial area experienced heavy flooding spawned by Urduja.
No casualty was recorded in Catbalogan due to the onslaught of the typhoon.
Mayor Uy-Tan was thankful for the cooperation of the residents by heeding their call to evacuate to safer grounds, especially those living in the danger zones.
The city council, upon the recommendation of Mayor Uy-Tan, placed Catbalogan under a state of calamity on December 15.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)